Search results for: growth and development

Authors: Laila Niklasson

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The aim of the study is to critically discuss how partner schools are engaged during Initial teacher education, ITE. The background is an experiment in Sweden where the practicum organization is reorganized due to a need to enhance quality during practicum. It is a national initiative from the government, supported by the National Agency of Education and lasts 2014-2019. The main features are concentration of students to school with a certain amount of mentors, mentors who have a mentor education and teachers with relevant subject areas and where there could be a mentor team with a leader at the school. An expected outcome is for example that the student teachers should be engaged in peer-learning. The schools should be supported by extra lectures from university teachers during practicum and also extra research projects where the schools should be engaged. A case study of one university based ITE was carried out to explore the consequences for the schools not selected. The result showed that from engaging x schools in a region, x was engaged. The schools are both in urban and rural areas, mainly in the latter. There is also a tendency that private schools are not engaged. On a unit level recruitment is perceived as harder for schools not engaged. In addition they cannot market themselves as ´selected school´ which can affect parent´s selection of school for their children. Also, on unit level, but with consequences for professional development, they are not selected for research project and thereby are not fully supported during school development. The conclusion is that from an earlier inclusive approach concerning professions where all teachers were perceived as possible mentors, there is a change to an exclusive approach where selected schools and selected teachers should be engaged. The change could be perceived as a change in governance mentality, but also in how professions are perceived, and development work is pursued.

Keywords: initial teacher education, practicum schools, profession, quality development

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Authors: Thanduxolo Elford Fana

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Rationale and Purpose: Performance management and development system are central to effective and efficient service delivery, especially in highly labour intensive sectors such as South African public health. Performance management and development systems seek to ensure that good employee performance is rewarded accordingly, while those who underperform are developed so that they can reach their full potential. An effective and efficiently implemented performance management system motivates and improves employee engagement. The purpose of this study is to examine the implementation of the performance management and development system and the challenges that are encountered during its implementation in the Eastern Cape Provincial Department of Health. Methods: A qualitative research approach and a case study design was adopted in this study. The primary data were collected through observations, focus group discussions with employees, a group interview with shop stewards, and in-depth interviews with supervisors and managers, from April 2019 to September 2019. There were 45 study participants. In-depth interviews were held with 10 managers at facility level, which included chief executive officer, chief medical officer, assistant director’s in human resources management, patient admin, operations, finance, and two area manager and two operation managers nursing. A group interview was conducted with five shop stewards and an in-depth interview with one shop steward from the group. Five focus group discussions were conducted with clinical and non-clinical staff. The focus group discussions were supplemented with an in-depth interview with one person from each group in order to counter the group effect. Observations included moderation committee, contracting, and assessment meetings. Findings: The study shows that the performance management and development system was not properly implemented. There was non-compliance to performance management and development system policy guidelines in terms of time lines for contracting, evaluation, payment of incentives to good performers, and management of poor performance. The study revealed that the system is ineffective in raising the performance of employees and unable to assist employees to grow. The performance bonuses were no longer paid to qualifying employees. The study also revealed that lack of capacity and commitment, poor communication, constant policy changes, financial constraints, weak and highly bureaucratic management structures, union interference were challenges that were encountered during the implementation of the performance management and development system. Lastly, employees and supervisors were rating themselves three irrespective of how well or bad they performed. Conclusion: Performance management is regarded as vital to improved performance of the health workforce and healthcare service delivery among populations. Effective implementation of performance management and development system depends on well-capacitated and unbiased management at facility levels. Therefore, there is an urgent need to improve communication, link performance management to rewards, and capacitate staff on performance management and development system, as it is key to improved public health sector outcomes or performance.

Keywords: challenges, implementation, performance management and development system, public hospital

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Authors: M. Nili, S. Tavasoli, A. R. Yazdandoost

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In this paper, an experimental investigation on the effect of Isfahan Ground Granulate Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS) on the compressive strength development of self-consolidating concrete (SCC) and normal concrete (NC) was performed. For this purpose, Portland cement type I was replaced with GGBS in various Portions. For NC and SCC Mixes, 10*10*10 cubic cm specimens were tested in 7, 28 and 91 days. It must be stated that in this research water to cement ratio was 0.44, cement used in cubic meter was 418 Kg/m³ and Superplasticizer (SP) Type III used in SCC based on Poly-Carboxylic acid. The results of experiments have shown that increasing GGBS Percentages in both types of concrete reduce Compressive strength in early ages.

Keywords: compressive strength, GGBS, normal concrete, self-consolidating concrete

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Authors: Geno Paul S. Cumla, Jan Mariel M. Gentiles, M. Brenda Gajelan-Samson

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Eutrophication is a process where in there is a surplus of nutrients present in a lake or river. Harmful cyanobacteria, hypoxia, and primarily algae, which contain toxins, grow because of the excess nutrients. Algal blooms can cause fish kills, limiting the light penetration which reduces growth of aquatic organisms, causing die-offs of plants and produce conditions that are dangerous to aquatic and human life. The main cause for eutrophication is the presence of excessive amounts of phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N). Nitrogen is necessary for the production of the plant tissues and is usually used to synthesize proteins. Nitrate is a compound that contains nitrogen, and at elevated levels it can cause harmful effects. Excessive amounts of phosphorus, displaced through human activity, is the major cause of algae growth and as well as degraded water quality. To accomplish this study the Assessment of Soluble inorganic nitrogen (SIN), Assessment of Soluble reactive phosphate (SRP), Determination of Chlorophyll a (Chl-a) concentration, and Determination of Dominating Taxa were done. The study addresses the high probability of algal blooms in Maqueda Bay by assessing the biotic and abiotic factors of Antiao and Jiabong rivers. The data predicts the overgrowth of algae and to create awareness to prevent the event from taking place. The study assesses the adverse effects that could be prevented by understanding and controlling algae. This should predict future cases of algal blooms and allow government agencies which require data to create programs to prevent and assess these issues.

Keywords: eutrophication, chlorophyll a, nitrogen, phosphorus, red tide, Kjeldahl method, spectrophotometer, assessment of soluble inorganic nitrogen, SIN, assessment of soluble reactive phosphate, SRP

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Authors: Kayondoamunmose Kamafrika

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Experimental based Engineering education approach plays a vital role in the development of student’s deep understanding of both social and physical sciences. Experimental based education approach through laboratory class activities prepare students to meet national demand for high-tech skilled individuals in the government and private sector. However, students across the country are faced with difficulties in classes that involve laboratory activities: poor experimental based exposure in their early development of student’s education-life-cycle, lack of student engagement in scientific method practical thinking approach, lack of communication between students and the instructor during class, a large number of students in one classroom, lack of instruments and improper equipment calibration. The purpose of this paper is to help students develop their own scientific knowledge and understanding, develop their methodologies in the design of experiments, collect and analyze data, write laboratory reports, present and explain their findings. Experimental based laboratory activities allow students to learn with high-level understanding as well as engage in the design processes of constructing knowledge through practical means of doing science. Experimental based education systems approach will act as a catalyst in the development of practical-based-educational methodologies in social and physical science and engineering domain of learning; thereby, converting laboratory classes into pilot industries and students into professional experts in finding a solution for complex problems, research, and development of super high- tech systems.

Keywords: experimental, engineering, innovation, practicability

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Authors: Patsy Tan, Dana Baltutis

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This presentation demonstrates the effectiveness of music therapy in co-treatment with speech pathology and occupational therapy as an innovative way when working with children and adolescents with complex individual differences to facilitate communication, emotional, motor and social skills development. Each child with special needs and their carer has an individual profile which encompasses their visual-spatial, auditory, language, learning, mental health, family dynamic, sensory-motor, motor planning and sequencing profiles. The most common issues among children with special needs, especially those diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, are in the areas of regulation, communication, and social-emotional development. The ability of children living with challenges to communicate and use language and understand verbal and non-verbal information, as well as move their bodies to explore and interact with their environments in social situations, depends on the children being regulated both internally and externally and trusting their communication partners and understanding what is happening in the moment. For carers, it is about understanding the tempo, rhythm, pacing, and timing of their own individual profile, as well as the profile of the child they are interacting with, and how these can sync together. In this study, music therapy is used in co-treatment sessions with a speech pathologist and/or an occupational therapist using the DIRFloortime approach to facilitate the regulation, attention, engagement, reciprocity and social-emotional capacities of children presenting with complex individual differences. Documented changes in 10 domains of children’s development over a 12-month period using the Individual Music Therapy Assessment Profile (IMTAP) were observed. Children were assessed biannually, and results show significant improvements in the social-emotional, musicality and receptive language domains indicating that co-treatment with a music therapist using the DIRFloortime framework is highly effective. This presentation will highlight strategies that facilitate regulation, social-emotional and communication development for children and adolescents with complex individual profiles.

Keywords: communication, shared attention, regulation, social emotional

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Authors: Soleen Karim, Meira Yasin, Rezhin Qader

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Children’s books present a colorful life for kids around the world, their current environment or what they could potentially have- a home, two loving parents, a playground, and a safe school within a short walk or bus ride. These images are only pages in a donated book for children displaced by war. The environment they live in is significantly different. Displaced children are faced with a temporary life style filled with fear and uncertainty. Children of war associate various structural institutions with a trauma and cannot enter the space, even if it is for their own future development, such as a school. This paper is a collaborative effort with students of the Kennesaw State University architecture department, architectural designers and a mental health professional to address and link the design challenges and the psychological trauma for children of war. The research process consists of a) interviews with former refugees, b) interviews with current refugee children, c) personal understanding of space through one’s own childhood, d) literature review of tested design methods to address various traumas. Conclusion: In addressing the built environment for children of war, it is necessary to address mental health and well being through the creation of space that is sensitive to the needs of children. This is achieved by understanding critical design cues to evoke normalcy and safe space through program organization, color, and symbiosis of synthetic and natural environments. By involving the children suffering from trauma in the design process, aspects of the design are directly enhanced to serve the occupant. Neglecting to involve the participants creates a nonlinear design outcome and does not serve the needs of the occupant to afford them equal opportunity learning and growth experience as other children around the world.

Keywords: activist architecture, childhood education, childhood psychology, adverse childhood experiences

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Authors: Jae-Woo Kim, Kyung-Joong Lee, Hyun-Sik Ahn

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This paper describes the development of a Motor-Driven Power Steering (MDPS) system using Automotive Open System Architecture (AUTOSAR) methodology. The MDPS system is a new power steering technology for vehicles and it can enhance driver’s convenience and fuel efficiency. AUTOSAR defines common standards for the implementation of embedded automotive software. Some aspects of safety and timing requirements are analyzed. Through the AUTOSAR methodology, the embedded software becomes more flexible, reusable and maintainable than ever. Hence, we first design software components (SW-C) for MDPS control based on AUTOSAR and implement SW-Cs for MDPS control using authoring tool following AUTOSAR standards.

Keywords: AUTOSAR, MDPS, simulink, software component

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Authors: Idris lawal

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The most recent development in the Nigerian payment system is the venture into “electronic payment system”. Electronic payment system is simply a payment or monetary transaction made over the internet or a network of computers. This study was carried out in order to assess how electronic payment system has impacted on banks service delivery, to examine the efficiency of electronic payment system in Nigeria and to determine the level of customer’s satisfaction as a direct result of the deployment of electronic payment systems. The study was conducted using structured questionnaire distributed to 50 bank officials and customers of Access Bank plc. Chi-square(x2) was adopted for the purpose of data analysis. The result of the study showed that the development of electronic payment system offer great benefit to bank customers including; improved services, reduced turn-around time, ease of banking transaction, significant cost saving etc. The study recommend that customer protection laws should be properly put in place to safeguard the interest of end users of e-payment instruments, the banking industry and government should show strong commitment and effort to educate the populace on the benefit of patronizing e-payment system to facilitate economic development.

Keywords: electronic payment system, service delivery, bank, Nigeria

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Authors: Yingxiao Ye, Christopher Doehring, Angelos Georghiou, Hugh Robinson, Phebe Vayanos

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Human development is a threat to biodiversity, and conservation organizations (COs) are purchasing land to protect areas for biodiversity preservation. However, COs have limited budgets and thus face hard prioritization decisions that are confounded by uncertainty in future human land use. This research proposes a data-driven sequential planning model to help COs choose land parcels that minimize the uncertain human impact on biodiversity. The proposed model is robust to uncertain development, and the sequential decision-making process is adaptive, allowing land purchase decisions to adapt to human land use as it unfolds. The cellular automata model is leveraged to simulate land use development based on climate data, land characteristics, and development threat index from NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center. This simulation is used to model uncertainty in the problem. This research leverages state-of-the-art techniques in the robust optimization literature to propose a computationally tractable reformulation of the model, which can be solved routinely by off-the-shelf solvers like Gurobi or CPLEX. Numerical results based on real data from the Jaguar in Central and South America show that the proposed method reduces conservation loss by 19.46% on average compared to standard approaches such as MARXAN used in practice for biodiversity conservation. Our method may better help guide the decision process in land acquisition and thereby allow conservation organizations to maximize the impact of limited resources.

Keywords: data-driven robust optimization, biodiversity conservation, uncertainty simulation, adaptive sequential planning

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Authors: Eduardo Ruiz-Corzo, Luis Rodrigo Valencia Perez, Jorge Francisco Barragan Lopez

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The article shows the pressing conditions of marginalization prevailing in the Sierra Gorda, in the northern state of Queretaro, so it is essential to identify business options that generate a complementary source of income in a sustainable manner, in accordance with the fact that the area is a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO. In this sense, the study identifies the enormous scenic richness of the area, the growing demand for leisure activities of the urban centers and the multifunctionality that adds, in a complementary way, the traditional activities that up to now have achieved the quality of life levels. From the application of the 43 interviews and 183 surveys, confirms the fact that the post-visit perception exceeds the expectations of the visitors emerges and affirms that the image that has been projected is attractive and timely. In order to understand how the current model of tourism promoted in the region is working, there is a need to evaluate it in a theoretical-methodological framework considering sustainable development assumptions. In order to determine the degree of contribution to business development, strengthening of social capital, and enjoyment and appreciation of cultural and natural heritage in the region.

Keywords: marginalization, rural tourism, multifunctionality, sustainability, revenue

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Authors: CM van der Bank, Marjoné van der Bank

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International and domestic environmental law has evolved quite rapidly in the last few decades. At the international level the Stockholm and Rio Declarations paved the way for a broad based consensus of the international community on environmental issues and principles. At the Domestic level also many states have incorporated environmental protection in their constitutions and even more states are doing the same at least in their domestic legislations. In this process of evolution environmental law has unleashed a number of novel principles such as; the participatory principle, the polluter pays principle, the precautionary principle, the inter-generational and intra-generational principles, the prevention principle, the sustainable development principle and so on.

Keywords: environment, human rights, international law, protection

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Authors: Obaid Alotaibi

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Tourism and recreation have become one of the important and influential sectors in most of the modern economies. This sector has been accepted as one of the alternative sources of national income, employment, and foreign exchange. Kuwait has many potentialities in tourism and recreation, and exploitation of this leads to more diversification of the economy besides augmenting its contribution to the GDP. It is an import-oriented economy; it requires hard currencies (foreign exchange) to meet the import costs as well as to maintain stability in the international market. To compensate for the revenue fall stemmed from fluctuations in oil prices -where the agriculture, fisheries, and industrial sectors are too immune and inelastic- the only alternative solution is the regeneration of the tourism and recreation to surface. This study envisages the characteristics of tourism and recreation, the economic and social importance for the society, the physical and human endowments, as well as the tourist pattern and plans for promoting and sustaining tourism in the country. The study summarizes many recommendations, including the necessity of establishing authority or a council for tourism, linking the planning of tourism development with the comprehensive planning for economic and social development in Kuwait in the shadow of 2035 vision, and to encourage the investors to develop new tourist and recreation projects.

Keywords: Kuwait, public-private, partnership, tourism, 2035 vision

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Authors: Saleh Alzahrani, Halim Boussabaine

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The Public Private Partnership (PPP) contracts are produced taking into account the reason that the configuration, development, operation, and financing of an open undertaking is to be recompensed to a private gathering inside a solitary contractual structure. PPP venture dangers are ordinarily connected with the improvement and development of another resource and in addition its operation for a considerable length of time. Without a doubt, the most genuine outcomes of dangers amid the development period are value and time overwhelms. These occasions are amongst the most extensively utilized situations as a part of worth for cash investigation dangers. The wellsprings of danger change over the life cycle of a PPP venture. In customary acquirement, the general population segment ordinarily needs to cover all value trouble from these dangers. At any rate there is bounty confirmation to recommend that cost pain is a standard in a percentage of the tasks that are conveyed under customary obtainment. This paper means to research the effect of endogenous dangers on expense overwhelm in KSA PPP ventures. The paper displays a brief writing survey on PPP danger evaluating systems, and after that presents an affiliation model between danger occasions and expense invade in KSA. The paper finishes up with considerations for future examination.

Keywords: PPP, risk pricing, impact of risk, Endogenous risks

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Authors: Setyo Pamuji

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The basis of this research is to create an international business project by developing an area in every country which focused on global language teaching to accelerate huge project of internationalization for mankind better with equity. It is to make an ease, learning more effective and efficient as well as economic development significantly at the place. Some have attempted to establish it, but could have not succeeded. This study uses stratified random sampling method to determine respondents. It is caused by population coming from around of Indonesia which is heterogeneity. Above all, researcher has already known well the spot including the mapping of students and societies, over 5-year, from beginning studying English (2011) until teaching English (2015). This quantitative research is able to analyze the vital factor of successful Language Village at Pare, Kediri, East Java, Indonesia which has never been obtained anywhere. This project provides valuable information regarding management used by the Language Village. Overall approach depicts vigorous marketing strategy and dedication blended. This will allow for more individual consideration of economist and may direct future research on the uniqueness of the Language Village to ascertain more profound understanding of the village which succeeds inviting people from other places to come, beside formal management and marketing.

Keywords: internationalization, accelerate, global language, economic development, blended, globalization

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Authors: Azza EL-Medany, Jamila EL-Medany

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Lung fibrosis is a common side effect of the chemotherapeutic agent, bleomycin. Current evidence suggests that reactive oxygen species may play a key role in the development of lung fibrosis. The present work studied the effect of green tea extract on bleomycin–induced lung fibrosis in rats. Animals were divided into three groups: (1) Saline control group; (2) bleomycin group in which rats were injected with bleomycin (15mg/kg,i.p.) three times a week for four weeks; (3) bleomycin and green tea group in which green tea extract was given to rats (100mg/kg/day, p.o) a week prior to bleomycin and daily during bleomycin injections for 4 weeks until the end of the experiment. Bleomycin–induced pulmonary injury and lung fibrosis that was indicated by increased lung hydroxyproline content, elevated nitric oxide synthase, myeoloperoxidase (MPO), platelet activating factor (PAF), tumor necrosis factor α (TNF_α), transforming growth factor 1β (TGF1β) and angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) activity in lung tissues. On the other hand, bleomycin induced a reduction in reduced glutathione concentration (GSH). Moreover, bleomycin resulted in a severe histological changes in lung tissues revealed as lymphocytes and neutrophils infiltration, increased collagen deposition and fibrosis. Co-administration of bleomycin and green tea extract reduced bleomycin–induced lung injury as evaluated by the significant reduction in hydroxyproline content, nitric oxide synthase activity, levels of MPO, PAF, TNF-α, and ACE in lung tissues. Furthermore, green tea extract ameliorated bleomycin– induced reduction in GSH concentration. Finally, histological evidence supported the ability of green tea extract to attenuate bleomycin–induced lung fibrosis and consolidation. Thus, the finding of the present study provides that green tea may serve as a novel target for potential therapeutic treatment of lung fibrosis.

Keywords: bleomycin, lung fibrosis, green tea, oxygen species

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Authors: Othman Maklouf, Abdunnaser Tresh

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Land vehicle navigation is subject of great interest today. Global Positioning System (GPS) is the main navigation system for positioning in such systems. GPS alone is incapable of providing continuous and reliable positioning, because of its inherent dependency on external electromagnetic signals. Inertial Navigation (INS) is the implementation of inertial sensors to determine the position and orientation of a vehicle. The availability of low-cost Micro-Electro-Mechanical-System (MEMS) inertial sensors is now making it feasible to develop INS using an inertial measurement unit (IMU). INS has unbounded error growth since the error accumulates at each step. Usually, GPS and INS are integrated with a loosely coupled scheme. With the development of low-cost, MEMS inertial sensors and GPS technology, integrated INS/GPS systems are beginning to meet the growing demands of lower cost, smaller size, and seamless navigation solutions for land vehicles. Although MEMS inertial sensors are very inexpensive compared to conventional sensors, their cost (especially MEMS gyros) is still not acceptable for many low-end civilian applications (for example, commercial car navigation or personal location systems). An efficient way to reduce the expense of these systems is to reduce the number of gyros and accelerometers, therefore, to use a partial IMU (ParIMU) configuration. For land vehicular use, the most important gyroscope is the vertical gyro that senses the heading of the vehicle and two horizontal accelerometers for determining the velocity of the vehicle. This paper presents a field experiment for a low-cost strap down (ParIMU)\GPS combination, with data post processing for the determination of 2-D components of position (trajectory), velocity and heading. In the present approach, we have neglected earth rotation and gravity variations, because of the poor gyroscope sensitivities of our low-cost IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) and because of the relatively small area of the trajectory.

Keywords: GPS, IMU, Kalman filter, materials engineering

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Authors: Heli Makkonen, Eini Hyppönen

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The ageing of employees, the availability of workforce, and employees’ engagement in work are today’s challenges in the field of health care and social services, and particularly in the care of older people. Therefore, it is important to enhance both the attractiveness of the work in the field of older people’s care and the retention of employees in the field, and also to pay attention to the length of careers. The length of careers can be affected, for example, by developing an age-friendly organisational culture. Changing the organisational culture in a workplace is, however, a slow process which requires engagement from employees and enhanced dialogue between employees. This article presents an example of age-friendly organisational culture in an older people’s care unit and presents the results of the development of this organisational culture to meet the identified development challenges. In this research-based development process, cycles used in action research were applied. Three workshops were arranged for employees in a service home for older people. The workshops worked as interventions, and the employees and their manager were given several consecutive assignments to be completed between them. In addition to workshops, the employees benchmarked two other service homes. In the workshops, data was collected by observing and documenting the conversations. After that, thematic analysis was used to identify the factors connected to an age-friendly organisational culture. By analysing the data and comparing it to previous studies, some dilemmas we recognised that were hindering or enhancing the attractiveness of work and the retention of employees in this nursing home. After each intervention, the process was reflected and evaluated, and the next steps were planned. The areas of development identified in the study were related to, for example, the flexibility of work, holistic ergonomics, the physical environment at the workplace, and the workplace culture. Some of the areas of development were taken over by the work community and carried out in cooperation with e.g. occupational health care. We encouraged the work community, and the employees provided us with information about their progress. In this research project, the focus was on the development of the workplace culture and, in particular, on the development of the culture of interaction. The workshops showed employees’ attitudes and strong opinions, which can be a challenge from the point of view of the attractiveness of work and the retention of employees in the field. On the other hand, the data revealed that the work community has an interest in developing the dialogue in the work community. Enhancing the dialogue gave the employees the opportunity and resources to face even challenging dilemmas related to the attractiveness of work and the retention of employees in the field. The psychological safety was also enhanced at the same time. The results of this study are part of a broader study that aims at building a model for extending older employees’ careers.

Keywords: age-friendliness, attractiveness of work, dialogue, older people, organisational culture, workplace culture

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Authors: Barış Ozluoymak, Emin Guzel, Ahmet İnce

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Since chemical fertilizers are used for meeting the deficiency of plant nutrients, its many harmful effects are not taken into consideration for the structure of the earth. These fertilizers are hampering the work of the organisms in the soil immediately after thrown to the ground. This interference is first started with a change of the soil pH and micro organismic balance is disrupted by reaction in the soil. Since there can be no fragmentation of plant residues, organic matter in the soil will be increasingly impoverished in the absence of micro organismic living. Biological activity reduction brings about a deterioration of the soil structure. If the chemical fertilization continues intensively, soils will get worse every year; plant growth will slow down and stop due to the intensity of chemical fertilizers, yield decline will be experienced and farmer will not receive an adequate return on his investment. In this research, a prototype of automatic farm manure spreading machine for orange orchards that not just manufactured in Turkey was designed, constructed, tested and eliminate the human drudgery involved in spreading of farm manure in the field. The machine comprised several components as a 5 m3 volume hopper, automatic controlled hydraulically driven chain conveyor device and side delivery conveyor belts. To spread the solid farm manure automatically, the machine was equipped with an electronic control system. The hopper and side delivery conveyor designs fitted between orange orchard tree row spacing. Test results showed that the control system has significant effects on reduction in the amount of unnecessary solid farm manure use and avoiding inefficient manual labor.

Keywords: automatic control system, conveyor belt application, orchard, solid farm manure

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Authors: Vanja Vlajkov, Ivana PajčIn, Mila Grahovac, Marta Loc, Dragana Budakov, Jovana Grahovac

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The rhizosphere soil refers to the plant roots' dynamic environment characterized by their inhabitants' high biological activity. Rhizospheric bacteria are recognized as effective biocontrol agents and considered cardinal in alternative strategies for securing ecological plant diseases management. The need to suppress fungal pathogens is an urgent task, not only because of the direct economic losses caused by infection but also due to their ability to produce mycotoxins with harmful effects on human health. Aspergillus and Fusarium species are well-known producers of toxigenic metabolites with a high capacity to colonize crops and enter the food chain. The bacteria belonging to the Bacillus genus has been conceded as a plant beneficial species in agricultural practice and identified as plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR). Besides incontestable potential, the full commercialization of microbial biopesticides is in the preliminary phase. Thus, there is a constant need for estimating the suitability of novel strains to be used as a central point of viable bioprocess leading to market-ready product development. In the present study, 76 potential producing strains were isolated from the rhizosphere soil, sampled from different localities in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Republic of Serbia. The selective isolation process of strains started by resuspending 1 g of soil samples in 9 ml of saline and incubating at 28° C for 15 minutes at 150 rpm. After homogenization, thermal treatment at 100° C for 7 minutes was performed. Dilution series (10-1-10-3) were prepared, and 500 µl of each was inoculated on nutrient agar plates and incubated at 28° C for 48 h. The pure cultures of morphologically different strains indicating belonging to the Bacillus genus were obtained by the spread-plate technique. The cultivation of the isolated strains was carried out in an Erlenmeyer flask for 96 h, at 28 °C, 170 rpm. The antagonistic activity screening included two phytopathogenic fungi as test microorganisms: Aspergillus sp. and Fusarium sp. The mycelial growth inhibition was estimated based on the antimicrobial activity testing of cultivation broth by the diffusion method. For the Aspergillus sp., the highest antifungal activity was recorded for the isolates Kro-4a and Mah-1a. In contrast, for the Fusarium sp., following 15 isolates exhibited the highest antagonistic effect Par-1, Par-2, Par-3, Par-4, Kup-4, Paš-1b, Pap-3, Kro-2, Kro-3a, Kro-3b, Kra-1a, Kra-1b, Šar-1, Šar-2b and Šar-4. One-way ANOVA was performed to determine the antagonists' effect statistical significance on inhibition zone diameter. Duncan's multiple range test was conducted to define homogenous groups of antagonists with the same level of statistical significance regarding their effect on antimicrobial activity of the tested cultivation broth against tested pathogens. The study results have pointed out the significant in vitro potential of the isolated strains to be used as biocontrol agents for the suppression of the tested mycotoxigenic fungi. Further research should include the identification and detailed characterization of the most promising isolates and mode of action of the selected strains as biocontrol agents. The following research should also involve bioprocess optimization steps to fully reach the selected strains' potential as microbial biopesticides and design cost-effective biotechnological production.

Keywords: Bacillus, biocontrol, bioprocess, mycotoxigenic fungi

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Authors: Meha Singla, Shankhadeep Chaudhuri, Yadunandan Batchu

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Rental Housing is a more cost effective and flexible housing solution for the low income families than home-ownership. While India is undergoing a new industrial metamorphosis with multiple government initiatives that emphasise on the growth of manufacturing sector through policy frameworks and corridor development proposals, there is going to be a huge influx of low-income working population to the upcoming urban centres. As per stats, about 70 per cent of the housing demand at these centres fall into the affordable segment. And in the midst of this rapid urbanisation and huge immigration of young population, there is a lack of proper rental housing framework in the country. A large number of immigrants will be unable to support home-ownership thereby leading to proliferation of slums in urban centres. As a result, there is a dire need for immediate articulation of a comprehensive rental housing policy and affordable housing initiatives. In this paper, CommonFloor attempts to analyse successful rental housing case studies of the world followed by establishing a correlation between the gap in urban rental housing stock and the per capita income statistics to devise rental housing affordability specific to major Indian cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai). Further, with the corroboration of market price trends, it will try to locate feasible micro-markets for immediate rental housing action. Final research findings will provide key data points thereby helping to design the approach for efficient utilisation of unsold residential inventory in the country in order to compensate the rental housing deficiency. This data set is believed to express viable model(s) of the rental housing approach for the government and private participants.

Keywords: housing prices, migration of population, real estate, rental housing, rental markets, residential property market, urbanisation

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Authors: Irna Malganova

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The paper assessed the effectiveness of the use of urban functional zoning using the method of M.A. Kramer by the example of Kazan city (Republic of Tatarstan, Russian Federation) using geoinformation technologies. On the basis of the data obtained, the calculations were carried out to obtain data on population density, overcoming geographic determinism, as well as the effectiveness of the formation of urban frameworks. The authors proposed recommendations for the effectiveness of municipal frameworks in the period from 2018 to 2021: economic, social, environmental and social. The study of effective territorial planning in a given period allows to display of the dynamics of planning changes, as well as assessment of changes in the formation of urban frameworks. Based on the incoming data obtained from the master plan of the municipal formation of Kazan, in the period from 2018 to 2021, there was an increase in population by 13841 people or 1.1% of the values of 2018. In addition, the area of Kazan increased by 2419.6 hectares. In the structure of the distribution of areas of functional zones, there was an increase in such zones of the municipality as zones of residential and public purpose. Changes in functional zoning, as well as territories requiring reorganization, are presented using geoinformation technologies in open-source software Quantum Geographic Information System (QGIS 3.32). According to the calculations based on the method of functional zoning efficiency by M.A. Kreimer, the territorial-planning structure of Kazan City is quite effective. However, in the development of spatial planning concepts, it is possible to emphasize the weakened interest of the population in the development of territorial planning documents. Thus, the approach to spatial planning of Kazan differs from foreign methods and approaches based on the joint development of planning directions and development of territories of municipalities between the developers of the planning structure, business representatives and the population. The population plays the role of the target audience on which territorial planning is oriented. It follows that there is a need to satisfy the opinions and demands of the population.

Keywords: spatial development, metamorphosis, Kazan city, spatial planning, efficiency, geographic determinism., GIS, QGIS

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Authors: Biswajit Pal, Amit Mallik, Anil K. Barik

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Current years have witnessed a phenomenal growth in the research on the rare earth-doped transparent host materials, the essential components in optoelectronics that meet up the increasing demand for fabrication of high quality optical devices especially in telecommunication system. The combination of low phonon energy (because of fluoride environment) and high chemical durability with superior mechanical stability (due to oxide environment) makes the oxyfluoride glass–ceramics the promising and useful materials in optoelectronics. The present work reports on the undoped and doped (1 mol% Pr2O3) glass ceramics of composition 16.52 Al2O3•1.5AlF3• 12.65LaF3•4.33Na2O•64.85 SiO2 (mol%), prepared by melting technique initially that follows annealation at 450 ºC for 1 h. The glass samples so obtained were heat treated at constant 600 ºC with a variation in heat treatment schedule (10- 80 h). TEM techniques were employed to structurally characterize the glass samples. Pr2O3 affects the phase separation in the glass and delays the onset of crystallization in the glass ceramic. The modified crystallization mechanism is established from the analysis of advanced STEM/EDXS results. The phase separated droplets after annealing turn into 10-20 nm of LaF3 nano crystals those upon scrutiny are found to be dotted with the doped Pr3+ ions within the crystals themselves. The EDXS results also suggest that the inner LaF3 crystal core is swallowed by an Al enriched layer that follows a Si enriched surrounding shell as the outer core. This greatly increases the viscosity in the periphery of the crystals that restricts further crystal growth to account for the formation of nano sized crystals.

Keywords: advanced STEM/EDXS, crystallization mechanism, nano crystals, pr3+ ion doped glass and glass ceramic, structural characterization

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Authors: Alloysius C. Ogodo, Ositadinma C. Ugbogu, Uzochukwu G. Ekeleme

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Food poisoning and infection by bacteria are of public health significance to both developing and developed countries. Samples of ogi (akamu) prepared from white and yellow variety of maize sold in Uturu and Okigwe were analyzed together with the laboratory prepared ogi for microbial quality using the standard microbiological methods. The analyses showed that both white and yellow variety had total bacterial counts (cfu/g) of 4.0 ×107 and 3.9 x 107 for the laboratory prepared ogi while the commercial ogi had 5.2 x 107 and 4.9 x107, 4.9 x107 and 4.5 x107, 5.4 x107 and 5.0 x107 for Eke-Okigwe, Up-gate and Nkwo-Achara market respectively. The Staphylococcal counts ranged from 2.0 x 102 to 5.0 x102 and 1.0 x 102 to 4.0 x102 for the white and yellow variety from the different markets while Staphylococcal growth was not recorded on the laboratory prepared ogi. The laboratory prepared ogi had no Coliform growth while the commercially prepared ogi had counts of 0.5 x103 to 1.6 x 103 for white variety and 0.3 x 103 to 1.1 x103 for yellow variety respectively. The Lactic acid bacterial count of 3.5x106 and 3.0x106 was recorded for the laboratory ogi while the commercially prepared ogi ranged from 3.2x106 to 4.2x106 (white variety) and 3.0 x106 to 3.9 x106 (yellow). The presence of bacteria isolates from the commercial and laboratory fermented ogi showed that Lactobacillus sp, Leuconostoc sp and Citrobacter sp were present in all the samples, Micrococcus sp and Klebsiella sp were isolated from Eke-Okigwe and ABSU-up-gate markets varieties respectively, E. coli and Staphylococcus sp were present in Eke-Okigwe and Nkwo-Achara markets while Salmonella sp were isolated from the three markets. Hence, there are chances of contracting food borne diseases from commercially prepared ogi. Therefore, there is the need for sanitary measures in the production of fermented cereals so as to minimize the rate of food borne pathogens during processing and storage.

Keywords: ogi, fermentation, bacterial quality, lactic acid bacteria, maize

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Authors: Thomas Jin-Chee Liu

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In this paper, the thermo-electro-structural coupled-field in a cracked metal plate is studied using the finite element analysis. From the computational results, the compressive stresses reveal near the crack tip. This conclusion agrees with the past reference. Furthermore, the compressive condition can retard and stop the crack growth during the Joule heating process.

Keywords: compressive stress, crack tip, Joule heating, finite element

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Authors: Vilar, Katila

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Rapid urbanization have made of spontaneous settlements one of the dominant´s social subjects of the XXIst century. Currently, it´s recognized that these territories cannot easily be eradicated and are a way of life to many populations of emergent countries. Since late 90s, there is an urgent concern in finding planning and efficient urban design strategies to poverty reduction, spatial integration and social inclusion of low-income communities. The article aims to identify, understand and evaluate the social inclusion´s processes through the urban transformation that has been undertaken in Moravia and how they affected the community´s social capital. To achieve this objective, we start to analyse the PPMIM´s planning discourse in which prevails the sustainability´s concept, to further identify, through the analysis of the project carried out, the urban design strategies implemented and their impact on the perception and on the community´s experience, and, finally, how these focused on the social capital. It relies on concepts such as urban design, social capital, local development and sustainability. At the urban design level it starts on the current principles of “making places”, on the new urbanism concepts and on the practices on the ground carried out by a new generation of architects/planners whose have the main ethical approach in order to create more opportunities and greater social impact to these territories. At the social capital´s level and on the development´s theory, relies on authors such as Coleman, Putman Kliksberg and Amartya Sen. Finally, it aims to address a general discussion about the positive and negative implications of slum upgrading programmes and some necessary recommendations for urban design and social capital can really be translated into real resources for the self sustainable development of low-income communities and their future generations.

Keywords: local and sustainable development, social capital, spontaneous settlements, urban design

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Authors: Abdulla Rahil, Rupert Gammon, Neil Brown

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The rapid growth of renewable energy sources and their integration into the grid have been motivated by the depletion of fossil fuels and environmental issues. Unfortunately, the grid is unable to cope with the predicted growth of renewable energy which would lead to its instability. To solve this problem, energy storage devices could be used. Electrolytic hydrogen production from an electrolyser is considered a promising option since it is a clean energy source (zero emissions). Choosing flexible operation of an electrolyser (producing hydrogen during the off-peak electricity period and stopping at other times) could bring about many benefits like reducing the cost of hydrogen and helping to balance the electric systems. This paper investigates the price of hydrogen during flexible operation compared with continuous operation, while serving the customer (hydrogen filling station) without interruption. The optimization algorithm is applied to investigate the hydrogen station in both cases (flexible and continuous operation). Three different scenarios are tested to see whether the off-peak electricity price could enhance the reduction of the hydrogen cost. These scenarios are: Standard tariff (1 tier system) during the day (assumed 12 p/kWh) while still satisfying the demand for hydrogen; using off-peak electricity at a lower price (assumed 5 p/kWh) and shutting down the electrolyser at other times; using lower price electricity at off-peak times and high price electricity at other times. This study looks at Derna city, which is located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea (32° 46′ 0 N, 22° 38′ 0 E) with a high potential for wind resource. Hourly wind speed data which were collected over 24½ years from 1990 to 2014 were in addition to data on hourly radiation and hourly electricity demand collected over a one-year period, together with the petrol station data.

Keywords: hydrogen filling station off-peak electricity, renewable energy, off-peak electricity, electrolytic hydrogen

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Authors: Jarumon Nookhong, Thanakorn Uiphanit

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This study is a research and development project which aims to develop XML Resume System to be the standard system in Thailand as well as to measure the efficiency of the XML Resume System in Thailand. This research separates into 2 stages: 1) to develop XML Document System to be the standard in Thailand, and 2) to experiment the system performance. The sample in this research is committed by 50 specialists in the field of human resources by selecting specifically. The tool that uses in this research is XML Resume System in Thailand and the performance evaluation format of system while the analysis of the data is calculated by using average and standard deviation. The result of the research found that the development of the XML Resume System that aims to be the standard system in Thailand had the result 2.67 of the average which is in a good level. The evaluation in testing the performance of the system had been done by the specialists of human resources who use the XML Resume system. When analyzing each part, it found out that the abilities according to the user’s requirement from specialists in the field of human resources, the convenience and easiness in usages, and the functional competency are respectively in a good level. The average of the ability according to the user’s need from specialists of human resources is 2.92. The average of the convenience and easiness in usages is 2.56. The average of functional competency is 2.53. These can be used as the standard effectively.

Keywords: resume, XML, XML schema, computer science

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Authors: Xin Zhao

Abstract:

The project aims to expand the notion of narrative learning and address the importance of learning by reflection in our learning and teaching context at a British university. Drawing on the key concepts such as development ZPD, transition and reflection-in and –on-action, this project analyses the learning experiences of a small sample of Chinese postgraduate students in a British University, who use part-time job experience to develop cross-cultural communication skills. The project adopts a mixed methods approach. Questionnaires and focus group interviews are used to examine the way in which students adapt (or not adapt) to the culture of learning in a British university and develop a renewed sense of self in transitions from one culture to the other. The project also looks at how the students appropriate opportunities for learning not just from classrooms but outside classrooms from everyday encounters. The project aims to address the implication of learning by reflection as development in transition. Time in and for learning, or duration, is taken for granted in theorising narrative learning. The project shall explore this very issue of time in relation to learning by reflection in considering time in/of/for learning as duration.

Keywords: cross-cultural competence, learning by refection, international student transition, part-time work experience

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Authors: Fatihin Khoirul, Muhammad Muqorrobin Ist

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Bojonegoro Regency is one of the districts that use the concept Agropolitan as the Territorial Development Policy. Three sub-district designated as Area Development District of Agropolitan are Kapas, Dander, and Kalitidu or commonly called KADEKA. Current policy has been shown results, but there was an inequality of results in some areas. One of them occurred in the Ngringinrejo village with the main commodities is Starfruit and Wedi village with the main commodities is Salak fruit. Therefore, a comparative study is used to search for causal factors of inequality result of the policy by using the 5 aspects compared, namely: (1) Management Development Agropolitan; (2) Physical Condition agropolitan Region; (3) Implementing Agency at the Village Level; (4) Village Government Support; and (5) Community support. Based on the discussion of qualitative analysis, it was found that five aspects have their respective roles in creating inequality of outcomes that occur in both villages. But beyond that, there are conditions where the two villages experienced the same condition that is when the initial implementation of the policy. The condition is referred to as 'the phenomenon of price trap.' The condition is caused by lower commodity prices, causing the village government's commitment in implementing policies too low, followed by public awareness in support of the policy is also low, so care for commodities is also low, and the quality is too low lead and eventually back causing low price. However, the difference is that the village Ngringinrejo able to get out of this condition with 'the new culture of administration' at the end of 2013. While the conditions in the village of Wedi compounded by not respected request assistance by the irrigation district.

Keywords: comparative policy analysis, qualitative comparative, inequallity, price trap, new culture of administration

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