Search results for: benefits of social media use

Authors: Antonio Davola

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Moving from the evaluations operated by Richard Posner in his judgment on the case Carhart v. Halaska, the paper seeks to analyse the so-called ‘litigation troll’ phenomenon and the development of a damage claims market, i.e. a market in which the right to propose claims is voluntary exchangeable for money and can be asserted by private buyers. The aim of our study is to assess whether the implementation of a ‘damage claims market’ might represent a resource for victims or if, on the contrary, it might operate solely as a speculation tool for private investors. The analysis will move from the US experience, and will then focus on the EU framework. Firstly, the paper will analyse the relation between the litigation troll phenomenon and the patent troll activity: even though these activities are considered similar by Posner, a comparative study shows how these practices significantly differ in their impact on the market and on consumer protection, even moving from similar economic perspectives. The second part of the paper will focus on the main specific concerns related to the litigation trolling activity. The main issues that will be addressed are the risk that the circulation of damage claims might spur non-meritorious litigation and the implications of the misalignment between the victim of a tort and the actual plaintiff in court arising from the sale of a claim. In its third part, the paper will then focus on the opportunities and benefits that the introduction and regulation of a claims market might imply both for potential claims sellers and buyers, in order to ultimately assess whether such a solution might actually increase individual’s legal empowerment. Through the damage claims market compensation would be granted more quickly and easily to consumers who had suffered harm: tort victims would, in fact, be compensated instantly upon the sale of their claims without any burden of proof. On the other hand, claim-buyers would profit from the gap between the amount that a consumer would accept for an immediate refund and the compensation awarded in court. In the fourth part of the paper, the analysis will focus on the legal legitimacy of the litigation trolling activity in the US and the EU framework. Even though there is no express provision that forbids the sale of the right to pursue a claim in court - or that deems such a right to be non-transferable – procedural laws of single States (especially in the EU panorama) must be taken into account in evaluating this aspect. The fifth and final part of the paper will summarize the various data collected to suggest an evaluation on if, and through which normative solutions, the litigation trolling might comport benefits for competition and which would be its overall effect over consumer’s protection.

Keywords: competition, claims, consumer's protection, litigation

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Authors: Vahid Ayan, Joshua R Omer, Alireza Khavandi, Mukesh C Limbachiya

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In Iran, utilization of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) aggregate has become a common practice in pavement rehabilitation during the last ten years. Such developments in highway engineering have necessitated several studies to clarify the technical and environmental feasibility of other alternative materials in road rehabilitation and maintenance. The use of recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) in asphalt pavements is one of the major goals of municipality of Tehran. Nevertheless little research has been done to examine the potential benefits of local RCA. The objective of this study is laboratory investigation of incorporating RCA into RAP for use in unbound subbase application. Laboratory investigation showed that 50%RCA+50%RAP is both technically and economically appropriate for subbase use.

Keywords: Roads & highways, Sustainability, Recycling & reuse of materials

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Authors: Marilou Cadatal-Raduban, Minh Hong Pham, Duong Van Pham, Tu Nguyen Xuan, Mui Viet Luong, Kohei Yamanoi, Toshihiko Shimizu, Nobuhiko Sarukura, Hung Dai Nguyen

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There is a great deal of interest in developing all-solid-state tunable ultrashort pulsed lasers emitting in the ultraviolet (UV) region for applications such as micromachining, investigation of charge carrier relaxation in conductors, and probing of ultrafast chemical processes. However, direct short-pulse generation is not as straight forward in solid-state gain media as it is for near-IR tunable solid-state lasers such as Ti:sapphire due to the difficulty of obtaining continuous wave laser operation, which is required for Kerr lens mode-locking schemes utilizing spatial or temporal Kerr type nonlinearity. In this work, the transient cavity method, which was reported to generate ultrashort laser pulses in dye lasers, is extended to a solid-state gain medium. Ce:LiCAF was chosen among the rare-earth-doped fluoride laser crystals emitting in the UV region because of its broad tunability (from 280 to 325 nm) and enough bandwidth to generate 3-fs pulses, sufficiently large effective gain cross section (6.0 x10⁻¹⁸ cm²) favorable for oscillators, and a high saturation fluence (115 mJ/cm²). Numerical simulations are performed to investigate the spectro-temporal evolution of the broadband UV laser emission from Ce:LiCAF, represented as a system of two homogeneous broadened singlet states, by solving the rate equations extended to multiple wavelengths. The goal is to find the appropriate cavity length and Q-factor to achieve the optimal photon cavity decay time and pumping energy for resonator transients that will lead to ps UV laser emission from a Ce:LiCAF crystal pumped by the fourth harmonics (266nm) of a Nd:YAG laser. Results show that a single ps pulse can be generated from a 1-mm, 1 mol% Ce³⁺-doped LiCAF crystal using an output coupler with 10% reflectivity (low-Q) and an oscillator cavity that is 2-mm long (short cavity). This technique can be extended to other fluoride-based solid-state laser gain media.

Keywords: rare-earth-doped fluoride gain medium, transient cavity, ultrashort laser, ultraviolet laser

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Authors: Chanchai Supaartagorn

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E-retailing is the sale of goods online that takes place over the Internet. The Internet has shrunk the entire World. The world e-retailing is growing at an exponential rate in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. However, e-retailing costs require expensive investment, such as hardware, software, and security systems. Cloud computing technology is internet-based computing for the management and delivery of applications and services. Cloud-based e-retailing application models allow enterprises to lower their costs with their effective implementation of e-retailing activities. In this paper, we describe the concept of cloud computing and present the architecture of cloud computing, combining the features of e-retailing. In addition, we propose a strategy for implementing cloud computing with e-retailing. Finally, we explain the benefits from the architecture.

Keywords: architecture, cloud computing, e-retailing, internet-based

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Authors: Muhammad Abba Jallo, Fred Fudah Moveh

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This study addresses the challenges faced by Nigerian law enforcement agencies due to the lack of an integrated crime management system. While various agencies use ICT-based systems, the absence of interoperability creates barriers to effective collaboration and information sharing. The research proposes the development of an Interagency Crime Management System (ICMS), which integrates the Crime Management Systems (CMS) of different agencies through an Application Program Interface (API). The system is designed to allow all law enforcement agencies to input data using a standardized format, improving crime tracking, reporting, and management across Nigeria. This paper details the design and implementation process, highlighting the benefits of enhanced collaboration for crime management.

Keywords: crime management, Nigeria, law enforcement, ICT

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Authors: Anum Javed

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This study identifies the dynamical image of human body that continues its metamorphosis in the virtual field of reality. It calls attention to the ways where humans start co-evolving with other life forms; technology in particular and are striving to establish a realm outside the physical framework of matter. The problem exceeds the area of technological ethics by explicably and explanatorily entering the space of literary texts and criticism. Textual analysis of Geek Love (1989) by Katherine Dunn is adjoined with posthumanist perspectives of Pramod K. Nayar to beget psycho-somatic changes in man’s nature of being. It uncovers the meaning people give to their experiences in this budding social and cultural phenomena of material representation tied up with personal practices and technological innovations. It also observes an ethical, physical and psychological reassessment of man within the context of technological evolutions. The study indicates the elements that have rendered morphological freedom and new materialism in man’s consciousness. Moreover this work is inquisitive of what it means to be a human in this time of accelerating change where surgeries, implants, extensions, cloning and robotics have shaped a new sense of being. It attempts to go beyond individual’s body image and explores how objectifying media and culture have influenced people’s judgement of others on new material grounds. It further argues a decentring of the glorified image of man as an independent entity because of his energetic partnership with intelligent machines and external agents. The history of the future progress of technology is also mentioned. The methodology adopted is posthumanist techno-ethical textual analysis. This work necessitates a negotiating relationship between man and technology in order to achieve harmonic and balanced interconnected existence. The study concludes by recommending a call for an ethical set of codes to be cultivated for the techno-human habituation. Posthumanism ushers a strong need of adopting new ethics within the terminology of neo-materialist humanism.

Keywords: corporeality, dematerialism, human ethos, posthumanism

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Authors: Minwuyelet Maru, Solomon Habtemariam, Endalamaw Gadissa, Abraham Aseffa

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Background: Tuberculosis is a major public health problem in Ethiopia. The burden of TB is aggravated by emergence and expansion of drug resistant tuberculosis and different lineages of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) have been reported in many parts of the country. Describing strains of Mycobacterial isolates and drug susceptibility pattern is necessary. Method: Sputum samples were collected from smear positive pulmonary TB patients age >= 7 years between October 1, 2012 to September 30, 2013 and Mycobacterial strains isolated on Loweensten Jensen (LJ) media. Each strain was characterized by deletion typing and Spoligotyping. Drug sensitivity testing was determined with the indirect proportion method using Middle brook 7H10 media and association to determine possible risk factors to drug resistance was done. Result: A total of 144 smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients were enrolled. The age of participants ranged from 7 to 78 with mean age of 29.22 (±10.77) years. In this study 82.2% (n=97) of the isolates were sensitive to the four first line anti-tuberculosis drugs and resistance to any of the four drugs tested was 17.8% (n=21). A high frequency of any resistance was observed in isoniazid, 13.6%, (n=16) followed by streptomycin, 11.8% (n=14). No significant association of isoniazid resistance with HIV, sex and history of previous TB treatment was observed but there was significant association with age, high between 31-35 years of age (p=0.01). Majority, 89.9% (n=128) of participants were new cases and only 11.1% (n=16) had history of previous TB treatment. No MDR-TB from new cases and 2 MDRTB (13.3%) was isolated from re-treatment cases which was significantly associated with previous TB treatment (p<0.01). Thirty two different types of spoligotype patterns were identified and 74.1% were grouped in to 13 clusters. The dominant strains were SIT 25, 18.1% (n=21), SIT 53, 17.2% (n=20) and SIT 149, 8.6% (n=10). Lineage 4 is the predominant lineage followed by lineage 3 and lineage 7 comprising 65.5% (n=76), 28.4% (n=33) and 6% (n=7) respectively. Majority of strains from lineage 3 and 4 were SIT 25 (63.6%) and SIT 53 (26.3%) whereas SIT 343 was the dominant strain from lineage 7 (71.4%). Conclusion: Wide spread of lineage 3 and lineage 4 of the modern lineage and high number of strain cluster indicates high ongoing transmission. The high proportion resistance to any of the first line anti-tuberculosis drugs may be a potential source in the emergence of MDR-TB. Wide spread of SIT 25 and SIT 53 having a tendency of ease transmission and presence of higher resistance of isoniazid in working and mobile age group, 31-35 years of age may increase risk of drug resistant strains transmission.

Keywords: tuberculosis, drug susceptibility, strain diversity, lineage, Ethiopia, spoligotyping

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Authors: Zi Zhu

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The last decade has witnessed increasing urban environmental uprisings in China, as thousands of citizens swarmed into streets to express their deep concerns about the environmental threat and public health through various collective actions. The prevalent western approaches to collective actions, which usually treat urban riots and social movements as distinct phenomenon, have plagued an adequate analysis of the urban environmental uprisings in China. The increasing urban environmental contention can neither be categorized into riots nor social movements, as they carry the features of both: at first sight, they are spontaneous, disorganized and disruptive with an absence of observable mobilization process; however, unlike riots in the west, these collective actions conveyed explicit demand in a mostly non-destructive way rather than a pure expression of frustration. This article proposes a different approach to urban environmental uprisings in China which concerns the diminishing boundaries between riots and social movements and points to the underlying structural causes to the unique forms of urban environmental contention. Taking the urban anti-PX protests as examples, this article analyzes the societal and political structural environment faced by the Chinese environmental protesters and its influence on the origin and development of their contention.

Keywords: urban environmental uprisings, China, anti-PX protests, opportunity structure

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Authors: Muge Unal, Ahmet Cilek

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Urban identity, having a dynamic characteristic spatial and semantic aspects, is a phenomenon in an ever-changing. Urban identity formation includes not only a process of physical nature but also development and change processes that take place in the political, economic, social and cultural values, whether national and international level. Although the concept of urban transformation is basically regarded as the spatial transformation; in fact, it reveals a holistic perspective and transformation based on dialectical relationship existing between the spatial and social relationship. For this reason, urban renewal needs to address as not only spatial but also the impact of spatial transformation on social, cultural and economic. Implementation tools used in the perception of urban transformation are varied concepts such as urban renewal, urban resettlement, urban rehabilitation, urban redevelopment, and urban revitalization. The phenomenon of urban transformation begins with the Industrial Revolution. Until the 1980s, it was interpreted as reconsidering physical fossil on urban environment factor like occurring in rapid urbanization, changing in the spatial structure of the city, concentrating of the population in urban areas. However, after the 1980s, it has resided in a conceptual structure which requires to be addressed physical, economic, social, technological and integrity of information. In conclusion, urban transformation, when it enter the literature as a practice of planning, has been up to date in terms of the conceptual structure and content and also hasn’t remained behind converting itself. Urban transformation still maintains its simplest expression, while it transforms so fast converts the contents. In this study, the relationship between urban design and components of urban transformation were discussed with strategies used as a place in the historical process of urban transformation besides a general evaluation of the concept of urban renewal.

Keywords: conceptual approach, urban identity, urban regeneration, urban renewal

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Authors: Kanikanun Photchong, Phusit Phukamchanoad

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The objective of this research is to study the people’s level of participation in activities of the community, their satisfaction towards the community, the attachment they have to the community, factors that influence the attachment, as well as the characteristics of the relationships of military families’ of the Royal Guards community of Dusit District. The method used was non-probability sampling by quota sampling according to people’s age. The determined age group was 18 years or older. One set of a sample group was done per family. The questionnaires were conducted by 287 people. Snowball sampling was also used by interviewing people of the community, starting from the Royal Guards Community’s leader, then by 20 of the community’s well-respected persons. The data was analyzed by using descriptive statistics, such as arithmetic mean and standard deviation, as well as by inferential statistics, such as Independent - Samples T test (T-test), One-Way ANOVA (F-test), Chi-Square. Descriptive analysis according to the structure of the interview content was also used. The results of the research is that the participation of the population in the Royal Guards Community in various activities is at a medium level, with the average participation level during Mother’s and Father’s Days. The people’s general level of satisfaction towards the premises of the Royal Guards Community is at the highest level. The people were most satisfied with the transportation within the community and in contacting with people from outside the premises. The access to the community is convenient and there are various entrances. The attachment of the people to the Royal Guards Community in general and by each category is at a high level. The feeling that the community is their home rated the highest average. Factors that influence the attachment of the people of the Royal Guards Community are age, status, profession, income, length of stay in the community, membership of social groups, having neighbors they feel close and familiar with, and as well as the benefits they receive from the community. In addition, it was found that people that participate in activities have a high level of positive relationship towards the attachment of the people to the Royal Guards Community. The satisfaction of the community has a very high level of positive relationship with the attachment of the people to the Royal Guards Community. The characteristics of the attachment of military families’ is that they live in big houses that everyone has to protect and care for, starting from the leader of the family as well as all members. Therefore, they all love the community they live in. The characteristics that show the participation of activities within the community and the high level of satisfaction towards the premises of the community will enable the people to be more attached to the community. The people feel that everyone is close neighbors within the community, as if they are one big family.

Keywords: community attachment, community satisfaction, royal guards community, activities of the community

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Authors: Susanna Menis

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The context of this study revolves around the theme of consent and the construction of unlawfulness in judicial decisions. It aims to explore the formation of societal perceptions of unlawfulness within the context of consensual sexual acts leading to harmful consequences. This study investigates how judges create legal rules that reflect social solidarity and protect against violence. Specifically, the research aims to understand the justification behind criminalising consensual sexual activity when categorised under different offences. The main question addressed in this study will evaluate the way judges create legal rules that they believe reflect social solidarity and protect against violence. The study employs a historical genealogy approach as its methodology. This approach allows for tracing back the original formation of societal perspectives on unlawfulness, thus highlighting the socially constructed nature of the present understanding. The data for this study will be collected through an extensive literature review, examining historical legal cases and documents that shape the understanding of unlawfulness. This will provide a comprehensive view of how social attitudes toward private sexual relations influenced the creation of legal rules. The theoretical importance of this research lies in its contribution to socio-legal scholarship. This study adds to the existing knowledge on the topic by exploring questions of unconscious bias and its origins. The findings shed light on how and why individuals possess unconscious biases, particularly within the judicial system. In conclusion, this study investigates judicial decisions concerning consensual sexual acts and the construction of unlawfulness. By employing a historical genealogy approach, the research sheds light on how judges create legal rules that reflect social solidarity and aim to protect against violence. The theoretical importance of this study lies in its contribution to understanding unconscious bias and its origins within the judicial system. Through data collection and analysis procedures, this study aims to provide valuable insights into the formation of social attitudes towards private sexual relations and its impact on legal rulings.

Keywords: consent, sexual offences, offences against the person, legal genealogy, social construct

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Authors: Mojeed A. Oladele

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The original zoning system in Louisville promoted social segregation among groups and remained a tool for social exclusion that strengthened preexisting inequalities. The current residential zoning system in Louisville is predominantly single-family residential housing. Of the 75% of total land allocated for residential purposes, 55% comprises single-family housing, constituting one form of development and ruminant problems of social segregation within the city. The zoning reform initiative birthed the spatial improvement and development of additional middle housing as a more generic and inclusive housing form. The paper investigates the basis of zoning reform relative to the interconnectedness amongst the discursive objects of analysis and the extensiveness as a strategic tool of structural adjustment. Qualitative methodological assessment generated by collective planning professionals reflects the effectiveness of the new zoning design in strengthening the socio-spatial interactions within the city. The zoning reform is currently at the early stage of implementation and requires more professional/public inputs and constant iterative processes for a more promising urban planning outcome.

Keywords: zoning reform, viability, urban inequality, housing affordability, Louisville

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Authors: Fabrizio Codella, Chris Parker, Samer Saab

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The Kigali Amendment is driving the adoption of low Global Warming Potential refrigerants in commercial refrigeration systems in over a hundred countries. Several refrigeration systems for the small and large retail stores at mild and hot ambient temperature climates have been compared for hydrofluorocarbons (HFC), hydrofluoroolefins (HFO), transcritical CO₂ and propane, in typical and advanced system architectures. The results of system performance, emissions and lifetime cost have been compared. The greatest benefits were found to be obtained by low global warming potential HFO advanced systems.

Keywords: commercial refrigeration, CO₂, emissions, HFO, lifetime cost, performance

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Authors: Clare Maxwell, Lorna Porcellato, Valerie Fleming, Kate Fleming

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A review of global online forums and social media reveals large numbers of mothers experiencing bottle refusal by their breastfed baby. It is difficult to determine precise numbers due to a lack of data, however, established virtual communities illustrate thousands of posts in relation to the issue. Mothers report various negative consequences of bottle refusal including delaying their return to work, time and financial outlay spent on methods to overcome it and experiencing stress, anxiety, and resentment of breastfeeding. A search of the literature revealed no studies being identified, and due to a lack of epidemiological data, a study investigating mother’s experiences of bottle refusal by their breastfed baby was undertaken. The aim of the study was to investigate UK mothers’ experiences of bottle refusal by their breastfed baby. Data were collected using an online questionnaire collecting quantitative and qualitative data. 841 UK mothers who had experienced or were experiencing bottle refusal by their breastfed baby completed the questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and non-parametric testing. The results showed 61% (516/840) of mothers reported their breastfed baby was still refusing/had never accepted a bottle, with 39% (324/840) reporting their baby had eventually accepted. The most frequently reported reason to introduce a bottle was so partner/family could feed the baby 59% (499/839). 75% (634/841) of mothers intended their baby to feed on a bottle ‘occasionally’. Babies who accepted a bottle were more likely to be older at 1st attempt to introduce one than those babies who refused (Mdn = 12 weeks v 8 weeks, n = 286) (p = <0.001). Length of time taken to acceptance was 9 weeks (Mdn = 9, IQR = 18, R = 103.9, n = 306) with the older the baby was at 1st attempt to introduce a bottle being associated with a shorter length of time to acceptance (p = < 0.002). 60% (500/841) of mothers stated that none of the methods they used had worked. 26% (222/841) of mothers reported bottle refusal had had a negative impact upon their overall breastfeeding experience. 47% (303/604) reported they would have tried to introduce a bottle earlier to prevent refusal. This study provides a unique insight into the scenario of bottle refusal by breastfed babies. It highlights that bottle refusal by breastfed babies is a significant issue, which requires recognition from those communicating breastfeeding information to mothers.

Keywords: bottle feeding, bottle refusal, breastfeeding, infant feeding

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Authors: Arun Prabhakar

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Threat modeling is an important activity carried out in the initial stages of the development lifecycle that helps in building proactive security measures in the product. Though there are many techniques and tools available today, one of the common challenges with the traditional methods is the lack of a systematic approach in identifying security threats. The proposed solution describes an organized model by defining ontologies that help in building patterns to enumerate threats. The concepts of graph theory are applied to build the pattern for discovering threats for any given scenario. This graph-based solution also brings in other benefits, making it a customizable and scalable model.

Keywords: directed acyclic graph, ontology, patterns, threat identification, threat modeling

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Authors: Aysen Celen Ozturk, Hatice Dulger

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University may be defined as a teaching institution consisting of faculties, institutes, colleges, and units that have undergraduate and graduate education, scientific research and publications. It has scientific autonomy and public legal personality. Today, universities are not only the institutions in which students and lecturers experience education, training and scientific work. They also offer social, cultural and artistic activities that strengthen the link with the city. This also incorporates all city users into the campus borders. Thus, universities contribute to social and individual development of the country by providing science, art, socio-cultural development, communication and socialization with people of different cultural and social backgrounds. Moreover, universities provide an active social life, where the young population is the majority. This enables the sense of belonging to the users to develop, to increase the interaction between academicians and students, and to increase the learning / producing community by continuing academic sharing environments outside the classrooms. For this reason, besides academic spaces in university campuses, the users also need closed and open spaces where they can socialize, spend time together and relax. Public open spaces are the most important social spaces that individuals meet, express themselves and share. Individuals belonging to different socio-cultural structures and ethnic groups maintain their social experiences with the physical environment they are in, the outdoors, and their actions and sharing in these spaces. While university campuses are being designed for their individual and social development roles, user needs must be determined correctly and design should be realized in this direction. While considering that requirements may change over time, user satisfaction should be questioned at certain periods and new arrangements should be made in existing applications in the direction of current demands. This study aims to determine the user requirements through the case of Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Meşelik Campus / Turkey. Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) questionnaire, cognitive mapping and deep interview methods are used in the research process. All these methods show that the students, academicians and other officials in the Meşelik Campus of Eskişehir Osmangazi University find way finding elements insufficient and are in need of efficient landscape design and social spaces. This study is important in terms of determining the needs of the users as a design input. This will help improving the quality of common space in Eskişehir Osmangazi University and in other similar universities.

Keywords: university campuses, public open space, user requirement, post occupancy evaluation

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Authors: Manju Bala Jassi

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The Covid 19 pandemic has badly mauled Dubai’s GDP heavily dependent on hospitality, tourism, entertainment, logistics, property and the retail sectors. In the context of the World Health protocols on social distancing for better maintenance of health and hygiene, the revival of the battered tourism and hospitality sectors has serious lessons for designers- interiors and public places. The tangible and intangible aesthetic elements and design –ambiance, materials, furnishings, colors, lighting and interior with architectural design issues of tourism and hospitality need a rethink to ensure a memorable tourist experience. Designers ought to experiment with sustainable places of tourism and design, develop, build and projects are aesthetic and leave as little negative impacts on the environment and public as possible. In short, they ought to conceive public spaces that makes use of little untouched materials and energy, and creates pollution and waste that are minimal. The spaces can employ healthier and more resource-efficient prototypes of construction, renovation, operation, maintenance, and demolition and thereby mitigate the environment impacts of the construction activities and it is sustainable These measures encompass the hospitality sector that includes hotels and restaurants which has taken the hardest fall from the pandemic. The paper sought to examine building energy efficiency and materials and design employed in public places, green buildings to achieve constructive sustainability and to establish the benefits of utilizing energy efficiency, green materials and sustainable design; to document diverse policy interventions, design and Spatial dimensions of tourism and hospitality sectors; to examine changes in the hospitality, aviation sector especially from a design perspective regarding infrastructure or operational constraints and additional risk-mitigation measures; to dilate on the nature of implications for interior designers and architects to design public places to facilitate sustainable tourism and hospitality while balancing convenient space and their operations' natural surroundings. The qualitative research approach was adopted for the study. The researcher collected and analyzed data in continuous iteration. Secondary data was collected from articles in journals, trade publications, government reports, newspaper/ magazine articles, policy documents etc. In depth interviews were conducted with diverse stakeholders. Preliminary data indicates that designers have started imagining public places of tourism and hospitality against the backdrop of the government push and WHO guidelines. For instance, with regard to health, safety, hygiene and sanitation, Emirates, the Dubai-based airline has augmented health measures at the Dubai International Airport and on board its aircraft. It has leveraged high tech/ Nano-tech, social distancing to encourage least human contact, flexible design layouts to limit the occupancy. The researcher organized the data into thematic categories and found that the Government of Dubai has initiated comprehensive measures in the hospitality, tourism and aviation sectors in compliance with the WHO guidelines.

Keywords: Covid 19, design, Dubai, hospitality, public spaces, tourism

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Authors: Patricia Portugal Marques de Carvalho Lourenco

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A three-phase methodological multi-lingual path was designed, constructed and carried out using the 2020 Chinese Internet Drama Series We Are All Alone as a case study. Phase one, the backbone of the research, comprised of secondary data analysis, providing the structure on which the next two phases would be built on. Phase one incorporated a Google Scholar and a Baidu Index analysis, Star Network Influence Index and Mydramalist.com top two drama reviews, along with an article written about the drama and scrutiny of Chinese related blogs and websites. Phase two was field research elaborated across Latin Europe, and phase three was social media focused, having into account that perceptions are going to be memory conditioned based on past ideas recall. Overall, research has shown the poor cultural expression of Chinese entertainment in Latin Europe and demonstrated the inexistence of Chinese content in French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish Business to Consumer retailers; a reflection of their low significance in Latin European markets and the short-life cycle of entertainment products in general, bubble-gum, disposable goods without a mid to long-term effect in consumers lives. The process of conducting comprehensive international research was complex and time-consuming, with data not always available in Mandarin, the researcher’s linguistic deficiency, limited Chinese Cultural Knowledge and cultural equivalence. Despite steps being taken to minimize the international proposed research, theoretical limitations concurrent to Latin Europe and China still occurred. Data accuracy was disputable; sampling, data collection/analysis methods are heterogeneous; ascertaining data requirements and the method of analysis to achieve a construct equivalence was challenging and morose to operationalize. Secondary data was also not often readily available in Mandarin; yet, in spite of the array of limitations, research was done, and results were produced.

Keywords: research methodologies, international research, primary data, secondary data, research limitations, online dramas, china, latin europe

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Authors: Aitana Alonso-Nogueira, Helia Estévez-Fernández, Isaías García

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This paper presents an approach to reduce some of its current flaws in the requirements phase inside the software development process. It takes the software requirements of an application, makes a conceptual modeling about it and formalizes it within JSON documents. This formal model is lodged in a NoSQL database which is document-oriented, that is, MongoDB, because of its advantages in flexibility and efficiency. In addition, this paper underlines the contributions of the detailed approach and shows some applications and benefits for the future work in the field of automatic code generation using model-driven engineering tools.

Keywords: conceptual modelling, JSON, NoSQL databases, requirements engineering, software development

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Authors: Ali Karimi, Shabnam Karimifam, Amirhosein Karimi, Farahnaz Pournavvab

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Researches have emphasis on the important role of psychosocial support and appropriate interventions for individuals that involved in serious physical and psychological problems . Patients with AIDS are often discussed in studies, but sometimes the psychological conditions of the people who live with them are ignored. In the present study, while paying attention to the spouses of AIDS patients, the role of supportive interventions has been investigated. the other word , Researchers Show that life skills training causes significant improvement in the mean scores of mothers physical health , mental health, social relationship and ultimately quality of life in the experimental group . The purpose of this study is determine of mental health of Twenty-one wives of patients with HIV+ In Shiraz ( city in sought of Iran) and effects of life skills on promotion of their mental health . Sampling was systematic randomize . These women were selected and invited to the training program based on their husbands' file numbers, who were selected to the counseling center for people with AIDS. first , they filled out GHQ questionnaires . Then , the life skills training for 8 sessions were taught for these women . Results indicated that Psychological condition of wife of patients with HIV+ was not appropriate . Scores of most them were above of cut of point of questionnaires .T test was done . worse scores were Assigned to anxiety and weakness in social functions . In the other hand , life skills have been effective significantly only in social functions of women . Scores of research’s participants in anxiety , depression and total test score were enhanced , but have not been significant . In the main of article , researchers have discussed why life skills training does not have much effect on some emotional problems .Despite the fact that life skills training had a positive effect on these spouses, but due to the stress of women with AIDS spouses, life skills training did not show much effectiveness, and for outstanding effects, there is a need for individual psychological treatments and broader social support.

Keywords: Hiv, aids, social suport, life skills

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Authors: Arkadiusz Gut, Joanna Afek

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The first issue that we discuss in this paper is a battery of research demonstrating that culture influences children’s performance in tasks testing their theory of mind, also known as mindreading. We devote special attention to research done within Chinese culture; namely, studies with children speaking Cantonese and Mandarin natively and growing up in an environment dominated by the Chinese model of informal home education. Our attention focuses on the differences in development and functioning of social abilities and competences between children from China and the West. Another matter we turn to is the description of the nature of Chinese early childhood education. We suggest that the differences between the Chinese model and that of the West reveal a set of modifiers responsible for the variation observed in empirical research on children’s theory of mind (mindreading). The modifiers we identify are the following: (1) early socialization – that is, the transformation of the child into a member of the family and society that set special value by the social and physical environment; (2) the Confucian model of education – that is, the Chinese alphabet and tradition that determine a certain way of education in China; (3) the authoritarian style of upbringing – that is, reinforcing conformism, discouraging voicing of private opinions, and respect for elders; (4) the modesty of children and protectiveness of parents – that is, obedience as a desired characteristic in the child, overprotectiveness of parents, especially mothers; and (5) gender differences – that is, different educational styles for girls and boys. In our study, we conduct a thorough meta-analysis of empirical data on the development of mindreading and ToM (children’s theory of mind), as well as a cultural analysis of early childhood education in China. We support our analyses with questionnaire and narrative studies conducted in China that use the ‘Children’s Social Understanding Scale’ questionnaire, conversations based on the so-called ‘Scenarios Presented to Parents’, and questions designed to measure the ‘my child and I’ relation. With our research we aim to identify the factors in early childhood education that serve as moderators explaining the nature of the development and functioning of social cognition based on mind reading in China. Additionally, our study provides a valuable insight for comparative research of social cognition between China and the West.

Keywords: early childhood education, China, mindreading, parenting

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Authors: Noor Ismael, Lisa Mische Lawson, Lauren Little, Murad Moqbel

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Background/Significance: Caregivers of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) develop coping mechanisms to overcome daily challenges to successfully parent their child. There is variability in coping strategies used among caregivers of children with ASD. Capturing homogeneity among such variable groups may help elucidate targeted intervention approaches for caregivers of children with ASD. Study Purpose: This study aimed to identify groups of caregivers of children with ASD based on coping mechanisms, and to examine whether there are differences among these groups in terms of strain level. Methods: This study utilized a secondary data analysis, and included survey responses of 273 caregivers of children with ASD. Measures consisted of the COPE Inventory and the Caregiver Strain Questionnaire. Data analyses consisted of cluster analysis to group caregiver coping strategies, and analysis of variance to compare the caregiver coping groups on strain level. Results: Cluster analysis results showed four distinct groups with different combinations of coping strategies: Social-Supported/Planning (group one), Spontaneous/Reactive (group two), Self-Supporting/Reappraisal (group three), and Religious/Expressive (group four). Caregivers in group one (Social-Supported/Planning) demonstrated significantly higher levels than the remaining three groups in the use of the following coping strategies: planning, use of instrumental social support, and use of emotional social support, relative to the other three groups. Caregivers in group two (Spontaneous/Reactive) used less restraint relative to the other three groups, and less suppression of competing activities relative to the other three groups as coping strategies. Also, group two showed significantly lower levels of religious coping as compared to the other three groups. In contrast to group one, caregivers in group three (Self-Supporting/Reappraisal) demonstrated significantly lower levels of the use of instrumental social support and the use of emotional social support relative to the other three groups. Additionally, caregivers in group three showed more acceptance, positive reinterpretation and growth coping strategies. Caregivers in group four (Religious/Expressive) demonstrated significantly higher levels of religious coping relative to the other three groups and utilized more venting of emotions strategies. Analysis of Variance results showed no significant differences between the four groups on the strain scores. Conclusions: There are four distinct groups with different combinations of coping strategies: Social-Supported/Planning, Spontaneous/Reactive, Self-Supporting/Reappraisal, and Religious/Expressive. Each caregiver group engaged in a combination of coping strategies to overcome the strain of caregiving.

Keywords: autism, caregivers, cluster analysis, coping strategies

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Authors: N. M. Esa Abrar Khan

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This paper will describe how a city planning can be abusive and promote gentrification in Dhaka city area in an extreme remorseless way. To our knowledge, Dhaka is enormously overpopulated, and its somewhat unrest political situation and corruption is promoting not only bruised urban growth but also this growth leering people socially and mentally. Due to globalization, whole world is in a rat race of development fiesta and Bangladesh is no longer falling back in this race. Recent political agenda is to develop the country anyhow, whether it is a good development or not. In the name of development, Dhaka city is becoming overwhelmed with flyovers, needless shopping malls and commercial complexes. This drastic urbanization is promoting gentrification. Gentrification is the process of societal change which intimidate the existing group of people from a certain place and encouraging affluent group of people on that place and eventually they take the control of that place. Process of gentrification is more capitalistic rather socially democratic. Architects are indirectly or directly related with this social change and politics is the catalyst of these social alteration. The methodology of this paper was mainly dependent on mass interviews including political leaders and activist’s interviews. Also, photographic analysis, empirical research etc. helped to create this paper. Secondary data were collected from different published and unpublished documents, relevant research articles, and books. From the study, it is clearly can be said that architects and urban designers are promoting social imbalance. The paper tried to suggest how architects and other designers can help to resist gentrification and can remain the social heterogeneity.

Keywords: gentrification, migration, Bangladesh, urban, globalization, hybrid

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Authors: Loreta Kaklauskiene, Arturas Kaklauskas

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The Integrated Human Resources and Work Environment Management (HOWE) System optimises employee productivity, improves the work environment, and, at the same time, meets the employer’s strategic goals. The HOWE system has been designed to ensure an organisation can successfully compete in the global market, thanks to the high performance of its employees. The HOWE system focuses on raising workforce productivity and improving work conditions to boost employee performance and motivation. The methods used in our research are linear correlation, INVAR multiple criteria analysis, digital twin, and affective computing. The HOWE system is based on two patents issued in Lithuania (LT 6866, LT 6841) and one European Patent application (No: EP 4 020 134 A1). Our research analyses ways to make human resource management more efficient and boost labour productivity by improving and adapting a personalised work environment. The efficiency of human capital and labour productivity can be increased by applying personalised workplace improvement systems that can optimise lighting colours and intensity, scents, data, information, knowledge, activities, media, games, videos, music, air pollution, humidity, temperature, vibrations, and other workplace aspects. HOWE generates and maintains a personalised workspace for an employee, taking into account the person’s affective, physiological and emotional (APSE) states. The purpose of this project was to create a HOWE for the customisation of quality control in smart workspaces taking into account the user’s APSE states in an integrated manner as a single unit. This customised management of quality control covers the levels of lighting and colour intensities, scents, media, information, activities, learning materials, games, music, videos, temperature, energy efficiency, the carbon footprint of a workspace, humidity, air pollution, vibrations and other aspects of smart spaces. The system is based on Digital Twins technology, seen as a logical extension of BIM.

Keywords: human resource management, health economics, work environment, organizational behaviour and employee productivity, prosperity in work, smart system

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Authors: Maged El-Sayed Mohamed

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Plant tissue culture practices are presented nowadays as the most promising substitute to a whole plant in the terms of secondary metabolites production. They offer the advantages of high production, tunability and they have less effect on plant ecosystems. Lantana camara is a weed, which is common all over the world as an ornamental plant. Weeds can adapt to any type of soil and climate due to their rich cellular machinery for secondary metabolites’ production. This characteristic is found in Lantana camara as a plant of very rich diversity of secondary metabolites with no dominant class of compounds. Aim: This trait has encouraged the author to develop tissue culture experiments for Lantana camara to be a platform for production and manipulation of secondary metabolites through biotransformation. Methodology: The plant was collected in its flowering stage in September 2014, from which explants were prepared from shoot tip, auxiliary bud and leaf. Different types of culture media were tried as well as four phytohormones and their combinations; NAA, 2,4-D, BAP and kinetin. Explants were grown in dark or in 12 hours dark and light cycles at 25°C. A metabolic profile for the produced callus was made and then compared to the whole plant profile. The metabolic profile was made using GC-MS for volatile constituents (extracted by n-hexane) and by HPLC-MS and capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry (CE-MS) for non-volatile constituents (extracted by ethanol and water). Results: The best conditions for the callus induction was achieved using MS media supplied with 30 gm sucrose and NAA/BAP (1:0.2 mg/L). Initiation of callus was favoured by incubation in dark for 20 day. The callus produced under these conditions showed yellow colour, which changed to brownish after 30 days. The rate of callus growth was high, expressed in the callus diameter, which reached to 1.15±0.2 cm in 30 days; however, the induction of callus delayed for 15 days. The metabolic profile for both volatile and non-volatile constituents of callus showed more simple background metabolites than the whole plant with two new (unresolved) peaks in the callus’ nonvolatile constituents’ chromatogram. Conclusion: Lantana camara callus production can be itself a source of new secondary metabolites and could be used for biotransformation studies due to its simple metabolic background, which allow easy identification of newly formed metabolites. The callus production gathered the simple metabolic background with the rich cellular secondary metabolite machinery of the plant, which could be elicited to produce valuable medicinally active products.

Keywords: capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry, gas chromatography, metabolic profile, plant tissue culture

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Authors: Qiuhu Shao

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Community home-based care service system, which is based on the family pension, supported by community pension and supplied by institutions pension, is an effective pension system to solve the current situation of China's accelerated aging. However, due to the fundamental realities of our country, the government is not able to bear the unilateral supply of the old-age service of the community. Therefore, based on the theory of welfare pluralism, the participation of social organizations in the home-based care service center has become an important part of the diversified supply of the old-age service for the elderly. Meanwhile, the home-based care service industry is still in the early stage, the management is relatively rough, which resulted in a large number of social resources waste. Thus, scientific, objective and long-term implementation is needed for social organizations to participate in home-based care services to guide its performance management. In order to realize the design of the performance management system, the author has done a research work that clarifies the research status of social organization's participation in home-based care service. Relevant theories such as welfare pluralism, community care theory, and performance management theory have been used to demonstrate the feasibility of data envelopment analysis method in social organization performance research. This paper analyzes the characteristics of the operation mode of the home-based care service center, and hackles the national as well as local documents, standards and norms related to the development of the home-based care industry, particularly studies those documents in Nanjing. Based on this, the paper designed a set of performance management PDCA system for home-based care service center in Nanjing and clarified each step of the system in detail. Subsequently, the research methods of performance evaluation and performance management and feedback, which are two core steps of performance management have been compared and screened in order to establish the overall framework of the performance management system of the home-based care service center. Through a large number of research, the paper summarized and analyzed the characteristics of the home-based care service center. Based on the research results, combined with the practice of the industry development in Nanjing, the paper puts forward a targeted performance evaluation index system of home-based care service center in Nanjing. Finally, the paper evaluated and sub-filed the performance of 186 home-based care service centers in Nanjing and then designed the performance optimization direction and performance improvement path based on the results. This study constructs the index system of performance evaluation of home-based care service and makes the index detailed to the implementation level, and constructs the evaluation index system which can be applied directly. Meanwhile, the quantitative evaluation of social organizations participating in the home-based care service changed the subjective impression in the previous practice of evaluation.

Keywords: data envelopment analysis, home-based care, performance management, social organization

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Authors: Philip Tachin

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Despite the positive contributions that religion has impacted human society, religious discrimination and violence also have been growing globally with extreme negative effects on human life and social relationships. Believers in religious extremism are motivated by a sense of exhibiting true religious piety in which case they do not only withhold their practical benevolence from those who do not belong to their faith but they even seek the elimination of other adherents from human existence. This phenomenon has a very high magnitude in Nigeria over the years, which deserves more research for the purpose of finding sustainable solutions to the problem. Calvin believed that true religious piety must, among other things, be categorized in personal and corporate positive social actions that esteem human needs irrespective of ethnic, ideological and belief differences. It is therefore appropriate to pose the following questions: Should true religious piety be seen in terms of how the actions of adherents positively impact human society? Could Calvin’s idea on this issue be very significant and helpful in the context of the Nigerian situation? In answering these questions, this research will limit its investigation to Calvin’s Institutes and some of his Commentaries. The goal of this research is to offer an instructive orientation to the readers that will help in building a more tolerable, peaceful, and a free and virtuous society.

Keywords: Calvin, human good, religious piety, virtuous society

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Authors: Rajkamal Ajmeri, Leena Mehta

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Growing magnitude of human trafficking is the indicatory symptom of ill society. Despite of many treaties, legislation and protocols control over human trafficking require additional attention. However, many Anti Human Trafficking Units (AHTU) are working throughout India but it is a fact that incidence pertaining to illegal human trade is not fully under control. Social work as discipline and practice base profession has a lot of concern about situation and the trafficked victims. United state put Indian in tier II watch list because they are not fully complying with the minimum standard of Trafficking Victims Protection laws but they are making a significant effort to bring themselves into compliance with those standards. In order to solve the issue, scientific research of experiences and opinions of government / non government machineries can play an effective role in raising the standard legislation for trafficked victims. Proper study can enhance understanding on various problems faced by government machineries. The study can help in developing the scientific model, which can effectively solve the problem in human trafficking field.

Keywords: human trafficking, legislations, victims, social work, government machinery

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Authors: Aileen Editha

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The legal recognition of property rights over human genes is a divisive topic to which there is no resolution. As a frequently discussed topic, scholars and practitioners often highlight the inadequacies of a proprietary regime. However, little has been said in regard to the nature of human genetic materials (HGMs). This paper proposes approaching the issue of property over HGMs from an alternative perspective that looks at the personal and social value and valuation of HGMs. This paper will highlight how the unique and unresolved status of HGMs is incompatible with the main tenets of property and, consequently, contributes to legal ambiguity and uncertainty in the regulation of property rights over human genes. HGMs are perceived as part of nature and a free-for-all while also being within an individual’s private sphere. Additionally, it is also considered to occupy a unique “not-private-nor-public” status. This limbo-like position clashes with property’s fundamental characteristic that relies heavily on a clear public/private dichotomy. Moreover, as property is intrinsically linked to the legal recognition of one’s personhood, this irresolution benefits some while disadvantages others. In particular, it demands the publicization of once-private genes for the “common good” but subsequently encourages privatization (through labor) of these now-public genes. This results in the gain of some (already privileged) individuals while enabling the disenfranchisement of members of minority groups, such as Indigenous communities. This paper will discuss real and intellectual property rights over human genes, such as the right to income or patent rights, in Canada and the US. This paper advocates for a sui generis approach to governing rights and interests over human genes that would not rely on having a strict public/private dichotomy. Not only would this improve legal certainty and clarity, but it would also alleviate—or, at the very least, minimize—the role that the current law plays in further entrenching existing systemic inequalities. Despite the specificity of this topic, this paper argues that there are broader lessons to be learned. This issue is an insightful case study on the interconnection of various principles in law, society, and property, and what must be done when discordance between one or more of those principles has detrimental societal outcomes. Ultimately, it must be remembered that property is an adaptable and malleable instrument that can be developed to ensure it contributes to equity and flourishing.

Keywords: property rights, human genetic materials, critical legal scholarship, systemic inequalities

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Authors: Vinodd Nayak

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10th & 12th are the most crucial period in a student’s life. It is the time when he or she has to make vital career choices and get the relevant professional education. Unfortunately most students are not aware of the multitudes of career options available to them. This leads to affect our social fabric of the society with issues like unemployment, stress etc. We have planned a guidance program for the youth in Maharashtra state which has 4 components; creating awareness about different career options, proper guidance and motivation, counseling for parents, and information on financial aid for unemployed youth we are conducting skill development programs. Currently we are conducting programs under 4 categories Uneducated Youth: Skill Development programs for unemployed youth in construction field (Carpentry/Masoning/Wlder/Electrician/Tiling etc..) in association with L&T Construction Training Institute Educated Youth: Il&FS: Training and Job Placement in the field of Finance and Customer Service NIS Sparta: Training and Job Placement in the field of Sales and Marketing Apeejay Inst. of Hotel Management: Training and Job Placement in the field of hospitality industry Skill India: Training and Job Placement in the field of IT Results: The results were really overwhelming. We were able to cater to approx. 10,000 students a year and the list is growing. Earlier we were only catering to schools and colleges, now we have started receiving invitations from other community organizations to conduct such programs for their communities Implications for Social Work and Social Development practice: It is a high time that Social work organisations need to get into such work as this will enhance people to improve their financial condition. We always believed that it is better to teach a man to fish than feed him.

Keywords: youth education, career guidance, skill development, parental guidance

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