Search results for: digital economy

Authors: Soham Chakraborty

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This article examines the development of start-up culture in India, its development as well as related impact on the Indian society. Another vibrant synonym of start-up in the present century can be starting afresh. Startups have become the new flavor of this decade. A startup ecosystem is formed by mainly the new generation in the making. A startup ecosystem involves a variety of elements without which a startup can never prosper, they are—ideas, inventions, innovations as well as authentic research in the field into which one is interested, mentors, advisors, funding bodies, service provider organizations, angel, venture and so on. The culture of startup is quiet nascent but rampant in India. This is largely due to the widespread of media as a medium through which the newfangled entrepreneurs can spread their word of mouth far and wide. Different kinds of media such as Television, Radio, Internet, Print media and so on, act as the weapon to any startup company in India. The article explores how there is a sudden shift in the growing Indian economy due to the rise of startup ecosystem. There are various reasons, which are the result of the growing success of startup in India, firstly, entrepreneurs are building up startup ideas on the basis of various international startup but giving them a pinch of Indian flavor; secondly, business models are framed based on the current problems that people face in the modern century; thirdly, balance between social and technological entrepreneurs and lastly, quality of mentorship. The Government of India boasts startup as a flagship initiative. Bunch full of benefits and assistance was declared in an event named as 'Start Up India, Stand Up India' on 16th January 2016 by the current Prime Minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi. One of the biggest boon that increasing startups are creating in the society is the proliferation of self-employment. Noted Startups which are thriving in India are like OYO, Where’s The Food (WTF), TVF Pitchers, Flipkart and so on are examples of India is getting covered up by various innovative startups. The deep impact can be felt by each Indian after a few years as various governmental and non-governmental policies and agendas are helping in the sprawling up of startups and have mushroom growth in India. The impact of startup uprising in India is also possible due to increasing globalization which is leading to the eradication of national borders, thereby creating the environment to enlarge one’s business model. To conclude, this article points out on the correlation between rising startup in Indian market and its increasing developmental benefits for the people at large. Internationally, various business portals are tagging India to be the world’s fastest growing startup ecosystem.

Keywords: business, ecosystem, entrepreneurs, media, globalization, startup

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Authors: Ruthanne Tobin

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As our data-driven, cloud-based, knowledge-centric lives become ever more global, mobile, and digital, educational systems everywhere are struggling to keep pace. Schools need to prepare students to become critical-thinking, tech-savvy, life-long learners who are engaged and adaptable enough to find their unique calling in a post-industrial world of work. Recognizing that no nation can afford poor achievement or high dropout rates without jeopardizing its social and economic future, the thirty-two nations of the OECD are launching initiatives to redesign schools, generally under the banner of Personalized Learning or 21st Century Learning. Their intention is to transform education by situating students as co-enquirers and co-contributors with their teachers of what, when, and how learning happens for each individual. In this focused review of the 2007-2017 literature on personalized learning, the author sought answers to two main questions: “What are the theoretical frameworks that guide personalized learning?” and “What is the conceptual understanding of the model?” Ultimately, the review reveals that, although the research area is overly theorized and under-substantiated, it does provide a significant body of knowledge about this potentially transformative educational restructuring. For example, it addresses the following questions: a) What components comprise a PL model? b) How are teachers facilitating agency (voice & choice) in their students? c) What kinds of systems, processes and procedures are being used to guide the innovation? d) How is learning organized, monitored and assessed? e) What role do inquiry based models play? f) How do teachers integrate the three types of knowledge: Content, pedagogical and technological? g) Which kinds of forces enable, and which impede, personalizing learning? h) What is the nature of the collaboration among teachers? i) How do teachers co-regulate differentiated tasks? One finding of the review shows that while technology can dramatically expand access to information, expectations of its impact on teaching and learning are often disappointing unless the technologies are paired with excellent pedagogies in order to address students’ needs, interests and aspirations. This literature review fills a significant gap in this emerging field of research, as it serves to increase conceptual clarity that has hampered both the theorizing and the classroom implementation of a personalized learning model.

Keywords: curriculum change, educational innovation, personalized learning, school reform

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Authors: Blessings Masuku

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This study positions itself within the nascent of street food vending that plays a crucial role in addressing urban household food security across the urban landscape of South Africa. The study aimed to understand how various forms of infrastructure systems (i.e., energy, water and sanitation, housing, and transport, among others) intersect with food and urban informality and how vendors and households’ choices and decisions made around food are influenced by infrastructure assemblages. This study noted that most of the literature studies on food security have mainly focused on the rural agricultural sector, with limited attention to urban food security, notably the role of informality practices in addressing urban food insecurity at the household level. This study pays close attention to how informal informality practices such as street food vending can be used as a catalyst to address urban poverty and household food security and steer local economies for sustainable livelihoods of the urban poor who live in the periphery of the city in Johannesburg. This study deconstructs the infrastructure needs of street food vendors, and the aim was to understand how such infrastructure needs intersect with food and policy that governs urban informality practices. The study argues that the decisions and choices of informality actors in the city of Johannesburg are chiefly determined by the assemblages of infrastructure, including regulatory frameworks that govern the informal sector in the city of Johannesburg. A qualitative approach that includes surveys (open-ended questions), archival research (i., e policy and other key document reviews), and key interviews mainly with city officials and informality actors. A thematic analysis was used to analyze the data collected. This study contributes to greater debates on urban studies and burgeoning literature on urban food security in many ways that include Firstly, the pivotal role that the informal food sector, notably street food vending, plays within the urban economy to address urban poverty and household food security, therefore questioning the conservative perspectives that view the informal sector as a hindrance to a ‘modern city’ and an annoyance to ‘modern’ urban spaces. Secondly, this study contributes to the livelihood and coping strategies of the urban poor who, despite harsh and restrictive regulatory frameworks, devise various agentive ways to generate incomes and address urban poverty and food insecurities.

Keywords: urban food security, street food vending, informal food sector, infrastructure systems, livelihood strategies, policy framework and governance

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Authors: Mona Rashidirad, Hamid Salimian

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Dynamic capabilities, as the most considerable capabilities of firms in the current fast-moving economy may not be sufficient for performance improvement, but their contribution to performance is undeniable. While much of the extant literature investigates the impact of dynamic capabilities on organisational performance, little attention has been devoted to understand whether and how dynamic capabilities create value. Dynamic capabilities as the mirror of competitive strategies should enable firms to search and seize new ideas, integrate and coordinate the firm’s resources and capabilities in order to create value. A careful investigation to the existing knowledge base remains us puzzled regarding the relationship among competitive strategies, dynamic capabilities and value creation. This study thus attempts to fill in this gap by empirically investigating the impact of dynamic capabilities on value creation and the mediating impact of competitive strategy on this relationship. We aim to contribute to dynamic capability view (DCV), in both theoretical and empirical senses, by exploring the impact of dynamic capabilities on firms’ value creation and whether competitive strategy can play any role in strengthening/weakening this relationship. Using a sample of 491 firms in the UK telecommunications market, the results demonstrate that dynamic sensing, learning, integrating and coordinating capabilities play a significant role in firm’s value creation, and competitive strategy mediates the impact of dynamic capabilities on value creation. Adopting DCV, this study investigates whether the value generating from dynamic capabilities depends on firms’ competitive strategy. This study argues a firm’s competitive strategy can mediate its ability to derive value from its dynamic capabilities and it explains the extent a firm’s competitive strategy may influence its value generation. The results of the dynamic capabilities-value relationships support our expectations and justify the non-financial value added of the four dynamic capability processes in a highly turbulent market, such as UK telecommunications. Our analytical findings of the relationship among dynamic capabilities, competitive strategy and value creation provide further evidence of the undeniable role of competitive strategy in deriving value from dynamic capabilities. The results reinforce the argument for the need to consider the mediating impact of organisational contextual factors, such as firm’s competitive strategy to examine how they interact with dynamic capabilities to deliver value. The findings of this study provide significant contributions to theory. Unlike some previous studies which conceptualise dynamic capabilities as a unidimensional construct, this study demonstrates the benefits of understanding the details of the link among the four types of dynamic capabilities, competitive strategy and value creation. In terms of contributions to managerial practices, this research draws attention to the importance of competitive strategy in conjunction with development and deployment of dynamic capabilities to create value. Managers are now equipped with solid empirical evidence which explains why DCV has become essential to firms in today’s business world.

Keywords: dynamic capabilities, resource based theory, value creation, competitive strategy

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Authors: H. M. Ferreira, H. Cockings, D. F. Gordon

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Climate change is driving a transition in the energy sector, with low-carbon energy sources such as hydrogen (H2) emerging as an alternative to fossil fuels. However, the successful implementation of a hydrogen economy requires an expansion of hydrogen production, transportation and storage capacity. The costs associated with this transition are high but can be partly mitigated by adapting the current oil and natural gas networks, such as pipeline, an important component of the hydrogen infrastructure, to transport pure or blended hydrogen. Steel pipelines are designed to withstand fatigue, one of the most common causes of pipeline failure. However, it is well established that some materials, such as steel, can fail prematurely in service when exposed to hydrogen-rich environments. Therefore, it is imperative to evaluate how defects (e.g. inclusions, dents, and pre-existing cracks) will interact with hydrogen under cyclic loading and, ultimately, to what extent hydrogen induced failure will limit the service conditions of steel pipelines. This presentation will explore how the exposure of API 5L X65 to a hydrogen-rich environment and cyclic loads will influence its susceptibility to hydrogen induced failure. That evaluation will be performed by a combination of several techniques such as hydrogen permeation testing (ISO 17081:2014), fatigue crack growth (FCG) testing (ISO 12108:2018 and AFGROW modelling), combined with microstructural and fractographic analysis. The development of a FCG test setup coupled with an electrochemical cell will be discussed, along with the advantages and challenges of measuring crack growth rates in electrolytic hydrogen environments. A detailed assessment of several electrolytic charging conditions will also be presented, using hydrogen permeation testing as a method to correlate the different charging settings to equivalent hydrogen concentrations and effective diffusivity coefficients, not only on the base material but also on the heat affected zone and weld of the pipelines. The experimental work is being complemented with AFGROW, a useful FCG modelling software that has helped inform testing parameters and which will also be developed to ultimately help industry experts perform structural integrity analysis and remnant life characterisation of pipeline steels under representative conditions. The results from this research will allow to conclude if there is an acceleration of the crack growth rate of API 5L X65 under the influence of a hydrogen-rich environment, an important aspect that needs to be rectified instandards and codes of practice on pipeline integrity evaluation and maintenance.

Keywords: AFGROW, electrolytic hydrogen charging, fatigue crack growth, hydrogen, pipeline, steel

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Authors: Sungho Kim, Jaechoul Shin, Yujin Baek

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In recent years, due to the environmental impacts and time factor, etc., various type of pavement deterioration is increasing rapidly such as crack, pothole, rutting and roughness degradation. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport maintains regular pavement condition of the highway and the national highway using the pavement condition survey equipment and structural survey equipment in Korea. Local governments that maintain local roads, farm roads, etc. are difficult to maintain the pavement condition using the pavement condition survey equipment depending on economic conditions, skills shortages and local conditions such as narrow roads. This study presents a quantitative evaluation method of the pavement condition through the visual inspection to overcome these problems of roads managed by local governments. It is difficult to evaluate rutting and roughness with the naked eye. However, the condition of cracks can be evaluated with the naked eye. Linear cracks (m), area cracks (m²) and potholes (number, m²) were investigated with the naked eye every 100 meters for survey the cracks. In this paper, crack ratio was calculated using the results of the condition of cracks and pavement condition was evaluated by calculated crack ratio. The pavement condition survey equipment also investigated the pavement condition in the same section in order to evaluate the reliability of pavement condition evaluation by the calculated crack ratio. The pavement condition was evaluated through the SPI (Seoul Pavement Index) and calculated crack ratio using results of field survey. The results of a comparison between 'the SPI considering only crack ratio' and 'the SPI considering rutting and roughness either' using the equipment survey data showed a margin of error below 5% when the SPI is less than 5. The SPI 5 is considered the base point to determine whether to maintain the pavement condition. It showed that the pavement condition can be evaluated using only the crack ratio. According to the analysis results of the crack ratio between the visual inspection and the equipment survey, it has an average error of 1.86%(minimum 0.03%, maximum 9.58%). Economically, the visual inspection costs only 10% of the equipment survey and will also help the economy by creating new jobs. This paper advises that local governments maintain the pavement condition through the visual investigations. However, more research is needed to improve reliability. Acknowledgment: The author would like to thank the MOLIT (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport). This work was carried out through the project funded by the MOLIT. The project name is 'development of 20mm grade for road surface detecting roadway condition and rapid detection automation system for removal of pothole'.

Keywords: asphalt pavement maintenance, crack ratio, evaluation of asphalt pavement condition, SPI (Seoul Pavement Index), visual investigation

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Authors: Joshua Fogel, Rivka Herzog

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Although direct-to-consumer prescription medication advertisements (DTCA) are viewed or heard in many venues, there does not appear to be any research for internet social media DTCA. We study the association of traditional media DTCA and digital media DTCA including internet social media of YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter with three different outcomes. There was one intentions outcome and two different behavior outcomes. The intentions outcome was the agreement level for seeking additional information about a prescription medication after seeing a DTCA. One behavior outcome was the agreement level for obtaining additional information about a prescription medication after seeing a DTCA. The other behavior outcome was the frequency level for obtaining additional information about a prescription medication after seeing a DTCA. Surveys were completed by 635 college students. Predictors included demographic variables, theory of planned behavior variables, health variables, and advertisements seen or heard. Also, in the behavior analyses, additional predictors of intentions and sources for seeking additional prescription drug information were included. Multivariate linear regression analyses were conducted. We found that increased age was associated with increased behavior, women were associated with increased intentions, and Hispanic race/ethnicity was associated with decreased behavior. For the theory of planned behavior variables, increased attitudes were associated with increased intentions, increased social norms were associated with increased intentions and behavior, and increased intentions were associated with increased behavior. Very good perceived health was associated with increased intentions. Advertisements seen in spam mail were associated with decreased intentions. Advertisements seen on traditional or cable television were associated with decreased behavior. Advertisements seen on television watched on the internet were associated with increased behavior. The source of seeking additional information of reading internet print content was associated with increased behavior. No internet social media advertisements were associated with either intentions or behavior. In conclusion, pharmaceutical brand managers and marketers should consider these findings when tailoring their DTCA advertising campaigns and directing their DTCA advertising budget towards young adults such as college students. They need to reconsider the current approach for traditional television DTCA and also consider dedicating a larger advertising budget toward internet television DTCA. Although internet social media is a popular place to advertise, the financial expenditures do not appear worthwhile for DTCA when targeting young adults such as college students.

Keywords: brand managers, direct-to-consumer advertising, internet, social media

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Authors: Brock Buckingham, Zhe Lin, Wenxuan Guo

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Accurate elevation data is critical in deriving topographic attributes for the precision management of crop inputs, especially water and nutrients. Traditional ground-based elevation data acquisition is time consuming, labor intensive, and often inconvenient at the field scale. Various unmanned aerial systems (UAS) provide the capability of generating digital elevation data from high-resolution images. The objective of this study was to compare the performance of two UAS with different global positioning system (GPS) receivers in determining elevation at the field scale. A DJI Phantom 4 Pro and a DJI Phantom 4 RTK(real-time kinematic) were applied to acquire images at three heights, including 40m, 80m, and 120m above ground. Forty ground control panels were placed in the field, and their geographic coordinates were determined using an RTK GPS survey unit. For each image acquisition using a UAS at a particular height, two elevation datasets were generated using the Pix4D stitching software: a calibrated dataset using the surveyed coordinates of the ground control panels and an uncalibrated dataset without using the surveyed coordinates of the ground control panels. Elevation values for each panel derived from the elevation model of each dataset were compared to the corresponding coordinates of the ground control panels. The coefficient of the determination (R²) and the root mean squared error (RMSE) were used as evaluation metrics to assess the performance of each image acquisition scenario. RMSE values for the uncalibrated elevation dataset were 26.613 m, 31.141 m, and 25.135 m for images acquired at 120 m, 80 m, and 40 m, respectively, using the Phantom 4 Pro UAS. With calibration for the same UAS, the accuracies were significantly improved with RMSE values of 0.161 m, 0.165, and 0.030 m, respectively. The best results showed an RMSE of 0.032 m and an R² of 0.998 for calibrated dataset generated using the Phantom 4 RTK UAS at 40m height. The accuracy of elevation determination decreased as the flight height increased for both UAS, with RMSE values greater than 0.160 m for the datasets acquired at 80 m and 160 m. The results of this study show that calibration with ground control panels improves the accuracy of elevation determination, especially for the UAS with a regular GPS receiver. The Phantom 4 Pro provides accurate elevation data with substantial surveyed ground control panels for the 40 m dataset. The Phantom 4 Pro RTK UAS provides accurate elevation at 40 m without calibration for practical precision agriculture applications. This study provides valuable information on selecting appropriate UAS and flight heights in determining elevation for precision agriculture applications.

Keywords: unmanned aerial system, elevation, precision agriculture, real-time kinematic (RTK)

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Authors: Cristina Galiana Carballo, Ibon Doval Martínez

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Urban boundaries often result in a controversial limit between countryside and city in Europe. This territory is normally defined by the very limited land uses and the abundance of open space. The dimension and dynamics of peri-urbanization in the last decades have increased this land stock, which has influenced/impacted in several factors in terms of economic costs (maintenance, transport), ecological disturbances of the territory and changes in inhabitant´s behaviour. In an increasingly urbanised world and a growing urban population, cities also face challenges such as Climate Change. In this context, new near-future corrective trends including circular economies for local food supply or decentralised waste management became key strategies towards more sustainable urban models. Those new solutions need to be planned and implemented considering the potential conflict with current land uses. The city of Vitoria-Gasteiz (Basque Country, Spain) has triplicated land consumption per habitant in 10 years, resulting in a vast extension of low-density urban type confronting rural land and threatening agricultural uses, landscape and urban sustainability. Urban planning allows managing and optimum use allocation based on soil vocation and socio-ecosystem needs, while peri-urban space arises as an opportunity for developing different uses which do not match either within the compact city, not in open agricultural lands, such as medium-size agrocomposting systems or biomass plants. Therefore, a qualitative multi-criteria methodology has been developed for Vitoria-Gasteiz city to assess the spatial definition of peri-urban land. Therefore, a qualitative multi-criteria methodology has been developed for Vitoria-Gasteiz city to assess the spatial definition of peri-urban land. Climate change and circular economy were identified as frameworks where to determine future land, soil vocation and urban planning requirements which eventually become estimations of required local food and renewable energy supply along with alternative waste management system´s implementation. By means of it, it has been developed an urban planning proposal which overcomes urban-non urban dichotomy in Vitoria-Gasteiz. The proposal aims to enhance rural system and improve urban sustainability performance through the normative recognition of an agricultural peri-urban belt.

Keywords: landscape ecology, land-use management, periurban, urban planning

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Authors: Marine Shavlakadze

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Hydroponic greenhouses systems (production of the artificial substrate without soil) are becoming popular in the world. Mostly the system is used to grow vegetables and berries. Different countries are taking action to participate in the development of hydroponic technology and solutions such as EU members, Turkey, Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Scandinavian countries, etc. Many vegetables and berries are grown by hydroponics in Europe. As a result of our research, we have obtained material containing manganese and nitrogen. It became possible to produce this fertilizer by means of one-stage thermal processing, using industrial waste containing manganese (ores and sludges) and mineral substance (ammonium nitrate) that exist in Georgia. The received material is usable as a micro-fertilizer with economic efficiency. It became possible to turn practically water-insoluble manganese dioxide substance into the soluble condition from industrial waste in an indirect way. The ability to use the material as a fertilizer is predetermined by its chemical and phase composition, as the amount of the active component of the material in relation to manganese is 30%. At the same time, the active component elements presented non-ballast sustained action compounds. The studies implemented in Poland and in Georgia by us have shown that the manganese-containing micro-fertilizer- Mn(NO₃)₂ can provide the plant with nitrate nitrogen, which is a form that can be used for plants, providing the economy and simplicity of the application of fertilizers. Given the fact that the application of the manganese-containing micro-fertilizers significantly increases the productivity and improves the quality of the big number of agricultural products, it is necessary to mention that it is recommended to introduce the manganese containing fertilizers into the following cultures: sugar beet, corn, potato, vegetables, vine grape, fruit, berries, and other cultures. Also, as a result of the study, it was established that the material obtained is the predominant fertilizer for vegetable cultures in the soil. Based on the positive results of the research, we consider it expedient to conduct research in hydroponic systems, which will enable us to provide plants the required amount of manganese; we also introduce nitrogen in solution and regulate the solution of pH, which is one of the main problems in hydroponic production. The findings of our research will be used in hydroponic greenhouse farms to increase the fertility of vegetable crops and, consequently, to get bountiful and high-quality harvests, which will promote the development of hydroponic greenhouses in Georgia as well as abroad.

Keywords: hydroponics, micro-fertilizers, manganese-containing materials, industrial wastes

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Authors: Albert Amagyei, Julia Carroll, Amanda R. Amorim Adegboye, Laura Strumidlo, Rosie Kneafsey

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Introduction: Classroom-based learning has persisted as the mainstream model of pre-registration nurse education. This model is often rigid, teacher-centered, and unable to support active learning and the practical learning needs of nursing students. Health Education England (HEE), a public body of the Department of Health and Social Care, hypothesises that blended learning (BL) programmes may address health system and nursing profession challenges, such as nursing shortages and lack of digital expertise, by exploring opportunities for providing predominantly online, remote-access study which may increase nursing student recruitment, offering alternate pathways to nursing other than the traditional classroom route. This study will provide evidence for blended learning strategies adopted in nursing education as well as examine nursing student learning experiences concerning the challenges and opportunities related to using blended learning within nursing education. Objective: This review will explore the challenges and opportunities of BL within pre-registration nurse education from the student's perspective. Methods: The search was completed within five databases. Eligible studies were appraised independently by four reviewers. The JBI-convergent segregated approach for mixed methods review was used to assess and synthesize the data. The study’s protocol has been registered with the International Register of Systematic Reviews with registration number// PROSPERO (CRD42023423532). Results: Twenty-seven (27) studies (21 quantitative and 6 qualitative) were included in the review. The study confirmed that BL positively impacts nursing students' learning outcomes, as demonstrated by the findings of the meta-analysis and meta-synthesis. Conclusion: The review compared BL to traditional learning, simulation, laboratory, and online learning on nursing students’ learning and programme outcomes as well as learning behaviour and experience. The results show that BL could effectively improve nursing students’ knowledge, academic achievement, critical skills, and clinical performance as well as enhance learner satisfaction and programme retention. The review findings outline that students’ background characteristics, BL design, and format significantly impact the success of the BL nursing programme.

Keywords: nursing student, blended learning, pre-registration nurse education, online learning

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Authors: Lucas Peries, Rolla Monib

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The construction industry plays a vital role in the global economy, contributing billions of dollars annually. However, the industry has been struggling with persistently low productivity levels for years, unlike other sectors that have shown significant improvements. Modular and prefabricated construction methods have been identified as potential solutions to boost productivity in the construction industry. These methods offer time advantages over traditional construction methods. Despite their potential benefits, modular and prefabricated construction face hindrances and limitations that are not present in traditional building systems. Building information modelling (BIM) has the potential to address some of these hindrances, but barriers are preventing its widespread adoption in the construction industry. This research aims to enhance understanding of the shortcomings of modular and prefabricated building systems and develop BIM-based solutions to alleviate or eliminate these hindrances. The research objectives include identifying and analysing key issues hindering the use of modular and prefabricated building systems, investigating the current state of BIM adoption in the construction industry and factors affecting its successful implementation, proposing BIM-based solutions to address the issues associated with modular and prefabricated building systems, and assessing the effectiveness of the developed solutions in removing barriers to their use. The research methodology involves conducting a critical literature review to identify the key issues and challenges in modular and prefabricated construction and BIM adoption. Additionally, an online questionnaire will be used to collect primary data from construction industry professionals, allowing for feedback and evaluation of the proposed BIM-based solutions. The data collected will be analysed to evaluate the effectiveness of the solutions and their potential impact on the adoption of modular and prefabricated building systems. The main findings of the research indicate that the identified issues from the literature review align with the opinions of industry professionals, and the proposed BIM-based solutions are considered effective in addressing the challenges associated with modular and prefabricated construction. However, the research has limitations, such as a small sample size and the need to assess the feasibility of implementing the proposed solutions. In conclusion, this research contributes to enhancing the understanding of modular and prefabricated building systems' limitations and proposes BIM-based solutions to overcome these limitations. The findings are valuable to construction industry professionals and BIM software developers, providing insights into the challenges and potential solutions for implementing modular and prefabricated construction systems in future projects. Further research should focus on addressing the limitations and assessing the feasibility of implementing the proposed solutions from technical and legal perspectives.

Keywords: building information modelling, modularisation, prefabrication, technology

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Authors: Rommila Chandra, Harshika Choudhary

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The present-day tourism sector is globally developing at a fast pace, searching for new ideas and new venues. In the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR), tourism has experienced a vast growth and continuous diversification over the last few years, thus becoming one of the fastest-growing economic sectors in India. With its majestic landscape, high peaks, rich floral and faunal diversity, and cultural history, the IHR has continuously attracted tourists and pilgrims from across the globe. The IHR has attracted a vast range of visitors who seek adventure sports, natural and spiritual solace, peace, cultural assets, food, and festivals, etc. Thus, the multi-functionality of the region has turned tourism into a key component of economic growth for the rural communities in the hills. For the local mountain people, it means valuable economic opportunity for income generation, and for the government and entrepreneurs, it brings profits. As the urban cities gain attention and investment in India, efforts have to be made to protect, safeguard, and strengthen the cultural, spiritual, and natural heritage of IHR for sustainable livelihood development. Furthermore, the socio-economic and environmental insecurities, along with geographical isolation, adds to the challenging survival in the tough terrains of IHR, creating a major threat of outmigration, land abandonment, and degradation. The question the paper intends to answer is: whether the rural community of IHR is aware of the new global trends in rural tourism and the extent of their willingness to adapt to the evolving tourism industry, which impacts the rural economy, including sustainable livelihood opportunity. The objective of the paper is to discuss the integrated nature of rural tourism, which widely depends upon natural resources, cultural heritage, agriculture/horticulture, infrastructural development, education, social awareness, and willingness of the locals. The sustainable management of all these different rural activities can lead to long-term livelihood development and social upliftment. It highlights some gap areas and recommends fewcommunity-based coping measures which the local people can adopt amidst the disorganized sector of rural tourism. Lastly, the main contribution is the exploratory research of the rural tourism vulnerability in the IHR, which would further help in studying the resilience of the tourism sector in the rural parts of a developing nation.

Keywords: community-based approach, sustainable livelihood development, Indian Himalayan region, rural tourism

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Authors: Fang Liu, JiaJia Yao, GuanLin Wu, ZuMaoLi, XueYan Yang, HePeng Zhang, ZhiPeng Sun, JunShuai Xue

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The explosive increasing needs of data processing and information storage strongly drive the advancement of the binary logic system to multiple-valued logic system. Inherent negative differential resistance characteristic, ultra-high-speed switching time, and robust anti-irradiation capability make III-nitride resonant tunneling diode one of the most promising candidates for multi-valued logic devices. Here we report the monolithic integration of GaN resonant tunneling diodes in series to realize multiple negative differential resistance regions, obtaining at least three stable operating states. A multiply-by-three circuit is achieved by this combination, increasing the frequency of the input triangular wave from f0 to 3f0. The resonant tunneling diodes are grown by plasma-assistedmolecular beam epitaxy on free-standing c-plane GaN substrates, comprising double barriers and a single quantum well both at the atomic level. Device with a peak current density of 183kA/cm² in conjunction with a peak-to-valley current ratio (PVCR) of 2.07 is observed, which is the best result reported in nitride-based resonant tunneling diodes. Microwave oscillation event at room temperature was discovered with a fundamental frequency of 0.31GHz and an output power of 5.37μW, verifying the high repeatability and robustness of our device. The switching behavior measurement was successfully carried out, featuring rise and fall times in the order of picoseconds, which can be used in high-speed digital circuits. Limited by the measuring equipment and the layer structure, the switching time can be further improved. In general, this article presents a novel nitride device with multiple negative differential regions driven by the resonant tunneling mechanism, which can be used in high-speed multiple value logic field with reduced circuit complexity, demonstrating a new solution of nitride devices to break through the limitations of binary logic.

Keywords: GaN resonant tunneling diode, negative differential resistance, multiple-valued logic system, switching time, peak-to-valley current ratio

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Authors: Louise Ödlund, Danica Djuric Ilic

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From a system perspective, there are several benefits of DH. A possibility to utilize the excess heat from waste incineration and biomass-based combined heat and power (CHP) production (e.g. possibility to utilize the excess heat from electricity production) are two examples. However, in a future sustainable society, the benefits of DH may be less obvious. Due to the climate changes and increased energy efficiency of buildings, the demand for space heating is expected to decrease. Due to the society´s development towards circular economy, a larger amount of the waste will be material recycled, and the possibility for DH production by the energy recovery through waste incineration will be reduced. Furthermore, the benefits of biomass-based CHP production will be less obvious since the marginal electricity production will no longer be linked to high greenhouse gas emissions due to an increased share of renewable electricity capacity in the electricity system. The purpose of the study is (1) to provide an overview of the possible development of other sectors which may influence the DH in the future and (2) to detect new business strategies which would enable for DH to adapt to the future conditions and remain competitive to alternative heat production in the future. A system approach was applied where DH is seen as a part of an integrated system which consists of other sectors as well. The possible future development of other sectors and the possible business strategies for DH producers were searched through a systematic literature review In order to remain competitive to the alternative heat production in the future, DH producers need to develop new business strategies. While the demand for space heating is expected to decrease, the space cooling demand will probably increase due to the climate changes, but also due to the better insulation of buildings in the cases where the home appliances are the heat sources. This opens up a possibility for applying DH-driven absorption cooling, which would increase the annual capacity utilization of the DH plants. The benefits of the DH related to the energy recovery from the waste incineration will exist in the future since there will always be a need to take care of materials and waste that cannot be recycled (e.g. waste containing organic toxins, bacteria, such as diapers and hospital waste). Furthermore, by operating central controlled heat pumps, CHP plants, and heat storage depending on the intermittent electricity production variation, the DH companies may enable an increased share of intermittent electricity production in the national electricity grid. DH producers can also enable development of local biofuel supply chains and reduce biofuel production costs by integrating biofuel and DH production in local DH systems.

Keywords: district heating, sustainable business strategies, sustainable development, system approach

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Authors: Eun Mi Ryu, Ah Young An, Ji Yeon Kang, Yeong Soo Shin, Hee Sun Kim

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As the number of fire incidents has been increased, fire incidents significantly damage economy and human lives. Especially when high strength reinforced concrete is exposed to high temperature due to a fire, deterioration occurs such as loss in strength and elastic modulus, cracking, and spalling of the concrete. Therefore, it is important to understand risk of structural safety in building structures by studying structural behaviors and rehabilitation of fire damaged high strength concrete structures. This paper aims at investigating rehabilitation effect on fire damaged high strength concrete beams using experimental and analytical methods. In the experiments, flexural specimens with high strength concrete are exposed to high temperatures according to ISO 834 standard time temperature curve. After heated, the fire damaged reinforced concrete (RC) beams having different cover thicknesses and fire exposure time periods are rehabilitated by removing damaged part of cover thickness and filling polymeric mortar into the removed part. From four-point loading test, results show that maximum loads of the rehabilitated RC beams are 1.8~20.9% higher than those of the non-fire damaged RC beam. On the other hand, ductility ratios of the rehabilitated RC beams are decreased than that of the non-fire damaged RC beam. In addition, structural analyses are performed using ABAQUS 6.10-3 with same conditions as experiments to provide accurate predictions on structural and mechanical behaviors of rehabilitated RC beams. For the rehabilitated RC beam models, integrated temperature–structural analyses are performed in advance to obtain geometries of the fire damaged RC beams. After spalled and damaged parts are removed, rehabilitated part is added to the damaged model with material properties of polymeric mortar. Three dimensional continuum brick elements are used for both temperature and structural analyses. The same loading and boundary conditions as experiments are implemented to the rehabilitated beam models and nonlinear geometrical analyses are performed. Structural analytical results show good rehabilitation effects, when the result predicted from the rehabilitated models are compared to structural behaviors of the non-damaged RC beams. In this study, fire damaged high strength concrete beams are rehabilitated using polymeric mortar. From four point loading tests, it is found that such rehabilitation is able to make the structural performance of fire damaged beams similar to non-damaged RC beams. The predictions from the finite element models show good agreements with the experimental results and the modeling approaches can be used to investigate applicability of various rehabilitation methods for further study.

Keywords: fire, high strength concrete, rehabilitation, reinforced concrete beam

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Authors: Sasirin Srisomkiew, Sireewan Ratsadornasai, Tanomkwan Tipvong, Isariya Meesing

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Cassava is an important food source in the tropics and has recently gained attention as a potential source of biofuel that can replace limited fossil fuel sources. As a result, the demand for cassava production to support industries both within the country and abroad has increased. In Thailand, most farmers prefer to grow cassava in sandy and sandy loam areas where the soil has low natural fertility. Cassava is a tuber plant that has large roots to store food, resulting in the absorption of large amounts of nutrients from the soil, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Therefore, planting cassava in the same area for a long period causes soil erosion and decreases soil fertility. The loss of soil fertility affects the economy, society, and food and energy security of the country. Therefore, it is necessary to know the level of soil fertility and the amount of nutrients in the soil. To address this problem, this study applies geo-informatics technology and mathematical equations to assess erosion and soil fertility and to analyze factors affecting the amount of cassava production in Maha Sarakham Province. The results show that the area for cassava cultivation has increased in every district of Maha Sarakham Province between 2015-2022, with the total area increasing to 180,922 rai or 5.47% of the province’s total area during this period. Furthermore, it was found that it is possible to assess areas with soil erosion problems that had a moderate level of erosion in areas with high erosion rates ranging from 5-15 T/rai/year. Soil fertility assessment and information obtained from the soil nutrient map for 2015–2023 reveal that farmers in the area have improved the soil by adding chemical fertilizers along with organic fertilizers, such as manure and green manure, to increase the amount of nutrients in the soil. This is because the soil resources of Maha Sarakham Province mostly have relatively low agricultural potential due to the soil texture being sand and sandy loam. In this scenario, the ability to absorb nutrients is low, and the soil holds little water, so it is naturally low in fertility. Moreover, agricultural soil problems were found, including the presence of saline soil, sandy soil, and acidic soil, which is a serious restriction on land use because it affects the release of nutrients into the soil. The results of this study may be used as a guideline for managing soil resources and improving soil quality to prevent soil degradation problems that may occur in the future.

Keywords: Cassava, geoinformatics, soil erosion, soil fertility, land use change

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Authors: Alicia Yanadira Nava Fuentes, Ilse Cervantes Camacho, Amadeo José Argüelles Cruz, Ana María Balboa Verduzco

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Augmented reality promises being present in future driving, with its immersive technology let to show directions and maps to identify important places indicating with graphic elements when the car driver requires the information. On the other side, driving is considered a multitasking activity and, for some people, a complex activity where different situations commonly occur that require the immediate attention of the car driver to make decisions that contribute to avoid accidents; therefore, the main aim of the project is the instrumentation of a platform with biometric sensors that allows evaluating the performance in driving vehicles with the influence of augmented reality devices to detect the level of attention in drivers, since it is important to know the effect that it produces. In this study, the physiological sensors EPOC X (EEG), ECG06 PRO and EMG Myoware are joined in the driving test platform with a Logitech G29 steering wheel and the simulation software City Car Driving in which the level of traffic can be controlled, as well as the number of pedestrians that exist within the simulation obtaining a driver interaction in real mode and through a MSP430 microcontroller achieves the acquisition of data for storage. The sensors bring a continuous analog signal in time that needs signal conditioning, at this point, a signal amplifier is incorporated due to the acquired signals having a sensitive range of 1.25 mm/mV, also filtering that consists in eliminating the frequency bands of the signal in order to be interpretative and without noise to convert it from an analog signal into a digital signal to analyze the physiological signals of the drivers, these values are stored in a database. Based on this compilation, we work on the extraction of signal features and implement K-NN (k-nearest neighbor) classification methods and decision trees (unsupervised learning) that enable the study of data for the identification of patterns and determine by classification methods different effects of augmented reality on drivers. The expected results of this project include are a test platform instrumented with biometric sensors for data acquisition during driving and a database with the required variables to determine the effect caused by augmented reality on people in simulated driving.

Keywords: augmented reality, driving, physiological signals, test platform

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Authors: Byomakesh Debata, Jitendra Mahakud

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The recent financial crisis has been characterized by massive monetary policy interventions by the Central bank, and it has amplified the importance of liquidity for the stability of the stock market. This paper empirically elucidates the actual impact of monetary policy interventions on stock market liquidity covering all National Stock Exchange (NSE) Stocks, which have been traded continuously from 2002 to 2015. The present study employs a multivariate VAR model along with VAR-granger causality test, impulse response functions, block exogeneity test, and variance decomposition to analyze the direction as well as the magnitude of the relationship between monetary policy and market liquidity. Our analysis posits a unidirectional relationship between monetary policy (call money rate, base money growth rate) and aggregate market liquidity (traded value, turnover ratio, Amihud illiquidity ratio, turnover price impact, high-low spread). The impulse response function analysis clearly depicts the influence of monetary policy on stock liquidity for every unit innovation in monetary policy variables. Our results suggest that an expansionary monetary policy increases aggregate stock market liquidity and the reverse is documented during the tightening of monetary policy. To ascertain whether our findings are consistent across all periods, we divided the period of study as pre-crisis (2002 to 2007) and post-crisis period (2007-2015) and ran the same set of models. Interestingly, all liquidity variables are highly significant in the post-crisis period. However, the pre-crisis period has witnessed a moderate predictability of monetary policy. To check the robustness of our results we ran the same set of VAR models with different monetary policy variables and found the similar results. Unlike previous studies, we found most of the liquidity variables are significant throughout the sample period. This reveals the predictability of monetary policy on aggregate market liquidity. This study contributes to the existing body of literature by documenting a strong predictability of monetary policy on stock liquidity in an emerging economy with an order driven market making system like India. Most of the previous studies have been carried out in developing economies with quote driven or hybrid market making system and their results are ambiguous across different periods. From an eclectic sense, this study may be considered as a baseline study to further find out the macroeconomic determinants of liquidity of stocks at individual as well as aggregate level.

Keywords: market liquidity, monetary policy, order driven market, VAR, vector autoregressive model

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Authors: Morteza Esfandiari, Shabnam Jabari, Heather MacGrath, David Coleman

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Flood is a severe issue in different places in the world as well as the city of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. The downtown area of Fredericton is close to the Saint John River, which is susceptible to flood around May every year. Recently, the frequency of flooding seems to be increased, especially after the fact that the downtown area and surrounding urban/agricultural lands got flooded in two consecutive years in 2018 and 2019. In order to have an explicit vision of flood span and damage to affected areas, it is necessary to use either flood inundation modelling or satellite data. Due to contingent availability and weather dependency of optical satellites, and limited existing data for the high cost of hydrodynamic models, it is not always feasible to rely on these sources of data to generate quality flood maps after or during the catastrophe. Height Above the Nearest Drainage (HAND), a state-of-the-art topo-hydrological index, normalizes the height of a basin based on the relative elevation along with the stream network and specifies the gravitational or the relative drainage potential of an area. HAND is a relative height difference between the stream network and each cell on a Digital Terrain Model (DTM). The stream layer is provided through a multi-step, time-consuming process which does not always result in an optimal representation of the river centerline depending on the topographic complexity of that region. HAND is used in numerous case studies with quite acceptable and sometimes unexpected results because of natural and human-made features on the surface of the earth. Some of these features might cause a disturbance in the generated model, and consequently, the model might not be able to predict the flow simulation accurately. We propose to include a previously existing stream layer generated by the province of New Brunswick and benefit from culvert maps to improve the water flow simulation and accordingly the accuracy of HAND model. By considering these parameters in our processing, we were able to increase the accuracy of the model from nearly 74% to almost 92%. The improved model can be used for generating highly accurate flood maps, which is necessary for future urban planning and flood damage estimation without any need for satellite imagery or hydrodynamic computations.

Keywords: HAND, DTM, rapid floodplain, simplified conceptual models

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Authors: Qinke Sun, Liang Zhou

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The ‘Dragon-Elephant Debate’ between China and India is an important manifestation of global multipolarity in the 21st century. The two rising powers have carried out economic reforms one after another in the interval of more than ten years, becoming the fastest growing developing country and emerging economy in the world. At the same time, the development differences between China and India have gradually attracted wide attention of scholars. Based on the continuous annual night light data (DMSP-OLS) from 1992 to 2012, this paper systematically compares and analyses the regional development differences between China and India by Gini coefficient, coefficient of variation, comprehensive night light index (CNLI) and hot spot analysis. The results show that: (1) China's overall expansion from 1992 to 2012 is 1.84 times that of India, in which China's change is 2.6 times and India's change is 2 times. The percentage of lights in unlighted areas in China dropped from 92% to 82%, while that in India from 71% to 50%. (2) China's new growth-oriented cities appear in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, Ordos, and Urumqi in the west, and the declining cities are concentrated in Liaoning Province and Jilin Province in the northeast; India's new growth-oriented cities are concentrated in Chhattisgarh in the north, while the declining areas are distributed in Uttar Pradesh. (3) China's differences on different scales are lower than India's, and regional inequality of development is gradually narrowing. Gini coefficients at the regional and provincial levels have decreased from 0.29, 0.44 to 0.24 and 0.38, respectively, while regional inequality in India has slowly improved and regional differences are gradually widening, with Gini coefficients rising from 0.28 to 0.32. The provincial Gini coefficient decreased slightly from 0.64 to 0.63. (4) The spatial pattern of China's regional development is mainly east-west difference, which shows the difference between coastal and inland areas; while the spatial pattern of India's regional development is mainly north-south difference, but because the southern states are sea-dependent, it also reflects the coastal inland difference to a certain extent. (5) Beijing and Shanghai present a multi-core outward expansion model, with an average annual CNLI higher than 0.01, while New Delhi and Mumbai present the main core enhancement expansion model, with an average annual CNLI lower than 0.01, of which the average annual CNLI in Shanghai is about five times that in Mumbai.

Keywords: spatial pattern, spatial difference, DMSP-OLS, China, India

Procedia PDF Downloads 138

Authors: Masa Popovac, Philip Fine

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Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have altered our social environments, and young people in particular have immersed themselves in the digital age. Despite countless benefits, younger ICT users are being exposed to various online risks such as contact with strangers, viewing of risky content, sending or receiving sexually themed images or comments (i.e. ‘sexting’) as well as cyber bullying. Parents may not be fully aware of the online spaces their children inhabit and often struggle to implement effective mediation strategies. This quantitative study explored (i) three types of online risks (contact risks, content risks and conduct risks), (ii) cyber bullying victimization and perpetration, and (iii) parental mediation among a sample of 689 South African adolescents aged between 12-17 years. Survey data was also collected for 227 of their parents relating to their perceptions of their child’s online experiences. A comparison between adolescent behaviors and parental perceptions was examined on the three variables in the study. Findings reveal various online risk taking behaviors. In terms of contact risks, 56% of adolescents reported having contact with at least one online stranger, with many meeting these strangers in person. Content risks included exposure to harmful information such as websites promoting extreme diets or self-harm as well as inappropriate content: 84% of adolescents had seen violent content and 75% had seen sexual content online. Almost 60% of adolescents engaged in conduct risks such as sexting. Eight online victimization behaviors were examined in the study and 79% of adolescents had at least one of these negative experiences, with a third (34%) defining this experience as cyber bullying. A strong connection between victimization and perpetration was found, with 63% of adolescents being both a victim and perpetrator. Very little parental mediation of ICT use was reported. Inferential statistics revealed that parents consistently underestimated their child’s online risk taking behaviors as well as their cyber bullying victimization and perpetration. Parents also overestimated mediation strategies in the home. The generational gap in the knowledge and use of ICTs is a barrier to effective parental mediation and online safety, since many negative online experiences by adolescents go undetected and can continue for extended periods of time thereby exacerbating the potential psychological and emotional distress. The study highlights the importance of including parents in online safety efforts.

Keywords: cyber bullying, online risk behaviors, parental mediation, South Africa

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Authors: Thel Phyu Phyu Soe

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Myanmar started its new political movement in 2011, opening up to trade, encouraging foreign investment, deepening its financial sectors. The tourism is one of the key sectors to make reform process from the perspective of green economy and green growth. The Inle Lake, second largest lake, famous for broad diversity of cultural and natural assets, become one of the country’s main tourism destination. In the study area, local livelihoods are based on a combination of farming (mainly floating garden) wage labor, tourism, and small business. But the Inle lake water body or water surface area decreased by 96.44 km² within 20 years, from 67.98 km² in 1990 to 56.63 km² in 2010. Floating garden cultivation (hydro phonic farm) is a distinguished characteristic of Inle Lake. Two adjacent villages (A and B) were selected to compare the relationship between tourism access and agricultural production. Ground truthing, focus group discussion, and in-depth questionnaires with floating gardeners were carried out. In A village, 57% of the respondents relied tourism as their major income sources, while almost all the households in B village relied floating gardens as major livelihood. Both satellite image interpretation and community studies highlighted that around 80% of the floating garden become fallow after severe drought in 2010 and easy income access to tourism related activities. The villagers can get 20-30 US$ for round trip guiding to major tourist attraction places.Even though tourism is the major livelihood options for the A village, the poorest households (less than 1500 US$ per year) are those who didn’t own transportation property for tourism related activities. In B village, more than 70% of the households relied floating gardens as their major income sources and less participated in tourism related activities because they don’t have motorboat stand connected to the major tourist attraction areas. Access to tourism related activities (having boat stand where they can guide tourists by boat and sell local products and souvenirs) have much impacted on changes in local people livelihood options. However, tourism may have impacts that are beneficial for one group of a society, but which are negative for another. Income inequality and negative impacts can only be managed effectively if they have been identified, measured and evaluated. The severe drought in 2010, instability of lake water level, high expenses for agriculture assisted the local people to participate in easy access tourism related activities.

Keywords: diminishing, floating garden, livelihood, tourism-related income

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Authors: Samuel Owoade, Zainab Idowu, Idris Ajibade, Abel Uzoka

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Cloud computing adoption continues to soar, with 83% of enterprise workloads estimated to be in the cloud by 2022. However, this rapid migration raises security concerns, needing strong security management solutions to safeguard sensitive data and essential applications. This paper investigates the critical role of technical project managers in orchestrating security management initiatives for cloud environments, evaluating their responsibilities, challenges, and best practices for assuring the resilience and integrity of cloud infrastructures. Drawing from a comprehensive review of industry reports and interviews with cloud security experts, this research highlights the multifaceted landscape of security management in cloud environments. Despite the rapid adoption of cloud services, only 25% of organizations have matured their cloud security practices, indicating a pressing need for effective management strategies. This paper proposes a strategy framework adapted to the demands of technical project managers, outlining the important components of effective cloud security management. Notably, 76% of firms identify misconfiguration as a major source of cloud security incidents, underlining the significance of proactive risk assessment and constant monitoring. Furthermore, the study emphasizes the importance of technical project managers in facilitating cross-functional collaboration, bridging the gap between cybersecurity professionals, cloud architects, compliance officers, and IT operations teams. With 68% of firms seeing difficulties integrating security policies into their cloud systems, effective communication and collaboration are critical to success. Case studies from industry leaders illustrate the practical use of security management projects in cloud settings. These examples demonstrate the importance of technical project managers in using their expertise to address obstacles and generate meaningful outcomes, with 92% of firms reporting improved security practices after implementing proactive security management tactics. In conclusion, this research underscores the critical role of technical project managers in safeguarding cloud environments against evolving threats. By embracing their role as guardians of the cloud realm, project managers can mitigate risks, optimize resource utilization, and uphold the trust and integrity of cloud infrastructures in an era of digital transformation.

Keywords: cloud security, security management, technical project management, cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, risk management, compliance

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Authors: Reuben Mugisha, Stella Bakibinga

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The cervical cancer burden is a global threat, but more so in low income settings where more than 85% of mortality cases occur due to lack of sufficient screening programs. There is consequently a lack of early detection of cancer and precancerous cells among women. Studies show that 3% to 35% of deaths could have been avoided through early screening depending on prognosis, disease progression, environmental and lifestyle factors. In this study, a systematic literature review is undertaken to understand potential barriers and facilitators as documented in previous studies that focus on the application of telehealth in cervical cancer screening programs for early detection of cancer and precancerous cells. The study informs future studies especially those from low income settings about lessons learned from previous studies and how to be best prepared while planning to implement telehealth for cervical cancer screening. It further identifies the knowledge gaps in the research area and makes recommendations. Using a specified selection criterion, 15 different articles are analyzed based on the study’s aim, theory or conceptual framework used, method applied, study findings and conclusion. Results are then tabulated and presented thematically to better inform readers about emerging facts on barriers and facilitators to telehealth implementation as documented in the reviewed articles, and how they consequently lead to evidence informed conclusions that are relevant to telehealth implementation for cervical cancer screening. Preliminary findings of this study underscore that use of low cost mobile colposcope is an appealing option in cervical cancer screening, particularly when coupled with onsite treatment of suspicious lesions. These tools relay cervical images to the online databases for storage and retrieval, they permit integration of connected devices at the point of care to rapidly collect clinical data for further analysis of the prevalence of cervical dysplasia and cervical cancer. Results however reveal the need for population sensitization prior to use of mobile colposcopies among patients, standardization of mobile colposcopy programs across screening partners, sufficient logistics and good connectivity, experienced experts to review image cases at the point-of-care as important facilitators to the implementation of mobile colposcope as a telehealth cervical cancer screening mechanism.

Keywords: cervical cancer screening, digital technology, hand-held colposcopy, knowledge-sharing

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Authors: Misuk Kim, Seokho Kang, Jehyuk Lee, Hyunchang Cho, Sungzoon Cho

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In semiconductor manufacturing, virtual metrology (VM) refers to methods to predict properties of a wafer based on machine parameters and sensor data of the production equipment, without performing the (costly) physical measurement of the wafer properties (Wikipedia). Additional benefits include avoidance of human bias and identification of important factors affecting the quality of the process which allow improving the process quality in the future. It is however rare to find VM applied to other areas of manufacturing. In this work, we propose to use VM to copper clad laminate (CCL) manufacturing. CCL is a core element of a printed circuit board (PCB) which is used in smartphones, tablets, digital cameras, and laptop computers. The manufacturing of CCL consists of three processes: Treating, lay-up, and pressing. Treating, the most important process among the three, puts resin on glass cloth, heat up in a drying oven, then produces prepreg for lay-up process. In this process, three important quality factors are inspected: Treated weight (T/W), Minimum Viscosity (M/V), and Gel Time (G/T). They are manually inspected, incurring heavy cost in terms of time and money, which makes it a good candidate for VM application. We developed prediction models of the three quality factors T/W, M/V, and G/T, respectively, with process variables, raw material, and environment variables. The actual process data was obtained from a CCL manufacturer. A variety of variable selection methods and learning algorithms were employed to find the best prediction model. We obtained prediction models of M/V and G/T with a high enough accuracy. They also provided us with information on “important” predictor variables, some of which the process engineers had been already aware and the rest of which they had not. They were quite excited to find new insights that the model revealed and set out to do further analysis on them to gain process control implications. T/W did not turn out to be possible to predict with a reasonable accuracy with given factors. The very fact indicates that the factors currently monitored may not affect T/W, thus an effort has to be made to find other factors which are not currently monitored in order to understand the process better and improve the quality of it. In conclusion, VM application to CCL’s treating process was quite successful. The newly built quality prediction model allowed one to reduce the cost associated with actual metrology as well as reveal some insights on the factors affecting the important quality factors and on the level of our less than perfect understanding of the treating process.

Keywords: copper clad laminate, predictive modeling, quality control, virtual metrology

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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: Aswini M. S.

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Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is one of the most significant vegetable crops in terms of its economic benefits. Both fresh and processed tomatoes are consumed. Tomatoes have a limited genetic base, which makes breeding extremely challenging. Plant breeding has become much simpler and more effective with genome editing tools of CRISPR and CRISPR-associated 9 protein (CRISPR/Cas9), which address the problems with traditional breeding, chemical/physical mutagenesis, and transgenics. With the use of CRISPR/Cas9, a number of tomato traits have been functionally distinguished and edited. These traits include plant architecture as well as flower characters (leaf, flower, male sterility, and parthenocarpy), fruit ripening, quality and nutrition (lycopene, carotenoid, GABA, TSS, and shelf-life), disease resistance (late blight, TYLCV, and powdery mildew), tolerance to abiotic stress (heat, drought, and salinity) and resistance to herbicides. This study explores the potential of CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing for enhancing yield in tomato plants. The study utilized the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology to functionally edit various traits in tomatoes. The de novo domestication of elite features from wild cousins to cultivated tomatoes and vice versa has been demonstrated by the introgression of CRISPR/Cas9. The CycB (Lycopene beta someri) gene-mediated Cas9 editing increased the lycopene content in tomato. Also, Cas9-mediated editing of the AGL6 (Agamous-like 6) gene resulted in parthenocarpic fruit development under heat-stress conditions. The advent of CRISPR/Cas has rendered it possible to use digital resources for single guide RNA design and multiplexing, cloning (such as Golden Gate cloning, GoldenBraid, etc.), creating robust CRISPR/Cas constructs, and implementing effective transformation protocols like the Agrobacterium and DNA free protoplast method for Cas9-gRNAs ribonucleoproteins (RNPs) complex. Additionally, homologous recombination (HR)-based gene knock-in (HKI) via geminivirus replicon and base/prime editing (Target-AID technology) remains possible. Hence, CRISPR/Cas facilitates fast and efficient breeding in the improvement of tomatoes.

Keywords: CRISPR-Cas, biotic and abiotic stress, flower and fruit traits, genome editing, polygenic trait, tomato and trait introgression

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Authors: Luis Guilherme Resende Santos, Ido Nevat, Leslie Norford

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The Urban Heat Island (UHI) is characterized by increased air temperatures in urban areas compared to undeveloped rural surrounding environments. With urbanization and densification, the intensity of UHI increases, bringing negative impacts on livability, health and economy. In order to reduce those effects, it is required to take into consideration design factors when planning future developments. Given design constraints such as population size and availability of area for development, non-trivial decisions regarding the buildings’ dimensions and their spatial distribution are required. We develop a framework for optimization of urban design in order to jointly minimize UHI intensity and buildings’ energy consumption. First, the design constraints are defined according to spatial and population limits in order to establish realistic boundaries that would be applicable in real life decisions. Second, the tools Urban Weather Generator (UWG) and EnergyPlus are used to generate outputs of UHI intensity and total buildings’ energy consumption, respectively. Those outputs are changed based on a set of variable inputs related to urban morphology aspects, such as building height, urban canyon width and population density. Lastly, an optimization problem is cast where the utility function quantifies the performance of each design candidate (e.g. minimizing a linear combination of UHI and energy consumption), and a set of constraints to be met is set. Solving this optimization problem is difficult, since there is no simple analytic form which represents the UWG and EnergyPlus models. We therefore cannot use any direct optimization techniques, but instead, develop an indirect “black box” optimization algorithm. To this end we develop a solution that is based on stochastic optimization method, known as the Cross Entropy method (CEM). The CEM translates the deterministic optimization problem into an associated stochastic optimization problem which is simple to solve analytically. We illustrate our model on a typical residential area in Singapore. Due to fast growth in population and built area and land availability generated by land reclamation, urban planning decisions are of the most importance for the country. Furthermore, the hot and humid climate in the country raises the concern for the impact of UHI. The problem presented is highly relevant to early urban design stages and the objective of such framework is to guide decision makers and assist them to include and evaluate urban microclimate and energy aspects in the process of urban planning.

Keywords: building energy consumption, stochastic optimization, urban design, urban heat island, urban weather generator

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Authors: Laura Simmer, Maria Kalt, Oliver Schauer

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Freight transport is growing fast, but many vehicles are empty or just partially loaded. The vision and concepts of the Physical Internet (PI) proposes to eliminate these inefficiencies. Aiming for a radical sustainability improvement, the PI – inspired by the Digital Internet – is a hyperconnected global logistic system, enabling seamless asset sharing and flow consolidation. The implementation of a PI in its full expression will be a huge challenge: the industry needs innovation and implementation support including change management approaches, awareness creation and good practices diffusion, legislative actions to remove antitrust and international commerce barriers, standardization and public incentives policies. In order to take a step closer to this future the project ‘Atropine - Fast Track to the Physical Internet’ funded under the Strategic Economic and Research Program ‘Innovative Upper Austria 2020’ was set up. The two-year research project unites several research partners in this field, but also industrial partners and logistics service providers. With Atropine, the consortium wants to actively shape the mobility landscape in Upper Austria and make an innovative contribution to an energy-efficient, environmentally sound and sustainable development in the transport area. This paper should, on the one hand, clarify the questions what the project Atropine is about and, on the other hand, how a proof of concept will be reached. Awareness building plays an important role in the project as the PI requires a reorganization of the supply chain and the design of completely new forms of inter-company co-operation. New business models have to be developed and should be verified by simulation. After the simulation process one of these business models will be chosen and tested in real life with the partner companies. The developed results - simulation model and demonstrator - are used to determine how the concept of the PI can be applied in Upper Austria. Atropine shall pave the way for a full-scale development of the PI vision in the next few decades and provide the basis for pushing the industry toward a new level of co-operation with more shared resources and increased standardization.

Keywords: Atropine, inter-company co-operation, Physical Internet, shared resources, sustainable logistics

Procedia PDF Downloads 207