Search results for: purpose of life

Authors: Ässia Boukhatmi, Roger Nyffenegger

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The expansion of solar energy as a means to address the climate crisis is undisputed, but the increasing number of new photovoltaic (PV) modules being put on the market is simultaneously leading to increased challenges in terms of managing the growing waste stream. Many of the discarded modules are still fully functional but are often damaged by improper handling after disassembly or not properly tested to be considered for a second life. In addition, the collection rate for dismantled PV modules in several European countries is only a fraction of previous projections, partly due to the increased number of illegal exports. The underlying problem for those market imperfections is an insufficient data exchange between the different actors along the PV value chain, as well as the limited traceability of PV panels during their lifetime. As part of the Horizon 2020 project CIRCUSOL, an asset database prototype was developed to tackle the described problems. In an iterative process applying the design science research methodology, different business models, as well as the technical implementation of the database, were established and evaluated. To explore the requirements of different stakeholders for the development of the database, surveys and in-depth interviews were conducted with various representatives of the solar industry. The proposed database prototype maps the entire value chain of PV modules, beginning with the digital product passport, which provides information about materials and components contained in every module. Product-related information can then be expanded with performance data of existing installations. This information forms the basis for the application of data analysis methods to forecast the appropriate end-of-life strategy, as well as the circular economy potential of PV modules, already before they arrive at the recycling facility. The database prototype could already be enriched with data from different data sources along the value chain. From a business model perspective, the database offers opportunities both in the area of reuse as well as with regard to the certification of sustainable modules. Here, participating actors have the opportunity to differentiate their business and exploit new revenue streams. Future research can apply this approach to further industry and product sectors, validate the database prototype in a practical context, and can serve as a basis for standardization efforts to strengthen the circular economy.

Keywords: business model, circular economy, database, design science research, solar industry

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Authors: Iman E. Bouthahab, Badea B. Geador

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Aim of this paper is to explore the prospect of a new approach of mobile phone banking in Libya. This study evaluates customer knowledge on commercial mobile banking in Libya. To examine the relationship between age, occupation and intention for using mobile banking for commercial purpose, a survey was conducted to gather information from one hundred Libyan bank clients. The results indicate that Libyan customers have accepted the new technology and they are ready to use it. There is no significant joint relationship between age and occupation found in intention to use mobile banking in Libya. On the other hand, the customers’ knowledge about mobile banking has a greater relationship with the intention. This study has implications for demographic researches and consumer behaviour disciplines. It also has profitable implications for banks and managers in Libya, as it will assist in better understanding of the Libyan consumers and their activities, when they develop their market strategies and new service.

Keywords: mobile banking, intention, customer knowledge, banks in Libya

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Authors: Prateek Singh, Arun Kumar Pandey, C. Raghu Kumar, M. R. Rath, A. S. Reddy

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Drum scrubber is widely used equipment in the washing of Iron ore. The purpose of the scrubber is to release the adhered fine clayey particles from the iron-bearing particles. Presently, the iron ore wash plants in the Eastern region of India consist of the scrubber, double deck screen followed by screw classifier as the main unit operations. Hence, scrubber performance efficiency has a huge impact on the downstream product quality. This paper illustrates the effect of scrubber feed % solids on scrubber performance and alumina distribution on downstream equipment. Further, it was established that scrubber performance efficiency could be defined as the ratio of the adhered particles (-0.15mm) released from scrubber feed during scrubbing operation with respect to the maximum possible release of -0.15mm (%) particles.

Keywords: scrubber, adhered particles, feed % solids, efficiency

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Authors: A. K. Srivastva

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Body weight is considered as an important factor in health and fitness. It is an index of one's health. Considering significance of body weight and its wider application in various fields in general and sports in particular, it is made a point of enquiry in the present study. The purpose of the study to observe over all weight pattern of Indian youths in the age group of 15 through 20 years. Total 7500 samples pooled from ten Indian states ranging in their age 15 to 20 years were examined in six age categories. Conclusion: 1. The period between 15 to 20 year of age is a growing period and that body weight is gained during this period. 2. Statewise difference is observed in body-weight during the period, which is significant. 3. PRG indicated by higher rate of weight gain varies from state to state. 4. Sportsman possess comparatively higer level of body-weight than other student of same age group. 5. Tribal youths show comparatively better status in their weight gain than the untrained uraban dwellers.

Keywords: PRG (period of rapid growth), HG (heterogeneous group), WP (weight pattern), MBW (mean body weight)

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Authors: Priyanka V. Janbandhu, Santosh B. Phad, Dhananjay W. Bansod

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The current changing scenario of the family is a compelling aged group not only to be alone in a nuclear family but also to join the old age institutions. The consequences of it are feeling of neglected or left alone by the children, adding a touch of helpless in the absence of lack of expected care and support. The accretion of all these feelings and unpleasant events ignite a question in their mind that – who is there for me? The efforts have taken to highlight the issues of the elderly after joining the old age home and their perception about the current life as an institutional inmate. This attempt to cover up the condition, adjustment, changed lifestyle and perspective in the association with several issues of the elderly, which have an essential effect on their well-being. The present research piece has collected the information about institutionalized elderly with the help of a semi-structured questionnaire. This study interviewed 500 respondents from 22 old age homes of Pune city of Maharashtra State, India. This data collection methodology consists of Multi-stage random sampling. In which the stratified random sampling adopted for the selection of old age homes and sample size determination, sample selection probability proportional to the size and simple random sampling techniques implemented. The study provides that around five percent of the elderly shifted to old age home along with their spouse, whereas ten percent of the elderly are staying away from their spouse. More than 71 percent of the elderly have children, and they are an involuntary inmate of the old age institution, even less than one-third of the elderly consulted to the institution before the joining it. More than sixty percent of the elderly have children, but they joined institution due to the unpleasant response of their children only. Around half of the elderly responded that there are issues while adjusting to this environment, many of them are still persistent. At least one elderly out of ten is there who is suffering from the feeling of loneliness and left out by children and other family members. In contrast, around 97 percent of the elderly are very happy or satisfied with the institutional facilities. It illustrates that the issues are associated with their children and other family members, even though they left their home before a year or more. When enquired about this loneliness feeling few of them are suffering from it before leaving their homes, it was due to lack of interaction with children, as they are too busy to have time for the aged parents. Additionally, the conflicts or fights within the family due to the presence of old persons in the family contributed to establishing another feeling of insignificance among the elderly parents. According to these elderly, have more than 70 percent of the share, the children are ready to spend money indirectly for us through these institutions, but not prepared to provide some time and very few amounts of all this expenditure directly for us.

Keywords: elderly, old age homes, life style changes and adjustment, India

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Authors: Jaharlal Debbarma

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The ecological crisis has become a threat to earth’s well-being. Man’s ambitious desire of wealth, pleasure, fame, longevity and happiness has extracted natural resources so vastly that it is unable to sustain a healthy life. Man’s greed for wealth and power has caused the setting up of vast factories which further created the problem of air, water and noise pollution, which have adversely affected both fauna and flora.It is no secret that man uses his inherent powers of reason, intelligence and creativity to change his environment for his advantage. But man is not aware that the moral force he himself creates brings about corresponding changes in his environment to his weal or woe whether he likes it or not. As we are facing the global warming and the nature’s gift such as air and water has been so drastically polluted with disastrous consequences that man seek for a ways and means to overcome all this pollution problem as his health and life sustainability has been threaten and that is where man try to question about the moral ethics and value.It is where Buddhist philosophy has been emphasized deeply which gives us hope for overcoming this entire problem as Buddha himself emphasized in eradicating human suffering and Buddhism is the strongest form of humanism we have. It helps us to learn to live with responsibility, compassion, and loving kindness.It teaches us to be mindful in our action and thought as the environment unites every human being. If we fail to save it we will perish. If we can rise to meet the need to all which ecology binds us - humans, other species, other everything will survive together.My paper will look into the theory of Dependent Origination (Pratītyasamutpāda), Buddhist understanding of suffering (collective suffering), and Non-violence (Ahimsa) and an effort will be made to provide a new vision to Buddhist ecological perspective. The above Buddhist philosophy will be applied to ethical values and belief systems of modern society. The challenge will be substantially to transform the modern individualistic and consumeristic values. The stress will be made on the interconnectedness of the nature and the relation between human and planetary sustainability. In a way environmental crisis will be referred to “spiritual crisis” as A. Gore (1992) has pointed out. The paper will also give important to global consciousness, as well as to self-actualization and self-fulfillment. In the words of Melvin McLeod “Only when we combine environmentalism with spiritual practice, will we find the tools to make the profound personal transformations needed to address the planetary crisis?”

Keywords: dependent arising, collective ecological suffering, remediation, Buddhist approach

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Authors: Afshin J. Ghajar, Swanand M. Bhagwat

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The main purpose of this work is to experimentally investigate the effect of pipe orientation on two phase flow phenomenon. Flow pattern, void fraction and two phase pressure drop is measured in a polycarbonate pipe with an inside diameter of 12.7mm for inclination angles ranging from -20° to +20° using air-water fluid combination. The experimental data covers all flow patterns and the entire range of void fraction typically observed in two phase flow. The effect of pipe orientation on void fraction and two phase pressure drop is justified with reference to the change in flow structure and two phase flow behavior. In addition to this, the top performing void fraction and two phase pressure drop correlations available in the literature are presented and their performance is assessed against the experimental data in the present study and that available in the literature.

Keywords: flow patterns, inclined two phase flow, pressure drop, void fraction

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Authors: Poramet Saeng-On

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the roles of provincial governments and private sectors in managing business resources of Ranong province, Thailand. The sample group of this study included 15 organizations and the tool of the research included interview questions, recording tape, and notes. This study employed a qualitative technique by utilizing in-depth interview and document research techniques. The findings revealed that government and private organizations did not have any direct roles in managing business resources of Ranong Province and did not have any knowledge of the plan to manage business resources. However, all agreed that there should be a plan to manage business resources effectively and efficiently. Moreover, both private and government organizations also agree to cooperate to manage business resources to benefits all stakeholders.

Keywords: business resources, provincial government, roles, non-government organizations

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Authors: Flavio Araujo, Fabiolla Lima, Julio Lima, Paulo Scalize, Antonio Albuquerque, Heitor Reis

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One of the great environmental problems in the management of water treatment (WTP) is on the disposal of waste generated during the treatment process. The same occurs with the waste generated during rectification of porcelain tiles. Despite environmental laws in Brazil the residues does not have an ecologically balanced destination. Thus, with the purpose to identify an environmentally sustainable disposal, residues were used to replace part of the soil, for production soil-cement bricks. It was used the residues from WTP and coatings industry Cecrisa (Brazil). Consequently, a greater amount of fine aggregate in the two samples of residues was found. The residue affects the quality of bricks produced, compared to the sample without residues. However, the results of compression and water absorption tests were obtained values that meet the standards, respectively 2.0 MPa and 20% absorption.

Keywords: water treatment residue, porcelain tile residue, WTP, brick

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Authors: Harihara Prakash Ramanathan, Daksha Mishra, Ankita Dhaduk

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Relevance: This qualitative study will educate the clinician in putting into practice the advanced method of movement science in restoring the function. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to compare the effectiveness of Active Release Technique and myofascial release technique on range of motion, neck function and pain in patients with upper trapezius spasm. Methods/Analysis: The study was approved by the institutional Human Research and Ethics committee. This study included sixty patients of age group between 20 to 55 years with upper trapezius spasm. Patients were randomly divided into two groups receiving Active Release Technique (Group A) and Myofascial Release Technique (Group B). The patients were treated for 1 week and three outcome measures ROM, pain and functional level were measured using Goniometer, Visual analog scale(VAS), Neck disability Index Questionnaire(NDI) respectively. Paired Sample 't' test was used to compare the differences of pre and post intervention values of Cervical Range of motion, Neck disability Index, Visual analog scale of Group A and Group B. Independent't' test was used to compare the differences between two groups in terms of improvement in cervical range of motion, decrease in visual analogue scale(VAS), decrease in Neck disability index score. Results: Both the groups showed statistically significant improvements in cervical ROM, reduction in pain and in NDI scores. However, mean change in Cervical flexion, cervical extension, right side flexion, left side flexion, right side rotation, left side rotation, pain, neck disability level showed statistically significant improvement (P < 0. 05)) in the patients who received Active Release Technique as compared to Myofascial release technique. Discussion and conclusions: In present study, the average improvement immediately post intervention is significantly greater as compared to before treatment but there is even more improvement after seven sessions as compared to single session. Hence, this proves that several sessions of Manual techniques are necessary to produce clinically relevant results. Active release technique help to reduce the pain threshold by removing adhesion and promote normal tissue extensibility. The act of tensioning and compressing the affected tissue both with digital contact and through the active movement performed by the patient can be a plausible mechanism for tissue healing in this study. This study concluded that both Active Release Technique (ART) and Myofascial release technique (MFR) are equally effective in managing upper trapezius muscle spasm, but more improvement can be achieved by Active Release Technique (ART). Impact and Implications: Active Release Technique can be adopted as mainstay of treatment approach in treating trapezius spasm for faster relief and improving the functional status.

Keywords: trapezius spasm, myofascial release, active release technique, pain

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Authors: Pinar Ercan, Bulut Mert

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The baking industry is prone to occupational health challenges like other industries. Workers in bakeries face many hazards in their work environment; hazards have the potential for causing injury, illness or work accidents. Most of these hazards are preventable and arise from the neglect of occupational safety measures. Some bakeries in Izmır Turkey was evaluated according to occupational health and safety. First of all, the production process was evaluated. The survey was administered to a total of 50 employees. The survey consisted of two sections. The first one comprised only demographic questions and items related to job characteristics. The remaining section was assessing the satisfaction and confidence about occupational health and safety in terms of employees consist of a 10-item questionnaire by using HSE (2010) survey with some modifications. Also, hazards, risks and control measures in the bakeries were determined. Risk assessment has been done by the use of '5x5 Risk Assessment Table' for this purpose.

Keywords: bakeries, occupational health and safety, hazards, risks, risk assessment

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Authors: L. Tirabeni, K. E. Soderquist, P. Pisano

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Our purpose is to investigate how the relationship between employees and innovation management processes can drive organizations to successful innovations. This research is deeply related to a new way of thinking about human resources management practices. It’s not simply about improving the employees’ engagement, but rather about a different and more radical commitment: the employee can take on the role traditionally played by the customer, namely to become the first tester of an innovative product or service, the first user/customer and eventually the first investor in the innovation. This new perception of employees could create the basis of a novelty in the innovation process where innovation is taken to a next level when the problems with customer driven innovation on the one hand, and employees driven innovation on the other can be balanced. This research identifies an effective approach to innovation where the employees will participate throughout the whole innovation process, not only in the idea creation but also in the idea definition and development by giving feedback in parallel to that provided by customers and lead-users.

Keywords: employee-driven innovation, engagement, human resource management, innovative companies

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Authors: Elisha Didam Markus, Thapelo Maqame

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This paper focuses on studying the effects of magnetism on water and their impact to plant growth. Magnetic fields are known to induce higher rate of biochemical reaction and therefore can be used for growth related reactions in plants. For the purpose of this study, two 2 litres bottles were taken, one with two opposite poles magnets (500 mT) one on top and one at the bottom of the bottle. Another bottle was not altered in any way (used as control). Each bottle contained tap water stored up for 24 hours. Plants planted into different pots were watered using water from these bottles. Four pots with soil and manure equally mixed were used and equal volume of radish berry seeds were planted. Two pots were watered with magnetised water and the other two with normal tap water. The developments of plants were monitored in terms of their lengths for a period of 21 days. After 21 days, the lengths of plants watered with magnetised water were found to be 5.6% longer than those watered with tap water.

Keywords: magnetised water, radish berry, growth percentage, magnetic fields

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Authors: Muhammad Naveed Tahir, Wang Yingkuan, Huang Wenjiang, Raheel Osman

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Numerous models used in prediction and decision-making process but most of them are linear in natural environment, and linear models reach their limitations with non-linearity in data. Therefore accurate estimation is difficult. Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) found extensive acceptance to address the modeling of the complex real world for the non-linear environment. ANN’s have more general and flexible functional forms than traditional statistical methods can effectively deal with. The link between information technology and agriculture will become more firm in the near future. Monitoring crop biophysical properties non-destructively can provide a rapid and accurate understanding of its response to various environmental influences. Crop chlorophyll content is an important indicator of crop health and therefore the estimation of crop yield. In recent years, remote sensing has been accepted as a robust tool for site-specific management by detecting crop parameters at both local and large scales. The present research combined the ANN model with satellite-derived chlorophyll indices from LANDSAT 8 imagery for predicting real-time wheat chlorophyll estimation. The cloud-free scenes of LANDSAT 8 were acquired (Feb-March 2016-17) at the same time when ground-truthing campaign was performed for chlorophyll estimation by using SPAD-502. Different vegetation indices were derived from LANDSAT 8 imagery using ERADAS Imagine (v.2014) software for chlorophyll determination. The vegetation indices were including Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Green Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (GNDVI), Chlorophyll Absorbed Ratio Index (CARI), Modified Chlorophyll Absorbed Ratio Index (MCARI) and Transformed Chlorophyll Absorbed Ratio index (TCARI). For ANN modeling, MATLAB and SPSS (ANN) tools were used. Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) in MATLAB provided very satisfactory results. For training purpose of MLP 61.7% of the data, for validation purpose 28.3% of data and rest 10% of data were used to evaluate and validate the ANN model results. For error evaluation, sum of squares error and relative error were used. ANN model summery showed that sum of squares error of 10.786, the average overall relative error was .099. The MCARI and NDVI were revealed to be more sensitive indices for assessing wheat chlorophyll content with the highest coefficient of determination R²=0.93 and 0.90 respectively. The results suggested that use of high spatial resolution satellite imagery for the retrieval of crop chlorophyll content by using ANN model provides accurate, reliable assessment of crop health status at a larger scale which can help in managing crop nutrition requirement in real time.

Keywords: ANN, chlorophyll content, chlorophyll indices, satellite images, wheat

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Authors: Khoa K. Doan

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Assessment plays an essential role in teaching and learning English as it aims to measure the learning outcomes. Designing appropriate test types and procedures for four skills, especially productive skills, is a very challenging task for teachers of English. The assessment scheme is supposed to provide precise measures and fair opportunities for students to demonstrate what they can do with their language skills. This involves content domains, measurement techniques, administrative feasibility, target populations, and potential sources of testing bias. Based on these elements, a review of end-of-term speaking tests for English-majored students at Ho Chi Minh City Open University (Viet Nam) was undertaken for the purpose of analyzing the strengths and limitations of the testing tool for the speaking assessment. It helped to identify what could be done to facilitate the process of teaching and learning in that context.

Keywords: assessment, oral tests, speaking, testing

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Authors: Beriache Abderazik

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It is clear that the psychological effects of noise and physiological eloquent on the workers, what will inevitably affect the performance of both productivity and efficiency in all its aspects, industrial noise became among the most prominent modern professional problems, That require study and analysis in order to arrive at solutions and ways that you can reduce the effects of industrial noise. These factors, in addition to other reasons, made us try in this research to know the real impact of industrial noise on the professional satisfaction of workers. In light of this title we have identified the following general problem: - Is the professional satisfaction factor varies depending on the noise level in the work environment? For the purpose of ascertaining the veracity of the assumptions, we have a comparative study between two samples of equal workers, the first sample is working under the influence of industrial noise severe about (100 Db), and the second sample is working under the influence of industrial noise is low (about 63 Db), and applied them test the professional satisfaction. The results support the hypotheses and confirm all sincerity.

Keywords: industrial noise, job satisfaction, the psychological effects of noise, work environment

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Authors: Setyarini Sri, Nursalim Agus

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Integrating critical thinking and digital based learning is one of demands in teaching English in 21st century. Child-friendly digital storytelling (CFDS) is an innovative learning model to promote young learners’ critical thinking. Therefore, this study aims to (1) investigate how child-friendly digital storytelling is implemented to promote young learners’ critical thinking in speaking English; (2) find out the benefits gained by the students in their learning based on CFDS. Classroom Action Research (CAR) took place in two cycles in which each of the cycle covered four phases namely: Planning, Acting, Observing, and Evaluating. Three classes of seventh graders were selected as the subjects of this study. Data were collected through observation, interview with some selected students as respondents, and document analysis in the form individual recorded storytelling. Sentences, phrases, words found in the transcribed data were identified and categorized based on Bloom taxonomy. The findings from the first cycle showed that the students seemed to speak critically that can be seen from the way they understood the story and related the story to their real life. Meanwhile, the result investigated from the second cycle likely indicated their higher level of critical thinking since the students spoke in English critically through comparing, questioning, analyzing, and evaluating the story by giving arguments, opinions, and comments. Such higher levels of critical thinking were also found in the students’ final project of individual recorded digital story. It is elaborated from the students’ statements in the interview who claimed CFDS offered opportunity to the students to promote their critical thinking because they comprehended the story deeply as they experienced in their real life. This learning model created good learning atmosphere and engaged the students directly so that they looked confident to retell the story in various perspectives. In term of the benefits of child-friendly digital storytelling, the students found it beneficial for some enjoyable classroom activities through watching beautiful and colorful pictures, listening to clear and good sounds, appealing moving motion and emotionally they were involved in that story. In the interview, the students also stated that child-friendly digital storytelling eased them to understand the meaning of the story as they were motivated and enthusiastic to speak in English critically.

Keywords: critical thinking, child-friendly digital storytelling, English speaking, promoting, young learners

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Authors: Iqbal Abd. Muhbir Hadi Anam

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The purpose of the study is to discuss the relationship between organizational culture, teacher psychological empowerment, and organizational citizenship behavior at the University of Bangkalan District. The data was obtained using a survey of 100 respondents tested for validity and reliability. The analytical technique used is a hierarchical regression test. The results showed that the organizational culture of the university had a strong influence on the psychological empowerment of teachers and the psychological empowerment of teachers and that the organizational culture and psychological empowerment of teachers provided effective predictions of the psychological empowerment of the university. In addition, organizational culture directly or indirectly influences teachers' organizational citizenship behavior through psychological empowerment. Given these results, universities need to build an organizational culture that reflects the nature of the university.

Keywords: organizational behavior, teacher psychological empowerment, organizational citizenship behavior, universities

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Authors: Saidi Nabiha, Khaled Zaatouri, Walid Fajraoui, Tahar Ezzeddine

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The market of Wireless Sensor Network WSN has a great potential and development opportunities. Researchers are focusing on optimization in many fields like efficient deployment and routing protocols. In this article, we will concentrate on energy efficiency for WSN because WSN nodes are habitually deployed in severe No Man’s Land with batteries are not rechargeable, so reducing energy consumption represents an important challenge to extend the life of the network. We will present the design of new WSN mote based on ultra low power STM32L microcontrollers and the ZIGBEE transceiver CC2520. We will compare it to existent motes and we will conclude that our mote is promising in energy consumption.

Keywords: component, WSN mote, power consumption, STM32L, sensors, CC2520

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Authors: Ibrahim Auwalu

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The main thrust of this paper is the examination of Quality Education as opposed to low level knowledge acquisition in the promotion of quality of life, health, individual and national growth and development. The paper reviews the role education plays in developed, developing and third world economies. It further explores the real meaning of poverty in the context it exists. That is poverty in terms of its dimensions– shortened lives, illiteracy, social exclusion and lack of material means to improve family circumstances. The paper concludes that education not only helps individuals escape poverty by developing the skills needed to improve their livelihoods, but also generates productivity gains that fuel economic growth.

Keywords: quality, education, global, poverty alleviation

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Authors: Vassilena Dakova, Mariana Panayotova-Pencheva

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The present work focused on the study of pulmonary helminth-fauna of the stone marten in Bulgaria in terms of which the data are little. For the purpose, four stone martens were helminthologically necropsied according to the common technique. In addition, some of the injured lung parts were investigated after their boiling in lactic acid and subsequent compression. Four nematode species from different families of order Strongylida and Trichocephalida were found in the lungs. These were Crenosoma petrowi Morosov, 1939; Eucoleus aerophilus Creplin, 1839; Filaroides martis Werner, 1782 and Sobolevingylus petrowi Romanov, 1952. Some of the parasite structures with taxonomic importance were measured and described. According to our best knowledge, the species F. martis and S. petrowi are recorded for the first time as a part of the helminth-fauna of Southeast Europe and Bulgaria in particular.

Keywords: Bulgaria, Crenosoma petrowi, Eucoleus aerophilus, Filaroides martis, lung parasites, Sobolevingylus petrowi, stone martens

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Authors: Jeff A. Tysinger, Dawn P. Tysinger

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There has been considerable growth in online learning. Researchers continue to explore the impact various methods of delivery. Podcasting is a popular method for sharing information. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of student motivation and the perception of the acquisition of knowledge in an online environment of a skill-based class. 25 students in a school psychology graduate class completed a pretest and posttest examining podcast use and familiarity. In addition, at the completion of the course they were administered a modified version of the Instructional Materials Motivation Survey. The four subscales were examined (attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction). Results indicated that students are motivated, they perceive podcasts as positive instructional tools, and students are successful in acquiring the needed information. Additional benefits of using podcasts and recommendations in school psychology training are discussed.

Keywords: motivation, online learning, pedagogy, podcast

Procedia PDF Downloads 135

Authors: Eunice Tan

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The purpose of this presentation is to look at an alternative to the approach and methodologies of working with special needs. The strength-based approach to education embodies a paradigm shift. It is a strategy to move away from a deficit-based methodology which inadvertently may lead to an extensive list of things that the child cannot do or is unable to do. Today, many parents of individuals with special needs are focused on the child’s deficits rather than on his or her strengths. Even when parents Recognise and identify their child’s strengths to be valuable and wish to develop their abilities, they face the challenge that there are insufficient programs committed to supporting the development and improvement of such abilities. What is a strength-based approach in education? A strength-based approach in education focuses on students' positive qualities and contributions to class instead of the skills and abilities they may not have. Many schools are focused on the child’s special educational needs rather than the whole child. Parents interviewed have said that they have to engage external tutors to help hone in on their child’s interests and strengths.

Keywords: differential learning needs, special needs, instructional style, talents

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Authors: Ursachi Andrei

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The Smart Grid Simulator is a computer software based on advanced algorithms which has as the main purpose to lower the energy bill in the most optimized price efficient way as possible for private households, companies or energy providers. It combines the energy provided by a number of solar modules and wind turbines with the consumption of one household or a cluster of nearby households and information regarding weather conditions and energy prices in order to predict the amount of energy that can be produced by renewable energy sources and the amount of energy that will be bought from the distributor for the following day. The user of the system will not only be able to minimize his expenditures on energy fractures, but also he will be informed about his hourly consumption, electricity prices fluctuation and money spent for energy bought as well as how much money he saved each day and since he installed the system. The paper outlines the algorithm that supports the Smart Grid Simulator idea and presents preliminary test results that support the discussion and implementation of the system.

Keywords: smart grid, sustainable energy, applied science, renewable energy sources

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Authors: Priti Kumari, Tricha Anjali

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Body Area Networks (BANs) have emerged as the most promising technology for pervasive health care applications. Since they facilitate communication of very sensitive health data, information leakage in such networks can put human life at risk, and hence security inside BANs is a critical issue. Safe distribution and periodic refreshment of cryptographic keys are needed to ensure the highest level of security. In this paper, we focus on the key distribution techniques and how they are categorized for BAN. The state-of-art pre-shared key distribution algorithms are surveyed. Possible attacks on algorithms are demonstrated with examples.

Keywords: attacks, body area network, key distribution, key refreshment, pre-shared keys

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Authors: Shumaila Shakoor

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The levels of metal pollution (Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn) were investigated in the leaves of Dalbergia sisso in urban areas of the Sahiwal and Faisalabad City. For this purpose, three habitats were selected for sampling (roads, residential areas and parks). High concentration of metal was found in roadside samples as compared to residential areas and parks. In Sahiwal city the mean concentration of Copper (7.68µgg-¹) Zinc (43.55µgg-¹) and lead (4.79µgg-¹) were detected. Similarly, concentration of Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd in leaves of Faisalabad city ranged from 14.4-11.3µgg-¹, 49.7-49.5µgg-¹,138.7-47.1µgg-¹. Highest concentration of heavy metals was detected in Faisalabad as compared to Sahiwal city and level of heavy metals was below the threshold limits, therefore, the concentration of heavy metals was not high in Dalbergia sissoo.

Keywords: cadmium, copper, lead, zinc

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Authors: Stefan Bauer, Josef Frysak

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According to the scientific information management literature, the improper use of information technology (e.g. personal computers) by employees are one main cause for operational and information security loss events. Therefore, organizations implement information security awareness programs to increase employees’ awareness to further prevention of loss events. However, in many cases these information security awareness programs consist of conventional delivery methods like posters, leaflets, or internal messages to make employees aware of information security policies. We assume that a viral information security awareness video might be more effective medium than conventional methods commonly used by organizations. The purpose of this research is to develop a viral video artifact to improve employee security behavior concerning information technology.

Keywords: information security awareness, delivery methods, viral videos, employee security behavior

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Authors: Kaoutar Zellat, Tahar Kadri

Abstract:

The purpose of new aseismic techniques is to provide an additional means of energy dissipation, thereby reducing the transmitted acceleration into the superstructure. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of aseismic bearings technique and understand the behavior of seismically isolated bridges by such devices a three-span continuous deck bridge made of reinforced concrete is considered. The bridge is modeled as a discrete model and the relative displacements of the isolation bearing are crucial from the design point of view of isolation system and separation joints at the abutment level. The systems presented here are passive control systems and the results of some important experimental tests are also included. The results show that the base shear in the piers is significantly reduced for the isolated system as compared to the non isolated system in the both directions of the bridge. This indicates that the use of aseismic systems is effective in reducing the earthquake response of the bridge.

Keywords: aseismic bearings, bridge isolation, bridge, seismic response

Procedia PDF Downloads 364

Authors: Adian Fatchur Rochim, Abdul Muis, Riri Fitri Sari

Abstract:

H-index has been widely used as a performance indicator of researchers around the world especially in Indonesia. The Government uses Scopus and Google scholar as indexing references in providing recognition and appreciation. However, those two indexing services yield to different H-index values. For that purpose, this paper evaluates the difference of the H-index from those services. Researchers indexed by Webometrics, are used as reference’s data in this paper. Currently, Webometrics only uses H-index from Google Scholar. This paper observed and compared corresponding researchers’ data from Scopus to get their H-index score. Subsequently, some researchers with huge differences in score are observed in more detail on their paper’s publisher. This paper shows that the H-index of researchers in Google Scholar is approximately 2.45 times of their Scopus H-Index. Most difference exists due to the existence of uncertified publishers, which is considered in Google Scholar but not in Scopus.

Keywords: Google Scholar, H-index, Scopus, performance indicator

Procedia PDF Downloads 280

Authors: Ahmed Nour El Islam Ayad, Tahar Rouibah, Wafa Krika, Houari Boudjella, Larab Moulay, Farid Benhamida, Selma Benmoussa

Abstract:

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the electromagnetic field of an underground cable of very high voltage perforated by nail. The aim of this work shows a numerical simulation of the electromagnetic field of 400 kV line after perforation through a ferrous nail in four positions for the pinch pin at different distances. From results for a longitudinal section, we observe and evaluate the distribution and the variation of the electromagnetic field in the cable and the earth. When the nail approaches the underground power cable, the distribution of the magnetic field changes and takes several forms, the magnetic field increase and become very important when the nail breaks the metal screen and will produce a significant leak of the electric field, characterized by a large electric arc and or electric discharge to earth and then a fault in the electrical network. These electromagnetic analysis results help to detect defects in underground cables.

Keywords: underground, electromagnetic, nail, defect

Procedia PDF Downloads 236