Search results for: open information extraction

Authors: Neda Azimi, Masoud Rahimi, Faezeh Mohammadi

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Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation was performed to investigate the effect of ferrofluid stimulation on hydrodynamic and mass transfer characteristics of two immiscible liquid phases in a Y-micromixer. The main purpose of this work was to develop a numerical model that is able to simulate hydrodynamic of the ferrofluid flow under magnetic field and determine its effect on mass transfer characteristics. A uniform external magnetic field was applied perpendicular to the flow direction. The volume of fluid (VOF) approach was used for simulating the multiphase flow of ferrofluid and two-immiscible liquid flows. The geometric reconstruction scheme (Geo-Reconstruct) based on piecewise linear interpolation (PLIC) was used for reconstruction of the interface in the VOF approach. The mass transfer rate was defined via an equation as a function of mass concentration gradient of the transported species and added into the phase interaction panel using the user-defined function (UDF). The magnetic field was solved numerically by Fluent MHD module based on solving the magnetic induction equation method. CFD results were validated by experimental data and good agreements have been achieved, which maximum relative error for extraction efficiency was about 7.52 %. It was showed that ferrofluid actuation by a magnetic field can be considered as an efficient mixing agent for liquid-liquid two-phase mass transfer in microdevices.

Keywords: CFD modeling, hydrodynamic, micromixer, ferrofluid, mixing

Procedia PDF Downloads 192

Authors: Adam Beaunoyer, Cory Beaunoyer, Mohammed Elmorsy, Hanan Saleh

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This research aims to create a reinforcement learning agent capable of racing in challenging simulated environments with a low collision count. We present a reinforcement learning agent that can navigate challenging tracks using both a Deep Q-Network (DQN) and a Soft Actor-Critic (SAC) method. A challenging track includes curves, jumps, and varying road widths throughout. Using open-source code on Github, the environment used in this research is based on the 1995 racing game WipeOut. The proposed reinforcement learning agent can navigate challenging tracks rapidly while maintaining low racing completion time and collision count. The results show that the SAC model outperforms the DQN model by a large margin. We also propose an alternative multiple-car model that can navigate the track without colliding with other vehicles on the track. The SAC model is the basis for the multiple-car model, where it can complete the laps quicker than the single-car model but has a higher collision rate with the track wall.

Keywords: reinforcement learning, soft actor-critic, deep q-network, self-driving cars, artificial intelligence, gaming

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Authors: Regina Connolly, Justin Connolly

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Despite the benefits which they confer, Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) also have the potential to be used negatively. This paper focuses on one of those negative social effects - adolescent cyberbullying. Although early research in this field has pointed to the fact that the successful intervention and resolution of bullying incidents is to a large degree dependent on such incidents being reported to an adult caregiver, the literature consistently shows that adolescents who have been bullied tend not to inform others of their experiences. However, the reasons underlying such reluctance to seek adult intervention remain undetermined. Similarly, the degree to which gender, age or other variables apply in the case of adolescents’ resistance to report cyberbullying experiences has yet to be established. Understanding the factors that influence this resistance to communicate on the part of adolescents will assist caregivers, teachers and those involved in the formulation of school anti-bullying policies in their attempts to counter the cyberbullying phenomenon.

Keywords: information and Communication technologies, technology-enabled bullying, cyberbullying

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Authors: Rauf R. Hussein, Devon M. Ramey

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Integrating Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can provide valuable insights for various applications, such as archaeology, transportation, and utility locating. Although there has been progress toward automating the integration of GPR data with GIS, fully automatic integration has not been achieved yet. Additionally, manually integrating GPR data with GIS can be a time-consuming and error-prone process. In this study, actual, real-world GPR applications are presented, and a software named GPR-GIS 10 is created to interactively extract subsurface targets from GPR radargrams and automatically integrate them into GIS. With this software, it is possible to quickly and reliably integrate the two techniques to create informative subsurface maps. The results indicated that automatic integration of GPR with GIS can be an efficient tool to map and view any subsurface targets in their appropriate location in a 3D space with the needed precision. The findings of this study could help GPR-GIS integrators save time and reduce errors in many GPR-GIS applications.

Keywords: GPR, GIS, GPR-GIS 10, drone technology, automation

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Authors: Abuzer Akgün, Ümit Duruk

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This study was carried out in a period of four weeks thanks to voluntarily participation of twenty eight pre-service teachers enrolled diverse departments in Faculty of Education. The purpose of the study was to point out how pre-service teachers views on environmental education were affected by field trips. Prior to data collection, four open-ended questions were prepared and administered to all pre-service teachers in the working group. Data gathered at first and final week of the field trip were compared in a qualitative approach using content analysis. In conclusion, it is obvious that most of the participants don’t feel themselves quiet enough about environmental education and state this reason as a providing justification to participate voluntarily in the study. In the secondary school teaching context, they mostly emphasize on the vital importance of the environmental awareness level of the pupils in the schools. They also seem to think that they get a detailed knowledge of environmental education and claim that they will use this knowledge in order to bring up next generations in their professional career as teachers. Lastly, they state that observing the deteriorating materials directly in their own settings, might be more effective as regards improving environmental awareness.

Keywords: science education, environmental education, environmental issues, field trip method

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Authors: Abdullah Alshehab

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Governments worldwide are intensely focused on digitizing public transactions to establish reliable e-government services. The advent of new digital technologies and ongoing advancements in ICT have profoundly transformed business operations. Citizen engagement and participation in e-government services are crucial for the system's success. However, it is essential to measure and enhance citizen satisfaction levels to effectively evaluate and improve these systems. Citizen satisfaction is a key criterion that allows government institutions to assess the quality of their services. There is a strong connection between information quality, service quality, and system quality, all of which directly impact user satisfaction. Additionally, both system quality and information quality have indirect effects on citizen satisfaction. A causal map, which is a network diagram representing causes and effects, can illustrate these relationships. According to the literature, the main factors influencing citizen satisfaction are trust, reliability, citizen support, convenience, and transparency. This paper investigates the causal relationships among these factors and identifies any interrelatedness between them.

Keywords: e-government services, e-satisfaction, citizen satisfaction, causal map.

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Authors: Tapan Kumar Dhar

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How well are our city forms designed to adapt to climate change and its resulting uncertainty? What urban design tools can be used to measure and improve resilience to climate change, and how would they do so? In addressing these questions, this paper considers indeterminacy, a concept originated in the resilience literature, to measure the resilience of built environments. In the realm of urban design, ‘indeterminacy’ can be referred to as built-in design capabilities of an urban system to serve different purposes which are not necessarily predetermined. An urban system, particularly that with a higher degree of indeterminacy, can enable the system to be reorganized and changed to accommodate new or unknown functions while coping with uncertainty over time. Underlying principles of this concept have long been discussed in the urban design and planning literature, including open architecture, landscape urbanism, and flexible housing. This paper argues that the concept indeterminacy holds the potential to reduce the impacts of climate change incrementally and proactively. With regard to sustainable development, both planning and climate change literature highly recommend proactive adaptation as it involves less cost, efforts, and energy than last-minute emergency or reactive actions. Nevertheless, the concept still remains isolated from resilience and climate change adaptation discourses even though the discourses advocate the incremental transformation of a system to cope with climatic uncertainty. This paper considers indeterminacy, as an urban design tool, to measure and increase resilience (and adaptive capacity) of Long Bay’s coastal settlements in Negril, Jamaica. Negril is one of the popular tourism destinations in the Caribbean highly vulnerable to sea-level rise and its associated impacts. This paper employs empirical information obtained from direct observation and informal interviews with local people. While testing the tool, this paper deploys an urban morphology study, which includes land use patterns and the physical characteristics of urban form, including street networks, block patterns, and building footprints. The results reveal that most resorts in Long Bay are designed for pre-determined purposes and offer a little potential to use differently if needed. Additionally, Negril’s street networks are found to be rigid and have limited accessibility to different points of interest. This rigidity can expose the entire infrastructure further to extreme climatic events and also impedes recovery actions after a disaster. However, Long Bay still has room for future resilient developments in other relatively less vulnerable areas. In adapting to climate change, indeterminacy can be reached through design that achieves a balance between the degree of vulnerability and the degree of indeterminacy: the more vulnerable a place is, the more indeterminacy is useful. This paper concludes with a set of urban design typologies to increase the resilience of coastal settlements.

Keywords: climate change adaptation, resilience, sea-level rise, urban form

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Authors: Zeplin Jiwa Husada Tarigan, Sautma Ronni Basana, Widjojo Suprapto

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The ERP is integrating all data from various departments within the company into one data base. One department inputs the data and many other departments can access and use the data through the connected information system. As many manufacturing companies in Indonesia implement the ERP technology, many adjustments are to be made to align with the business process in the companies, especially the management policy and the competitive advantages. For companies that are successful in the initial implementation, they still have to maintain the process so that the initial success can develop along with the changing of business processes of the company. For companies which have already implemented the ERP successfully, they are still in need to maintain the system so that it can match up with the business development and changes. The continued success of the extended ERP implementation aims to achieve efficient and effective performance for the company. This research is distributing 100 questionnaires to manufacturing companies in East Java, Indonesia, which have implemented and have going live ERP for over five years. There are 90 returned questionnaires with ten disqualified questionnaires because they are from companies that implement ERP less than five years. There are only 80 questionnaires used as the data, with the response rate of 80%. Based on the data results and analysis with PLS (Partial Least Square), it is obtained that the organization commitment brings impacts to the user’s effectiveness and provides the adequate IT infrastructure. The user’s effectiveness brings impacts to the adequate IT infrastructure. The information quality of the company increases the implementation of the extended ERP in manufacturing companies in East Java, Indonesia.

Keywords: organization commitment, adequate IT infrastructure, information quality, extended ERP implementation

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Authors: Ahlem Bouziri, Chiraz Latiri, Eric Gaussier

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The steady growth in the size of textual document collections is a key progress-driver for modern information retrieval techniques whose effectiveness and efficiency are constantly challenged. Given a user query, the number of retrieved documents can be overwhelmingly large, hampering their efficient exploitation by the user. In addition, retaining only relevant documents in a query answer is of paramount importance for an effective meeting of the user needs. In this situation, the query expansion technique offers an interesting solution for obtaining a complete answer while preserving the quality of retained documents. This mainly relies on an accurate choice of the added terms to an initial query. Interestingly enough, query expansion takes advantage of large text volumes by extracting statistical information about index terms co-occurrences and using it to make user queries better fit the real information needs. In this respect, a promising track consists in the application of data mining methods to extract dependencies between terms, namely a generic basis of association rules between terms. The key feature of our approach is a better trade off between the size of the mining result and the conveyed knowledge. Thus, face to the huge number of derived association rules and in order to select the optimal combination of query terms from the generic basis, we propose to model the problem as a classification problem and solve it using a supervised learning algorithm such as SVM or k-means. For this purpose, we first generate a training set using a genetic algorithm based approach that explores the association rules space in order to find an optimal set of expansion terms, improving the MAP of the search results. The experiments were performed on SDA 95 collection, a data collection for information retrieval. It was found that the results were better in both terms of MAP and NDCG. The main observation is that the hybridization of text mining techniques and query expansion in an intelligent way allows us to incorporate the good features of all of them. As this is a preliminary attempt in this direction, there is a large scope for enhancing the proposed method.

Keywords: supervised leaning, classification, query expansion, association rules

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Authors: Yenni Anggrayni

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The lack of awareness of the significant prevalence of school absenteeism in Indonesia, which ultimately results in high rates of school dropouts, is an unresolved issue. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the root causes of chronic absenteeism qualitatively and quantitatively using the bioecological systems paradigm in secondary schools for any reason. This study used an open-ended questionnaire to collect data from 1,148 students in six West Java Province districts/cities. Univariate and stepwise multiple logistic regression analyses produced a prediction model for the components. Analysis results show that poor teacher-student relationships, bullying by peers or teachers, negative perception of education, and lack of parental involvement in learning activities are the leading causes of chronic absenteeism. Another finding is to promote home-school partnerships to improve school climate and parental involvement in learning to address chronic absenteeism.

Keywords: bullying, chronic absenteeism, dropout of school, home-school partnerships, parental involvement

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Authors: Shivankar Agrawal, Indira Sarangthem

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Staphylococcus aureus and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) remains one of the major causes of healthcare-associated and community-onset infections worldwide. Hence the search for non-toxic natural compounds having antibacterial activity has intensified for future drug development. The exploration of less studied niches of Earth can highly increase the possibility to discover novel bioactive compounds. Therefore, in this study, the cultivable fraction of fungi from the sediments of natural hot springs has been studied to mine potential fungal candidates with antibacterial activity against the human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. We isolated diverse strains of thermophilic fungi from a collection of samples from sediment. Following a standard method, we isolated a promising thermophilic fungus strain IBSD19, identified as Acrophialophora levis, possessing the potential to produce an anti-Staphylococcus aureus agent. The growth conditions were optimized and scaled to fermentation, and its produced extract was subjected to chemical extraction. The ethyl acetate fraction was found to display significant activity against Staphylococcus aureus and MRSA with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 0.5 mg/ml and 4 mg/ml, respectively. The cell membrane integrity assay and SEM suggested that the fungal metabolites cause bacteria clustering and further lysis of the cell.

Keywords: antibacterial activity, antioxidant, fungi, Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA, thermophiles

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Authors: Alireza Saviz, Sedigheh Zarei

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Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is an integral part of an open and effective international economic system and a major catalyst to development. Developing countries, emerging economies and countries in transition have come increasingly to see FDI as a source of economic development modernization, income growth and employment. FDI is an important vehicle for the transfer of technology, contributing relatively more to growth than domestic investment. Exploratory research is being conducted here. The data for the study is collected from secondary sources like research papers, journals, websites and reports. This paper aim was to generate knowledge on Iran’s situation through these factors after lifting sanction in comparison to Turkey. Although the most important factors that influence foreign investor decisions vary depending on the countries, sectors, years, and the objective of investor, nowadays governments should pay more attention to human resources education, marketing, infrastructure and administrative process in order to attracting foreign investors. A proper understanding of these findings will help governments to create appropriate policies in order to encourage more foreign investors

Keywords: foreign direct investment, host country, competitive advantage, FDI

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Authors: Sawsan M. H. Domi

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Approximately 50% of the energy used in buildings, including houses, provide environmental comfortable levels of thermal living. In Khartoum - the city under study- cooling uses the largest portion of energy and the basic idea of Low energy houses is to minimize energy consumption. Therefore, houses are designed to use natural climate strategies to provide thermal comfort. Strategies such as semi-open spaces, shading devices, small high windows and thick walls. The study aims to review these strategies and then, apply them. It aims to change house microclimate by using vegetation, green areas, and other components. A low energy house is being designed s. It will be the first low energy house in Khartoum designed to create a low-cost energy efficient building without any mechanical systems. Three different types of houses in Khartoum are examined and evaluated according to their energy loads which provides the basis for the designed house. The designed house uses passive design strategies to reduce the need for cooling. These results show that the house reduced energy cooling loads by more than 60% compared to the average of the three given types. The design house is economically viable when taking into consideration the energy prices in Sudan.

Keywords: building envelope, climate, energy loads, ventilation

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Authors: Freda E. Asem, R. D. Osei, D. B. Sarpong, J. K. Kuwornu

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While market access remains important, Ghana’s major handicap is her inability to sustain export growth on the open market. The causes of these could be attributed to inefficiency, lack of competitiveness and supply-side constraints. This study examined the challenges faced by smallholder horticultural farmers and how it relates to their technical efficiency. The study employed mixed methods to address the problem. Using the Millennium Development Account (MiDA) Farmer Based Organization survey data on farm households in 23 districts in Ghana, the study assessed the technical efficiency of smallholder horticultural farmers (taking into account production risks). Focus group discussions (FGDs) and in-depth interviews were also conducted on smallholder mango, pineapple, and chilli pepper farmers selected districts in Ghana. Results revealed the constraints faced by smallholder horticultural farmers to be marketing, training, funding, accessibility, and affordability of inputs, land, access to credit, and the disconnect between themselves and policy makers and implementers.

Keywords: productivity, gender, policy, efficiency, constraints

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Authors: Sergio Mauricio Pérez López, Luis Rodrigo Valencia Pérez, Juan Manuel Peña Aguilar, Adelina Morita Alexander

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The culture of continuous improvement in organizations is very important as it represents a source of competitive advantage. This article discusses the transfer of knowledge between companies which formed cross-functional teams and used a dynamic model for knowledge creation as a framework. In addition, the article discusses the structure of cognitive assets in companies and the concept of "stickiness" (which is defined as an obstacle to the transfer of knowledge). The purpose of this analysis is to show that an improvement in the attitude of individual members of an organization creates opportunities, and that an exchange of information and knowledge leads to generating continuous improvements in the company as a whole. This article also discusses the importance of creating the proper conditions for sharing tacit knowledge. By narrowing gaps between people, mutual trust can be created and thus contribute to an increase in sharing. The concept of adapting knowledge to new environments will be highlighted, as it is essential for companies to translate and modify information so that such information can fit the context of receiving organizations. Adaptation will ensure that the transfer process is carried out smoothly by preventing "stickiness". When developing the transfer process on cross-functional teams (as opposed to working groups), the team acquires the flexibility and responsiveness necessary to meet objectives. These types of cross-functional teams also generate synergy due to the array of different work backgrounds of their individuals. When synergy is established, a culture of continuous improvement is created.

Keywords: knowledge transfer, continuous improvement, teamwork, cognitive assets

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Authors: Hossein Agheshlui, Stephan Matthai

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In fractured rock masses open fractures tend to act as the main pathways of fluid flow. The permeability of a rock fracture depends on its aperture. The change of aperture with stress can cause a many-orders-of-magnitude change in the hydraulic conductivity at moderate compressive stress levels. In this study, the change of aperture in fragmented rocks is investigated using finite element analysis. A full 3D mechanical model of a simplified version of an outcrop analog is created and studied. A constant initial aperture value is applied to all fractures. Different far field stresses are applied and the change of aperture is monitored considering the block to block interaction. The fragmented rock layer is assumed to be sandwiched between softer layers. Frictional contact forces are defined at the layer boundaries as well as among contacting rock blocks. For a given in situ stress, the blocks slide and contact each other, resulting in new aperture distributions. A map of changed aperture is produced after applying the in situ stress and compared to the initial apertures. Subsequently, the permeability of the system before and after the stress application is compared.

Keywords: fractured rocks, mechanical model, aperture change due to stress, frictional interface

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Authors: Jianli Hu

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The internet has fundamentally revolutionized access to data and ushered new ways of creating and accessing information for commercializing products. Digital media such as computer programs, software, apps, websites, and social media have allowed the proliferation of information and ideas to grow exponentially. In recent years, a new wave of innovative e-commerce formats has begun to emerge in the fashion marketplace, responding to the ever-greater need for transparency and connectivity. For example, many fashion wholesalers and retailers have modified their operations using software systems that enable brands to cost, track, and analyze products and client orders, sales tools that connect buyers and brands to create a more dynamic market-place, as well as retailer-end apps designed to drive traffic back to brick-and-mortar stores. In this paper, we review the recently developed tools and applications of commercializing fashion, and present results of several field studies and interviews with fashion producers and buyers.

Keywords: fashion, digital media, commercializing products, internet

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Authors: Zhengrong Wu, Haibo Yang

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In the context of escalating global climate change and environmental degradation, the complexity and frequency of natural disasters are continually increasing. Confronted with an abundance of information regarding natural disasters, traditional knowledge graph construction methods, which heavily rely on grammatical rules and prior knowledge, demonstrate suboptimal performance in processing complex, multi-source disaster information. This study, drawing upon past natural disaster reports, disaster-related literature in both English and Chinese, and data from various disaster monitoring stations, constructs question-answer templates based on large language models. Utilizing the P-Tune method, the ChatGLM2-6B model is fine-tuned, leading to the development of a disaster knowledge graph based on large language models. This serves as a knowledge database support for disaster emergency response.

Keywords: large language model, knowledge graph, disaster, deep learning

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Authors: Pekka Makkonen, Georgios Lampropoulos, Kerstin Siakas

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This paper examines the impact of social media on knowledge work. It discloses and highlights which specific aspects, areas and tasks of knowledge work can be improved by the use of social media. Moreover, the study includes a survey about higher education students’ viewpoints in regard to the use of social media as a means to enhance knowledge work and knowledge sharing. The analysis has been conducted based both on empirical data and on discussions about the sources dealing with knowledge work and how it can be enhanced by using social media. The results show that social media can improve knowledge work, knowledge building and maintenance tasks in which communication, information sharing and collaboration play a vital role. Additionally, by using social media, personal, collaborative and supplementary work activities can be enhanced. Based on the results of the study, we suggest how knowledge work can be enhanced when using the contemporary information and communications technologies (ICTs) of the 21^st century and recommend future directions towards improving knowledge work.

Keywords: knowledge work, social media, social media services, improving work performance

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Authors: Siti Sofo Ismail, Siti Noraina Wahida Mohd Alwi, Mohamad Hafiz Ameran, Masrudin M. Yusoff

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Locating clandestine cadaver is crucially important in forensic investigations. However, it requires a lot of man power, costly and time consuming. Therefore, the development of a new method to locate the clandestine graves is urgently needed as the cases involve burial of cadaver in different types of soils under tropical climates are still not well explored. This study focused on the burial in mangrove and oil palm plantation soils, comparing the fatty acid distributions in different soil acidities. A stimulated burial experiment was conducted using domestic pig (Sus scrofa) to substitute human tissues. Approximately 20g of pig fatty flesh was allowed to decompose in mangrove and oil palm plantation soils, mimicking burial in a shallow grave. The associated soils were collected at different designated sampling points, corresponding different decomposition stages. Modified Bligh-Dyer Extraction method was applied to extract the soil free fatty acids. Then, the obtained free fatty acids were analyzed with gas chromatography-flame ionization (GC-FID). A similar fatty acid distribution was observed for both mangrove and oil palm plantations soils. Palmitic acid (C₁₆) was the most abundance of free fatty acid, followed by stearic acid (C₁₈). However, the concentration of palmitic acid (C₁₆) higher in oil palm plantation compare to mangrove soils. Conclusion, the decomposition rate of cadaver can be affected by different type of soils.

Keywords: clandestine grave, burial, soils, free fatty acid

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Authors: Kasra HosseinMostofi, Mohamadamin Oyar Hossein, Reza Mehdizadeh Anvigh

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BIM is an innovative concept for the majority of firms operating in industry. BIM offers a new paradigm to design, construct, operate, and maintain a facility. However, even with the most conscientious use, stakeholders can run into trouble during its implementation on a project or within an organization. At times, project stakeholders are unaware of the challenges that they can face with the implementation at the project level or an organizational level. Therefore, the study aimed to identify and compile barriers associated with the BIM implementation at the project and organizational level, as per the literature. Despite the fact that innumerable advantageous involved in exploiting BIM, there are some barriers to implement it properly. These barriers have been proved as impediments for academicians and members of construction team project to take the maximum advantage of its utilization. Although some research has been conducted to identify these barriers regarding BIM implementation in construction industry, more research is needed to be carried out among academicians to identify these barriers in institutions, and most importantly, to make suggestions for eliminating these obstacles.

Keywords: building information modelling, construction, design and construction, designers

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Authors: Wei-Han Wang, Hsiang-Yu Yu, Mau-Sun Hua

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Theory of Mind (ToM) refers to the ability to infer another’s mental state. With appropriate ToM, one can behave well in social interactions. A growing body of evidence has demonstrated that patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) may have damaged ToM due to impact on regions of the underlying neural network of ToM. However, the question of whether there is cerebral laterality for ToM functions remains open. This study aimed to examine whether there is cerebral lateralization for ToM abilities in TLE patients. Sixty-seven adult TLE patients and 30 matched healthy controls (HC) were recruited. Patients were classified into right (RTLE), left (LTLE), and bilateral (BTLE) TLE groups on the basis of a consensus panel review of their seizure semiology, EEG findings, and brain imaging results. All participants completed an intellectual test and four tasks measuring basic and advanced ToM. The results showed that, on all ToM tasks; (1)each patient group performed worse than HC; (2)there were no significant differences between LTLE and RTLE groups; (3)the BTLE group performed the worst. It appears that the neural network responsible for ToM is distributed evenly between the cerebral hemispheres.

Keywords: cerebral lateralization, social cognition, temporal lobe epilepsy, theory of mind

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Authors: Maria Karnachoriti, Ellas Spyratou, Dimitrios Lykidis, Maria Lambropoulou, Yiannis S. Raptis, Ioannis Seimenis, Efstathios P. Efstathopoulos, Athanassios G. Kontos

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Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer diagnosed in Europe, according to the latest incidence data provided by the World Health Organization (WHO), and early diagnosis has proved to be the key in reducing cancer-related mortality. In cases where surgical interventions are required for cancer treatment, the accurate discrimination between healthy and cancerous tissues is critical for the postoperative care of the patient. The current study focuses on the ex vivo handling of surgically excised colorectal specimens and the acquisition of their spectral fingerprints using Raman spectroscopy. Acquired data were analyzed in an effort to discriminate, in microscopic scale, between healthy and malignant margins. Raman spectroscopy is a spectroscopic technique with high detection sensitivity and spatial resolution of few micrometers. The spectral fingerprint which is produced during laser-tissue interaction is unique and characterizes the biostructure and its inflammatory or cancer state. Numerous published studies have demonstrated the potential of the technique as a tool for the discrimination between healthy and malignant tissues/cells either ex vivo or in vivo. However, the handling of the excised human specimens and the Raman measurement conditions remain challenging, unavoidably affecting measurement reliability and repeatability, as well as the technique’s overall accuracy and sensitivity. Therefore, tissue handling has to be optimized and standardized to ensure preservation of cell integrity and hydration level. Various strategies have been implemented in the past, including the use of balanced salt solutions, small humidifiers or pump-reservoir-pipette systems. In the current study, human colorectal specimens of 10X5 mm were collected from 5 patients up to now who underwent open surgery for colorectal cancer. A novel, non-toxic zinc-based fixative (Z7) was used for tissue preservation. Z7 demonstrates excellent protein preservation and protection against tissue autolysis. Micro-Raman spectra were recorded with a Renishaw Invia spectrometer from successive random 2 micrometers spots upon excitation at 785 nm to decrease fluorescent background and secure avoidance of tissue photodegradation. A temperature-controlled approach was adopted to stabilize the tissue at 2 °C, thus minimizing dehydration effects and consequent focus drift during measurement. A broad spectral range, 500-3200 cm-1,was covered with five consecutive full scans that lasted for 20 minutes in total. The average spectra were used for least square fitting analysis of the Raman modes.Subtle Raman differences were observed between normal and cancerous colorectal tissues mainly in the intensities of the 1556 cm-1 and 1628 cm-1 Raman modes which correspond to v(C=C) vibrations in porphyrins, as well as in the range of 2800-3000 cm-1 due to CH2 stretching of lipids and CH3 stretching of proteins. Raman spectra evaluation was supported by histological findings from twin specimens. This study demonstrates that Raman spectroscopy may constitute a promising tool for real-time verification of clear margins in colorectal cancer open surgery.

Keywords: colorectal cancer, Raman spectroscopy, malignant margins, spectral fingerprints

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Authors: Mernoosh Abouzari, Shahrokh Sahraei

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Electronic government is a way for governments to use new technology that provides people with the necessary facilities for proper access to government information and services, improving the quality of services and providing broad opportunities to participate in democratic processes and institutions. That leads to providing the possibility of easy use of information technology in order to distribute government services to the customer without holidays, which increases people's satisfaction and participation in political and economic activities. The expansion of e-government services and its movement towards intelligentization has the ability to re-establish the relationship between the government and citizens and the elements and components of the government. Electronic government is the result of the use of information and communication technology (ICT), which by implementing it at the government level, in terms of the efficiency and effectiveness of government systems and the way of providing services, tremendous commercial changes are created, which brings people's satisfaction at the wide level will follow. The main level of electronic government services has become objectified today with the presence of artificial intelligence systems, which recent advances in artificial intelligence represent a revolution in the use of machines to support predictive decision-making and Classification of data. With the use of deep learning tools, artificial intelligence can mean a significant improvement in the delivery of services to citizens and uplift the work of public service professionals while also inspiring a new generation of technocrats to enter government. This smart revolution may put aside some functions of the government, change its components, and concepts such as governance, policymaking or democracy will change in front of artificial intelligence technology, and the top-down position in governance may face serious changes, and If governments delay in using artificial intelligence, the balance of power will change and private companies will monopolize everything with their pioneering in this field, and the world order will also depend on rich multinational companies and in fact, Algorithmic systems will become the ruling systems of the world. It can be said that currently, the revolution in information technology and biotechnology has been started by engineers, large economic companies, and scientists who are rarely aware of the political complexities of their decisions and certainly do not represent anyone. Therefore, it seems that if liberalism, nationalism, or any other religion wants to organize the world of 2050, it should not only rationalize the concept of artificial intelligence and complex data algorithm but also mix them in a new and meaningful narrative. Therefore, the changes caused by artificial intelligence in the political and economic order will lead to a major change in the way all countries deal with the phenomenon of digital globalization. In this paper, while debating the role and performance of e-government, we will discuss the efficiency and application of artificial intelligence in e-government, and we will consider the developments resulting from it in the new world and the concepts of governance.

Keywords: electronic government, artificial intelligence, information and communication technology., system

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Authors: Chema Segovia, Pau Díaz-Solano, Tony Ramos Murphy

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The PALIMPSEST project, funded by Horizon 2020 and associated with the New European Bauhaus, aims to revitalize sustainability practices in heritage landscapes through co-creation processes led by creative agents. Specifically, PALIMPSEST focuses on the pivotal roles of architecture, design, and art in addressing sustainability challenges. The project aims to demonstrate that these creative disciplines can generate a distinctive kind of value while addressing environmental needs, enhancing societal engagement, supporting foresighting activities, and increasing awareness. In the summer of 2023, Palimpsest launched an open call to select the teams that will lead the development of three creativity-based sustainability processes in three different pilot cities: Jerez de la Frontera (Spain), Lodz (Poland), and Milan (Italy). The call received 141 applications. Through a survey conducted among the candidates and an in-depth analysis of their proposals, we assessed the level of engagement that European creative agents have in tackling sustainability challenges, as well as their alignment with the principles advocated by the New European Bauhaus.

Keywords: arts, architecture, co-creation, design, new European Bauhaus, sustainability

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Authors: Lule Basha, Eralda Gjika

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The exchange rate is one of the most important economic variables, especially for a small, open economy such as Albania. Its effect is noticeable in one country's competitiveness, trade and current account, inflation, wages, domestic economic activity, and bank stability. This study investigates the fluctuation of Albania’s exchange rates using monthly average foreign currency, Euro (Eur) to Albanian Lek (ALL) exchange rate with a time span from January 2008 to June 2021, and the macroeconomic factors that have a significant effect on the exchange rate. Initially, the Random Forest Regression algorithm is constructed to understand the impact of economic variables on the behavior of monthly average foreign currencies exchange rates. Then the forecast of macro-economic indicators for 12 months was performed using time series models. The predicted values received are placed in the random forest model in order to obtain the average monthly forecast of the Euro to Albanian Lek (ALL) exchange rate for the period July 2021 to June 2022.

Keywords: exchange rate, random forest, time series, machine learning, prediction

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Authors: Yunita Ratih Wijayanti, Dwi Rahmawati, Turniningtyas Ayu Rahmawati

Abstract:

Gresik is one of the districts in East Java Province, Indonesia. Gresik Regency has three major rivers, namely Bengawan Solo River, Brantas River, and Lamong River. Lamong River is a tributary of Bengawan Solo River. Flood disasters that occur in Gresik Regency are often caused by the overflow of the Lamong River. The losses caused by the flood were very large and certainly detrimental to the affected people. Therefore, to be able to minimize the impact caused by the flood, it is necessary to take preventive action. However, before taking preventive action, it is necessary to have information regarding potential inundation areas and water levels at various points. For this reason, a flood simulation model is needed. In this study, the simulation was carried out using the Geographic Information System (GIS) method with the help of Global Mapper software. The approach used in this simulation is to use a topographical approach with Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) data. DEMs data have been widely used for various researches to analyze hydrology. The results obtained from this flood simulation are the distribution of flood inundation and water level. The location of the inundation serves to determine the extent of the flooding that occurs by referring to the 50-100 year flood plan, while the water level serves to provide early warning information. Both will be very useful to find out how much loss will be caused in the future due to flooding in Gresik Regency so that the Gresik Regency Regional Disaster Management Agency can take precautions before the flood disaster strikes.

Keywords: flood hazard, simulation model, potential inundation, global mapper, Gresik Regency

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Authors: Suraj Gururaj, Sumantha Udupa U.

Abstract:

Browsing the Web has emerged as the de facto activity performed on the Internet. Although browsing gets tracked, the manageability aspect of Web browsing history is very poor. In this paper, we have a workable solution implemented by using machine learning and natural language processing techniques for efficient manageability of user’s browsing history. The significance of adding such a capability to a Web browser is that it ensures efficient and quick information retrieval from browsing history, which currently is very challenging. Our solution guarantees that any important websites visited in the past can be easily accessible because of the intelligent and automatic classification. In a nutshell, our solution-based paper provides an implementation as a browser extension by intelligently classifying the browsing history into most relevant category automatically without any user’s intervention. This guarantees no information is lost and increases productivity by saving time spent revisiting websites that were of much importance.

Keywords: adhoc retrieval, Chrome extension, supervised learning, tile, Web personalization

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Authors: Fred Fudah Moveh, Muhammad Abba Jallo

Abstract:

Electoral fraud remains a persistent threat to democracy in Nigeria, undermining public trust and stalling political development. This study explores the role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in curbing electoral fraud, focusing on its application in recent Nigerian elections. The paper identifies the main forms of electoral fraud, evaluates the effectiveness of ICT-based interventions like the Permanent Voter Card (PVC) and the Bi-modal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), and discusses challenges such as poor infrastructure, voter intimidation, and legal inadequacies. Data was collected through structured questionnaires and interviews and analyzed using SPSS software. Results reveal that while ICT has mitigated some forms of fraud, systemic issues continue to hinder its full potential. The study concludes with recommendations for enhancing the application of ICT in Nigeria’s electoral process.

Keywords: ICT, electoral fraud, election process, Nigeria, political instability

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Authors: Misha Mirza

Abstract:

In recent years, the definition of journalism in Pakistan has changed, so has the mindset of people and their approach towards a news story. For the audience, news has become more interesting than a drama or a film. This research thus provides an insight into Pakistan’s evolving media landscape. It tries not only to bring forth the outcomes of cross-platform cooperation among print and broadcast journalism but also gives an insight into the interactive data visualization techniques being used. The storytelling in journalism in Pakistan has evolved from depicting merely the truth to tweaking, fabricating and producing docu-dramas. It aims to look into how news is translated to a visual. Pakistan acquires a diverse cultural heritage and by engaging audience through media, this history translates into the storytelling platform today. The paper explains how journalists are thriving in a converging media environment and provides an analysis of the narratives in television talk shows today.’ Jack of all, master of none’ is being challenged by the journalists today. One has to be a quality information gatherer and an effective storyteller at the same time. Are journalists really looking more into what sells rather than what matters? Express Tribune is a very popular news platform among the youth. Not only is their newspaper more attractive than the competitors but also their style of narrative and interactive web stories lead to well-rounded news. Interviews are used as the basic methodology to get an insight into how data visualization is compassed. The quest for finding out the difference between visualization of information versus the visualization of knowledge has led the author to delve into the work of David McCandless in his book ‘Knowledge is beautiful’. Journalism in Pakistan has evolved from information to combining knowledge, infotainment and comedy. What is being criticized the most by the society most often becomes the breaking news. Circulation in today’s world is carried out in cultural and social networks. In recent times, we have come across many examples where people have gained overnight popularity by releasing songs with substandard lyrics or senseless videos perhaps because creativity has taken over information. This paper thus discusses the various platforms of convergence journalism from Pakistan’s perspective. The study concludes with proving how Pakistani pop culture Truck art is coexisting with all the platforms in convergent journalism. The changing media landscape thus challenges the basic rules of journalism. The slapstick humor and ‘jhatka’ in Pakistani talk shows has evolved from the Pakistani truck art poetry. Mobile journalism has taken over all the other mediums of journalism; however, the Pakistani culture coexists with the converging landscape.

Keywords: convergence journalism in Pakistan, data visualization, interactive narrative in Pakistani news, mobile journalism, Pakistan's truck art culture

Procedia PDF Downloads 281