Search results for: event study

Authors: Hannes Koester

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Driven by difficult market conditions and increasing regulations, many banks are making the strategic decision to restructure their portfolio by divesting several business segments. Using a unique dataset of 727 portfolio restructuring announcements by 161 international listed banks over the period 1999 to 2015, we investigate the impact of restructuring measurements on the stock performance as well as on the banks’ profitability and risk. Employing the event study methodology, we detect positive stock market reactions on the announcement of restructuring measurements. These positive stock market reactions indicate that shareholders reward banks’ specialization activities. However, the results of the system GMM regressions show a negative relation between restructuring measurements and banks’ return on assets and a positive relation towards the individual and systemic risk of banks. These empirical results indicate that there is no guarantee that portfolio restructurings will result in a more profitable and less risky institution.

Keywords: bank performance, bank risk, divestiture, restructuring, systemic risk

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Authors: Hiroki Kikuchi, Atsushi Fukuda, Hirokazu Akahane, Satoru Kobayakawa, Tuenjai Fukuda, Takeru Miyokawa

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According to WHO reports, fatalities by road traffic accidents in many countries of South-East Asia region especially Thailand and Malaysia are increasing year by year. In order to overcome these serious problems, both governments are focusing on road safety measures. In response, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) of Japan and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) have begun active support based on the experiences to reduce the number of fatalities in road accidents in Japan in the past. However, even if the successful road safety measures in Japan is adopted in South-East Asian countries, it is not sure whether it will work well or not. So, it is necessary to clarify the issues and systematize the process for the implementation of road safety measures in South-East Asia. On the basis of the above, this study examined the applicability of "information sharing traffic safety measure" which is one of the successful road safety measures in Japan to the social implementation of road safety measures in South-East Asian countries. The "Information sharing traffic safety measure" is carried out traffic safety measures by stakeholders such as residents, administration, and experts jointly. In this study, we extracted the issues of implementation of road safety measures under local context firstly. This is clarifying the particular issues with its implementation in South-East Asian cities. Secondly, we considered how to implement road safety measures for solving particular issues based on the method of "information sharing traffic safety measure". In the implementation method, the location of the occurrence of a dangerous event was extracted based on the “HIYARI-HATTO” data which were obtained from the residents. This is because it is considered that the implementation of the information sharing traffic safety measure focusing on the location where the dangerous event occurs leads to the reduction of traffic accidents. Also, the target locations for the implementation of measures differ for each city. In Penang, we targeted the intersections　in the downtown, while in Suphan Buri, we targeted mainly traffic control on the intercity highway. Finally, we proposed a method for implementing traffic safety measures. For Penang, we proposed a measure to improve the signal phase and showed the effect of the measure on the micro traffic simulation. For Suphan Buri, we proposed the suitable measures for the danger points extracted by collecting the “HIYARI-HATTO” data of residents to the administration. In conclusion, in order to successfully implement the road safety measure based on the "information sharing traffic safety measure", the process for social implementation of the road safety measures should be consistent and carried out repeatedly. In particular, by clarifying specific issues based on local context in South-East Asian countries, the stakeholders, not only such as government sectors but also local citizens can share information regarding road safety and select appropriate countermeasures. Finally, we could propose this approach to the administration that had the authority.

Keywords: information sharing road safety measure, social implementation, South-East Asia, HIYARI-HATTO

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Authors: Nahid Tavakoli, Asghar Ehteshami, Akbar Hassanzadeh, Fatemeh Amini

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Introduction: The Information security incident management guidelines was been developed to help hospitals to meet their information security event and incident management requirements. The purpose of this Study was to investigate on Information Security Incident Management in Isfahan’s educational hospitals in accordance to ISO/IEC 27002 standards. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study to investigate on Information Security Incident Management of educational hospitals in 2014. Based on ISO/IEC 27002 standards, two checklists were applied to check the compliance with standards on Reporting Information Security Events and Weakness and Management of Information Security Incidents and Improvements. One inspector was trained to carry out the assessments in the hospitals. The data was analyzed by SPSS. Findings: In general the score of compliance Information Security Incident Management requirements in two steps; Reporting Information Security Events and Weakness and Management of Information Security Incidents and Improvements was %60. There was the significant difference in various compliance levels among the hospitals (p-valueKeywords: information security incident management, information security management, standards, hospitals

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Authors: Jerome V. Cleofas

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Cyberspace has become a more viable arena for budding artists to share musical acts through digital forms. The increasing relevance of online communities has attracted scholars from various fields demonstrating its influence on social capital. This paper extends this understanding of social capital among Filipino music artists belonging to the SoundCloud Philippines Facebook Group. The study makes use of various qualitative data obtained from key-informant interviews and participant observation of online and physical encounters, analyzed using the case study approach. Soundcloud Philippines has over seven-hundred members and is composed of Filipino singers, instrumentalists, composers, arrangers, producers, multimedia artists, and event managers. Group interactions are a mix of online encounters based on Facebook and SoundCloud and physical encounters through meet-ups and events. Benefits reaped from the community are informational, technical, instrumental, promotional, motivational, and social support. Under the guidance of online group administrators, collaborative activities such as music productions, concerts and events transpire. Most conflicts and problems arising are resolved peacefully. Social capital in SoundCloud Philippines is mobilized through recognition, respect and reciprocity.

Keywords: Facebook, music artists, online communities, social capital

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Authors: Mike-Franck Mienlam Essi, Joseph Quentin Yene Atangana, Mbida Yem

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The Kribi-Campo sub-basin belongs to the southern domain of the Cameroon Atlantic Margin in the Gulf of Guinea. It is the African homologous segment of the Sergipe-Alagoas Basin, located at the northeast side of the Brazil margin. The onset of the seafloor spreading period in the Southwest African Margin in general and the study area particularly remains controversial. Various studies locate this event during the Cretaceous times (Early Aptian to Late Albian), while others suggested that this event occurred during Pre-Cretaceous period (Palaeozoic or Jurassic). This work analyses 02 Cameroon Span seismic lines to re-examine the Early marine incursion period of the study area for a better understanding of the margin evolution. The methodology of analysis in this study is based on the delineation of the first seismic sequence, using the reflector’s terminations tracking and the analysis of its internal reflections associated to the external configuration of the package. The results obtained indicate from the bottom upwards that the first deposits overlie a first seismic horizon (H1) associated to “onlap” terminations at its top and underlie a second horizon which shows “Downlap” terminations at its top (H2). The external configuration of this package features a prograded fill pattern, and it is observed within the depocenter area with discontinuous reflections that pinch out against the basement. From east to west, this sequence shows two seismic facies (SF1 and SF2). SF1 has parallel to subparallel reflections, characterized by high amplitude, and SF2 shows parallel and stratified reflections, characterized by low amplitude. The distribution of these seismic facies reveals a lateral facies variation observed. According to the fundamentals works on seismic stratigraphy and the literature review of the geological context of the study area, particularly, the stratigraphical natures of the identified horizons and seismic facies have been highlighted. The seismic horizons H1 and H2 correspond to Top basement and “Downlap Surface,” respectively. SF1 indicates continental sediments (Sands/Sandstone) and SF2 marine deposits (shales, clays). Then, the prograding configuration observed suggests a marine regression. The correlation of these results with the lithochronostratigraphic chart of Sergipe-Alagoas Basin reveals that the first marine deposits through the study area are dated from Pre-Cretaceous times (Palaeozoic or Jurassic). The first deposits onto the basement represents the end of a cycle of sedimentation. The hypothesis of Mike.F. Mienlam Essi is with the Earth Sciences Department of the Faculty of Science of the University of Yaoundé I, P.O. BOX 812 CAMEROON (e-mail: [email protected]). Joseph.Q. Yene Atangana is with the Earth Sciences Department of the Faculty of Science of the University of Yaoundé I, P.O. BOX 812 CAMEROON (e-mail: [email protected]). Mbida Yem is with the Earth Sciences Department of the Faculty of Science of the University of Yaoundé I, P.O. BOX 812 CAMEROON (e-mail: [email protected]). Cretaceous seafloor spreading through the study area is the onset of another cycle of sedimentation. Furthermore, the presence of marine sediments into the first deposits implies that this package could contain marine source rocks. The spatial tracking of these deposits reveals that they could be found in some onshore parts of the Kribi-Campo area or even in the northern side.

Keywords: cameroon span seismic, early marine incursion, kribi-campo sub-basin, pre-cretaceous period, sergipe-alagoas basin

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Authors: Radah Yousuf, Ashraf Shebl

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Suicide is a tragic event with strong emotional repercussions for its survivors and for families of its victims. There were thousands of cases all over the world. There are many risk factors include mental disorders such as depression, and substance abuse, including alcoholism and use of benzodiazepines. Other suicides are impulsive acts due to stress such as from financial difficulties, troubles with relationships, or from bullying. The aim of work in this study is making a survey from archives of the suicidal cases, which had a medicolegal examination, in forensic medicine center in Al Madinah Almunawarah-KSA, for ten years in the period between 1428-1438h. In each case, some data are collected such as age, sex, time and place of an act, method of suicide, the presence of the witness, medical history. This study demonstrates that suicide is more common in male than female, and the 4th decade was the most period of age. The most common method of suicide was hanging followed by falling from the height. These results indicated that cultural and religious beliefs that discourage suicide and support self-preservation instinct, and suicide education programs provide information to students in high school, builds awareness, one of the most important issues in solving that problem. From the forensic view, circumstantial evidence of every forensic case must take and record, full history about the social, medical and psychological problems, attend the scene of death is a very important, complete medicolegal investigation for every case, and full autopsy with very skilled techniques and facilities can help in diagnosing what type of crimes.

Keywords: suicide, age, sex, hanging

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Authors: M. El-Eraki, A. A. Mohamed, A. A. El-Kenawy, M. S. Toni, S. I. Mustafa

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The aim of this paper is to study the ground vibrations using Nakamura technique to evaluate the relation between the ground conditions and the earthquake characteristics. Microtremor measurements were carried out at 55 sites in and around Zagazig city. The signals were processed using horizontal to vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) technique to estimate the fundamental frequencies of the soil deposits and its corresponding H/V amplitude. Seismic measurements were acquired at nine sites for recording the surface waves. The recorded waveforms were processed using the multi-channel analysis of surface waves (MASW) method to infer the shear wave velocity profile. The obtained fundamental frequencies were found to be ranging from 0.7 to 1.7 Hz and the maximum H/V amplitude reached 6.4. These results together with the average shear wave velocity in the surface layers were used for the estimation of the thickness of the upper most soft cover layers (depth to bedrock). The sediment thickness generally increases at the northeastern and southwestern parts of the area, which is in good agreement with the local geological structure. The results of this work showed the zones of higher potential damage in the event of an earthquake in the study area.

Keywords: ambient vibrations, fundamental frequency, surface waves, zagazig

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Authors: Jerry Gyimah, Ernest Kissi, Safowaa Osei-Tutu, Charles Dela Adobor, Theophilus Adjei-Kumi, Ernest Osei-Tutu

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Price fluctuation contract is imperative and of paramount essence, in the construction industry as it provides adequate relief and cushioning for changes in the prices of input resources during construction. As a result, several methods have been devised to better help in arriving at fair recompense in the event of price changes. However, stakeholders often appear not to be satisfied with the existing methods of fluctuation evaluation, ostensibly because of the challenges associated with them. The aim of this study was to identify the challenges to the usage of building construction cost indices in Ghana. Data was gathered from contractors and quantity surveying firms. The study utilized a survey questionnaire approach to elicit responses from the contractors and the consultants. Data gathered was analyzed scientifically, using the relative importance index (RII) to rank the problems associated with the existing methods. The findings revealed the following, among others, late release of data, inadequate recovery of costs, and work items of interest not included in the published indices as the main challenges of the existing methods. Findings provide useful lessons for policymakers and practitioners in decision making towards the usage and improvement of available indices.

Keywords: building construction cost indices, challenges, usage, Ghana

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Authors: Stefano Barone

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Seismic retrofit of buildings through base isolation represents a consolidated protection strategy against earthquakes. It consists in decoupling the ground motion from that of the structure and introducing anti-seismic devices at the base of the building, characterized by high horizontal flexibility and medium/high dissipative capacity. This allows to protect structural elements and to limit damages to non-structural ones. For these reasons, full functionality is guaranteed after an earthquake event. Base isolation is applied extensively to both new and existing buildings. For the latter, it usually does not require any interruption of the structure use and occupants evacuation, a special advantage for strategic buildings such as schools, hospitals, and military buildings. This paper describes the application of seismic isolation to three existing masonry buildings in Italy: Villa “La Maddalena” in Macerata (Marche region), “Giacomo Matteotti” and “Plinio Il Giovane” school buildings in Perugia (Umbria region). The seismic hazard of the sites is characterized by a Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) of 0.213g-0.287g for the Life Safety Limit State and between 0.271g-0.359g for the Collapse Limit State. All the buildings are isolated with a combination of free sliders type TETRON® CD with confined elastomeric disk and anti-seismic rubber isolators type ISOSISM® HDRB to reduce the eccentricity between the center of mass and stiffness, thus limiting torsional effects during a seismic event. The isolation systems are designed to lengthen the original period of vibration (i.e., without isolators) by at least three times and to guarantee medium/high levels of energy dissipation capacity (equivalent viscous damping between 12.5% and 16%). This allows the structures to resist 100% of the seismic design action. This article shows the performances of the supplied anti-seismic devices with particular attention to the experimental dynamic response. Finally, a special focus is given to the main site activities required to isolate a masonry building.

Keywords: retrofit, masonry buildings, seismic isolation, energy dissipation, anti-seismic devices

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Authors: Xiping Wang，Shuran Yao, Liqin Dai

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Many studies report the winter is getting warmer and the minimum air temperature is obviously rising as the important climate warming evidences. The exacerbated air temperature fluctuation tending to bring more severe weather variation is another important consequence of recent climate change which induced more disasters to crop growth in quite a certain regions. Hebei Province is an important winter wheat growing province in North of China that recently endures more winter freezing injury influencing the local winter wheat crop management. A winter wheat freezing injury assessment Bayesian Network framework was established for the objectives of estimating, assessing and predicting winter wheat freezing disasters in Hebei Province. In this framework, the freezing disasters was classified as three severity degrees (SI) among all the three types of freezing, i.e., freezing caused by severe cold in anytime in the winter, long extremely cold duration in the winter and freeze-after-thaw in early season after winter. The factors influencing winter wheat freezing SI include time of freezing occurrence, growth status of seedlings, soil moisture, winter wheat variety, the longitude of target region and, the most variable climate factors. The climate factors included in this framework are daily mean and range of air temperature, extreme minimum temperature and number of days during a severe cold weather process, the number of days with the temperature lower than the critical temperature values, accumulated negative temperature in a potential freezing event. The Bayesian Network model was evaluated using actual weather data and crop records at selected sites in Hebei Province using real data. With the multi-stage influences from the various factors, the forecast and assessment of the event-based target variables, freezing injury occurrence and its damage to winter wheat production, were shown better scoped by Bayesian Network model.

Keywords: bayesian networks, climatic change, freezing Injury, winter wheat

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Authors: Kianoosh Ahadi, Mustafa Ergil

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In this study, the event of vibrations caused by vortexes and the distribution of induced hydrodynamic forces due to vortexes on the sliding gate valves has been investigated. For this reason, a sliding valve with the help of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software was simulated in two-dimensional )2D(, where the flow and turbulence equations were solved for three different valve openings (full, half, and 16.7 %) models. The variety of vortexes formed within the vicinity of the valve structure was investigated based on time where the trend of fluctuations and their occurrence regions have been detected. From the gathered solution dataset of the numerical simulations, the pressure coefficient (CP), the lift force coefficient (CL), the drag force coefficient (CD), and the momentum coefficient due to hydrodynamic forces (CM) were examined, and relevant figures were generated were from these results, the vortex-induced vibrations were analyzed.

Keywords: induced vibrations, computational fluid dynamics, sliding gate valves, vortexes

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Authors: B. Sir, M. Podhoranyi, S. Kuchar, T. Kocyan

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Rainfall-runoff models play important role in hydrological predictions. However, the model is only one part of the process for creation of flood prediction. The aim of this paper is to show the process of successful prediction for flood event (May 15–May 18 2014). The prediction was performed by rainfall runoff model HEC–HMS, one of the models computed within Floreon+ system. The paper briefly evaluates the results of automatic hydrologic prediction on the river Olše catchment and its gages Český Těšín and Věřňovice.

Keywords: flood, HEC-HMS, prediction, rainfall, runoff

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Authors: Joo-Heon Lee, Ho-Won Jang, Hyung-Won Cho, Tae-Woong Kim

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Drought is a recurrent climatic feature that occurs in virtually every climatic zone around the world. Korea experiences the drought almost every year at the regional scale mainly during in the winter and spring seasons. Moreover, extremely severe droughts at a national scale also occurred at a frequency of six to seven years. Various drought indices had developed as tools to quantitatively monitor different types of droughts and are utilized in the field of drought analysis. Since drought is closely related with climatological and topographic characteristics of the drought prone areas, the basins where droughts are frequently occurred need separate drought preparedness and contingency plans. In this study, an analysis using statistical methods was carried out for the historical droughts occurred in the five major river basins in Korea so that drought characteristics can be quantitatively investigated. It was also aimed to provide information with which differentiated and customized drought preparedness plans can be established based on the basin level analysis results. Conventional methods which quantifies drought execute an evaluation by applying a various drought indices. However, the evaluation results for same drought event are different according to different analysis technique. Especially, evaluation of drought event differs depend on how we view the severity or duration of drought in the evaluation process. Therefore, it was intended to draw a drought history for the most severely affected five major river basins of Korea by investigating a magnitude of drought that can simultaneously consider severity, duration, and the damaged areas by applying drought run theory with the use of SPI (Standardized Precipitation Index) that can efficiently quantifies meteorological drought. Further, quantitative analysis for the historical extreme drought at various viewpoints such as average severity, duration, and magnitude of drought was attempted. At the same time, it was intended to quantitatively analyze the historical drought events by estimating the return period by derived SDF (severity-duration-frequency) curve for the five major river basins through parametric regional drought frequency analysis. Analysis results showed that the extremely severe drought years were in the years of 1962, 1988, 1994, and 2014 in the Han River basin. While, the extreme droughts were occurred in 1982 and 1988 in the Nakdong river basin, 1994 in the Geumg basin, 1988 and 1994 in Youngsan river basin, 1988, 1994, 1995, and 2000 in the Seomjin river basin. While, the extremely severe drought years at national level in the Korean Peninsula were occurred in 1988 and 1994. The most damaged drought were in 1981~1982 and 1994~1995 which lasted for longer than two years. The return period of the most severe drought at each river basin was turned out to be at a frequency of 50~100 years.

Keywords: drought magnitude, regional frequency analysis, SPI, SDF(severity-duration-frequency) curve

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Authors: Faizin Mulia Rizkika, Iqbal Jabbari Mufti, Muhammad R. Y. Nugraha, Fadil Maulidir Sube

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Flooding is an event of ponding on the flat area around the river as a result of the overflow of river water was not able to be accommodated by the river and may cause damage to the infrastructure of a region. This study aimed to analyze the data of Digital Elevation Model (DEM) for information that plays a role in the mapping of zones prone to flooding, mapping the distribution of zones prone to flooding that occurred in the Citarum upstream using secondary data and software (ArcGIS, MapInfo), this assessment was made distribution map of flooding, there were 13 counties / districts dam flood-prone areas in Bandung, and the most vulnerable districts are areas Baleendah-Dayeuhkolot-Bojongsoang-Banjaran. The area has a low slope and the same limits with boundary rivers and areas that have excessive land use, so the water catchment area is reduced.

Keywords: mitigation, flood, citarum, DEM

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Authors: Paolo Castaldo, Bruno Palazzo, Laura Lodato

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This study deals with the seizure effects of friction pendulum (FP) bearings on the seismic reliability of a 3D base-isolated nonlinear structural system, designed according to Italian seismic code (NTC08). The isolated system consists in a 3D reinforced concrete superstructure, a r.c. substructure and the FP devices, described by employing a velocity dependent model. The seismic input uncertainty is considered as a random variable relevant to the problem, by employing a set of natural seismic records selected in compliance with L’Aquila (Italy) seismic hazard as provided from NTC08. Several non-linear dynamic analyses considering the three components of each ground motion have been performed with the aim to evaluate the seismic reliability of the superstructure, substructure, and isolation level, also taking into account the seizure event of the isolation devices. Finally, a design solution aimed at increasing the seismic robustness of the base-isolated systems with FPS is analyzed.

Keywords: FP devices, seismic reliability, seismic robustness, seizure

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Authors: Tebogo Sethibe, Jabulile Mabuza

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The COVID-19 pandemic has been commonly referred to as a ‘black swan event’; it has changed the world, from how people live, learn, work and socialise. It is believed that the pandemic has fast-tracked the adoption of technology in many organisations to ensure business continuity and business sustainability; broadly said, the pandemic has fast-tracked digital transformation (DT) in different organisations. This paper aims to study the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on DT in organisations in South Africa by focusing on the changes in IT capabilities in the DT framework. The research design is qualitative. The data collection was through semi-structured interviews with information communication technology (ICT) leaders representing different organisations in South Africa. The data were analysed using the thematic analysis process. The results from the study show that, in terms of ICT in the organisation, the pandemic had a direct and positive impact on ICT strategy and ICT operations. In terms of IT capability transformation, the pandemic resulted in the optimisation and expansion of existing IT capabilities in the organisation and the building of new IT capabilities to meet emerging business needs. In terms of the focus of activities during the pandemic, there seems to be a split in organisations between the primary focus being on ‘digital IT’ or ‘traditional IT’. Overall, the findings of the study show that the pandemic had a positive and significant impact on DT in organisations. However, a definitive conclusion on this would require expanding the scope of the research to all the components of a comprehensive DT framework. This study is significant because it is one of the first studies to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on organisations, on ICT in the organisation, on IT capability transformation and, to a greater extent, DT. The findings from the study show that in response to the pandemic, there is a need for: (i) agility in organisations; (ii) organisations to execute on their existing strategy; (iii) the future-proofing of IT capabilities; (iv) the adoption of a hybrid working model; and for (v) organisations to take risks and embrace new ideas.

Keywords: digital transformation, COVID-19, bimodal-IT, digital transformation framework

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Authors: Gichun Cha, Byoungjoon Yu, Jihwan Park, Minsoo Park, Junghyun Im, Sehwan Park, Sujung Sin, Seunghee Park

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The goal of this research is to estimate a structural shape change using terrestrial laser scanning. This study proceeds with development of data reduction and shape change estimation algorithm for large-capacity scan data. The point cloud of scan data was converted to voxel and sampled. Technique of shape estimation is studied to detect changes in structure patterns, such as skyscrapers, bridges, and tunnels based on large point cloud data. The point cloud analysis applies the octree data structure to speed up the post-processing process for change detection. The point cloud data is the relative representative value of shape information, and it used as a model for detecting point cloud changes in a data structure. Shape estimation model is to develop a technology that can detect not only normal but also immediate structural changes in the event of disasters such as earthquakes, typhoons, and fires, thereby preventing major accidents caused by aging and disasters. The study will be expected to improve the efficiency of structural health monitoring and maintenance.

Keywords: terrestrial laser scanning, point cloud, shape information model, displacement measurement

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Authors: B. O. Diyaolu

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Viability and competency during competition is the dream of every team sports so as to have a good result. But it seems factors abound which deter the performance of even a good sports team. Different individuals with different state of mind all come together to perform in team sports with different degree of satisfaction. This study investigated the role of satisfaction on performance among Afe Babalola University team sports. Descriptive survey research design was used and the population consists of all male and female athletes in the team sports that participated in the last 2019 Ekiti State Higher Institution games (ESHIGA). Total enumeration technique was used for the three team sports; football (44), basketball (24) and volleyball (24). A total of 92 participants were involved in the research. The instrument used for the study was a modified Athlete Satisfaction Scale (ASS). The questionnaire was divided into two sections. The Cronbach’s Alpha reliability coefficient of 0.71 was obtained. The hypotheses were tested at 0.05 significant levels. The completed questionnaire was collated, coded, and analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequency counts and percentage and inferential statistics of chi-square (X²). Findings of this study revealed that satisfaction significantly influences team sports performance among Athletes of Afe Babalola University. The responsibility of satisfying athlete lies on the coaches, fans, sports administrators as well as organizers of such event, as it is not only financial reward that gives satisfaction. The performance of a team sports is quiet important and its being determined by the degree of satisfaction of each individual that make up the team. All effort must be made to satisfy athlete in order to guarantee optimum performance.

Keywords: athlete satisfaction, optimum achievement, optimum performance, sports performance and team sports

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Authors: Jennifer E. Lynette

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The purpose of this study is to develop a nation-wide assessment tool to gauge the quality and efficiency of response activities by emergency personnel to fires in Denmark. Current fire incident reports lack detailed information that can lead to breakthroughs in research and improve emergency response efforts. Information generated from the report database is analyzed and assessed for efficiency and quality. By utilizing information collection gaps in the incident reports, an improved, indepth, and streamlined quality gauging system is developed for use by fire brigades. This study pinpoints previously unrecorded factors involved in the response phases of a fire. Variables are recorded and ranked based on their influence to event outcome. By assessing and measuring these data points, quality standards are developed. These quality standards include details of the response phase previously overlooked which individually and cumulatively impact the overall success of a fire response effort. Through the application of this tool and implementation of associated quality standards at Denmark’s fire brigades, there is potential to increase efficiency and quality in the preparedness and response phases, thereby saving additional lives, property, and resources.

Keywords: emergency management, fire, preparedness, quality standards, response

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Authors: Aboubakr Gambo, Adama Diaw, Tobias Wunscher

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This study attempts to identify factors affecting rural households’ resilience to food insecurity in Niger. For this, we first create a resilience index by using Principal Component Analysis on the following five variables at the household level: income, food expenditure, duration of grain held in stock, livestock in Tropical Livestock Units and number of farms exploited and second apply Structural Equation Modelling to identify the determinants. Data from the 2010 National Survey on Households’ Vulnerability to Food Insecurity done by the National Institute of Statistics is used. The study shows that asset and social safety nets indicators are significant and have a positive impact on households’ resilience. Climate change approximated by long-term mean rainfall has a negative and significant effect on households’ resilience to food insecurity. The results indicate that to strengthen households’ resilience to food insecurity, there is a need to increase assistance to households through social safety nets and to help them gather more resources in order to acquire more assets. Furthermore, early warning of climatic events could alert households especially farmers to be prepared and avoid important losses that they experience anytime an uneven climatic event occur.

Keywords: food insecurity, principal component analysis, structural equation modelling, resilience

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Authors: İrem Bulut, Mustafa Z. Söyük, Ertuğrul Yalçın, Simge Şişman-Bal

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Eyewitness testimony is one of the most frequently used methods in criminal cases for the determination of crime and perpetrator. In the literature, the number of studies about the reliability of eyewitness testimony is increasing. The study aims to reveal the factors that affect the short-term and long-term visual memory performance of the participants in the event of an accident. In this context, the effect of the emotional content of the accident and the sounds during the accident on visual memory performance was investigated with eye-tracking. According to the results, the presence of visual and auditory stimuli with emotional content during the accident decreases the participants' both short-term and long-term recall performance. Moreover, the data obtained from the eye monitoring device showed that the participants had difficulty in answering even the questions they focused on at the time of the accident.

Keywords: eye tracking, eyewitness testimony, long-term recall, short-term recall, visual memory

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Authors: T. C. C. Soo, S. Bhassu

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Unlike the common presence of both innate and adaptive immunity in vertebrates, crustaceans, in particular, shrimps, have been discovered to possess only innate immunity. This further emphasizes the importance of innate immunity within shrimps in pathogenic resistance. Under the study of pathogenic immune challenge, different shrimp species actually exhibit varying degrees of immune resistance towards the same pathogen. Furthermore, even within the same shrimp species, different batches of challenged shrimps can have different strengths of immune defence. Several important pathways are activated within shrimps during pathogenic infection. One of them is JAK-STAT pathway that is activated during bacterial, viral and fungal infections by which STAT(Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription) gene is the core element of the pathway. Based on theory of Central Dogma, the genomic information is transmitted in the order of DNA, RNA and protein. This study is focused in uncovering the important evolutionary patterns present within the DNA (non-coding region) and RNA (coding region). The three shrimp species involved are Macrobrachium rosenbergii, Penaeus monodon and Litopenaeus vannamei which all possess commercial significance. The shrimp species were challenged with a famous penaeid shrimp virus called white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) which can cause serious lethality. Tissue samples were collected during time intervals of 0h, 3h, 6h, 12h, 24h, 36h and 48h. The DNA and RNA samples were then extracted using conventional kits from the hepatopancreas tissue samples. PCR technique together with designed STAT gene conserved primers were utilized for identification of the STAT coding sequences using RNA-converted cDNA samples and subsequent characterization using various bioinformatics approaches including Ramachandran plot, ProtParam and SWISS-MODEL. The varying levels of immune STAT gene activation for the three shrimp species during WSSV infection were confirmed using qRT-PCR technique. For one sample, three biological replicates with three technical replicates each were used for qRT-PCR. On the other hand, DNA samples were important for uncovering the structural variations within the genomic region of STAT gene which would greatly assist in understanding the STAT protein functional variations. The partially-overlapping primers technique was used for the genomic region sequencing. The evolutionary inferences and event predictions were then conducted through the Bayesian Inference method using all the acquired coding and non-coding sequences. This was supplemented by the construction of conventional phylogenetic trees using Maximum likelihood method. The results showed that adaptive evolution caused STAT gene sequence mutations between different shrimp species which led to evolutionary divergence event. Subsequently, the divergent sites were correlated to the differing expressions of STAT gene. Ultimately, this study assists in knowing the shrimp species innate immune variability and selection of disease resistant shrimps for breeding purpose. The deeper understanding of STAT gene evolution from the perspective of both purifying and adaptive approaches not only can provide better immunological insight among shrimp species, but also can be used as a good reference for immunological studies in humans or other model organisms.

Keywords: gene evolution, JAK-STAT pathway, immunology, STAT gene

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Authors: Alireza Jalilifar, Nadia Mayahi

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An oral defense is the examination of a doctoral program in which the candidates display their academic capacity through sharing and disseminating the findings of their study and defending their position. In this challenging criticism-generating context, the examiners evaluate the PhD dissertation critically so as to confirm its scholarly merit or lack of it. To identify the examiners’ expectations of the viva, this study used a conversation analytic approach for analyzing the data. The research is inductive in that it seeks to develop theory that is grounded in the data. The data comprised transcripts of the question and answer section of two applied linguistics doctoral defense sessions from two accredited Iranian state universities in 2019, both of which are among the top Iranian universities on the list of Times Higher Education World University Rankings. In spite of the similar shortcomings and deficiencies, for instance, in terms of innovation, development, sampling, and treatment, raised by the examiners, one of these defenses passed with distinction while the other was referred for re-submission. It seems that the outcome of a viva, in an EFL context, not only depends on adherence to the rules and regulations of doctoral research but is also influenced to a certain extent by the strictness of the examiners and the candidates’ language proficiency and effective negotiation and communication skills in this confrontational communicative event. The findings of this study provide evidence for the issues determining the success or failure of PhD candidates in displaying their claims of scholarship during their defense sessions. This study has implications for both applied linguistics doctoral students and academics in EFL contexts who try to prove and authenticate the doctorateness of a dissertation.

Keywords: academic discourse, conversation analysis, doctoral defense, doctorateness, EFL

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Authors: Ebrahim Ghanbari, Mohammad Reza Nematollahi

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Integrating deterministic and probabilistic safety assessment (IDPSA) is one of the most commonly used issues in the field of safety analysis of power plant accident. It has also been recognized today that the role of human error in creating these accidents is not less than systemic errors, so the human interference and system errors in fault and event sequences are necessary. The integration of these analytical topics will be reflected in the frequency of core damage and also the study of the use of water resources in an accident such as the loss of all electrical power of the plant. In this regard, the SBO accident was simulated for the pressurized water reactor in the deterministic analysis issue, and by analyzing the operator's behavior in controlling the accident, the results of the combination of deterministic and probabilistic assessment were identified. The results showed that the best performance of the plant operator would reduce the risk of an accident by 10%, as well as a decrease of 6.82 liters/second of the water sources of the plant.

Keywords: IDPSA, human error, SBO, risk

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Authors: Michael John S. Maceda

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Waste has been a global concern aggravated by climate change. In the case of Imus, Cavite which in the past has little or no regard to waste experienced heavy flooding during August 19, 2013. This event led to a full blown implementation of Municipal Solid Waste Management integrating participation and the use of low-cost technology to reduce the amount of waste generated. The methodology employed by the city of Imus, provided a benchmark in the province of Cavite. Reducing the amount of waste generated and Solid Waste Management Cost.

Keywords: SWM, IMUS, composting, policy

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Authors: G. Çetinkaya, M. Yıldız, P. Çetinkaya

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Tourism is one of the world’s largest industries and its total contribution to the global economy in 2014 was US$7.6 trillion, which equates to 9.8% of total economy GDP in 2014. Mountains are important regions for tourism industry and its second most popular tourist destinations after coastal regions. Hiking and trekking are most popular activity in mountains region and it is estimated that more than 50 million people visit mountains each year. So that hiking was come out to individual activity and it’s to be a massive event. Nowadays hiking is commercialized and mostly it’s become organized by travel agency and tour operators. Travel agency which is offering hiking activities to know the demands of the individuals involved in these activities and is required to submit to it for services. The aim of this study to determined hiking participant expectation from hiking by travel agency perspective. 34 travel agency officials participated in the study. Data were collected by questionnaire developed by the researchers. Results show that according to travel agency officials “visual quality” is the most important expectation factor for hikers. And other expectation factors are “safety”, “accessibility”, “unspoiled local service”, “walking grade”, “expert guidance service”, “popularity of trail”, “uncrowded trail”, “substructure facilities”, “relevant cost”, “guidebook” and “suitable climatic conditions”.

Keywords: expectation, hikers, travel agency, mountain tourism

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Authors: Emily Moskwa, Delene Weber, Jacob Arnold, Guy M. Robinson, Douglas K. Bardsley

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Management strategies to reduce the risks to human life and property from wildfire are key contemporary concerns, with a growing literature exploring these issues from a social research perspective. Efforts range from narrowly focused examinations, such as comparing the level of community support for vegetation clearance with that of controlled burning, to broader considerations of what constitutes effective fire management policy and education campaigns. However, little analysis is available that integrates the social component of risk mitigation and the influence of educational materials with the biodiversity conservation strategies so often needed in fire-prone ecosystems found on the periphery of urban areas. Indeed many communities living on the fringe of Australian cities face major issues relating to an increased risk of wildfire events and a decline in local biodiversity. Inadequate policy and planning, and a lack of awareness or information, exacerbate this risk. This has brought forward an emerging governance challenge that requires the mitigation of wildfire risk while simultaneously supporting improved conservation practices in these urban-fringe areas. Focusing on the perceptions and experiences of residents of the Lower Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, this study analyses data collected from a series of semi-structured interviews with landholders (n=20) living in rural and urban-fringe areas surrounding the city of Port Lincoln, a city with a growing population and one that has faced a number of very large fires in recent years. In South Australia, new policies have assigned increased responsibility on individual landholders to manage their land and prepare themselves for a wildfire event, potentially to the detriment of the surrounding native vegetation. Our findings indicate the value of gaining a more nuanced understanding of the perceptions and behaviours of landholders living in areas of high fire risk, who often choose to live there in order to be close to the natural environment. Many interviewees demonstrated a high awareness of wildfire risk as a result of their past experience with fire, and the majority considered themselves to be well-prepared in the event of a future fire. Community interactions and educational programs were found to be effective in raising awareness of risk; however, negative trust relationships with government authorities and low exposure to information concerning biodiversity resulted in an overall misunderstanding of the relationship between risk mitigation and biodiversity protection. The study offers insights into how catastrophic fires are reframing perceptions of what constitutes effective vegetation management. It provides recommendations to assist with the development of education strategies that concurrently address wildfire management and biodiversity conservation, and contribute towards environmentally-informed and risk conscious governance.

Keywords: biodiversity conservation, risk, peri-urban planning, wildfire management

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Authors: A. Estaji

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The first part of the present paper studies the role of language in expressing pain. Pain is usually described as a personal and mental experience, so language has an important role in describing, expressing and measuring pain and sometimes it is believed that language is the only device for accessing this personal experience. The second part of this paper studies gender differences in expressing pain. Considering the biological, psychological and social differences between men and women, we raise this question whether men and women express their pain in the same way or differently. To answer this question, we asked 44 Farsi speaking participants to write about the most painful experience they had in the past. Qualitative analysis of the data shows that women, have expressed their pain more severely, have expressed their feelings about pain instead of describing the pain itself, have made their pain more personal and have given more details about the circumstances in which they experienced pain, while men have given a more neutral description of their pain and have given a description of their pain by distancing themselves from the painful event. Knowing these gender differences in expressing pain can help medical practitioners in assessing the pain level.

Keywords: discourse analysis, expressing pain, measuring pain, gender

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Authors: Soumiya Bhattacharjee, P. K. Champati Ray, Shovan L. Chattoraj, Mrinmoy Dhara

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The entire Himalayan range is globally renowned for rainfall-induced landslides. The prime focus of the study is to determine rainfall based threshold for initiation of landslides that can be used as an important component of an early warning system for alerting stake holders. This research deals with temporal dimension of slope failures due to extreme rainfall events along the National Highway-58 from Karanprayag to Badrinath in the Garhwal Himalaya, India. Post processed 3-hourly rainfall intensity data and its corresponding duration from daily rainfall data available from Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) were used as the prime source of rainfall data. Landslide event records from Border Road Organization (BRO) and some ancillary landslide inventory data for 2013 and 2014 have been used to determine Intensity Duration (ID) based rainfall threshold. The derived governing threshold equation, I= 4.738D^-0.025, has been considered for prediction of landslides of the study region. This equation was validated with an accuracy of 70% landslides during August and September 2014. The derived equation was considered for further prediction of landslides of the study region. From the obtained results and validation, it can be inferred that this equation can be used for initiation of landslides in the study area to work as a part of an early warning system. Results can significantly improve with ground based rainfall estimates and better database on landslide records. Thus, the study has demonstrated a very low cost method to get first-hand information on possibility of impending landslide in any region, thereby providing alert and better preparedness for landslide disaster mitigation.

Keywords: landslide, intensity-duration, rainfall threshold, TRMM, slope, inventory, early warning system

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Authors: Minho Kwon, Jeonghee Lim, Yeongseok Jeong, Donghoon Shin, Kiyoung Kim

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Recently, global warming phenomenon has led to natural disasters caused by global environmental changes, and due to abnormal weather events, the frequency and intensity of heavy rain storm typhoons are increasing. Therefore, it is imperative to prepare for future heavy rain storms and typhoons. This study selects arbitrary target bridges and performs numerical analysis to evaluate the safety of bridge piers in the event that the water level changes. The numerical model is based on two-dimensional surface elements. Actual reinforced concrete was simulated by modeling concrete to include reinforcements, and a contact boundary model was applied between the ground and the concrete. The water level applied to the piers was considered at 18 levels between 7.5 m and 16.1 m. The elastic modulus, compressive strength, tensile strength, and yield strength of the reinforced concrete were calculated using 250 random combinations and numerical analysis was carried out for each water level. In the results of analysis, the bridge exceeded the stated limit at 15.0 m. At the maximum water level of 16.1m, the concrete’s failure rate was 35.2%, but the probability that the reinforcement would fail was 61.2%.

Keywords: Monte-Carlo method, pier, water level change, limit state

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