Search results for: development of regions

Authors: Eric Hawkinson, Edgaras Artemciukas

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This study outlines iterations of designing mobile augmented reality (MAR) applications for tourism specific contexts. Using a design based research model, several cycles of development to implementation were analyzed and refined upon with the goal of building a MAR platform that would facilitate the creation of augmented tours and environments by non-technical users. The project took on several stages, and through the process, a simple framework was begun to be established that can inform the design and use of MAR applications for tourism contexts. As a result of these iterations of development, a platform was developed that can allow novice computer users to create augmented tourism environments. This system was able to connect existing tools in widespread use such as Google Forms and connect them to computer vision algorithms needed for more advanced augmented tourism environments. The study concludes with a discussion of this MAR platform and reveals design elements that have implications for tourism contexts. The study also points to future case uses and design approaches for augmented tourism.

Keywords: augmented tourism, augmented reality, user experience, mobile design, e-tourism

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Authors: Wang Yang

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Shenzhen is a modern city of China's reform and opening-up policy, the development of urban morphology has been established on the administration of the Chinese government. This city`s planning paradigm is primarily affected by the spatial structure and human behavior. The subjective urban agglomeration center is divided into several groups and centers. In comparisons of this effect, the city development law has better to be neglected. With the continuous development of the internet, extensive data technology has been introduced in China. Data mining and data analysis has become important tools in municipal research. Data mining has been utilized to improve data cleaning such as receiving business data, traffic data and population data. Prior to data mining, government data were collected by traditional means, then were analyzed using city-relationship research, delaying the timeliness of urban development, especially for the contemporary city. Data update speed is very fast and based on the Internet. The city's point of interest (POI) in the excavation serves as data source affecting the city design, while satellite remote sensing is used as a reference object, city analysis is conducted in both directions, the administrative paradigm of government is broken and urban research is restored. Therefore, the use of data mining in urban analysis is very important. The satellite remote sensing data of the Shenzhen city in July 2018 were measured by the satellite Modis sensor and can be utilized to perform land surface temperature inversion, and analyze city heat island distribution of Shenzhen. This article acquired and classified the data from Shenzhen by using Data crawler technology. Data of Shenzhen heat island and interest points were simulated and analyzed in the GIS platform to discover the main features of functional equivalent distribution influence. Shenzhen is located in the east-west area of China. The city’s main streets are also determined according to the direction of city development. Therefore, it is determined that the functional area of the city is also distributed in the east-west direction. The urban heat island can express the heat map according to the functional urban area. Regional POI has correspondence. The research result clearly explains that the distribution of the urban heat island and the distribution of urban POIs are one-to-one correspondence. Urban heat island is primarily influenced by the properties of the underlying surface, avoiding the impact of urban climate. Using urban POIs as analysis object, the distribution of municipal POIs and population aggregation are closely connected, so that the distribution of the population corresponded with the distribution of the urban heat island.

Keywords: POI, satellite remote sensing, the population distribution, urban heat island thermal map

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Authors: Elyas Akbari, Jafar Hasani, Newsha Dehestani, Mohammad Khaleghi, Alireza Moradi

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The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of emotional experience induction in the mirror neurons systems (MNS) activity with regard to the spectrum of depressive symptoms. For this purpose, at first stage, 449 students of Kharazmi University of Tehran were selected randomly and completed the second version of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II). Then, 36 students with standard Z-score equal or above +1.5 and equal or equal or below -1.5 were selected to construct two groups of high and low spectrum of depressive symptoms. In the next stage, the basic activity of MNS was recorded (mu wave) before presenting the positive and negative emotional video clips by Electroencephalography (EEG) technique. The findings related to emotion induction (neutral, negative and positive emotion) demonstrated that the activity of recorded mirror neuron areas had a significant difference between the depressive and non-depressive groups. These findings suggest that probably processing of negative emotions in depressive individuals is due to the idea that the mirror neurons in motor cortex matched up the activity of cognitive regions with the person’s schema. Considering the results of the present study, it could be said that the MNS provides a substrate where emotional disorders can be studied and evaluated.

Keywords: emotional experiences, mirror neurons, depressive symptoms, negative and positive emotion

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Authors: Mariana Durana Pinto, Thierry Aubry, Eduarda Vieira

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The Côa River is one of the tributaries of the Douro River, which in turn connects two Portuguese regions: Beira-Alta (Serra das Mesas, Sabugal) and Trás-os-Montes (Douro River, Vila Nova de Foz Côa). The river, which is approximately 140 kilometres in length, is surrounded by characteristic Northern-Estearn Portugal landscape. The dominant flora in the region includes olive and almond trees and vines, which provide habitat for a diverse range of native species. These include mammals such as the lynx and Iberian wolf, as well as birds of prey such as the Egyptian vulture and the griffon vulture. Additionally, herbivorous species such as red deer and roe deer also inhabit the region. However, the Vale Côa is inextricably linked with the rocky outcrops bearing the emblematic open-air Upper Palaeolithic rock art, indeed, it houses the world's largest collection of prehistoric open-air rock art, inscribed on the World Heritage list by UNESCO in 1998. From the initial discovery of the first engravings in 1991 to the present day, approximally 1,500 panels with rock art, mostly engravings and carving, but also some paintings, have been discovered, inventoried and recorded spanning from earlu Upper Paleolithic to the 20th century. The study and interpretation of the engravings and its geoarchaeological context, allow the construction of a chronological timeline of the human occupation and graphical production in this region. The area has been inhabited since the Early Palaeolithic, with human communities exploiting the diversity of the natural resources of the environment and adapting it to their needs. This led to the creation of an archaeological and historical cultural landscape.The region is currently inhabited by rural communities whose primary source of income is derived from agricultural activities, with a particular focus on olive oil and wine production, including the emblematic Vinho do Porto. Additionally, the region is distinguished by activities such as stone exploration and extraction (e.g. schist and granite quarries) and tourism. The latter has progressively assumed a role in the promotion and development of the region, primarily due to the engravings of the Côa Valley itself, as well as the Alto Douro Wine Region. Furthermore, this cultural landscape has been inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001. The aforementioned factors give rise to a series of challenges and issues pertaining to the management and safeguarding of rock art on a daily basis. These include: I) the management of conflicts between cultural heritage and economic activity (between Rock art and vineyards, both classified as World Heritage Sites); II) the management of land-use planning in areas where the engravings are located (since the areas with engravings are larger than those identified as buffer zones by UNESCO); III) the absence of the legal figure of an 'archaeological park' and the need to solve this issue; IV) the management of tourist pressure and unauthorised visits; and V) the management of vandalism (as a consequence of misinformation and denial).

Keywords: Douro and Côa Valleys, archaeological cultural landscapes, rock art, Douro wine, conservation challenges

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Authors: Laili Farhana Md Ibharim, Maizatul Hayati Mohamad Yatim

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The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the heuristic inspection of children’s authoring tools to develop games. The researcher has selected 15 authoring tools for making games specifically for educational purposes. Nine students from Diploma of Game Design and Development course and four lecturers from the computing department involved in this evaluation. A set of usability heuristic checklist used as a guideline for the students and lecturers to observe and test the authoring tools selected. The study found that there are just a few authoring tools that fulfill most of the heuristic requirement and suitable to apply to children. In this evaluation, only six out of fifteen authoring tools have passed above than five elements in the heuristic inspection checklist. The researcher identified that in order to develop a usable authoring tool developer has to emphasis children acceptance and interaction of the authoring tool. Furthermore, the authoring tool can be a tool to enhance their mental development especially in creativity and skill.

Keywords: authoring tool, children, game making, heuristic

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Authors: Frank Adusah-Poku, John Bosco Dramani, Prince Boakye Frimpong

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Climate change is considered a principal threat to human existence and livelihood. The persistence and intensity of droughts and floods in recent years have adversely affected food production systems and value chains, making it impossible to end global hunger by 2030. Thus, this study aims to examine the effect of climate change on food consumption for both farm and non-farm households in Ghana. An important focus of the analysis is to investigate how climate change affects alternative dimensions of food security, examine the extent to which these effects vary across heterogeneous groups, and explore the channels through which climate change affects food consumption. Finally, we conducted a pilot study to understand the significance of farm and non-farm diversification measures in reducing the harmful impact of climate change on farm households. The approach of this article is to use two secondary and one primary datasets. The first secondary dataset is the Ghana Socioeconomic Panel Survey (GSPS). The GSPS is a household panel dataset collected during the period 2009 to 2019. The second dataset is monthly district rainfall and temperature gridded data from the Ghana Meteorological Agency. This data was matched to the GSPS dataset at the district level. Finally, the primary data was obtained from a survey of farm and non-farm adaptation practices used by farmers in three regions in Northern Ghana. The study employed the household fixed effects model to estimate the effect of climate change (measured by temperature and rainfall) on food consumption in Ghana. Again, it used the spatial and temporal variation in temperature and rainfall across the districts in Ghana to estimate the household-level model. Evidence of potential mechanisms through which climate change affects food consumption was explored using two steps. First, the potential mechanism variables were regressed on temperature, rainfall, and the control variables. In the second and final step, the potential mechanism variables were included as extra covariates in the first model. The results revealed that extreme average temperature and drought had caused a decrease in food consumption as well as reduced the intake of important food nutrients such as carbohydrates, protein and vitamins. The results further indicated that low rainfall increased food insecurity among households with no education compared with those with primary and secondary education. Again, non-farm activity and silos have been revealed as the transmission pathways through which the effect of climate change on farm households can be moderated. Finally, the results indicated over 90% of the small-holder farmers interviewed had no farm diversification adaptation strategies for climate change, and a little over 50% of the farmers owned unskilled or manual non-farm economic ventures. This makes it very difficult for the majority of the farmers to withstand climate-related shocks. These findings suggest that achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger by 2030 needs an integrated approach, such as reducing the over-reliance on rainfed agriculture, educating farmers, and implementing non-farm interventions to improve food consumption in Ghana.

Keywords: climate change, food consumption, Ghana, non-farm activity

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Authors: Oloniyo Kemisola Eunice, Odere Oladunni Oluwafeyikemi

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Technological change and globalization have created a new global economy with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) occupying a complex position in relation to globalization. The emergence of this new global economy has serious implications on the nature and purpose of educational institutions. The paper is basically a theoretical discourse. Data for analysis were obtained from secondary sources. The paper found that significant challenges confront the integration of ICTs in education in the areas of educational policy and planning, infrastructure, language and content, capacity building and financing in Nigeria. The paper concluded that business education needs to be well equipped to anticipate and respond to opportunities created by ICTs in order to participate productively and equitably in an increasingly technology-rich and knowledge-driven world. The paper recommended, among others, that the investments in ICTs should be used to promote the development of basic skills, problem-solving and communication skills and the professional development of teachers.

Keywords: information, communication, technology, business, education

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Authors: Anike Akinrinlade

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The world population is estimated to grow from 7.1 billion to 9.22 billion by 2075, increasing therefore by 23% from the current global population. Much of the demographic changes up to 2075 will take place in the less developed regions. There are currently 54 countries which fall under the bracket of being defined as having ‘low-middle income’ economies and need new ways to generate valuable products from current resources that is available. Artemisia annua L is well used for the extraction of the phytochemical artemisinin, which accounts for around 0.01 to 1.4 % dry weight of the plant. Artemisinin is used in the treatment of malaria, a disease rampart in sub-Saharan Africa and in many other countries. Once artemisinin has been extracted the spent leaf and waste streams are disposed of as waste. A feasibility study was carried out looking at increasing the biomass value of A. annua, by designing a biorefinery where spent leaf and waste streams are utilized for high product generation. Quercetin, ferulic acid, dihydroartemisinic acid, artemisinic acid and artemsinin were screened for in the waste stream samples and the spent leaf. The analytical results showed that artemisinin, artemisinic acid and dihydroartemisinic acid were present in the waste extracts as well as camphor and arteannuin b. Ongoing effects are looking at using more industrially relevant solvents to extract the phytochemicals from the waste fractions and investigate how microwave pyrolysis of spent leaf can be utilized to generate bio-products.

Keywords: high value product generation, bioinformatics, biomedicine, waste streams, spent leaf

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Authors: Kumar Sankaran, Santanu Chattopadhyay, Golok Behari Nando, Sujith Nair, Sreejesh Arayambath, Unnikrishnan Govindan

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Rubber nanocomposites based on Bromobutyl rubber (BIIR), Polyepichlorohydrin rubber (CO), Carbon black (CB) and organically modified montmorillonite clay (NC) were prepared via melt compounding technique. The developed quaternary nanocomposites were characterized analytically and their properties were compared against the standard BIIR compound. BIIR-CO nanocomposites showed improved physico-mechanical properties as compared to that of the standard BIIR compound. Hybrid microstructure (NC-CB) development, clay exfoliation and better filler dispersion in the quaternary nanocomposite significantly contributed to the overall enhancement of properties. Introduction of CO in the system increased the specific gravity and hardness of the compound as compared to that of the standard compound. XRD analysis, AFM imaging and HR-TEM measurements confirmed exfoliation and a good level of dispersion of the NC in the composites. Permeability of developed BIIR-CO nanocomposites decreases significantly as compared to that of the standard BIIR compound.

Keywords: rubber nanocomposites, morphology, permeability, BIIR

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Authors: Roman Knizek, Denisa Knizkova, Ludmila Fridrichova

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The academic environment in Central Europe has recently been transforming itself and is trying to link its research and development with the private sector. However, compared to Western countries, there is a lack of history and continuity because of the centrally controlled economy from the end of the Second World War until the early 1990s. There are two basic models of how to carry out technology transfer between the academic and the business world. The first is to develop something new and then find a suitable private sector partner; the second is to find a partner who has the basic idea and then develop something new in collaboration. This study, unlike some other ones, describes two specific cases that took place in cooperation with the Technical University of Liberec, Faculty of Textiles. As was said before, in one case, a product was first developed, and after that, an investor was sought, and in the other case, there was an investor who wanted a specific product and wanted to help with its development. The study describes the various advantages and disadvantages, including a practical example of the creation of a subsequent start-up.

Keywords: start-up, state university, academic environment, licensing agreement

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Authors: Janet Lynn S. Montemayor

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Dropping survivability and rising drop-out rate in the graduate school is attributed to the demands that come along with research-related requirements. Graduate students tend to withdraw from their studies when confronted with such requirements. This act of succumbing to the challenge is primarily due to a negative mindset. An understanding of students’ view towards research is essential for teachers in facilitating research activities in the graduate school. This study aimed to develop a tool that accurately measures attitude towards research. Psychometric properties of the Research Attitude Inventory (RAIn) was assessed. A pool of items (k=50) was initially constructed and was administered to a development sample composed of Masters and Doctorate degree students (n=159). Results show that the RAIn is a reliable measure of research attitude (k=41, αmax = 0.894). Principal component analysis using orthogonal rotation with Kaiser normalization identified four underlying factors of research attitude, namely predisposition, purpose, perspective, and preparation. Research attitude among the respondents was analyzed using this measure.

Keywords: graduate education, principal component analysis, research attitude, scale development

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Authors: Fawad Hussain, Saleh Abdullah Saleh, Mohammad Basir B Saud, Mohd Azwardi Md. Isa

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It is very important for a developing nation to develop their infrastursture on the prime priority because their infrastursture particularly their roads and transporation functions as a blood in the system. Almost 1.1 billion populations share the travel and transportation industry in India. On the other hand, the Pakistan transportation industry is also extensive and elevating about 170 million users of transportation. Indian and Pakistani specifically within bus industry have good interconnectivity within and between the urban and rural areas as well as connectivity between the two countries, which is dramatically helping the economic alleviation of both countries. Due to high economic instability, unemployment and poverty rate are among the reasons why both the governments are very committed and seriously taken further action to help boost their economy. They believe that any form of transportation development would play a vital role in the development of land, infrastructure which could indirectly support many other industries’ development, such as tourism, freighting and shipping businesses, just to mention a few. However, it seems that their previous transportation planning in the due course has failed to meet the fast growing demand. As with the spin of time, both the countries are looking forward for a reasonable, safe and economical long term solutions, which is from time to time keep appreciating and reacting according to other key economic drivers. Content analysis method and case study approach is used in this paper and secondary data from the bureau of statistic is used for case analysis. The paper centered on the mobility concerns of the lower and middle income people in India and Pakistan. The paper is aimed to highlight the weaknesses, opportunities and limitations resulting from low priority industry for government, which is making the either country's public suffer. The paper has concluded that the main issue is identified as the slow, inappropriate and unfavorable decisions which are not in favor of long term country’s economic development and public welfare as well as interest. The paper also recommends to future market sense public and private transportation, which has failed to meet the public expectations.

Keywords: bus transportation industries, transportation demand, government parallel initiatives, road and traffic congestions

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Authors: Hayoung Cho, Gabi Cho

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In response to the continuing increase of demands for living environment safety, the Korean government has established and implemented various environmental health policies and set a high priority to the related R&D. However, the level of related technologies such as environmental risk assessment are still relatively low, and there is a need for detailed investment strategies in the field of environmental health research. As scientific research papers can give valuable implications on the development of a certain field, this study analyzed the global research trends in the field of environmental health over the past 10 years (2005~2015). Research topics were extracted from abstracts of the collected SCI papers using topic modeling to study the changes in research trends and discover emerging technologies. The method of topic modeling can improve the traditional bibliometric approach and provide a more comprehensive review of the global research development. The results of this study are expected to help provide insights for effective policy making and R&D investment direction.

Keywords: environmental health, paper analysis, research trends, topic modeling

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Authors: Y. Laib Dit Leksir, S. Bouhouche

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Analysis and processing of data bases resulting from infrared thermal measurements made on the electrical installation requires the development of new tools in order to obtain correct and additional information to the visual inspections. Consequently, the methods based on the capture of infrared digital images show a great potential and are employed increasingly in various fields. Although, there is an enormous need for the development of effective techniques to analyse these data base in order to extract relevant information relating to the state of the equipments. Our goal consists in introducing recent techniques of modeling based on new methods, image and signal processing to develop mathematical models in this field. The aim of this work is to capture the anomalies existing in electrical equipments during an inspection of some machines using A40 Flir camera. After, we use binarisation techniques in order to select the region of interest and we make comparison between these methods of thermal images obtained to choose the best one.

Keywords: infrared thermography, defect detection, troubleshooting, electrical equipment

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Authors: Tang Jiacheng, Fang Tianyu, Liu Yicen, Xiang Xingzhou

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The proportion of healthcare services is increasing throughout the globe. The convergence of mobile technology is driving new business opportunities, innovations in healthcare service delivery and the promise of a better life tomorrow for different populations with various healthcare needs. One of the most important phases for the combination of health care and mobile applications is to elicit requirements correctly. In this paper, four articles from different research directions with four topics on healthcare were detailed analyzed and summarized. We identified the underlying problems in guidance to develop mobile applications to provide healthcare service for Older adults, Women in menopause, Patients undergoing covid. These case studies cover several elicitation methods: survey, prototyping, focus group interview and questionnaire. And the effectiveness of these methods was analyzed along with the advantages and limitations of these methods, which is beneficial to adapt the elicitation methods for future software development process.

Keywords: healthcare, software requirement elicitation, mobile applications, prototyping, focus group interview

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Authors: Shams Ul Hussain Zaheer, Bibi Alia, Shehla Shams

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With the creation of human beings, almost all of them are blessed with the award of the power of expression, and this series starts from the life of Adam (A.S) in Paradise when he was blesses with language and knowledge and given priority upon the Angels. Later on, when the population spread and many other languages came into being, the method of the different people of different regions remained various. And when the Arabic was formed as a language after Ismail (A.S) and his sons spread in the gulf area, the words adopted from other gulf languages also became a part of this new language with it immense. Beside this, the tone of expression in other areas of the word was different, but the incidents, norms of bad and good, parameters for like and dislike, thinking styles, and rules of good and bad governance with social values remained round about the same. People practiced their lives according to the set norms everywhere in the world. Especially the two built, i.e., Hijaz and Khurasan, wherein Arabs and Pashtun accordingly were dwelling; it seems that their social values were much closed to each other. These norms reflect in various kinds of literature of both of the nations, but this article deals in with their proverbs specifically. This article discusses the intellectual telepathic between them in a research way. And put the defined similarities and dissimilarities between both in the proverb. And it also draws a sketch in front of readers that how the thinking and expression styles remains same in humans. As it belongs to a comparative analysis of the proverbs so, the same methodology has been adopted in the articles.

Keywords: intellectual telepathy, hijaz, arab, khurasan, pashtun, proverbs, comparison

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Authors: Nursel Bektas

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The purpose of this study is to investigate the roles of teaching assistants (TAs) working in reception classes through practitioners’ perspectives. The study has two major purposes; firstly to explore the general roles of TAs, and secondly to identify their roles in supporting children for mathematics. A small-scale case study approach was adopted for this study. The research was carried out in two reception classes within a primary school in London. The qualitative data were gathered through observations and semi-structured interviews with four reception class practitioners, comprising two teachers and two TAs. The results show that TAs consider their role to be more like a teacher, whereas classroom teachers do not corroborate this and they generally believe that the role of TAs depends on their personal characteristics and skills. In regard to the general role of TAs, the study suggests that reception class TAs are deployed both at the classroom level to provide academic support for children’s learning and development, and at the school level they are deployed as support staff such as Midday Meal Supervisor or assistants. In terms of the pedagogical roles of TAs, it was found that TAs have a strong teaching role in literacy development, with notable autonomy if conducting their own phonics sessions without teacher direction, but a negligible influence in numeracy/ math’s. In addition, the results show that the TA role is perceived to be quite limited in planning and assessment processes. Linked to their limited roles in such processes, all participants agree that all the responsibility regarding the children’s learning and development, planning and assessment lies with the teacher. Therefore, data suggest that TAs’ roles in these areas depend on TAs’ their own initiatives.

Keywords: early years education, reception classes, roles, teaching assistants

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Authors: Netalie Shloim, Brian Brown, Siobhan Hugh-Jones, Jane Plastow, Diana Setiyawati, Anna Madill

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In June 2021, the World Health Organization launched its guidance and technical packages on community mental health services, stressing a human rights-based approach to care. This initiative stems from an increasing acknowledgment of the role mental health plays in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Nevertheless, mental health remains a relatively neglected research area and the estimates for untreated mental disorders in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs) are as high as 78% for adults. Moreover, the development sector and research programs too often side-line mental health as a privilege in the face of often immediate threats to life and livelihood. As a way of addressing this problem, this study aimed to examine past or ongoing GCRF projects to see if there were opportunities where mental health impact could have been achieved without compromising a study's main aim and without overburdening a project. Projects funded by the UKRI Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) were analyzed. This program was initiated in 2015 to support cutting-edge research that addresses the challenges faced by developing countries. By the end of May 2020, a total of 15,279 projects were funded of which only 3% had an explicit mental health focus. A sample of 36 non-mental-health-focused projects was then sampled for diversity across research council, challenge portfolio and world region. Each of these 36 projects was coded by two coders for opportunities to embed mental health impact. To facilitate coding, the literature was inspected for dimensions relevant to LMIC settings. Three main psychological and three main social dimensions were identified: promote a positive sense of self; promote positive emotions, safe expression and regulation of challenging emotions, coping strategies, and help-seeking; facilitate skills development; and facilitate community-building; preserve sociocultural identity; support community mobilization. Coding agreement was strong on missed opportunities for mental health impact on the three social dimensions: support community mobilization (92%), facilitate community building (83%), preserve socio-cultural identity (70%). Coding agreement was reasonably strong on missed opportunities for mental health impact on the three psychological dimensions: promote positive emotions (67%), facilitate skills development (61%), positive sense of self (58%). In order of frequency, the agreed perceived opportunities from the highest to lowest are: support community mobilization, facilitate community building, facilitate skills development, promote a positive sense of self, promote positive emotions, preserve sociocultural identity. All projects were considered to have an opportunity to support community mobilization and to facilitate skills development by at least one coder. Findings provided support that there were opportunities to embed mental health impact in research across the range of development sectors and identifies what kind of missed opportunities are most frequent. Hence, mainstreaming mental health has huge potential to tackle the lack of priority and funding it has attracted traditionally. The next steps are to understand the barriers to mainstreaming mental health and to work together to overcome them.

Keywords: GCRF, mental health, psychosocial wellbeing, LMIC

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Authors: Cheng-Cao Sun, Shu-Jun Li, De-Jia Li

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Through analysis of a published micro-array-based high-throughput assessment, we discovered that miR-1275 was markedly down-regulated in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) tissues. However, little is known about its effect and mechanism involved in NPC development and progression. In this study, we investigated the role of miR-1275 on the development of NPC. The results indicated that miR-1275 was significantly down-regulated in primary NPC tissues, and very low levels were found in NPC cell lines. Ectopic expression of miR-1275 in NPC cell lines significantly suppressed cell growth as evidenced by cell viability assay and colony formation assay, through inhibition of HOXB5. In addition, miR-1275 suppresses G1/S transition through inhibition of HOXB5. Further, oncogene HOXB5 was revealed to be a putative target of miR-1275, which was inversely correlated with miR-1275 expression in NPC. Collectively, our study demonstrates that as a tumor suppressor, miR-1275 played a pivotal role on NPC through inhibiting cell proliferation, and suppressing G1/S transition by targeting oncogenic HOXB5.

Keywords: microRNA-1275 (miR-1275), HOXB5, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, proliferation

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Authors: Christian Klettner, Ian Eames, Tristan Robinson

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Tsunami is characterised by their very long time periods and can have devastating consequences when these inundate through built-up coastal regions as in the 2004 Indian Ocean and 2011 Tohoku Tsunami. This work aims to investigate the effect of these long waves on the flow through and around a group of buildings, which are abstracted to circular cylinders. The research approach used in this study was using experiments and numerical simulations. Large-scale experiments were carried out at HR Wallingford. The novelty of these experiments is (I) the number of bodies present (up to 64), (II) the long wavelength of the input waves (80 seconds) and (III) the width of the tank (4m) which gives the unique opportunity to investigate three length scales, namely the diameter of the building, the diameter of the array and the width of the tank. To complement the experiments, dam break flow past the same arrays is investigated using three-dimensional numerical simulations in OpenFOAM. Dam break flow was chosen as it is often used as a surrogate for the tsunami in previous research and is used here as there are well defined initial conditions and high quality previous experimental data for the case of a single cylinder is available. The focus of this work is to better understand the effect of the solid void fraction on the force and flow through and around the array. New qualitative and quantitative diagnostics are developed and tested to analyse the complex coupled interaction between the cylinders.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics, tsunami, forces, complex geometry

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Authors: Enwin Anthony Dornubari, Visigah Kpobari Peter

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This research has developed a framework for the provision of sustainable and affordable housing to accommodate the low-income population of Greater Port Harcourt City. The objectives of this study among others, were to: examine UN-Habitat guidelines for acceptable and sustainable social housing provision, describe past efforts of the Rivers State Government and the Federal Government of Nigeria to provide housing for the poor in the Greater Port Harcourt City area; obtain a profile of prospective beneficiaries of the social housing proposed by this research as well as perceptions of their present living conditions, and living in the proposed self-sustaining social housing development, based on the initial simulation of the proposal; describe the nature of the framework, guideline and management of the proposed social housing development and explain the modalities for its implementation. The study utilized the mixed methods research approach, aimed at triangulating findings from the quantitative and qualitative paradigms. Opinions of professional of the built environment; Director, Development Control, Greater Port Harcourt City Development Authority; Directors of Ministry of Urban Development and Physical Planning; Housing and Property Development Authority and managers of selected Primary Mortgage Institutions were sought and analyzed. There were four target populations for the study, namely: members of occupational sub-groups for FGDs (Focused Group Discussions); development professionals for KIIs (Key Informant Interviews), household heads in selected communities of GPHC; and relevant public officials for IDI (Individual Depth Interview). Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were held with members of occupational sub-groups in each of the eight selected communities (Fisherfolk). The table shows that there were forty (40) members across all occupational sub-groups in each selected community, yielding a total of 320 in the eight (8) communities of Mgbundukwu (Mile 2 Diobu), Rumuodomaya, Abara (Etche), Igwuruta-Ali(Ikwerre), Wakama(Ogu-Bolo), Okujagu (Okrika), Akpajo (Eleme), and Okoloma (Oyigbo). For key informant interviews, two (2) members were judgmentally selected from each of the following development professions: urban and regional planners; architects; estate surveyors; land surveyors; quantity surveyors; and engineers. Concerning Population 3-Household Heads in Selected Communities of GPHC, a stratified multi-stage sampling procedure was adopted: Stage 1-Obtaining a 10% (a priori decision) sample of the component communities of GPHC in each stratum. The number in each stratum was rounded to one whole number to ensure representation of each stratum. Stage 2-Obtaining the number of households to be studied after applying the Taro Yamane formula, which aided in determining the appropriate number of cases to be studied at the precision level of 5%. Findings revealed, amongst others, that poor implementation of the UN-Habitat global shelter strategy, lack of stakeholder engagement, inappropriate locations, undue bureaucracy, lack of housing fairness and equity and high cost of land and building materials were the reasons for the failure of past efforts towards social housing provision in the Greater Port Harcourt City area. The study recommended a public-private partnership approach for the implementation and management of the framework. It also recommended a robust and sustained relationship between the management of the framework and the UN-Habitat office and other relevant government agencies responsible for housing development and all investment partners to create trust and efficiency.

Keywords: development, framework, low-income, sustainable, social housing

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Authors: Živilė Jurgelėnė, Vitalijus Karabanovas, Augustas Morkvėnas, Reda Dzingelevičienė, Nerijus Dzingelevičius, Saulius Raugelė, Boguslaw Buszewski

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The short- and long-term effects of COVID-19 antiviral drug molnupiravir and micro/nanoplastics on the early development of Salmo trutta were investigated using accumulation and exposure studies. Salmo trutta were used as standardized test organisms in toxicity studies of COVID-19 waste contaminants. The 2D/3D imaging was performed using confocal fluorescence spectral imaging microscopy to assess the uptake, bioaccumulation, and distribution of molnupiravir and micro/nanoplastics complex in live fish. Our study results demonstrated that molnupiravir may interact with a micro/nanoplastics and modify their spectroscopic parameters and toxicity to S. trutta embryos and larvae. The 0.2 µm size microplastics at a concentration of 10 mg/L were found to be stable in aqueous media than 0.02 µm, and 2 µm sizes polymeric particles. This study demonstrated that polymeric particles can adsorb molnupiravir that are present in mixtures and modify the accumulation of molnupiravir in Salmo trutta embryos and larvae. In addition, 2D/3D confocal fluorescence imaging showed that the single polymeric particle hardly accumulates and couldn't penetrate outer tissues of the tested organism. However, co-exposure micro/nanoplastics and molnupiravir could significantly enhance the polymeric particles capability of accumulating on surface tissues and penetrating surface tissue of fish in early development. Exposure to molnupiravir at 2 g/L concentration and co-exposure to micro/nanoplastics and molnupiravir did not bring about survival changes in in the early stages of Salmo trutta development, but we observed the reduction in heart rate and decrease in gill ventilation. The statistical analysis confirmed that micro/nanoplastics used in combination with molnupiravir enhance the toxicity of the latter micro/nanoplastics to embryos and larvae. This research has received funding from the European Regional Development Fund (project No 13.1.1-LMT-K-718-05-0014) under a grant agreement with the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT), and it was funded as part of the European Union’s measure in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: fish, micro/nanoplastics, molnupiravir, toxicity

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Authors: A. Prajapati, K. L. Koo, F. Ghassemi, M. Mulimakwenda

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In the UK, as the volume of non-linear loads connected to transmission grid continues to rise steeply, the harmonic distortion levels on transmission network are becoming a serious concern for the network owners and system operators. This paper outlines the findings of the study conducted to verify the proposal that the harmonic mitigation could be optimized and can be managed economically and effectively at the transmission network level by the Transmission Owner (TO) instead of the individual polluter connected to the grid. Harmonic mitigation studies were conducted on selected regions of the transmission network in England for recently connected offshore wind power plants to strategize and optimize selected harmonic filter options. The results – filter volume and capacity – were then compared against the mitigation measures adopted by the individual connections. Estimation ratios were developed based on the actual installed and optimal proposed filters. These estimation ratios were then used to derive harmonic filter requirements for future contracted connections. The study has concluded that a saving of 37% in the filter volume/capacity could be achieved if the TO is to centrally manage the harmonic mitigation instead of individual polluter installing their own mitigation solution.

Keywords: C-type filter, harmonics, optimization, offshore wind farms, interconnectors, HVDC, renewable energy, transmission owner

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Authors: Thiraporn Chumphuming, Nuttida Boonmathi, Supattra Thanomsiang, Tawatchai Noree, Suthee Boonchaloem, Rinyaphat Kecharananta

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This research aims to study about the formats of low-cost airlines’ services in domestic route by surveying customers’ requirements and satisfactions in choosing low-cost airlines to travel domestically. Chiang Mai International Airport and other regions in Chiang Mai are the bases where the information is quantitatively collected. Passengers and questionnaires of 400 are the data base in which the researchers collected information from. Statistic units used are Percentage, Weighted Average, and Standard Deviation. The result of the study reveals that the group of 400 representative samples chooses Air Asia the most from overall six low-cost airlines that provide domestic services. Most of the representative samples book plane tickets for their traveling and they book tickets during the promotion time that provides cheap-priced tickets. Averagely, the price for a seat in one flight is around 501-1,000 Thai baht. The result of the satisfaction’s survey analyzed by the Marketing Mix Factors (7Ps) of low-cost airlines, which is divided into 4 parts including services before ticket reservations, services before boarding/purchasing tickets (ground), In-flight services, and Services after boarding they are satisfied with the baggage claim point informing, also gives the information that the passengers are highly satisfied with every process or the services.

Keywords: low-cost airline, service, satisfaction, customers' behavior

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Authors: Luis Rodrigo Valencia Pérez, Juan Manuel Peña Aguilar, Adelina Morita Alexander, Alberto Lamadrid Alvarez, Héctor Fernando Valencia Pérez

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Financial education is among the areas of opportunity in the Spanish-speaking from an early age to high school, through mobile devices such as cell phones and tablets using ludic and fun applications like interactive games, children can learn money management and investment through time, thereby fostering the habit of saving and/or sound management of cash and family business resources, having interaction with an uncontrolled environment such as the involvement of other players in the external decisions of the environment in which the game is play. The application proposed in Phase 1 (design and development) was designed in multi-user environments, under methodologies of hybrid programming for any platform on the market and designed under CMMI standards that allow for quality production over time, following up on these improvements counting with continuous user feedback and usage statistics.

Keywords: mobile educational games, ludic games, children, multiuser, design and software development

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Authors: Cameron Jones

Abstract:

Emissions, produced by landfill waste from demolished obsolete buildings, have a damaging effect on both the Earth’s climate and human health. The philosophical theory of material vitalism - the potential for materials to react and emit harmful pollutants - therefore defines this construction and demolition waste (CDW) as having vitality. The European Union’s ‘Circular Economic Action Plan’ (CEAP) aims to mitigate the effects of CDW by prioritising the circularity of building materials. This dissertation examines how the philosophical theory of material vitalism can make an environmentally responsible contribution to CDW policy. The CEAP and Silvertown Quays development are used as case studies for the application of vitalism to policy revision. The study concludes that vitalism has a positive role to play in informing CDW policy, although its contribution is stronger in some areas. This is established by first appraising the aspects that relate to the obsolescence of buildings outlined in the EU’s existing CDW policies. Next, these policy directives are compared with the CE principles employed in the Silvertown Quays development. Subsequently, a keyword analysis model is used to categorise the language used in the CEAP, demonstrating how socio-political approaches to the CE and strategies to address resource scarcity could be strengthened to represent the EU’s policy aspirations more effectively. Recommendations are then made on how material vitalism could be utilised to strengthen legislation, arguing that a notable contribution can be made in most policy areas. Finally, theoretical testing of the impact of these revisions to policy on the case study development identified some practicalities for consideration in improving waste management outcomes.

Keywords: vitalism, construction waste, obsolescence, political ecology, exceptionalism

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Authors: Daniel Benson, Yundan Gong, Hannah Kirk

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Advancement in national language processing techniques has led to increased data processing speeds, and reduced the need for cumbersome, manual data processing that is often required when processing data from multilateral organizations for specific purposes. As such, using named entity recognition (NER) modeling and the Organisation of Economically Developed Countries (OECD) Creditor Reporting System database, we present the first geotagged dataset of OECD donor Official Development Assistance (ODA) projects on a global, subnational basis. Our resulting data contains 52,086 ODA projects geocoded to subnational locations across 115 countries, worth a combined $87.9bn. This represents the first global, OECD donor ODA project database with geocoded projects. We use this new data to revisit old questions of how ‘well’ donors allocate ODA to the developing world. This understanding is imperative for policymakers seeking to improve ODA effectiveness.

Keywords: international aid, geocoding, subnational data, natural language processing, machine learning

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Authors: Debora P. Arce, Flavia J. Krsticevic, Marco R. Bertolaccini, Joaquín Ezpeleta, Estela M. Valle, Sergio D. Ponce, Elizabeth Tapia

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Small Heat Shock Proteins (sHSPs) are low molecular weight chaperones that play an important role during stress response and development in all living organisms. Fruit maturation and oxidative stress can induce sHSP synthesis both in Arabidopsis and tomato plants. RNA-Seq technology is becoming widely used in various transcriptomics studies; however, analyzing and interpreting the RNA-Seq data face serious challenges. In the present work, we de novo assembled the Solanum lycopersicum transcriptome for three different maturation stages (mature green, breaker and red ripe). Differential gene expression analysis was carried out during tomato fruit development. We identified 12 sHSPs differentially expressed that might be involved in breaker and red ripe fruit maturation. Interestingly, these sHSPs have different subcellular localization and suggest a complex regulation of the fruit maturation network process.

Keywords: sHSPs, maturation, tomato, RNA-Seq, assembly

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Authors: Aliana Leong, T. C. Huan

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The purpose of Nostalgic themed tourism product is becoming popular in many countries. This study intends to investigate the role of nostalgia in destination image, experiential value and their effect on subsequent behavioral intention. The survey used stratified sampling method to include respondents from all the nearby Asian regions. The sampling is based on the data of inbound tourists provided by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) of government of Macau. The questionnaire consisted of five sections of 5 point Likert scale questions: (1) nostalgia, (2) destination image both before and after experience, (3) expected value, (4) experiential value, and (5) future visit intention. Data was analysed with structural equation modelling. The result indicates that nostalgia plays an important part in forming destination image and experiential value before individual had a chance to experience the destination. The destination image and experiential value share a bidirectional causal relationship that eventually contributes to future visit intention. The study also discovered that while experiential value is more effective in generating destination image, the later contribute more to future visit intention. The research design measures destination image and experiential value before and after respondents had experience the destination. The distinction between destination image and expected/experiential value can be examined because the longitudinal design of research method. It also allows this study to observe how nostalgia translates to future visit intention.

Keywords: nostalgia, destination image, experiential value, future visit intention

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Authors: Samson Obiene, Khamati Shilabukha, Geoffrey Muga, James Kairo

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Mangroves play a vital role in the achievement of multiple goals of global sustainable development (SDG’s), particularly SDG SDG 14 (life under water). Their management, however, is faced with several shortcomings arising from inadequate knowledge on the perceptions of their ecosystem services, hence a need to map mangrove goods and services within SDGs while interrogating the disaggregated perceptions. This study therefore aimed at exploring the parities and disparities in attitudes and perceptions of mangrove ecosystem services among community members of Vanga and the link of the ecosystem services (ESs) to specific SDG targets. The study was based at the Kenya-Tanzania transboundary area in Vanga; where a carbon-offset project on mangroves is being up scaled. Mixed methods approach employing surveys, focus group discussions (FGDs) and reviews of secondary data were used in the study. A two stage cluster samplings was used to select the study population and the sample size. FGDs were conducted purposively selecting active participants in mangrove related activities with distinct socio-demographic characteristics. Sampled respondents comprised of males and females of different occupations and age groups. Secondary data review was used to select specific SDG targets against which mangrove ecosystem services identified through a value chain analysis were mapped. In Vanga, 20 ecosystem services were identified and categorized under supporting, cultural and aesthetic, provisioning and regulating services. According to the findings of this study, 63.9% (95% ci 56.6-69.3) perceived of the ESs as very important for economic development, 10.3% (95% ci 0-21.3) viewed them as important for environmental and ecological development while 25.8% (95% ci 2.2-32.8) were not sure of any role they play in development. In the social-economic disaggregation, ecosystem service values were found to vary with the level of interaction with the ecosystem which depended on gender and other social-economic classes within the study area. The youths, low income earners, women and those with low education levels were also identified as the primary beneficiaries of mangrove ecosystem services. The study also found that of the 17 SDGs, mangroves have a potential of influencing the achievement 12, including, SDGs 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8 10, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 17 either directly or indirectly. Generally therefore, the local community is aware of the critical importance mangroves for enhanced livelihood and ecological services but challenges in sustainability still occur as a result the diverse values and of the services and the contradicting interests of the different actors around the ecosystem. It is therefore important to consider parities in values and perception to avoid a ‘tragedy of the commons’ while striving to enhance sustainability of the Mangrove ecosystem.

Keywords: sustainable development, community values, socio-demographics, Vanga, mangrove ecosystem services

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