Search results for: program challenges

Authors: Prosper Kudzanai Mushauri

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Shock therapy has been used in persons living with depression and deeply depressed persons. It has been used in children also. Shock therapy has been also among its pros believed to improve the quality of life and an effective treatment of depression. The review of the literature on ECT papers have highlighted that benefits to users of ECT are elusive, and iatrogenic harm often occurs showing that the approach will always fall far in comporting to psychological ethics. On the contrary, ECT is known as shock therapy which is the administration of electric shock within the brain; it has been challenged on ethical grounds if it’s proper ethically. From this ethical aperture, it has emerged that relapse rates are approximately higher than 50%, it results in diencephalon disturbances and has also side effects related to cognitive function among other negative effects. It is from these reviewed studies that that ECT should not be viewed as an effective treatment of depression as it does not comport to the mores of psychological ethics.

Keywords: anterograde amnesia, depression, electroconvulsive therapy, ethics, retrograde amnesia

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Authors: Suzhou Wei, Isobel Cunningham, Laura Bradley McCauley

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Social enterprises play a significant role in resolving social issues in the modern world. In contrast to traditional commercial businesses, their main goal is to address social concerns rather than primarily maximize profits. This phenomenon in entrepreneurship is presenting new opportunities and different operating models and resulting in modified approaches to measure success beyond traditional market share and margins. This paper explores social enterprises to clarify their roles and approaches in addressing grand challenges related to social issues. In doing so, it analyses the key differences between traditional business and social enterprises, such as their operating model and value proposition, to understand their contributions to society. The research presented in this paper responds to calls for research to better understand social enterprises and entrepreneurship but also to explore the dynamics between profit-driven and socially-oriented entities to deliver mutual benefits. This paper, which examines the features of commercial business, suggests their primary focus is profit generation, economic growth and innovation. Beyond the chase of profit, it highlights the critical role of innovation typical of successful businesses. This, in turn, promotes economic growth, creates job opportunities and makes a major positive impact on people's lives. In contrast, the motivations upon which social enterprises are founded relate to a commitment to address social problems rather than maximizing profits. These entities combine entrepreneurial principles with commitments to deliver social impact and grand challenge changes, creating a distinctive category within the broader enterprise and entrepreneurship landscape. The motivations for establishing a social enterprise are diverse, such as encompassing personal fulfillment, a genuine desire to contribute to society and a focus on achieving impactful accomplishments. The paper also discusses the collaboration between commercial businesses and social enterprises, which is viewed as a strategic approach to addressing grand challenges more comprehensively and effectively. Finally, this paper highlights the evolving and diverse expectations placed on all businesses to actively contribute to society beyond profit-making. We conclude that there is an unrealized and underdeveloped potential for collaboration between commercial businesses and social enterprises to produce greater and long-lasting social impacts. Overall, the aim of this research is to encourage more investigation of the complex relationship between economic and social objectives and contributions through a better understanding of how and why businesses might address social issues. Ultimately, the paper positions itself as a tool for understanding the evolving landscape of business engagement with social issues and advocates for collaborative efforts to achieve sustainable and impactful outcomes.

Keywords: business, social enterprises, collaboration, social issues, motivations

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Authors: Sunico Armie Flores

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Early childhood education (ECE) is pivotal in shaping the future of individuals and society. This paper explores the collaborative efforts required among educators, families, and communities to create a collective impact on young children’s development. It delves into the importance of these partnerships, effective strategies for engagement, and the challenges and opportunities inherent in fostering such collaboration. By examining current research and practices, the paper aims to highlight the essential role of an integrated approach in achieving significant and sustainable improvements in early childhood outcomes.

Keywords: early childhood education, lifelong learning, cognitive development, socio-emotional development, educators, families, communities, collaborative efforts, collective impact, early learning environments, holistic development, high-quality ECE programs, investment in education

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Authors: Haydar Teymourlouei

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Cybersecurity is one of the greatest challenges society faces in an age revolving around technological development. With cyber-attacks on the continuous rise, the nation needs to understand and learn ways that can prevent such attacks. A major contribution that can change the education system is to implement laboratories and competitions into academia. This method can improve and educate students with more hands-on exercises in a highly motivating setting. Considering the fact that students are the next generation of the nation’s workforce, it is important for students to understand concepts not only through books, but also through actual hands-on experiences in order for them to be prepared for the workforce. An effective cybersecurity education system is critical for creating a strong cyber secure workforce today and for the future. This paper emphasizes the need for awareness and the need for competitions and cybersecurity laboratories to be implemented into the education system.

Keywords: awareness, competition, cybersecurity, laboratories, workforce

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Authors: John Morales, Armando Guzman

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Protection relay algorithms play a crucial role in Electric Power System stability, where, it is clear that lightning strokes produce the mayor percentage of faults and outages of Transmission Lines (TLs) and Distribution Feeders (DFs). In this context, it is imperative to develop novel protection relay algorithms. However, in order to get this aim, Electric Power Systems (EPS) network have to be simulated as real as possible, especially the lightning phenomena, and EPS elements that affect their behavior like direct and indirect lightning, insulator string, overhead line, soil ionization and other. However, researchers have proposed new protection relay algorithms considering common faults, which are not produced by lightning strokes, omitting these imperative phenomena for the transmission line protection relays behavior. Based on the above said, this paper presents the possibilities of using the Alternative Transient Program ATP-Draw for the modeling and simulation of some models to make lightning stroke studies, especially for protection relays, which are developed through Transient Analysis of Control Systems (TACS) and MODELS language corresponding to the ATP-Draw.

Keywords: back-flashover, faults, flashover, lightning stroke, modeling of lightning, outages, protection relays

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Authors: Rachel Baruch

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This article describes the implementation of an experimental model for teaching ICT tools and digital environments in teachers training college. In most educational systems in the Western world, new programs were developed in order to bridge the digital gap between teachers and students. In spite of their achievements, these programs are limited due to several factors: The teachers in the schools implement new methods incorporating technological tools into the curriculum, but meanwhile the technology changes and advances. The interface of tools changes frequently, some tools disappear and new ones are invented. These conditions require an experimental model of training the pre-service teachers. The appropriate method for instruction within the domain of ICT tools should be based on exposing the learners to innovations, helping them to gain experience, teaching them how to deal with challenges and difficulties on their own, and training them. This study suggests some principles for this approach and describes step by step the implementation of this model.

Keywords: ICT tools, e-learning, pre-service teachers, new model

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Authors: Abdessamad Dali-Ali, Houaria Beldjillali, Fouzia Agag, Asmaa Oukebdane, Ramzi Tidjani, Arslane Bettayeb, Khadidja Meddeber, Radia Dali-Yahia, Nori Midoun

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Healthcare-associated infections are a real public health problem, especially in intensive care units. The aim of our study was to describe the epidemiological profile and to estimate the incidence of these infections at the intensive care unit of our teaching hospital. A prospective study was conducted, from June 2012 to December 2013. During this period, 305 patients having a duration of hospitalization equal or more than 48 hours were included in the study. In terms of the incidence of healthcare associated infections, nosocomial pneumonia occupied the first position with a cumulative incidence rate of 20.0%, followed by bacteremia (5.6%), central venous catheter infections (4%), and urinary tract infections (3%). In the case of isolated microorganisms, Gram-negative bacilli not enterobacteriaceae occupied the first place with 48.5%, followed by enterobacteria (32.1%). Acinetobacter baumannii was the most common germ (27.6%). Our study showed that the rate of health-care-associated infections was relatively high in the intensive care unit. A control program to reduce all infections is a priority for the Infection Control Associated Committee.

Keywords: epidemiological profile, healthcare associated infections, intensive care units, teaching hospital of Oran, Algeria

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Authors: Amin Mirabbasi

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This review focuses on the integration of self-cooling photobioreactors into building envelopes as an approach to sustainable architecture. We emphasize the urgency for eco-friendly design advancements and explore the incorporation of plants, particularly microalgae photobioreactors, into building facades. This entails a discussion of the building envelope's components and definition, challenges posed by algal technology in architecture, and adaptations for varied structures such as skyscrapers, residences, and townhouses. We further evaluate the influence of geographic factors, with a spotlight on warm and temperate regions like Western Australia. Concluding, we analyse the cost-effectiveness and practicality of this integration, focusing on its potential application in the upcoming Harry Butler Science Centre building. Through comprehensive literature scrutiny, we aim to shed light on the prospects and obstacles of embedding self-cooling photobioreactors in pursuit of an eco-aware architectural future.

Keywords: microalgae photobioreactors, building envelope, sustainable architecture, eco-friendly design advancements.

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Authors: Osagiede Mercy Afe

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After the internet explosion in the 90’s, Technology was immediately integrated into the school system. Technology which symbolizes advancement in human knowledge was seen as a setback by many educators many efforts have been made to help stem this erroneous believes and help educators realize the benefits of technology and ways of implementing it in the classrooms especially in the sciences. This advancement created a constantly expanding gap between the pupil’s perception on the use of technology within the learning atmosphere and the teacher’s perception and limitations hence the focus of this paper is on the need to refocus on the potentials of Science and Technology in enhancing children learning at school especially in science for sustainable development in Nigeria. The paper recommended measures for facilitating the sustenance of science and technology in Nigerian schools so as to enhance the potentials of our children in Science and Technology for a better tomorrow.

Keywords: children, information communication technology (ICT), potentials, sustainable development, science education

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Authors: Xuefan Li

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Parts of Chinese doctoral students in Canada are facing significant academic pressure. The factors contributing to such pressure are diverse, including financial conditions and cultural differences. Students from various academic disciplines have been interviewed to investigate the factors that Chinese students consider when selecting Canada as a destination for doctoral studies, as well as to identify the challenges they face during their academic pursuits and the associated factors influencing their performance. The findings indicate that their motivations to pursue doctoral study in Canada are concluded as both push and pull factors. Financial conditions and cultural differences are critical factors affecting academic performance, with disciplinary variations in the degree of influence observed.

Keywords: Chinese doctoral students, financial status, cultural cognition, academic performance

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Authors: Christa Siminiuk, Morgan Yates, Paramita Banerjee, Alison Curtis, Lysbeth Cuanda

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This review looked at current evidence regarding barriers and facilitators to nursing scholarship within the content of Canadian Schools of Nursing. Nursing scholarship mainly referred to research, though other activities as described by Boyer’s Model were also discussed. This scoping review was done to assist the Langara School of Nursing in developing an evidenced-based plan to enhance scholarly work among its faculty members. The scoping review identified 10 articles which detailed barriers and facilitators in both Canadian and international contexts. Barriers and facilitators in these articles were extracted and they were also critically appraised. The identified barriers and facilitators fell into three main areas; personal attributes, facility factors and system challenges. The three area will be discussed further in the presentation as well as strategies identified to overcome these barriers.

Keywords: barriers, facilitators, nursing education, scholarship

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Authors: Francisco Borja de Lara, Ali Ravanbakhsh, Robert F. Wimmer-Schweingruber, Lars Seimetz, Fermín Navarro

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The intense structural loads during the launch of a spacecraft represent a challenge for the space structure designers because enough resistance has to be achieved while maintaining at the same time the mass and volume within the allowable margins of the mission requirements and inside the limits of the budget project. In this conference, we present the structural analysis of the Lunar Lander Neutron Dosimetry (LND) experiment on the Chang'E4 mission, the first probe to land on the moon’s far side included in the Chinese’ Moon Exploration Program by the Chinese National Space Administration. To this target, the software Nastran/Patran has been used: a structural model in Patran and a structural analysis through Nastran have been realized. Next, the results obtained are used both for the optimization process of the spacecraft structure, and as input parameters for the model structural test campaign. In this way, the feasibility of the lunar instrument structure is demonstrated in terms of the modal modes, stresses, and random vibration and a better understanding of the structural tests design is provided by our results.

Keywords: Chang’E4, Chinese national space administration, lunar lander neutron dosimetry, nastran-patran, structural analysis

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Authors: Divya Juneja, Sukhjeet Kaur Matharu

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Purpose: The paper is aimed at identifying the challenging factors experienced by the women entrepreneurs in India in operating their enterprises amidst the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Methodology: The sample for the study comprised 396 women entrepreneurs from different regions of India. A purposive sampling technique was adopted for data collection. Data was collected through a self-administered questionnaire. Analysis was performed using the SPSS package for quantitative data analysis. Findings: The results of the study state that entrepreneurial characteristics, resourcefulness, networking, adaptability, and continuity have a positive influence on the resiliency of women entrepreneurs when faced with a crisis situation. Practical Implications: The findings of the study have some important implications for women entrepreneurs, organizations, government, and other institutions extending support to entrepreneurs.

Keywords: women entrepreneurs, analysis, data analysis, positive influence, resiliency

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Authors: Bundit Pungnirund, Boonyada Pahasing

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The objective of this research is to study factors related to behaviors of Thai travelers traveling to Koh Kret Island, Nonthaburi Province. The subjects of this study included 400 Thai travelers coming to Koh Kred. Questionnaires were used to collect data which were analyzed by computer program to find mean and correlation coefficient by Pearson. The results showed that Thai travelers reported their opinions and attitudes in high level on the marketing service mix, product, price, place, promotion, personal, physical evidence, and process. They reported on travelling motivation factor, tourist attraction, and facility at high level. Moreover, marketing service mix, product, price, place, promotion, personal, physical, and process including travelling motivation factor, tourist attraction, and facility had positive relationship with the frequency in travelling at statistically significant level (0.01), though in a low relationship but in the same direction.

Keywords: factors, behaviors, Thai travelers, Koh Kled, Nonthaburi Province

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Authors: Abrar Hussain Qureshi

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Vocabulary has been highlighted as a key indicator in any foreign language learning program, especially English as a foreign language (EFL). It is often considered a potential tool in foreign language curriculum, and its deficiency impedes successful communication in the target language. The knowledge of the lexicon is very significant in getting communicative competence and performance. Nouns constitute a considerable bulk of English vocabulary. Rather, they are the bones of the English language and are the main semantic carrier in spoken and written discourse. As nouns dominate the bulk of the English lexicon, their role becomes all the more potential. The undertaken research is a systematic effort in this regard to work out a list of highly frequent list of Pakistani English nouns for the EFL learners at the secondary level. It will encourage autonomy for the EFL learners as well as will save their time. The corpus used for the research has been developed locally from leading English newspapers of Pakistan. Wordsmith Tools has been used to process the research data and to retrieve word list of frequent Pakistani English nouns. The retrieved list of core Pakistani English nouns is supposed to be useful for English language learners at the secondary level as it covers a wide range of speech events.

Keywords: corpus, EFL, frequency list, nouns

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Authors: Kisanga Arsene

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The abundant literature on corporate governance identifies four main objectives: the configuration of power within firms, control, conflict prevention and the equitable distribution of value created. The persistent dysfunctions in companies in developing countries in general and in African countries, in particular, show that these objectives are generally not achieved, which supports the idea of analyzing corporate governance practices in Africa. Indeed, the objective of this paper is to review the literature on corporate governance in Africa, to outline the specific practices and challenges of corporate governance in Africa and to identify reliable indicators and variables to capture corporate governance in Africa. In light of the existing literature, we argue that corporate governance in Africa can only be studied in the light of African realities and by taking into account the institutional environment. These studies show the existence of a divide between governance practices and the legislative and regulatory texts in force in the African context.

Keywords: institutional environment, transparency, accountability, Africa

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Authors: T. T. Tham

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The aim of this study is to propose an integrated approach to determine the most suitable programs, based on Quality Function Deployment (QFD), Sensitivity Analysis (SA) and Multi-Objective Linear Programming model (MOLP). Firstly, QFD is used to determine business requirements and transform them into business and supply chain programs. From the QFD, technical scores of all programs are obtained. All programs are then evaluated through five criteria (productivity, quality, cost, technical score, and feasibility). Sets of weight of these criteria are built using Sensitivity Analysis. Multi-Objective Linear Programming model is applied to select suitable programs according to multiple conflicting objectives under a budget constraint. A case study from the Sai Gon-Mien Tay Beer Company is given to illustrate the proposed methodology. The outcome of the study provides a comprehensive picture for companies to select suitable programs to obtain the optimal solution according to their preference.

Keywords: business program, multi-objective linear programming model, quality function deployment, sensitivity analysis, supply chain management

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Authors: Jorge Maestre Vidal, Ana Lucila Sandoval Orozco, Luis Javier García Villalba

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With the increase in popularity of mobile devices, new and varied forms of malware have emerged. Consequently, the organizations for cyberdefense have echoed the need to deploy more effective defensive schemes adapted to the challenges posed by these recent monitoring environments. In order to contribute to their development, this paper presents a malware detection strategy for mobile devices based on sequence alignment algorithms. Unlike the previous proposals, only the system calls performed during the startup of applications are studied. In this way, it is possible to efficiently study in depth, the sequences of system calls executed by the applications just downloaded from app stores, and initialize them in a secure and isolated environment. As demonstrated in the performed experimentation, most of the analyzed malicious activities were successfully identified in their boot processes.

Keywords: android, information security, intrusion detection systems, malware, mobile devices

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Authors: Abhishek Mangal, Kunal Tongaria, S. Mandal, Devendra Mohan

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Carbonation of reinforced concrete structures has emerged as one of the major challenges for Civil engineers across the world. With increasing emissions from various activities, carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere has been eve rising, enhancing its penetration in porous concrete, reaching steel bars and ultimately leading to premature failure. Several literatures have been published dealing with the various interdependent variables related to carbonation. However, with innumerable variability a generalization of these data proves to be a troublesome task. This paper looks into this carbonation anomaly in concrete structures caused by various external variables such as relative humidity, concentration of CO2, curing period and ambient temperature. Significant discussions and comparisons have been presented on the basis of various studies conducted with an aim to predict the depth of carbonation as a function of these multidimensional parameters using various numerical and statistical modelling techniques.

Keywords: carbonation, curing, exposure conditions, relative humidity

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Authors: Shahnaz Safitri, Rose Mini Agoes Salim, Pratiwi Widyasari

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Intellectual disability is characterized by significant limitations in intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior that appears before the age of 18 years old. The prominent impacts of intellectual disability in adolescents are failure to establish interpersonal relationships as socially expected and lower academic achievement. Meanwhile, it is known that emotion regulation skills have a role in supporting the functioning of individual, either by nourishing the development of social skills as well as by facilitating the process of learning and adaptation in school. This study aims to look for the effectiveness of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) in developing emotion regulation skills for adolescents with intellectual disability. DBT's special consideration toward clients’ social environment and their biological condition is foreseen to be the key for developing emotion regulation capacity for subjects with intellectual disability. Through observations on client's behavior, conducted before and after the completion of DBT intervention program, it was found that there is an improvement in client's knowledge and attitudes related to the mastery of emotion regulation skills. In addition, client's consistency to actually practice emotion regulation techniques over time is largely influenced by the support received from the client's social circles.

Keywords: adolescent, dialectical behavior therapy, emotion regulation, intellectual disability

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Authors: Sanjeev Sinha, Samir Saurav

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The rapid growth of urban areas in India has led to transportation challenges like traffic congestion and an increase in accidents. Despite efforts by state governments and local administrations to improve urban transport, the surge in private vehicles has worsened the situation. Patna, located in Bihar State, is an example of the trend of increasing reliance on private motor vehicles, resulting in vehicular congestion and emissions. The existing transportation infrastructure is inadequate to meet future travel demands, and there has been a notable increase in the share of private vehicles in the city. Additionally, there has been a surge in economic activities in the region, which has increased the demand for improved travel convenience and connectivity. To address these challenges, a study was conducted to assess the most suitable transit mode for the proposed transit corridor outlined in the Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) for Patna. The study covered four stages: developing screening criteria, evaluating parameters for various alternatives, qualitative and quantitative evaluations of alternatives, and implementation options for the most viable alternative. The study suggests that a mass transit system such as a metro rail is necessary to enhance Patna's urban public transport system. The New Metro Policy 2017 outlines specific prerequisites for submitting a Metro Rail Project Proposal to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), including the preparation of a CMP, the formation of an Urban Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA), the creation of an Alternative Analysis Report, the development of a Detailed Project Report, a Multi-Modal Integration Plan, and a Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Plan. In 2018, the Comprehensive Mobility Plan for Patna was prepared, setting the stage for the subsequent steps in the metro rail project proposal. The results indicated that from the screening and analysis of qualitative parameters for different alternative modes in Patna, it is inferred that the Metro Rail and Monorail score 82.25 and 70.50, respectively, on a scale of 100. Based on the initial analysis and alternative evaluation in the form of quantitative analysis, the Metro Rail System significantly outperformed the Monorail system. The Metro Rail System has a positive Economic Net Present Value (ENPV) at a 14% internal rate of return, while the Monorail has a negative value. In conclusion, the study recommends choosing metro rail over monorail for the proposed transit corridor in Patna. However, the lack of broad-based technical expertise may result in implementation delays and increased costs for monorail.

Keywords: comprehensive mobility plan, alternative analysis, mobility corridors, mass transit system

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Authors: Hasanein Hasan, Mohammed Al-Taie, Basil Shanshool, Khalaf Abd-Ali

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This approach aims to deal with establishing and operating Iraqi Fibre-To-The-Home (FTTH) projects. The problems they suffer from are organized sabotage, vandalism, accidental damage and poor planning. It provides practical solutions that deal with the aforementioned problems. These solutions consist of both technical and financial clarifications that ensure the achievement of the FTTH network’s stability for the purpose of equipping citizens, private sector companies, and governmental institutions with services, data transmission, the Internet, and other services. They aim to solve problems and obstacles accompanying the operation and maintenance of FTTH projects implemented by the Informatics and Telecommunications Public Company (ITPC)/ Iraqi Ministry of Communications (MoC). This approach takes the FTTH network of AlMaalif-AlMuaslat districts/ Baghdad-Iraq as a case study.

Keywords: CCTV, FTTH, ITPC, MoC, NVR, PTZ

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Authors: Warakorn Supwirapakorn

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The purpose of this research was to study the effects of choice theory in group counseling on coping strategies of students. The sample consisted of 16 students at a boarding school, who had the lowest score on the coping strategies. The sample was divided into two groups by random assignment and then were assigned into the experimental group and the control group, with eight members each. The instruments were the Adolescent Coping Scale and choice theory group counseling program. The data collection procedure was divided into three phases: The pre-test, the post-test, and the follow-up. The data were analyzed by repeated measure analysis of variance: One between-subjects and one within-subjects. The results revealed that the interaction between the methods and the duration of the experiment was found statistically significant at 0.05 level. The students in the experimental group demonstrated significantly higher at 0.05 level on coping strategies score in both the post-test and the follow-up than in the pre-test and the control group. No significant difference was found on coping strategies during the post-test phase and the follow-up phase of the experimental group.

Keywords: coping strategies, choice theory, group counseling, boarding school

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Authors: Iris Xiaohong Quan

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The global digital health market reached 175 billion U.S. dollars in 2019, and is expected to grow at about 25% CAGR to over 650 billion USD by 2025. Different terms such as digital health, e-health, mHealth, telehealth have been used in the field, which can sometimes cause confusion. The term digital health was originally introduced to refer specifically to the use of interactive media, tools, platforms, applications, and solutions that are connected to the Internet to address health concerns of providers as well as consumers. While mHealth emphasizes the use of mobile phones in healthcare, telehealth means using technology to remotely deliver clinical health services to patients. According to FDA, “the broad scope of digital health includes categories such as mobile health (mHealth), health information technology (IT), wearable devices, telehealth and telemedicine, and personalized medicine.” Some researchers believe that digital health is nothing else but the cultural transformation healthcare has been going through in the 21st century because of digital health technologies that provide data to both patients and medical professionals. As digital health is burgeoning, but research in the area is still inadequate, our paper aims to clear the definition confusion and provide an overall picture of digital health companies. We further investigate how business models are designed and differentiated in the emerging digital health sector. Both quantitative and qualitative methods are adopted in the research. For the quantitative analysis, our research data came from two databases Crunchbase and CBInsights, which are well-recognized information sources for researchers, entrepreneurs, managers, and investors. We searched a few keywords in the Crunchbase database based on companies’ self-description: digital health, e-health, and telehealth. A search of “digital health” returned 941 unique results, “e-health” returned 167 companies, while “telehealth” 427. We also searched the CBInsights database for similar information. After merging and removing duplicate ones and cleaning up the database, we came up with a list of 1464 companies as digital health companies. A qualitative method will be used to complement the quantitative analysis. We will do an in-depth case analysis of three successful unicorn digital health companies to understand how business models evolve and discuss the challenges faced in this sector. Our research returned some interesting findings. For instance, we found that 86% of the digital health startups were founded in the recent decade since 2010. 75% of the digital health companies have less than 50 employees, and almost 50% with less than 10 employees. This shows that digital health companies are relatively young and small in scale. On the business model analysis, while traditional healthcare businesses emphasize the so-called “3P”—patient, physicians, and payer, digital health companies extend to “5p” by adding patents, which is the result of technology requirements (such as the development of artificial intelligence models), and platform, which is an effective value creation approach to bring the stakeholders together. Our case analysis will detail the 5p framework and contribute to the extant knowledge on business models in the healthcare industry.

Keywords: digital health, business models, entrepreneurship opportunities, healthcare

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Authors: Ghada A. Alfattni

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Analysing unbalanced datasets is one of the challenges that practitioners in machine learning field face. However, many researches have been carried out to determine the effectiveness of the use of the synthetic minority over-sampling technique (SMOTE) to address this issue. The aim of this study was therefore to compare the effectiveness of the SMOTE over different models on unbalanced datasets. Three classification models (Logistic Regression, Support Vector Machine and Nearest Neighbour) were tested with multiple datasets, then the same datasets were oversampled by using SMOTE and applied again to the three models to compare the differences in the performances. Results of experiments show that the highest number of nearest neighbours gives lower values of error rates. 

Keywords: imbalanced datasets, SMOTE, machine learning, logistic regression, support vector machine, nearest neighbour

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Authors: Doğan Yıldız, Aydan Müşerref Erkmen

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The controller of the octocopter is mostly based on the PID controller. For complex maneuvers, PID controllers have limited performance capability like in collision avoidance. When an octocopter needs avoidance from an obstacle, it must instantly show an agile maneuver. Also, this kind of maneuver is affected severely by the nonlinear characteristic of octocopter. When these kinds of limitations are considered, the situation is highly challenging for the PID controller. In the proposed study, these challenges are tried to minimize by using the model predictive controller (MPC) for collision avoidance with a nonlinear octocopter model. The aim is to show that MPC-based collision avoidance has the capability to deal with fast varying conditions in case of obstacle detection and diminish the nonlinear effects of octocopter with varying disturbances.

Keywords: model predictive control, nonlinear octocopter model, collision avoidance, obstacle detection

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Authors: Valerio D’Andrea

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The GERmanium Detector Array (GERDA) experiment, located at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) of INFN, searches for 0νββ of 76Ge. Germanium diodes enriched to ∼ 86 % in the double beta emitter 76Ge(enrGe) are exposed being both source and detectors of 0νββ decay. Neutrinoless double beta decay is considered a powerful probe to address still open issues in the neutrino sector of the (beyond) Standard Model of particle Physics. Since 2013, just after the completion of the first part of its experimental program (Phase I), the GERDA setup has been upgraded to perform its next step in the 0νββ searches (Phase II). Phase II aims to reach a sensitivity to the 0νββ decay half-life larger than 1026 yr in about 3 years of physics data taking. This exposing a detector mass of about 35 kg of enrGe and with a background index of about 10^−3 cts/(keV·kg·yr). One of the main new implementations is the liquid argon scintillation light read-out, to veto those events that only partially deposit their energy both in Ge and in the surrounding LAr. In this paper, the GERDA Phase II expected goals, the upgrade work and few selected features from the 2015 commissioning and 2016 calibration runs will be presented. The main Phase I achievements will be also reviewed.

Keywords: gerda, double beta decay, LNGS, germanium

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Authors: Mohamed A. G. H. Abdalsadig, Amir Nourian, G. G. Nasr, Meisam Babaie

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Gas lift optimization is becoming more important now a day in petroleum industry. A proper lift optimization can reduce the operating cost, increase the net present value (NPV) and maximize the recovery from the asset. A widely accepted definition of gas lift optimization is to obtain the maximum output under specified operating conditions. In addition, gas lift, a costly and indispensable means to recover oil from high depth reservoir entails solving the gas lift optimization problems. Gas lift optimization is a continuous process; there are two levels of production optimization. The total field optimization involves optimizing the surface facilities and the injection rate that can be achieved by standard tools softwares. Well level optimization can be achieved by optimizing the well parameters such as point of injection, injection rate, and injection pressure. All these aspects have been investigated and presented in this study by using experimental data and PROSPER simulation program. The results show that the well head pressure has a large influence on the gas lift performance and also proved that smart gas lift valve can be used to improve gas lift performance by controlling gas injection from down hole. Obtaining the optimum gas injection rate is important because excessive gas injection reduces production rate and consequently increases the operation cost.

Keywords: optimization, production rate, reservoir pressure effect, gas injection rate effect, gas injection pressure

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Authors: Markus Heck, Hans Vettiger

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Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) are the backbone of central Europe’s economies and have a significant contribution to the gross domestic product. Production planning and scheduling (PPS) is still a crucial element in manufacturing industries of the 21st century even though this area of research is more than a century old. The topic of PPS is well researched especially in the context of large enterprises in the manufacturing industry. However, the implementation of PPS methodologies within SME is mostly unobserved. This work analyzes how PPS is implemented in SME with the geographical focus on Switzerland and its vicinity. Based on restricted resources compared to large enterprises, SME have to face different challenges. The real problem areas of selected enterprises in regards of PPS are identified and evaluated. For the identified real-life problem areas of SME clear and detailed recommendations are created, covering concepts and best practices and the efficient usage of PPS. Furthermore, the economic and entrepreneurial value for companies is lined out and why the implementation of the introduced recommendations is advised.

Keywords: central Europe, PPS, production planning, SME

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Authors: N. Songumpai, W. Sumranwanich, S. Chatmaneerungcharoen

Abstract:

This research aims to study the understanding of 8 aspects of nature of science (NOS). The research participants were 39 General Science student teachers who were selected by purposive sampling. In 2015 academic year, they enrolled in the course of Science Education Learning Management. Qualitative research was used as research methodology to understand how the student teachers propose on NOS. The research instruments consisted of open-ended questionnaires and semi-structure interviews that were used to assess students’ understanding of NOS. Research data was collected by 8 items- questionnaire and was categorized into students’ understanding of NOS, which consisted of complete understanding (CU), partial understanding (PU), misunderstanding (MU) and no understanding (NU). The findings reveal the majority of students’ misunderstanding of NOS regarding the aspects of theory and law(89.7%), scientific method(61.5%) and empirical evidence(15.4%) respectively. From the interview data, the student teachers present their misconceptions of NOS that indicate about theory and law cannot change; science knowledge is gained through experiment only (step by step); science is the things that are around humans. These results suggest that for effective science teacher education, the composition of design of NOS course needs to be considered. Therefore, teachers’ understanding of NOS is necessary to integrate into professional development program/course for empowering student teachers to begin their careers as strong science teachers in schools.

Keywords: nature of science, student teacher, no understanding, misunderstanding, partial understanding, complete understanding

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