Search results for: exchange rate risk

Authors: Hasan Furkan Kurt, Tugba Nur Atabey, Onat Cavit Dereli, Ahmad Salmanogli, H. Selcuk Gecim

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In the article, the main goal is to study the effect of the plasmonic properties on the photocurrent generated by a photodetector. Fundamentally, a typical photodetector is designed and simulated using the finite element methods. To utilize the plasmonic effect, gold nanoparticles with different shape, size and morphology are buried into the intrinsic region. Plasmonic effect is arisen through the interaction of the incoming light with nanoparticles by which electrical properties of the photodetector are manipulated. In fact, using plasmonic nanoparticles not only increases the absorption bandwidth of the incoming light, but also generates a high intensity near-field close to the plasmonic nanoparticles. Those properties strongly affect the generated photocurrent. The simulation results show that using plasmonic nanoparticles significantly enhances the electrical properties of the photodetectors. More importantly, one can easily manipulate the plasmonic properties of the gold nanoparticles through engineering the nanoparticles' size, shape and morphology. Another important phenomenon is plasmon-plasmon interaction inside the photodetector. It is shown that plasmon-plasmon interaction improves the electron-hole generation rate by which the rate of the current generation is severely enhanced. This is the key factor that we want to focus on, to improve the photodetector electrical properties.

Keywords: plasmonic photodetector, plasmon-plasmon interaction, Gold nanoparticle, electrical properties

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Authors: Xiaojing Wang, Ann-Marie Ward, Tony Wall

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The problem of over-indebtedness has increased since deregulation of the banking industry in the 1980s, and now it has become a major problem for most countries in Europe, including Germany. Consumer debt issues have attracted not only the attention of academics but also government and debt counselling institutions. Overall, this research aims to contribute to the knowledge gap regarding the causes of consumer over-indebtedness in Germany and to develop predictive models for assessing consumer over-indebtedness risk at consumer level. The situation of consumer over-indebtedness is serious in Germany. The relatively high level of social welfare support in Germany suggests that consumer debt problems are caused by other factors, other than just over-spending and income volatility. Prior literature suggests that the overall stability of the economy and level of welfare support for individuals from the structural environment contributes to consumers’ debt problems. In terms of cultural influence, the conspicuous consumption theory in consumer behaviour suggests that consumers would spend more than their means to be seen as similar profiles to consumers in a higher socio-economic class. This results in consumers taking on more debt than they can afford, and eventually becoming over-indebted. Studies have also shown that financial literacy is negatively related to consumer over-indebtedness risk. Whilst prior literature has examined structural and cultural influences respectively, no study has taken a collective approach. To address this gap, a model is developed to investigate the association between consumer over-indebtedness and proxies for influences from the structural and cultural environment based on the above theories. The model also controls for consumer demographic characteristics identified as being of influence in prior literature, such as gender and age, and adverse shocks, such as divorce or bereavement in the household. Benefiting from SOEP regional data, this study is able to conduct quantitative empirical analysis to test both structural and cultural influences at a localised level. Using German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) study data from 2006 to 2016, this study finds that social benefits, financial literacy and the existence of conspicuous consumption all contribute to being over-indebted. Generally speaking, the risk of becoming over-indebted is high when consumers are in a low-welfare community, have little awareness of their own financial situation and always over-spend. In order to tackle the problem of over-indebtedness, countermeasures can be taken, for example, increasing consumers’ financial awareness, and the level of welfare support. By analysing causes of consumer over-indebtedness in Germany, this study also provides new insights on the nature and underlying causes of consumer debt issues in Europe.

Keywords: consumer, debt, financial literacy, socio-economic

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Authors: C. L. Popa, S. L. Iconaru, A. Costescu, C. S. Ciobanu, M. Motelica Heino, R. Guegan, D. Predoi

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Surface functionalization of ceramic composites with a special focus on tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and hydroxyapatite (HAp) is discoursed. Mesoporous ceramic HAp-TEOS composites were prepared by the incorporation of hydroxyapatite into tetraethyl orthosilicate by sol-gel method. The resulting samples were analysed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy and nitrogen physisorption. The removal of Pb2+ ions from aqueous solutions was evaluated using Atomic Absorbtion Spectroscopy (AAS). Removal experiments of Pb2+ ions were carried out in aqueous solutions with controlled Pb2+ at pH ~ 3 and pH ~ 5. After removal experiment of Pb2+ at pH 3 and pH 5, porous hydroxyapatite nanoparticles is transformed into PbHAp_3 and PbHAp_5 via the adsorption of Pb2+ ions followed by the cation exchange reaction. The diffraction patterns show that THAp nanoparticles were successfully coated with teos without any structural changes. On the other, the AAS analysis showed that THAp can be useful in the removal Pb2+ from water contaminated.

Keywords: teos, hydroxyapatite, environment applications, biosystems engineering

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Authors: Hasan Ziari, Hassan Fazaeli, Seyed Javad Vaziri Kang Olyaei, Asma Sadat Dabiri

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The presence of cracks in concrete pavements is a place for the ingression of corrosive substances, acids, oils, and water into the pavement and reduces its long-term durability and level of service. One of the causes of early cracks in concrete pavements is the plastic shrinkage. This shrinkage occurs due to the formation of negative capillary pressures after the equilibrium of the bleeding and evaporation rates at the pavement surface. These cracks form if the tensile stresses caused by the restrained shrinkage exceed the tensile strength of the concrete. Different climate conditions change the rate of evaporation and thus change the balance time of the bleeding and evaporation, which changes the severity of cracking in concrete. The present study examined the relationship between the balance time of bleeding and evaporation and the area of cracking in the concrete slabs using the standard method ASTM C1579 in 27 different environmental conditions by using continuous video recording and digital image analyzing. The results showed that as the evaporation rate increased and the balance time decreased, the crack severity significantly increased so that by reducing the balance time from the maximum value to its minimum value, the cracking area increased more than four times. It was also observed that the cracking area- balance time curve could be interpreted in three sections. An examination of these three parts showed that the combination of climate conditions has a significant effect on increasing or decreasing these two variables. The criticality of a single factor cannot cause the critical conditions of plastic cracking. By combining two mild environmental factors with a severe climate factor (in terms of surface evaporation rate), a considerable reduction in balance time and a sharp increase in cracking severity can be prevented. The results of this study showed that balance time could be an essential factor in controlling and predicting plastic shrinkage cracking in concrete pavements. It is necessary to control this factor in the case of constructing concrete pavements in different climate conditions.

Keywords: bleeding and cracking severity, concrete pavements, climate conditions, plastic shrinkage

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Authors: Badriah Algarni

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The pedagogy of ‘flipped learning’ is a form of blended instruction which is gaining widespread attention throughout the world. However, there is a lack of research concerning teachers’ professional development (TPD) in teachers who use flipping. The aim of this study was, therefore, to identify teachers’ perspectives on their experience of flipped PD. The study used a qualitative approach. Purposive sampling recruited nineteen teachers who participated in semi-structured, in-depth interviews. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the interview data. Overall, the teachers reported feeling more confident in their knowledge and skills after participating in flipped TPD. The analysis of the interview data revealed five overarching themes:1) increased engagement with the content; 2) better use of resources; 3) a social, collaborative environment; 4) exchange of practices and experiences; and 5) valuable online activities. These findings can encourage educators, policymakers, and trainers to consider flipped TPD as a form of PD to promote the building of teachers’ knowledge and stimulate reflective practices to improve teaching and learning practices.

Keywords: engagement, flipped learning, teachers’ professional development, collaboration

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Authors: Khitam Ibrahem Shlash Mohammad

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Background: Postnatal depression is a focus of considerable research attention, but little is known about the pattern of stress across this period. Objective: to investigate the prevalence of stress after childbirth for Jordanian women and identify associated risk factors. Method: Design: A descriptive cross-sectional study. Participants were recruited six to eight weeks postpartum, provided personal, social and obstetric information, and completed the stress subscale of Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-S), the Maternity Social Support Scale (MSSS), and Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale (PSES). Setting: maternal and child health care clinics in four health care centres in Maan city in Southern Jordan. Participants: Arabic speaking women (n = 324) between the ages of 18 and 45 years, six to eight weeks postpartum, primiparous or multiparous at low risk for obstetric complications. Data collection took place between October 2015 and January 2016. Ethical clearance was obtained prior to data collection. Results: The prevalence of postpartum stress among Jordanian women was 39.8 %. A regression analysis revealed that occupation, low social support, financial problems, difficult marital relationships, difficult relationship with family-in-law, giving birth to a female baby, difficult childbirth, and low self-efficacy were associated with postpartum stress. Conclusions and implications for practice: Jordanian women need support during pregnancy, during and after childbirth. Postpartum emotional support and assessment of symptoms of stress need to be incorporated into routine practice. The opportunity for open discussion along with increased awareness and clarification of common misconceptions about postpartum stress is necessary.

Keywords: prevalence, postpartum, stress, Jordanian women

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Authors: Guillaume Soubeyran, Fabrice Micoud, Benoit Morin, Jean-Philippe Poirot-Crouvezier, Magali Reytier

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Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) technology is considered as a solution for the reduction of CO2 emissions. However, this technology still meets several challenges for high-scale industrialization. In this context, the increase of durability remains a critical aspect for competitiveness of this technology. Fortunately, performance degradations in nominal operating conditions is partially reversible, meaning that if specific conditions are applied, a partial recovery of fuel cell performance can be achieved, while irreversible degradations can only be mitigated. Thus, it is worth studying the optimal conditions to rejuvenate these reversible degradations and assessing the long-term impact of such procedures on the performance of the cell. Reversible degradations consist mainly of anode Pt active sites poisoning by carbon monoxide at the anode, heterogeneities in water management during use, and oxidation/deactivation of Pt active sites at the cathode. The latter is identified as a major source of reversible performance loss caused by the presence oxygen, high temperature and high cathode potential that favor platinum oxidation, especially in high efficiency operating points. Hence, we studied here a recovery procedure aiming at reducing the platinum oxides by decreasing cathode potential during operation. Indeed, the application of short air starvation phase leads to a drop of cathode potential. Cell performances are temporarily increased afterwards. Nevertheless, local temperature and current heterogeneities within the cells are favored and shall be minimized. The consumption of fuel during the recovery phase shall also be considered to evaluate the global efficiency. Consequently, the purpose of this work is to find an optimal compromise between the recovery of reversible degradations by air starvation, the increase of global cell efficiency and the mitigation of irreversible degradations effects. Different operating parameters have first been studied such as cell voltage, temperature and humidity in single cell set-up. Considering the global PEMFC system efficiency, tests showed that reducing duration of recovery phase and reducing cell voltage was the key to ensure an efficient recovery. Recovery phase frequency was a major factor as well. A specific method was established to find the optimal frequency depending on the duration and voltage of the recovery phase. Then, long-term degradations have also been studied by applying FC-DLC cycles based on NEDC cycles on a 4-cell short stack by alternating test sequences with and without recovery phases. Depending on recovery phase timing, cell efficiency during the cycle was increased up to 2% thanks to a mean voltage increase of 10 mV during test sequences with recovery phases. However, cyclic voltammetry tests results suggest that the implementation of recovery phases causes an acceleration of the decrease of platinum active areas that could be due to the high potential variations applied to the cathode electrode during operation.

Keywords: durability, PEMFC, recovery procedure, reversible degradation

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Authors: Magdalena Jabłońska-Czapla

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The work allowed gaining knowledge about redox and speciation changes of As, Cr, and Sb ionic forms in Klodnica River water. This kind of studies never has been conducted in this region of Poland. In study optimized and validated previously HPLC-ICP-MS methods for determination of As, Sb and Cr was used. Separation step was done using high-performance liquid chromatograph equipped with ion-exchange column followed by ICP-MS spectrometer detector. Preliminary studies included determination of the total concentration of As, Sb and Cr, pH, Eh, temperature and conductivity of the water samples. The study was conducted monthly from March to August 2014, at six points on the Klodnica River. The results indicate that exceeded at acceptable concentration of total Cr and Sb was observed in Klodnica River and we should qualify Klodnica River waters below the second purity class. In Klodnica River waters dominates oxidized antimony and arsenic forms, as well as the two forms of chromium Cr(VI) and Cr(III). Studies have also shown the methyl derivative of arsenic's presence.

Keywords: antimony, arsenic, chromium, HPLC-ICP-MS, river water, speciation

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Authors: Patrick Velte

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Sustainability reporting has become a central element of modern corporate governance practice. This paper is the first to recognize supervisory board independence, sustainable expertise and gender diversity in two European two tier countries and their impact on sustainability reporting quality. For a sample of 188 German and Austrian companies which are listed at the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt and Vienna Stock Exchange for the business years 2012-2013, descriptive findings show that CSR reporting quality is still low in both countries. Furthermore, multiple regressions state that independent and female members in the supervisory board do have a positive impact on CSR reporting quality in Germany and Austria. However, the existence of sustainable experts in the supervisory board both in Germany and Austria shows a positive but insignificant impact. Our findings suggest that the current European corporate governance regulations can be a useful instrument to increase the quality of modern CSR reporting for the stakeholders.

Keywords: sustainability reporting, corporate governance, gender diversity, board independence

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Authors: Ariful Islam, Showkat Ahmad Lone

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The Mukherjee-Islam Model is commonly used as a simple life time distribution to assess system reliability. The model exhibits a better fit for failure information and provides more appropriate information about hazard rate and other reliability measures as shown by various authors. It is possible to introduce a location parameter at a time (i.e., a time before which failure cannot occur) which makes it a more useful failure distribution than the existing ones. Even after shifting the location of the distribution, it represents a decreasing, constant and increasing failure rate. It has been shown to represent the appropriate lower tail of the distribution of random variables having fixed lower bound. This study presents the reliability computations and probability weighted moment estimation of three parameter model. A comparative analysis is carried out between three parameters finite range model and some existing bathtub shaped curve fitting models. Since probability weighted moment method is used, the results obtained can also be applied on small sample cases. Maximum likelihood estimation method is also applied in this study.

Keywords: comparative analysis, maximum likelihood estimation, Mukherjee-Islam failure model, probability weighted moment estimation, reliability

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Authors: Sara Khamseh, Kambiz Javanruee, Hamid Khorsand

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Plenty of metallic materials are used for biomedical applications like hip joints and screws. Besides, it is reported that metal platforms such as stainless steel show significant deterioration because of wear and friction. The surface of metal substrates has been coated with a variety of multicomponent coatings to prevail these problems. The carbon-based multicomponent coatings such as metal-added amorphous carbon and diamond coatings are crucially important because of their remarkable tribological performance and chemical stability. In the current study, H-D contained Nb: (a-C) multicomponent coatings (H-D: hexagonal diamond, a-C: amorphous carbon) coated on A 304 steel substrates using an unbalanced magnetron (UBM) sputtering system. The effects of Nb and H-D content and ID/IG ratio on microstructure, mechanical and tribological characteristics of (Nb: H-D: a-C) composite coatings were investigated. The results of Raman spectroscopy represented that a-C phase with a Graphite-like structure (GLC with high value of sp2 carbon bonding) is formed, and its domain size increased with increasing Nb content of the coatings. Moreover, the Nb played a catalyst for the formation of the H-D phase. The nanoindentation hardness value of the coatings ranged between ~17 to ~35 GPa and (Nb: H-D: a-C) composite coatings with more H-D content represented higher hardness and plasticity index. It seems that the existence of extra-hard H-D particles straightly increased hardness. The tribological performance of the coatings was evaluated using the pin-on-disc method under the wet environment of SBF (Simulated Body Fluid). The COF value of the (Nb: H-D: a-C) coatings decreased with an increasing ID/IG ratio. The lower coefficient of friction is a result of the lamelliform array of graphitic domains. Also, the wear rate of the coatings decreased with increasing H-D content of the coatings. Based on the literature, a-C coatings with high hardness and H3/E2 ratio represent lower wear rates and better tribological performance. According to the nanoindentation analysis, hardness and H3/E2 ratio of (Nb: H-D: a-C) multicomponent coatings increased with increasing H-D content, which in turn decreased the wear rate of the coatings. The mechanical and tribological potency of (Nb: H-D: a-C) composite coatings on A 304 steel substrates paved the way for the development of innovative advanced coatings to ameliorate the performance of A 304 steel for biomedical applications.

Keywords: COF, mechanical properties, (Nb: H-D: a-C) coatings, wear rate

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Authors: Zhuang Yiwen

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The paper examines the challenges facing the Singapore healthcare system related to the tracking and traceability of medical devices. One of the major challenges identified is the lack of a standard coding system for medical devices, which makes it difficult to track them effectively. The paper suggests the use of the Unique Device Identifier (UDI) as a single standard for medical devices to improve tracking and reduce errors. The paper also explores the use of barcoding and image recognition to identify and document medical devices in nursing practices. In nursing practices, the use of barcodes for identifying medical devices is common. However, the information contained in these barcodes is often inconsistent, making it challenging to identify which segment contains the model identifier. Moreover, the use of barcodes may be improved with the use of UDI, but many subsidized accessories may still lack barcodes. The paper suggests that the readiness for UDI and barcode standardization requires standardized information, fields, and logic in electronic medical record (EMR), operating theatre (OT), and billing systems, as well as barcode scanners that can read various formats and selectively parse barcode segments. Nursing workflow and data flow also need to be taken into account. The paper also explores the use of image recognition, specifically the Tesseract OCR engine, to identify and document implants in public hospitals due to limitations in barcode scanning. The study found that the solution requires an implant information database and checking output against the database. The solution also requires customization of the algorithm, cropping out objects affecting text recognition, and applying adjustments. The solution requires additional resources and costs for a mobile/hardware device, which may pose space constraints and require maintenance of sterile criteria. The integration with EMR is also necessary, and the solution require changes in the user's workflow. The paper suggests that the long-term use of Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT) as a supporting terminology to improve clinical documentation and data exchange in healthcare. SNOMED CT provides a standardized way of documenting and sharing clinical information with respect to procedure, patient and device documentation, which can facilitate interoperability and data exchange. In conclusion, the paper highlights the challenges facing the Singapore healthcare system related to the tracking and traceability of medical devices. The paper suggests the use of UDI and barcode standardization to improve tracking and reduce errors. It also explores the use of image recognition to identify and document medical devices in nursing practices. The paper emphasizes the importance of standardized information, fields, and logic in EMR, OT, and billing systems, as well as barcode scanners that can read various formats and selectively parse barcode segments. These recommendations could help the Singapore healthcare system to improve tracking and traceability of medical devices and ultimately enhance patient safety.

Keywords: medical device tracking, unique device identifier, barcoding and image recognition, systematized nomenclature of medicine clinical terms

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Authors: Majid Gharaipour Abbasabad

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This research is studying the effects that various densities of Zeatin, and BA hormones may have on the scale of transformation of plant nodes to new shoots, among seedlings produced by seed germination, and also surveys the amount of produced shoots and their lengths, inside the specific Olive seed lab medium (OM). It is also concerned with the effects that various densities of IBA hormone, and inoculating the shoots with Agrobacterium Rhizogenez A4 can have on shoots' root production. This is a totally random research, and each attendance group has had three occurrences, and ten samples per a hectare. The average amounts have been compared using Duncan's test method, which was done in 5% level. The results indicated that the highest rate of transformation of micro samples to shoots happened in the seed germination environments, containing Zetain with 5 mg, and also 15 mg per a liter densities. (respectively, 95% and 94%), while the highest rate of plants' stem production ,in micro samples, happened in the lab medium environments with 5mg per a liter Zetain density (4.5). In lab medium environments with 15 mg Zetain per liter, a decrease was observed in the number of produced stems (3.88). According to the produced stems' lenght, the longest stem length was observed in environments with 5 mg and also 15 mg per a liter Zetain, and 25 mg per a liter BA densities (respectively, 8.45 cm, 45.66 cm, 8.53 cm). Meanwhile, the lowest amount of transformation of micro samples to shoots, the lowest number of produced shoots, and the shortest shoots were observed in the environments without any hormones (respectively, 3.32 cm, 1.13, 19.66%). The results of root production in Olive indicated that attendance groups which were exposed to different hormones did not vary, and Agrobacterium Rhizogenez A4 had no effect on them, as well. The lowest root's growth rate (22%) happened in environments without any hormones and also, in environment with Agrobacterium Rhizogenez A4 (19.66%). The largest number of roots was observed in the environments, containing Agrobacterium Rhizogenez A4 plus IBA (10 mg/l) and Agrobacterium Rhizogenez A4 plus IBA (10 mg/l), (respectively, 8.46 and 8.70), which had a significant difference with environments merely containing 10 mg and 20 mg of IBA per a litre (respectively, 3.06 and 3.2). So it can be concluded that even though Agrobacterium Rhizogenez A4 had no impact on root's growth among shoots, it had an impact on the number of produced roots. It should be noted that even when the environment contained merely Agrobacterium Rhizogenez A4 without any hormones, only (1.16) roots were produced, which is significantly different from the attendance group with hormones (1.06).

Keywords: olive-effect of hormones-germination of seed, densities of zeatin, BA hormones, agriculture

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Authors: Brock Liden, Eric Janowitz

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Introduction: Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) affects 70% of individuals with diabetes1. DPN causes a loss of protective sensation, which can lead to tissue damage and diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) formation2. These ulcers can result in infections and lower-extremity amputations of toes, the entire foot, and the lower leg. Even after a DFU is healed, recurrence is common, with 49% of DFU patients developing another ulcer within a year and 68% within 5 years3. This case series examines the use of sensory insoles and newly available plantar data (pressure, temperature, step count, adherence) and remote patient monitoring in patients at risk of DFU. Methods: Participants were provided with custom-made sensory insoles to monitor plantar pressure, temperature, step count, and daily use and were provided with real-time cues for pressure offloading as they went about their daily activities. The sensory insoles were used to track subject compliance, ulceration, and response to feedback from real-time alerts. Patients were remotely monitored by a qualified healthcare professional and were contacted when areas of concern were seen and provided coaching on reducing risk factors and overall support to improve foot health. Results: Of the 40 participants provided with the sensory insole system, 4 presented with a DFU. Based on flags generated from the available plantar data, patients were contacted by the remote monitor to address potential concerns. A standard clinical escalation protocol detailed when and how concerns should be escalated to the provider by the remote monitor. Upon escalation to the provider, patients were brought into the clinic as needed, allowing for any issues to be addressed before more serious complications might arise. Conclusion: This case series explores the use of innovative sensory technology to collect plantar data (pressure, temperature, step count, and adherence) for DFU detection and early intervention. The results from this case series suggest the importance of sensory technology and remote patient monitoring in providing proactive, preventative care for patients at risk of DFU. This robust plantar data, with the addition of remote patient monitoring, allow for patients to be seen in the clinic when concerns arise, giving providers the opportunity to intervene early and prevent more serious complications, such as wounds, from occurring.

Keywords: diabetic foot ulcer, DFU prevention, digital therapeutics, remote patient monitoring

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Authors: Sonia Perez-Gamboa, Qingquan Sun, Yan Zhang

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Non-intrusive sensor-based human activity recognition (HAR) is utilized in a spectrum of applications, including fitness tracking devices, gaming, health care monitoring, and smartphone applications. Deep learning models such as convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and long short term memory (LSTM) recurrent neural networks (RNNs) provide a way to achieve HAR accurately and effectively. In this paper, we design a multi-layer hybrid architecture with CNN and LSTM and explore a variety of multi-layer combinations. Based on the exploration, we present a lightweight, hybrid, and multi-layer model, which can improve the recognition performance by integrating local features and scale-invariant with dependencies of activities. The experimental results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed model, which can achieve a 94.7% activity recognition rate on a benchmark human activity dataset. This model outperforms traditional machine learning and other deep learning methods. Additionally, our implementation achieves a balance between recognition rate and training time consumption.

Keywords: deep learning, LSTM, CNN, human activity recognition, inertial sensor

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Authors: Zelalem Markos Borko

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The quality of life of people with blindness is significantly influenced by the level of resilience they possess. A qualitative approach of the descriptive phenomenological design was employed to address basic study objectives. The researcher purposely selected three blind graduate students from Sidist Kilo Campus and conducted a semi-structured interview to gather data. Data were analyzed by using thematic coding techniques. The present study found that personal characteristics such as commitment, living hope, motivation, positive self-esteem, self-confidence, and communication have shaped resiliency for successful university students with visual disabilities. The finding showed that the school environment is the place in which blind students had developed/experienced social, psychological, and economical competency and hope for their academic and entire life success. Furthermore, the finding showed that blind students had experienced individual, family, school, and community-related risks in the success track. Therefore, governmental and non-governmental organizations should provide training for students with visual impairments that focus on the individual traits that shape resilience for academic success, such as commitment, living hope, motivation, positive self-esteem, self-confidence, and communication and also community-oriented training should be to break the social stigma and discriminations for the individuals with the visual impairment.

Keywords: blind students, risk and protective factors, lived experience, success

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Authors: Semaw A., Awet H., Yohannes M.

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Background: Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) is a major global public health problem. Individuals living in Sub-Sahara Africa have 60% lifetime risk of acquiring HBV infection. Evidences showed that 80-90% of those born from infected mothers developed chronic HBV. Perinatal HBV transmission is a major determinant of HBV carrier status, its chronic squeal and maintains HBV transmission across generations. Method: Institution based cross-sectional study was conducted among 406 pregnant mothers attending Antenatal clinics at Mekelle and Ayder referral hospital from January 30 to April 1/2014. Epidata version 3.1 was used for data entry and SPSS version 21 statistical software was used for data cleaning, management and finally determine associated factors of hepatitis B surface antigen adjusting important confounders using multivariable logistic regression analysis at 5% level of significance. Result: The overall prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen among pregnant women was 33 (8.1%). The socio-demographic characteristic of the study population showed that there is high positivity among secondary school 189 (46.6%). In the multivariable logistic regression analysis, history of a contact with individuals who had history of hepatitis B infection or jaundice and lifetime number of multiple sexual partners were found to be significantly associated with HBsAg positivity at AOR = 3.73 95%C.I (1.373-10.182) and AOR = 2.57 95%C.I (1.173-5.654), respectively. Moreover, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and HBV confection rate was found 3.6%. Conclusion: This study has shown that HBV prevalence in pregnant women is highly prevalent (8.1%) in the study area. Contact with individuals who had a history of hepatitis or have jaundice and report of multiple lifetime sexual partnership were associated with hepatitis B infection. Education about HBV transmission and prevention as well as screening all pregnant mothers shall be sought to reduce the serious public health crisis of HBV.

Keywords: HBsAg, hepatitis B, pregnant women, prevalence

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Authors: Bahram Besharti, Hossein Navid, Hadi Karimi, Hossein Behfar, Iraj Eskandari

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Multiple or miss sowing by seed drills is a common problem on the farm. This problem causes overuse of seeds, wasting energy, rising crop treatment cost and reducing crop yield in harvesting. To be informed of mentioned faults and monitoring the performance of seed drills during sowing, developing a seed sensor for detecting seed mass flow rate and monitoring in a delivery tube is essential. In this research, an infrared seed sensor was developed to estimate seed mass flow rate in seed drills. The developed sensor comprised of a pair of spaced apart circuits one acting as an IR transmitter and the other acting as an IR receiver. Optical coverage in the sensing section was obtained by setting IR LEDs and photo-diodes directly on opposite sides. Passing seeds made interruption in radiation beams to the photo-diode which caused output voltages to change. The voltage difference of sensing units summed by a microcontroller and were converted to an analog value by DAC chip. The sensor was tested by using a roller seed metering device with three types of seeds consist of chickpea, wheat, and alfalfa (representing large, medium and fine seed, respectively). The results revealed a good fitting between voltage received from seed sensor and mass flow of seeds in the delivery tube. A linear trend line was set for three seeds collected data as a model of the mass flow of seeds. A final mass flow model was developed for various size seeds based on receiving voltages from the seed sensor, thousand seed weight and equivalent diameter of seeds. The developed infrared seed sensor, besides monitoring mass flow of seeds in field operations, can be used for the assessment of mechanical planter seed metering unit performance in the laboratory and provide an easy calibrating method for seed drills before planting in the field.

Keywords: seed flow, infrared, seed sensor, seed drills

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Authors: Mireille Elhajj, Washington Ochieng, Deeph Chana

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The challenges of the rapid growth in the demand for transport has traditionally been seen within the context of the problems of congestion, air quality, climate change, safety, and affordability. However, there are increasing threats including those related to crime such as cyber-attacks that threaten the security of the transport of people and goods. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper presents for the first time, a comprehensive framework for the assessment of the current and future security issues of multi-modal transport systems. The approach or method proposed is based on a structured framework starting with a detailed specification of the transport asset map (transport system architecture), followed by the identification of vulnerabilities. The asset map and vulnerabilities are used to identify the various approaches for exploitation of the vulnerabilities, leading to the creation of a set of threat scenarios. The threat scenarios are then transformed into risks and their categories, and include insights for their mitigation. The consideration of the mitigation space is holistic and includes the formulation of appropriate policies and tactics and/or technical interventions. The quality of the framework is ensured through a structured and logical process that identifies the stakeholders, reviews the relevant documents including policies and identifies gaps, incorporates targeted surveys to augment the reviews, and uses subject matter experts for validation. The approach to categorising security risks is an extension of the current methods that are typically employed. Specifically, the partitioning of risks into either physical or cyber categories is too limited for developing mitigation policies and tactics/interventions for transport systems where an interplay between physical and cyber processes is very often the norm. This interplay is rapidly taking on increasing significance for security as the emergence of cyber-physical technologies, are shaping the future of all transport modes. Examples include: Connected Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) in road transport; the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) in rail transport; Automatic Identification System (AIS) in maritime transport; advanced Communications, Navigation and Surveillance (CNS) technologies in air transport; and the Internet of Things (IoT). The framework adopts a risk categorisation scheme that considers risks as falling within the following threat→impact relationships: Physical→Physical, Cyber→Cyber, Cyber→Physical, and Physical→Cyber). Thus the framework enables a more complete risk picture to be developed for today’s transport systems and, more importantly, is readily extendable to account for emerging trends in the sector that will define future transport systems. The framework facilitates the audit and retro-fitting of mitigations in current transport operations and the analysis of security management options for the next generation of Transport enabling strategic aspirations such as systems with security-by-design and co-design of safety and security to be achieved. An initial application of the framework to transport systems has shown that intra-modal consideration of security measures is sub-optimal and that a holistic and multi-modal approach that also addresses the intersections/transition points of such networks is required as their vulnerability is high. This is in-line with traveler-centric transport service provision, widely accepted as the future of mobility services. In summary, a risk-based framework is proposed for use by the stakeholders to comprehensively and holistically assess the security of transport systems. It requires a detailed understanding of the transport architecture to enable a detailed vulnerabilities analysis to be undertaken, creates threat scenarios and transforms them into risks which form the basis for the formulation of interventions.

Keywords: mitigations, risk, transport, security, vulnerabilities

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Authors: Basharat Hussain, Wasim Abbas, Sayed Sajid Hussain

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Amorphous colloidal TiO₂ spheres were annealed at high temperatures to yield anatase-phase TiO₂ nanoparticles. With a specific discharge capacity of around 296 mAh g⁻¹ (0.1C), the annealed TiO₂ outperformed its amorphous counterpart, which produced about 182 mAh g⁻¹ at the same rate. The annealed material's larger surface area and more active sites are responsible for this improvement. The amorphous TiO₂ nanoparticles, on the other hand, produced a solid electrolyte interface (SEI) layer that contained organic phosphates, lithium carbonate, and lithium alkyl carbonates. This led to a decrease in performance and increased intrinsic resistance. By successfully removing surface hydroxyl groups and chemisorbed water, high-temperature annealing reduced capacity loss and improved structural and electrochemical stability. After prolonged cycling, the annealed TiO₂ demonstrated enhanced rate capability and cycling performance, retaining 93.5% of its capacity as opposed to 42.1% for the amorphous material. By shedding light on the function of surface chemistry and material processing in maximizing battery performance, our results show the potential of annealed anatase TiO₂ as a high-performance electrode material for Li-ion batteries.

Keywords: TiO₂ li-ion battery, electrode, capacity, stability

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Authors: Ian Campbell, Gillian Mitchell, Paul James, Na Li, Ella Thompson

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The genetic cause of the majority of multiple-case breast cancer families remains unresolved. Next generation sequencing has emerged as an efficient strategy for identifying predisposing mutations in individuals with inherited cancer. We are conducting whole exome sequence analysis of germ line DNA from multiple affected relatives from breast cancer families, with the aim of identifying rare protein truncating and non-synonymous variants that are likely to include novel cancer predisposing mutations. Data from more than 200 exomes show that on average each individual carries 30-50 protein truncating mutations and 300-400 rare non-synonymous variants. Heterogeneity among our exome data strongly suggest that numerous moderate penetrance genes remain to be discovered, with each gene individually accounting for only a small fraction of families (~0.5%). This scenario marks validation of candidate breast cancer predisposing genes in large case-control studies as the rate-limiting step in resolving the missing heritability of breast cancer. The aim of this study is to screen genes that are recurrently mutated among our exome data in a larger cohort of cases and controls to assess the prevalence of inactivating mutations that may be associated with breast cancer risk. We are using the Agilent HaloPlex Target Enrichment System to screen the coding regions of 168 genes in 1,000 BRCA1/2 mutation-negative familial breast cancer cases and 1,000 cancer-naive controls. To date, our interim analysis has identified 21 genes which carry an excess of truncating mutations in multiple breast cancer families versus controls. Established breast cancer susceptibility gene PALB2 is the most frequently mutated gene (13/998 cases versus 0/1009 controls), but other interesting candidates include NPSR1, GSN, POLD2, and TOX3. These and other genes are being validated in a second cohort of 1,000 cases and controls. Our experience demonstrates that beyond PALB2, the prevalence of mutations in the remaining breast cancer predisposition genes is likely to be very low making definitive validation exceptionally challenging.

Keywords: predisposition, familial, exome sequencing, breast cancer

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Authors: Maryam Safarirad

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Fast and increasing growth of electronic commerce (e-commerce) in developed countries and its resulting competitive advantages mean that those countries should revise dramatically their trade and commercial strategies and policies. Regarding the importance of food industry in Iran, the current paper studies the feasibility of implementing the e-commerce system in Shiraz’s petrochemical unit. The statistical population of the study includes 29 senior managers and experts of the food industries. In the present Feasibility study of implementing electronic commerce 249 research, senior managers and experts’ opinions on feasibility have been examined and some feedbacks have resulted in from the opinions. The current research concludes that the organization under study does not have favorable state either in software or in hardware. Implementation of the e-commerce system in food industries would reduce the average value of the transaction costs.

Keywords: electronic trading, electronic commerce, electronic exchange of information, feasibility study, information technology, virtual shopping, computer networks, electronic commerce laws, food industry

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Authors: Tianyu Wang, Nikita Karandikar

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The uncertainty around cost, safety, and feasibility of the decarbonized shipping fuels has made it increasingly complex for the shipping companies to set pricing strategies and forecast their freight revenues going forward. The increase in the green fuel surcharges will ultimately influence the automobile’s consumer prices. The auto shipping demand (ton-miles) has been gradually shifting from long-haul to short-sea trade over the past years following the relocation of the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) manufacturing to regions such as South America and Southeast Asia. The objective of this paper is twofold: 1) to investigate the car-carriers freight revenue development over the years when the trade pattern is gradually shifting towards short-sea exports 2) to empirically identify the quantitative impact of such trade pattern shifting to mainly freight rate, but also vessel size, fleet size as well as Green House Gas (GHG) emission in Roll on-Roll Off (Ro-Ro) shipping. In this paper, a model of analyzing and forecasting ton-miles and freight revenues for the trade routes of AS-NA (Asia to North America), EU-NA (Europe to North America), and SA-NA (South America to North America) is established by deploying Automatic Identification System (AIS) data and the financial results of a selected car carrier company. More specifically, Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics (WALWIL), the Norwegian Ro-Ro carrier listed on Oslo Stock Exchange, is selected as the case study company in this paper. AIS-based ton-mile datasets of WALWIL vessels that are sailing into North America region from three different origins (Asia, Europe, and South America), together with WALWIL’s quarterly freight revenues as reported in trade segments, will be investigated and compared for the past five years (2018-2022). Furthermore, ordinary‐least‐square (OLS) regression is utilized to construct the ton-mile demand and freight revenue forecasting. The determinants of trade pattern shifting, such as import tariffs following the China-US trade war and fuel prices following the 0.1% Emission Control Areas (ECA) zone requirement after IMO2020 will be set as key variable inputs to the machine learning model. The model will be tested on another newly listed Norwegian Car Carrier, Hoegh Autoliner, to forecast its 2022 financial results and to validate the accuracy based on its actual results. GHG emissions on the three routes will be compared and discussed based on a constant emission per mile assumption and voyage distances. Our findings will provide important insights about 1) the trade-off evaluation between revenue reduction and energy saving with the new ton-mile pattern and 2) how the trade flow shifting would influence the future need for the vessel and fleet size.

Keywords: AIS, automobile exports, maritime big data, trade flows

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Authors: Jorge L. Nisperuza, Wilson Sandoval, Edward. A. Gil, Johan A. Jimenez

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In orbital mechanics, an active research topic is the calculation of interplanetary trajectories efficient in terms of energy and time. In this sense, this work concerns the calculation of the orbital elements for sending interplanetary probes in the extrasolar system TRAPPIST-1. Specifically, using the mathematical expressions of the circular and elliptical trajectory parameters, expressions for the flight time and the orbital transfer rate increase between orbits, the orbital parameters and the graphs of the trajectories of Hohmann and Hohmann bi-elliptic for sending a probe from the innermost planet to all the other planets of the studied system, are obtained. The relationship between the orbital transfer rate increments and the relationship between the flight times for the two transfer types is found. The results show that, for all cases under consideration, the Hohmann transfer results to be the least energy and temporary cost, a result according to the theory associated with Hohmann and Hohmann bi-elliptic transfers. Saving in the increase of the speed reaches up to 87% was found, and it happens for the transference between the two innermost planets, whereas the time of flight increases by a factor of up to 6.6 if one makes use of the bi-elliptic transfer, this for the case of sending a probe from the innermost planet to the outermost.

Keywords: bi-elliptic Hohmann transfer, exoplanet, extrasolar system, Hohmann transfer, TRAPPIST-1

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Authors: Christina Adly, Meena Abdelmeseeh, Tamer Basha

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This paper proposes a system for hand movement recognition using multichannel surface EMG(sEMG) signals obtained from 40 subjects using 40 different exercises, which are available on the Ninapro(Non-Invasive Adaptive Prosthetics) database. First, we applied processing methods to the raw sEMG signals to convert them to their amplitudes. Second, we used deep learning methods to solve our problem by passing the preprocessed signals to Fully connected neural networks(FCNN) and recurrent neural networks(RNN) with Long Short Term Memory(LSTM). Using intrasubject evaluation, The accuracy using the FCNN is 72%, with a processing time for training around 76 minutes, and for RNN's accuracy is 79.9%, with 8 minutes and 22 seconds processing time. Third, we applied some postprocessing methods to improve the accuracy, like majority voting(MV) and Movement Error Rate(MER). The accuracy after applying MV is 75% and 86% for FCNN and RNN, respectively. The MER value has an inverse relationship with the prediction delay while varying the window length for measuring the MV. The different part uses the RNN with the intersubject evaluation. The experimental results showed that to get a good accuracy for testing with reasonable processing time, we should use around 20 subjects.

Keywords: hand movement recognition, recurrent neural network, movement error rate, intrasubject evaluation, intersubject evaluation

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Authors: Wen Ma, Yong Peng, Zhixiang Li

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Security journey is a vital focus on the field of Rail Transportation. Accidents caused by the damage of the high-speed train windshield have occurred many times and have given rise to terrible consequences. Train windshield consists of tempered glass and polyvinyl butyral (PVB) film. In this work, the quasi-static tests and the split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) tests were carried out first to obtain the mechanical properties and constitutive model for the tempered glass and PVB film. These tests results revealed that stress and Young’s modulus of tempered glass were wake-sensitive to strain rate, but stress and Young’s modulus of PVB film were strong-sensitive to strain rate. Then impact experiment of the windshield was carried out to investigate dynamic response and failure characteristics of train windshield. In addition, a finite element model based on the combined finite element method was proposed to investigate fracture and fragmentation responses of train windshield under different-velocity impact. The results can be used for further design and optimization of the windshield for high-speed train application.

Keywords: constitutive model, impact response, mechanism properties, PVB film, tempered glass

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Authors: Mohammed H. Karim, Bestoon M. Faraj

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Introduction: instrument separation is a common challenge in the endodontic field. Various techniques and technologies have been developed to improve the retrieval success rate. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of a Dynamic Navigation System (DNS) and a three-dimensional microscope in retrieving broken rotary NiTi files when using trepan burs and the extractor system. Materials and Methods: Thirty maxillary first bicuspids with sixty separate roots were split into two comparable groups based on a comprehensive Cone-Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) analysis of the root length and curvature. After standardised access opening, glide paths, and patency attainment with the K file (sizes 10 and 15), the teeth were arranged on 3D models (three per quadrant, six per model). Subsequently, controlled-memory heat-treated NiTi rotary files (#25/0.04) were notched 4 mm from the tips and fractured at the apical third of the roots. The C-FR1 Endo file removal system was employed under both guidance to retrieve the fragments, and the success rate, canal aberration, treatment time and volumetric changes were measured. The statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS software at a significance level of 0.05. Results: The microscope-guided group had a higher success rate than the DNS guidance, but the difference was insignificant (p > 0.05). In addition, the microscope-guided drills resulted in a substantially lower proportion of canal aberration, required less time to retrieve the fragments and caused a minor change in the root canal volume (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Although dynamically guided trephining with the extractor can retrieve separated instruments, it is inferior to three-dimensional microscope guidance regarding treatment time, procedural errors, and volume change.

Keywords: dynamic navigation system, separated instruments retrieval, trephine burs and extractor system, three-dimensional video microscope

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Authors: Nushrat Khan, Mike Thelwall, Kayvan Kousha

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Making research data openly accessible has been mandated by most funders over the last 5 years as it promotes reproducibility in science and reduces duplication of effort to collect the same data. There are evidence that articles that publicly share research data have higher citation rates in biological and social sciences. However, how and whether shared data is being reused is not always intuitive as such information is not easily accessible from the majority of research data repositories. This study aims to understand the practice of data citation and how data is being reused over the years focusing on biodiversity since research data is frequently reused in this field. Metadata of 38,878 datasets including citation counts were collected through the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) API for this purpose. GBIF was used as a data source since it provides citation count for datasets, not a commonly available feature for most repositories. Analysis of dataset types, citation counts, creation and update time of datasets suggests that citation rate varies for different types of datasets, where occurrence datasets that have more granular information have higher citation rates than checklist and metadata-only datasets. Another finding is that biodiversity datasets on GBIF are frequently updated, which is unique to this field. Majority of the datasets from the earliest year of 2007 were updated after 11 years, with no dataset that was not updated since creation. For each year between 2007 and 2017, we compared the correlations between update time and citation rate of four different types of datasets. While recent datasets do not show any correlations, 3 to 4 years old datasets show weak correlation where datasets that were updated more recently received high citations. The results are suggestive that it takes several years to cumulate citations for research datasets. However, this investigation found that when searched on Google Scholar or Scopus databases for the same datasets, the number of citations is often not the same as GBIF. Hence future aim is to further explore the citation count system adopted by GBIF to evaluate its reliability and whether it can be applicable to other fields of studies as well.

Keywords: data citation, data reuse, research data sharing, webometrics

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Authors: Abdul Latif Shaikh, Osama Kattos

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Purpose: The study compared the effects of intra and inter group short duration intensity training and long duration steady state-run training on the cardiovascular performance on female athletes. Method: Twenty trained young female athletes age between 17 to 20 years were randomly selected to participate in the test. The sprint interval training (n-10) program consisted of 5 min sprints and steady state run (n-10) conducted for 30 min. Both groups completed eight sessions of training within four weeks. Result: In intragroup distribution of mean % change in all the variables from week 4 to week 1 did not differ significantly (p-value > 0.05). The inter-group means value of post resting heart rate, max oxygen consumption (VO2max), and calorie expenditure in sprint interval training was higher with compared with steady state run. Conclusion: The comparative mean value of the intergroups program concludes that the SIT program is superior to SSR in performance-based variables in trained young females. The SIT program can be applied as a time-efficient program for improving performance.

Keywords: calorie expenditure, maximum rate of oxygen consumption, post recovery HR (1-4-7 min), time domain

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Authors: Erwin L. Descallar

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Food safety is crucial in protecting the health of consumers, maintaining integrity in the entire food industry, and ensuring regulatory compliance. Food is a universal need for survival, and everyone is at risk of engaging in improper food handling, which increases vulnerability to foodborne illnesses. The level of knowledge or awareness and meat storage practices of students are behaviors influenced by various demographic factors. The Health Belief Model examines the relationship of such demographic factors towards the attitude, perception, and actions of individuals on perceived risk. This study aims to analyze and understand the correlation of said behaviors with course programs, prior food poisoning experience, and food handling of university students. The study employed randomized responses from 89 university students (n=89) under the College of Science at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines–Sta. Mesa (Manila). The results were subjected to measures of central tendency for score ranking and inferential statistics. The statistics were compared using Pearson ‘r’ Product Moment Correlation to determine the degree of relationship between the knowledge and practices on meat storage and safety. No statistically significant differences were found between the course program of students, food poisoning experiences, level of knowledge, and awareness regarding proper meat storage practices. However, increased frequency and involvement in meat handling have shown a positive correlation, indicating that there is a correlation between food handling and proper meat storage practices of university students.

Keywords: meat storage practices, food handling, food safety, meat science and technology

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