Search results for: design science research

Authors: Marjorie Miguel

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Globalization offers better career opportunities hence demands more competent professionals efficient for the job. With the transformation of the world industry from competition to collaboration coupled with the rapid development in the field of science and technology, engineers need not only to be technically proficient, but also multilingual-skilled: two characteristics that a global engineer possesses. English often serves as the global language between people from different cultures being the medium mostly used in international business. Ironically, most universities worldwide adapt engineering curriculum heavily built around the language of mathematics not realizing that the goal of an engineer is not only to create and design, but more importantly to promote his creations and designs to the general public through effective communication. This premise led to some developments in the teaching process of English subjects in the tertiary level which include the integration of the technical knowledge related to the area of specialization of the students in the English subjects that they are taking. This is also known as English for Specific Purposes. This study focused on the development of English for Specific Purposes-Based Instructional Materials for Engineering Students of Bulacan State University (BulSU). The materials were tailor-made in which the contents and structure were designed to meet the specific needs of the students as well as the industry. Based on the needs analysis, the needs of the students and the industry were determined to make the study descriptive in nature. The major respondents included fifty engineering students and ten professional engineers from selected institutions. The needs analysis was done and the results showed the common writing difficulties of the students and the writing skills needed among the engineers in the industry. The topics in the instructional materials were established after the needs analysis was conducted. Simple statistical treatment including frequency distribution, percentages, mean, standard deviation, and weighted mean were used. The findings showed that the greatest number of the respondents had an average proficiency rating in writing, and the much-needed skills that must be developed by the engineers are directly related to the preparation and presentation of technical reports about their projects, as well as to the different communications they transmit to their colleagues and superiors. The researcher undertook the following phases in the development of the instructional materials: a design phase, development phase, and evaluation phase. Evaluations are given by some college instructors about the instructional materials generally helped in its usefulness and significance making the study beneficial not only as a career enhancer for BulSU engineering students, but also creating the university one of the educational institutions ready for the new millennium.

Keywords: English for specific purposes, instructional materials, needs analysis, write (right) job description

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Authors: Reza Salehi, Peter L. Dold, Yves Comeau

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The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of a total of 6 operating parameters including pH (X1), temperature (X2), stirring speed (X3), chemical oxygen demand (COD) (X4), volatile suspended solids (VSS) (X5) and time (X6) on anaerobic orthophosphate release from enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) sludge. An 8-run Plackett Burman design was applied and the statistical analysis of the experimental data was performed using Minitab16.2.4 software package. The Analysis of variance (ANOVA) results revealed that temperature, COD, VSS and time had a significant effect with p-values of less than 0.05 whereas pH and stirring speed were identified as non-significant parameters, but influenced orthophosphate release from the EBPR sludge. The mathematic expression obtained by the first-order multiple linear regression model between orthophosphate release from the EBPR sludge (Y) and the operating parameters (X1-X6) was Y=18.59+1.16X1-3.11X2-0.81X3+3.79X4+9.89X5+4.01X6. The model p-value and coefficient of determination (R2) value were 0.026 and of 99.87%, respectively, which indicates the model is significant and the predicted values of orthophosphate release from the EBPR sludge have been excellently correlated with the observed values.

Keywords: anaerobic, operating parameters, orthophosphate release, Plackett-Burman design

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Authors: Sarah Noaman

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Utilizing renewable resources has become extensive solution for most problems in Egypt nowadays. It plays role in environmental issues such as energy crisis, lake of natural resources and climate change. This paper focuses on the importance of working with the key concepts of creating eco-friendly spaces in Egypt by using traditional perennial plants, such as Guadua bamboo as renewable resources in structures manufacture. Egypt is in critical need to search for alternative raw materials. Thus, this paper focuses on studying the usage of neglected yet affordable materials, such as Guadua bamboo in light weight structures and digital fabrication. Guadua bamboo has been cultivated throughout in tropical and subtropical areas. In Egypt, they exist in many rural areas where people try to control their growth by using pesticides as it serves no economic purpose. This paper aims to discuss the usage of Guadua bamboo either in its original state or after fabrication in the context of interior design and architecture. The results will show the applicability of using perennial plants as complementary materials in the manufacturing processes; also the conclusion will focus the lights on the importance of re-forming shallow water plants in interior design and architecture.

Keywords: digital fabrication, Guadua bamboo, zero-waste material, sustainable material, interior architecture

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Authors: Akram Khelaifia, Salah Guettala, Nesreddine Djafar Henni, Rachid Chebili

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Recent seismic events have underscored the significant influence of masonry infill walls on the resilience of structures. The irregular positioning of these walls exacerbates their adverse effects, resulting in substantial material and human losses. Research and post-earthquake evaluations emphasize the necessity of considering infill walls in both the design and assessment phases. This study delves into the presence of soft stories in reinforced concrete structures with infill walls. Employing an approximate method relying on pushover analysis results, fiber-section-based macro-modeling is utilized to simulate the behavior of infill walls. The findings shed light on the presence of soft first stories, revealing a notable 240% enhancement in resistance for weak column—strong beam-designed frames due to infill walls. Conversely, the effect is more moderate at 38% for strong column—weak beam-designed frames. Interestingly, the uniform distribution of infill walls throughout the structure's height does not influence soft-story emergence in the same seismic zone, irrespective of column-beam strength. In regions with low seismic intensity, infill walls dissipate energy, resulting in consistent seismic behavior regardless of column configuration. Despite column strength, structures with open-ground stories remain vulnerable to soft first-story emergence, underscoring the crucial role of infill walls in reinforced concrete structural design.

Keywords: masonry infill walls, soft Storey, pushover analysis, fiber section, macro-modeling

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Authors: Chinwendu R. Nnabalu, Gioia Falcone, Imma Bortone

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Petroleum refining is a chemical process in which the raw material (crude oil) is converted to finished commercial products for end users. The fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) unit is a key asset in refineries, requiring optimised processes in the context of engineering design. Following the first stage of separation of crude oil in a distillation tower, an additional 40 per cent quantity is attainable in the gasoline pool with further conversion of the downgraded product of crude oil (residue from the distillation tower) using a catalyst in the FCC process. Effective removal of sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides, carbon and heavy metals from FCC gasoline requires greater separation efficiency and involves an enormous environmental significance. The FCC unit is primarily a reactor and regeneration system which employs cyclone systems for separation.  Catalyst losses in FCC cyclones lead to high particulate matter emission on the regenerator side and fines carryover into the product on the reactor side. This paper aims at demonstrating the importance of FCC unit design criteria in terms of technical performance and compliance with environmental legislation. A systematic review of state-of-the-art FCC technology was carried out, identifying its key technical challenges and sources of emissions.  Case studies of petroleum refineries in Nigeria were assessed against selected global case studies. The review highlights the need for further modelling investigations to help improve FCC design to more effectively meet product specification requirements while complying with stricter environmental legislation.

Keywords: design, emission, fluid catalytic cracking, petroleum refineries

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Authors: Abdul Hakim Chikho

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Calculating the ultimate load of a column in a sway framed structure involves, in the currently used design method, the calculation of the column effective length and utilizing the interaction formulas or tables. Therefore, no allowance is usually made for the effects of the presence of semi rigid connections or the presence of infill panels. In this paper, a new and simple design procedure is recommend to calculate the ultimate load of a framed Column allowing for the presence of rotational end restraints, semi rigid connections, the column end moments resulted from the applied vertical and horizontal loading and infill panels in real steel structure. In order to verify the accuracy of the recommended method to predict good and safe estimations of framed column ultimate loads, several examples have been solved utilizing the recommended procedure, and the results were compared to those obtained using a second order computer program, and good correlation had been obtained. Therefore, the accuracy of the proposed method to predict the Behaviour of practical steel columns in framed structures has been verified.

Keywords: column ultimate load, semi rigid connections, steel column, infill panel, steel structure

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Authors: Shobha Kumari Yadav, Yubaraj Satyal, Ajaya Dixit

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In addressing groundwater depletion, it is important to develop evidence base so to be used in assessing the state of its degradation. Groundwater data is limited compared to meteorological data, which impedes the groundwater use and management plan. Monitoring of groundwater levels provides information base to assess the condition of aquifers, their responses to water extraction, land-use change, and climatic variability. It is important to maintain a network of spatially distributed, long-term monitoring wells to support groundwater management plan. Monitoring involving local community is a cost effective approach that generates real time data to effectively manage groundwater use. This paper presents the relationship between rainfall and spring flow, which are the main source of freshwater for drinking, household consumptions and agriculture in hills of Nepal. The supply and withdrawal of water from springs depends upon local hydrology and the meteorological characteristics- such as rainfall, evapotranspiration and interflow. The study offers evidence of the use of scientific method and community based initiative for managing groundwater and springshed. The approach presents a method to replicate similar initiative in other parts of the country for maintaining integrity of springs.

Keywords: citizen science, groundwater, water resource management, Nepal

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Authors: Neringa Bagdonaite

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Study Aims: The current study aimed to systematically analyse various research done in the area of female post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol abuse, and to critically review these results on the basis of theoretical models as well as answer following questions: (I) What is the reciprocal relationship between PTSD and problem alcohol use among females; (II) What are the moderating/mediating factors of this relationship? Methods: The computer bibliographic databases Ebsco, Scopus, Springer, Web of Science, Medline, Science Direct were used to search for scientific articles. Systematic analyses sample consisted of peer-reviewed, English written articles addressing mixed gender and female PTSD and alcohol abuse issues from Jan 2012 to May 2017. Results: Total of 1011 articles were found in scientific databases related to searched keywords of which 29 met the selection criteria and were analysed. The results of longitudinal studies indicate that (I) various trauma, especially interpersonal trauma exposure in childhood is linked with increased risk of revictimization in later life and problem alcohol use; (II) revictimization in adolescence or adulthood, rather than victimization in childhood has a greater impact on the onset and progression of problematic alcohol use in adulthood. Cross-sectional and epidemiological studies also support significant relationships between female PTSD and problem alcohol use. Regards to the negative impact of alcohol use on PTSD symptoms results are yet controversial; some evidence suggests that alcohol does not exacerbate symptoms of PTSD over time, while others argue that problem alcohol use worsens PTSD symptoms and is linked to chronicity of both disorders, especially among women with previous alcohol use problems. Analysis of moderating/mediating factors of PTSD and problem alcohol use revealed, that higher motives/expectancies, specifically distress coping motives for alcohol use significantly moderates the relationship between PTSD and problematic alcohol use. Whereas negative affective states mediate relationship between symptoms of PTSD and alcohol use, but only among woman with alcohol use problems already developed. Conclusions: Interpersonal trauma experience, especially in childhood and its reappearance in lifetime is linked with PTSD symptoms and problem drinking among women. Moreover, problem alcohol use can be both a cause and a consequence of trauma and PTSD, and if used for coping it, increases the likelihood of chronicity of both disorders. In order to effectively treat both disorders, it’s worthwhile taking into account this dynamic interplay of women's PTSD symptoms and problem drinking.

Keywords: female, trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder, problem alcohol use, systemic analysis

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Authors: Dodi Ikhsanshaleh

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When subjected to dynamic load, foundation oscillates in the way that depends on the soil behaviour, the geometry and inertia of the foundation and the dynamic exctation. The practical guideline to analysis block-type foundation excitated by dynamic load from vibrating machine is presented. The analysis use Lumped Mass Parameter Method to express dynamic properties such as stiffness and damping of soil. The numerical examples are performed on design block-type foundation supporting gas turbine compressor which is important equipment package in gas processing plant

Keywords: block foundation, dynamic load, lumped mass parameter

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Authors: Valdênia Carvalho e Almeida

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The goal of the present study is to investigate the semantic preference of the most frequent adjectives in research articles through a corpus-based analysis of texts published in journals in Applied Linguistics (AL). The corpus used in this study contains texts published in the period from 2014 to 2018 in the three journals: Language Learning and Technology; English for Academic Purposes, and TESOL Quaterly, totaling more than one million words. A corpus-based analysis was carried out on the corpus to identify the most frequent adjectives that co-occurred in the three journals. By observing the concordance lines of the adjectives and analyzing the words they associated with, the semantic preferences of each adjective were determined. Later, the AL corpus analysis was compared to the investigation of the same adjectives in a corpus of Chemistry. This second part of the study aimed to identify possible differences and similarities between the two corpora in relation to the use of the adjectives in research articles from both areas. The results show that there are some preferences which seem to be closely related not only to the academic genre of the texts but also to the specific domain of the discipline and, to a lesser extent, to the context of research in each journal. This research illustrates a possible contribution of Corpus Linguistics to explore the concept of semantic preference in more detail, considering the complex nature of the phenomenon.

Keywords: applied linguistics, corpus linguistics, chemistry, research article, semantic preference

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Authors: Abdulsalam A. Al-Tamimi, Chris Peach, Paulo Rui Fernandes, Paulo J. Bartolo

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Bone fixation implants currently used to treat traumatic fractured bones and to promote fracture healing are built with biocompatible metallic materials such as stainless steel, cobalt chromium and titanium and its alloys (e.g., CoCrMo and Ti6Al4V). The noticeable stiffness mismatch between current metallic implants and host bone associates with negative outcomes such as stress shielding which causes bone loss and implant loosening leading to deficient fracture treatment. This paper, part of a major research program to design the next generation of bone fixation implants, describes the combined use of three-dimensional (3D) topology optimization (TO) and additive manufacturing powder bed technology (Electron Beam Melting) to redesign and fabricate the plates based on the current standard one (i.e., locking compression plate). Topology optimization is applied with an objective function to maximize the stiffness and constraint by volume reductions (i.e., 25-75%) in order to obtain optimized implant designs with reduced stress shielding phenomenon, under different boundary conditions (i.e., tension, bending, torsion and combined loads). The stiffness of the original and optimised plates are assessed through a finite-element study. The TO results showed actual reduction in the stiffness for most of the plates due to the critical values of volume reduction. Additionally, the optimized plates fabricated using powder bed techniques proved that the integration between the TO and additive manufacturing presents the capability of producing stiff reduced plates with acceptable tolerances.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, locking compression plate, finite element, topology optimization

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Authors: Hami Ashraf, Farid Kosari

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Graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) is a common complication of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation that can lead to significant morbidity and mortality. Histopathological examination of affected tissues is an essential tool for diagnosing and grading GvHD in animal models, which are used to study disease mechanisms and evaluate new therapies. In this systematic review, we identified and analyzed original research articles in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar that described grading systems for GvHD in animal models based on histopathological features. We found that several grading systems have been developed, which vary in the tissues and criteria they assess, the severity scoring scales they use, and the level of detail they provide. Skin, liver, and gut are the most commonly evaluated tissues, but lung and thymus are also included in some systems. Our analysis highlights the need for standardized criteria and consistent use of grading systems to enable comparisons between studies and facilitate the translation of preclinical findings to clinical practice.

Keywords: graft-versus-host disease, GvHD, animal model, histopathology, grading system

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Authors: Olawole Emmanuel Aina, Liziwe Lizbeth Mugivhisa, Joshua Oluwole Olowoyo, Chikwela Lawrence Obi

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In sustained and consistent efforts to improve food security, numerous and different methods are proposed and used in the production of food crops, and farm produce to meet the demands of consumers. However, unregulated and indiscriminate methods of production present another problem that may expose consumers of these food crops to potential health risks. Therefore, it is imperative that a thorough assessment of farm produce is carried out due to the growing trend of health-conscious consumers preference for minimally processed or raw farm produce. This study evaluated the safety and nutritional quality of food crops. The objectives were to compare the nutritional quality of organic and inorganic farm produce in one hand and, on the other, evaluate the safety of farm produce with respect to trace metal and pathogenic contamination. We conducted a broad systematic search of peer-reviewed published literatures from databases and search engines such as science direct, web-of-science, Google scholar, and Scopus. This study concluded that there is no conclusive evidence to support the notion of nutritional superiority of organic food crops over their inorganic counterparts and there are documented reports of pathogenic and metal contaminations of food crops.

Keywords: food crops, fruits and vegetables, pathogens, nutrition, trace metals

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Authors: Godaye Gobena Gomiole

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The purpose of this study is to determine how principals at Tarcha Town Primary Schools in Ethiopia perceive their instructional leadership responsibilities in curriculum execution. The research was guided by a phenomenological study design. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews. Purposive sampling was used to include twelve principals. The study's conclusions showed that principals fall short of their duties in overseeing instruction. Setting clear objectives for the school and coordinating the curriculum receive less attention from principals. Additionally, they focus less on keeping track of students' progress. It is, therefore, advised that principals take instructional leadership and management training.

Keywords: curriculum execution, instructional leadership, practice, primary school

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Authors: Malinda Sabrina, Khoerul Anwar

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Railway noise generated by pass-by train has been described as a form of environmental pollutants especially for the residential area near the railway. Many studies have shown, that environmental noise particularly transportation noise has negative effects on people which resulting in annoyance and specific health problems such as cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment and sleep disturbance. Therefore, various attempts are made to reduce the noise. One method of reducing such noise to acceptable noise levels is to build acoustically barrier walls. The objective of this study was to review the method of reducing railway noise and obtain the preliminary design of the acoustics barrier on the edge of railway tracks close to the residential area. The design of this barrier is using the Maekawa's method. Measurements have been performed in residential areas around the railroads in the Karawang - Indonesia with the absence of an acoustical barrier. From the observation, it was found that the railway was passed by five trains within thirty minutes. With the limited distance between the railway tracks and the location of the residential area as well as the street of residents, then it was obtained that a reduction in sound pressure level is 25 dBA. Maximum sound pressure level obtained is 86.9 dBA then by setting the barrier as high as 4 m at a distance, 2.5 m from the railway, the noise level received by residents in the settlement around the railway line becomes 61.9 dBA.

Keywords: acoustics barrier, Maekawa's method, noise attenuation, railway noise

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Authors: Safdari Reza, Zahmatkeshan Maryam, Goli Arji

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Background and Aim: Urban health is one of the challenges of the 21st century. Rapid growth and expanding urbanization have implications for health. In this regard, information technology can remove a large number of modern cities’ problems. Therefore, the present article aims to study modern information technologies in the development of urban health. Materials and Methods:. This is a review article based on library research and Internet searches on valid websites such as Science Direct, Magiran, Springer and advanced searches in Google. Some 164 domestic and foreign texts were studied on such topics as the application of ICT tools including cell phones and wireless tools, GIS, and RFID in the field of urban health in 2011. Finally, 30 sources were used. Conclusion: Information and communication technologies play an important role in improving people's health and enhancing the quality of their lives. Effective utilization of information and communication technologies requires the identification of opportunities and constraints, and the formulation of appropriate planning principles with regard to social and economic factors together with preparing the technological, communication and telecommunications, legal and administrative infrastructures.

Keywords: Urban Health, Information Technology, Information & Communication, Technology

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Authors: Frodouard Minani

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Since last decade, wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have been used in many areas like health care, agriculture, defense, military, disaster hit areas and so on. Wireless Sensor Networks consist of a Base Station (BS) and more number of wireless sensors in order to monitor temperature, pressure, motion in different environment conditions. The key parameter that plays a major role in designing a protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks is energy efficiency which is a scarcest resource of sensor nodes and it determines the lifetime of sensor nodes. Maximizing sensor node’s lifetime is an important issue in the design of applications and protocols for Wireless Sensor Networks. Clustering sensor nodes mechanism is an effective topology control approach for helping to achieve the goal of this research. In this paper, the researcher presents an energy efficiency protocol to prolong the network lifetime based on Energy efficient clustering algorithm. The Low Energy Adaptive Clustering Hierarchy (LEACH) is a routing protocol for clusters which is used to lower the energy consumption and also to improve the lifetime of the Wireless Sensor Networks. Maximizing energy dissipation and network lifetime are important matters in the design of applications and protocols for wireless sensor networks. Proposed system is to maximize the lifetime of the Wireless Sensor Networks by choosing the farthest cluster head (CH) instead of the closest CH and forming the cluster by considering the following parameter metrics such as Node’s density, residual-energy and distance between clusters (inter-cluster distance). In this paper, comparisons between the proposed protocol and comparative protocols in different scenarios have been done and the simulation results showed that the proposed protocol performs well over other comparative protocols in various scenarios.

Keywords: base station, clustering algorithm, energy efficient, sensors, wireless sensor networks

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Authors: Lucia Vodanovic, Bryan Pirolli

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The London College of Communication is one of the only universities in the world to offer a lifestyle journalism master’s degree. A hybrid originally constructed largely out of a generic journalism program crossed with numerous cultural studies approaches, the degree has developed into a leading lifestyle journalism education attracting students worldwide. This research project seeks to present a framework for structuring the degree as well as to understand how students in this emerging field of study value the program. While some researchers have addressed questions about journalism and higher education, none have looked specifically at the increasingly important genre of lifestyle journalism, which Folker Hanusch defines as including notions of consumerism and critique among other identifying traits. Lifestyle journalism, itself poorly researched by scholars, can relate to topics including travel, fitness, and entertainment, and as such, arguably a lifestyle journalism degree should prepare students to engage with these topics. This research uses the existing Masters of Arts and Lifestyle Journalism at the London College of Communications as a case study to examine the school’s approach. Furthering Hanusch’s original definition, this master’s program attempts to characterizes lifestyle journalism by a specific voice or approach, as reflected in the diversity of student’s final projects. This framework echoes the ethos and ideas of the university, which focuses on creativity, design, and experimentation. By analyzing the current degree as well as student feedback, this research aims to assist future educators in pursuing the often neglected field of lifestyle journalism. Through a discovery of the unique mix of practical coursework, theoretical lessons, and broad scope of student work presented in this degree program, researchers strive to develop a framework for lifestyle journalism education, referring to Mark Deuze’s ten questions for journalism education development. While Hanusch began the discussion to legitimize the study of lifestyle journalism, this project strives to go one step further and open up a discussion about teaching of lifestyle journalism at the university level.

Keywords: education, journalism, lifestyle, university

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Authors: Emre Akyürek, Anthony Huynh, Tatiana Kalganova

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The Ambidextrous Robot Hand is a robotic device with the purpose to mimic either the gestures of a right or a left hand. The symmetrical behavior of its fingers allows them to bend in one way or another keeping a compliant and anthropomorphic shape. However, in addition to gestures they can reproduce on both sides, an asymmetrical mechanical design with a three tendons routing has been engineered to reduce the number of actuators. As a consequence, control algorithms must be adapted to drive efficiently the ambidextrous fingers from one position to another and to include grasping features. These movements are controlled by pneumatic muscles, which are nonlinear actuators. As their elasticity constantly varies when they are under actuation, the length of pneumatic muscles and the force they provide may differ for a same value of pressurized air. The control algorithms introduced in this paper take both the fingers asymmetrical design and the pneumatic muscles nonlinearity into account to permit an accurate control of the Ambidextrous Robot Hand. The finger motion is achieved by combining a classic PID controller with a phase plane switching control that turns the gain constants into dynamic values. The grasping ability is made possible because of a sliding mode control that makes the fingers adapt to the shape of an object before strengthening their positions.

Keywords: ambidextrous hand, intelligent algorithms, nonlinear actuators, pneumatic muscles, robotics, sliding control

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Authors: Khalida Douibi, Rodrigo Balp, Solène Le Bars

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In the medical field, applications related to human experiments are frequently linked to reduced samples size, which makes the training of machine learning models quite sensitive and therefore not very robust nor generalizable. This is notably the case in Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) studies, where the sample size rarely exceeds 20 subjects or a few number of trials. To address this problem, several resampling approaches are often used during the data preparation phase, which is an overly critical step in a data science analysis process. One of the naive approaches that is usually applied by data scientists consists in the transformation of the entire database before the resampling phase. However, this can cause model’ s performance to be incorrectly estimated when making predictions on unseen data. In this paper, we explored the effect of data leakage observed during our BCI experiments for device control through the real-time classification of SSVEPs (Steady State Visually Evoked Potentials). We also studied potential ways to ensure optimal validation of the classifiers during the calibration phase to avoid overfitting. The results show that the scaling step is crucial for some algorithms, and it should be applied after the resampling phase to avoid data leackage and improve results.

Keywords: data leackage, data science, machine learning, SSVEP, BCI, overfitting

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Authors: Zeta Dooly, Aidan Duane

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The collaborative European funded research and development landscape provides prime environmental conditions for multi-disciplinary teams to learn and enhance their knowledge beyond the capability of training and learning within their own organisation cocoons. Whilst the emergence of the academic entrepreneur has changed the focus of educational institutions to that of quasi-businesses, the training and professional development of lecturers and academic staff are often not formalised to the same level as industry. This research focuses on industry and academic collaborative research funded by the European Commission. The impact of research is scalable if an optimum research network is created and managed effectively. This paper investigates network embeddedness, the nature of relationships, links, and nodes within a research network, and the enhancement of the network’s knowledge. The contribution of this paper extends our understanding of establishing and maintaining effective collaborative research networks. The effects of network embeddedness are recognized in the literature as pertinent to innovation and the economy. Network theory literature claims that networks are essential to innovative clusters such as Silicon valley and innovation in high tech industries. This research provides evidence to support the impact collaborative research has on the disparate individuals toward their innovative contributions to their organisations and their own professional development. This study adopts a qualitative approach and uncovers some of the challenges of multi-disciplinary research through case study insights. The contribution of this paper recommends the establishment of scaffolding to accommodate cooperation in research networks, role appointment, and addressing contextual complexities early to avoid problem cultivation. Furthermore, it suggests recommendations in relation to network formation, intra-network challenges in relation to open data, competition, friendships, and competency enhancement. The network capability is enhanced by the adoption of the relevant theories; network theory, open innovation, and social exchange, with the understanding that the network structure has an impact on innovation and social exchange in research networks. The research concludes that there is an opportunity to deepen our understanding of the impact of network reuse and network hoping that provides scaffolding for the network members to enhance and build upon their knowledge using a progressive approach.

Keywords: research networks, competency building, network theory, case study

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Authors: Ochuko K. Overen, Golden Makaka, Edson L. Meyer, Sampson Mamphweli

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Low-cost housing provided for people with small incomes in South Africa are characterized by poor thermal performance. This is due to inferior craftsmanship with no regard to energy efficient design during the building process. On average, South African households spend 14% of their total monthly income on energy needs, in particular space heating; which is higher than the international benchmark of 10% for energy poverty. Adopting energy efficient passive solar design strategies and superior thermal building materials can create a stable thermal comfort environment indoors. Thereby, reducing energy consumption for space heating. The aim of this study is to analyse the thermal behaviour of a low-cost house integrated with passive solar design features. A low-cost passive solar house with superstructure fly ash brick walls was designed and constructed in Somerset East, South Africa. Indoor and outdoor meteorological parameters of the house were monitored for a period of one year. The ASTM E741-11 Standard was adopted to perform ventilation test in the house. In summer, the house was found to be thermally comfortable for 66% of the period monitored, while for winter it was about 79%. The ventilation heat flow rate of the windows and doors were found to be 140 J/s and 68 J/s, respectively. Air leakage through cracks and openings in the building envelope was 0.16 m3/m2h with a corresponding ventilation heat flow rate of 24 J/s. The indoor carbon dioxide concentration monitored overnight was found to be 0.248%, which is less than the maximum range limit of 0.500%. The prediction percentage dissatisfaction of the house shows that 86% of the occupants will express the thermal satisfaction of the indoor environment. With a good operation of the house, it can create a well-ventilated, thermal comfortable and nature luminous indoor environment for the occupants. Incorporating passive solar design in low-cost housing can be one of the long and immediate solutions to the energy crisis facing South Africa.

Keywords: energy efficiency, low-cost housing, passive solar design, rural development, thermal comfort

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Authors: Alison C. Essary, Victor Trastek

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Introduction: The current state of the health care system in the U.S. is characterized by an unprecedented number of people living with multiple chronic conditions, unsustainable rise in health care costs, inadequate access to care, and wide variation in health outcomes throughout the country. An estimated two-thirds of Americans are living with two or more chronic conditions, contributing to 75% of all health care spending. In 2013, the School for the Science of Health Care Delivery (SHCD) was charged with redesigning the health care system through education and research. Faculty in business, law, and public policy, and thought leaders in health care delivery, administration, public health and health IT created undergraduate, graduate, and executive academic programs to address this pressing need. Faculty and students work across disciplines, and with community partners and employers to improve care delivery and increase value for patients. Methods: Curricula apply content in health care administration and operations within the clinical context. Graduate modules are team-taught by faculty across academic units to model team-based practice. Seminars, team-based assignments, faculty mentoring, and applied projects are integral to student success. Cohort-driven models enhance networking and collaboration. This observational study evaluated two years of admissions data, and one year of graduate data to assess program outcomes and inform the current graduate-level curricula. Descriptive statistics includes means, percentages. Results: Fall 2013, the program received 51 applications. The mean GPA of the entering class of 37 students was 3.38. Ninety-seven percent of the fall 2013 cohort successfully completed the program (n=35). Sixty-six percent are currently employed in the health care industry (n=23). Of the remaining 12 graduates, two successfully matriculated to medical school; one works in the original field of study; four await results on the MCAT or DAT, and five were lost to follow up. Attrition of one student was attributed to non-academic reasons. Fall 2014, the program expanded to include both on-ground and online cohorts. Applications were evenly distributed between on-ground (n=70) and online (n=68). Thirty-eight students enrolled in the on-ground program. The mean GPA was 3.95. Ninety-five percent of students successfully completed the program (n=36). Thirty-six students enrolled in the online program. The mean GPA was 3.85. Graduate outcomes are pending. Discussion: Challenges include demographic variability between online and on-ground students; yet, both profiles are similar in that students intend to become change agents in the health care system. In the past two years, on-ground applications increased by 31%, persistence to graduation is > 95%, mean GPA is 3.67, graduates report admission to six U.S. medical schools, the Mayo Medical School integrates SHCD content within their curricula, and there is national interest in collaborating on industry and academic partnerships. This places SHCD at the forefront of developing innovative curricula in order to improve high-value, patient-centered care.

Keywords: delivery science, education, health care delivery, high-value care, innovation in education, patient-centered

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Authors: Maria L. Ulloa, Ruth M. Crawford, Stephanie Kelly, Joey Domdom

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In recent decades health and social service delivery have become more collaborative and interdisciplinary. Emerging trends suggest the need for an integrative and interprofessional approach to meet the challenges faced by professionals navigating the complexities of health and social service practice environments. Terms such as multidisciplinary practice, interprofessional collaboration, interprofessional education and transprofessional practice have become the common language used across a range of social services and health providers in western democratic systems. In Aotearoa New Zealand, one example of an interprofessional collaborative approach to curriculum design and delivery in health and social service is the development of an innovative Masters of Professional Practice programme. This qualification is the result of a strategic partnership between two tertiary institutions – Whitireia New Zealand (NZ) and the Wellington Institute of Technology (Weltec) in Wellington. The Master of Professional Practice programme was designed and delivered from the perspective of a collaborative, interprofessional and relational approach. Teachers and students in the programme come from a diverse range of cultural, professional and personal backgrounds and are engaged in courses using a blended learning approach that incorporates the values and pedagogies of interprofessional education. Students are actively engaged in professional practice while undertaking the programme. This presentation describes the themes of exploratory qualitative formative observations of engagement in class and online, student assessments, student research projects, as well as qualitative interviews with the programme teaching staff. These formative findings reveal the development of critical practice skills around the common themes of the programme: research and evidence based practice, education, leadership, working with diversity and advancing critical reflection of professional identities and interprofessional practice. This presentation will provide evidence of enhanced learning experiences in higher education and learning in multi-disciplinary contexts.

Keywords: diversity, exploratory research, interprofessional education, professional identity

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Authors: Ramin Mirzada

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This research investigates the valuation of public transport importance in decreasing congestion and in introduction of bus rapid transit in Kabul city. The main concern and main problem of the Kabul city public transport is traffic congestion. When buses and trams are stuck in traffic jams, it is clear that they fall behind from the schedule and this cause lots of problem for Kabul residence. In this research, the main attention has been given to improve current public transport in Kabul city which Public transport has large share almost 50% share among all mode. The main purpose of this research is to improve public transport system, to examine the demand and the supply of public transport in Kabul city, and to improve public transport system by introducing Bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Kabul city. The data which is used in this research is gathered by Transport Ministry, Kabul Municipality and Japan Cooperation Agency in Afghanistan (JICA). Urban transportation modeling system (UTMS) which is also known as traditional four-step modeling is used as the methodology of this research. The outcome of this research shows that by improving public transport which is local bus system mostly congestion problem of Kabul city become solve, and for those lanes which has the high demand and has more congestion, it is needed to introduce bus rapid transit system.

Keywords: transportation, planning, public transport, bus rapid transit, Kabul, Afghanistan

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Authors: Jeremiah Madzimure

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In order to stay competitive in business and improve performance, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) need to make use of business networking and logistics integration. Strategic networking and logistics integration in business companies have become critical as they allow supplier partnering, exchange of vital information/ access to valuable resources allowing innovation, gaining access to additional resources, sharing risks and costs which is required for enhancing company performance. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of strategic networks and logistics integration on company performance: the case of small and medium enterprises in South Africa. A quantitative research design was adopted in this study, and 137 SMEs owners and managers completed and returned the survey questionnaire. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was conducted using the Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS), version 24.0 to assess psychometric properties of the measurement scales. Path modelling techniques were used to test the proposed hypothesis. Three research hypotheses were postulated. The results indicate that strategic networks had a positive and significant influence on logistics integration and company performance. As well logistics integration had a strong positive and significant influence on company performance. This study provides a useful model for analysing the relationship between strategic networks and logistics integration on company performance. Moreover, the findings of the study provide useful insights into how SMEs should benefit from business networking and logistics integration so as to improve their performance. The implications of the study are discussed, and finally, limitations and recommendations are indicated.

Keywords: strategic networking, logistics integration, company performance, SMEs

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Authors: Maureen Royce, Joshi Jariwala, Sally Kah

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Change is inevitable, but the change process is progressive. Organisational change is the process in which an organisation changes strategies, operational methods, systems, culture, and structure to affect something different in the organisation. This process can be continuous or developed over a period and driven by internal and external factors. Organisational change is essential if organisations are to survive in dynamic and uncertain environments. However, evidence from research shows that many change initiatives fail, leading to severe consequences for organisations and their resources. The complex models of third sector organisations, i.e., social enterprise, compounds the levels of change in these organisations. Interestingly, innovation is associated with a change in social enterprises due to the hybridity of product and service development. Furthermore, the creation of social intervention has offered a new process and outcomes to the lifecycle of change. Therefore, different forms of organisational innovation are developed, i.e., total, evolutionary, expansionary, and developmental, which affect the interventions of social enterprises. This raises both theoretical and business concerns on how the competing hybrid nature of social enterprises change, how change is managed, and the impact on these organisations. These perspectives present critical questions for further investigation. In this study, we investigate the impact of organisational change on employees and organisational development at DaDaFest –a disability arts organisation with a social focus based in Liverpool. The three main objectives are to explore the drivers of change and the implementation process; to examine the impact of organisational change on employees and; to identify barriers to organisation change and development. To address the preceding research objectives, qualitative research design is adopted using semi-structured interviews. Data is analysed using a six-step thematic analysis framework, which enables the study to develop themes depicting the impact of change on employees and organisational development. This study presents theoretical and practical contributions for academics and practitioners. The knowledge contributions encapsulate the evolution of change and the change cycle in a social enterprise. However, practical implications provide critical insights into the change management process and the impact of change on employees and organisational development.

Keywords: organisational change, change management, organisational change system, social enterprise

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Authors: Lukáš Mazánek, Zdeňka Konečná

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The article is devoted to the area of personnel marketing. A comprehensive review of scientific literature and articles published predominantly in personnel-oriented journals was carried out, followed by a qualitative exploratory research with the aim to explore and explain the perception of personnel marketing. Due to the lack of research in this field in Czech Republic, we have focused on Czech HR managers, more specifically, on how they understand the tasks of personnel marketing, which tools they use and whether the companies they work for try to be a preferred employer. The answers from our respondents were used to help us determine what is important within this field. All of the respondents strive to be a preferred employer and try to achieve it by using an extensive range of marketing tools. The most frequently used tools are advertising, job fairs presentations, employee care and employer brand promotion.

Keywords: Czech Republic, personnel marketing, preferred employer, qualitative research study

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Authors: Lina T. Codilla

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This study primarily designed a laboratory activity in ecology to demonstrate the allelopathic property of the Philippine Chromolaena odorata L. (hagonoy) leaf extracts to Lycopersicum esculentum (M), commonly known as tomatoes. Ethanol extracts of C. odorata leaves were tested on seed germination and seedling growth of L. esculentum in 7-day and 14-day observation periods. Analysis of variance and Tukey’s HSD post hoc test was utilized to determine differences among treatments while Pre–test – Post–test experimental design was utilized in the determination of the effectiveness of the designed laboratory activity. Results showed that the 0.5% concentration level of ethanol leaf extracts significantly inhibited germination and seedling growth of L. esculentum in both observation periods. These results were used as the basis in the development of instructional material in ecology. The laboratory activity underwent face validation by five (5) experts in various fields of specialization, namely, Biological Sciences, Chemistry and Science Education. The readability of the designed laboratory activity was determined using a Cloze Test. Pilot testing was conducted and showed that the laboratory activity developed is found to be a very effective tool in supplementing learning about allelopathy in ecology class. Thus, it is recommended for use among ecology classes but modification will be made in a small – scale basis to minimize time consumption.

Keywords: allelopathy, chromolaena odorata l. (hagonoy), designed-laboratory activity, organic herbicide students’ performance

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Authors: Fatemeh Abdollahi, Munn-Sann Lye, Jamshid Yazdani Charati, Mehran Zarghami

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Background: In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of a new coronavirus disease, COVID-19, as a public health concern and pandemic. This situation is generating psychological consequences such as stress, anxiety, depression, and intimate partner violence (IPV) throughout the population. This is a brief note on the magnitude of this threat and different ways for abused women to minimize the effects of it in their daily life. Methods: A literature review was conducted using the MEDLINE, PSYCHINFO, and SCIENCE DIRECT databases. The keywords used included intimate partner violence, abuse, victims, pandemic, quarantine, coronavirus, and COVID-19. A Google search was also conducted using these words to identify reports published in non-indexed health care and social science journals. The literature search was restricted to English language studies. Results: The prevalence of IPV and its consequences are rising during such a pandemic. Having sufficient support from healthcare workers and acquaintances is critical for women in such circumstances. Conclusion: Community members, healthcare providers, governments, and policymakers should be informed of the increased risk of IPV during such a pandemic. They should provide a supporting structure for abused women. Social networking is also a good approach that could help abusive women during this situation.

Keywords: covid-19, intimate partner violence, pandemic, women

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