Search results for: technology readiness index

Authors: Samuel Asiedu-Addo, Jonathan Annan, Yarhands Dissou Arthur

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The study aims to explore the relational effect of lecturers’ personal attribute on student’s interest in statistics. In this study personal attributes of lecturers’ such as lecturer’s dynamism, communication strategies and rapport in the classroom as well as applied knowledge during lecture were examined. Here, exploratory research design was used to establish the effect of lecturer’s personal attributes on student’s interest. Data were analyzed by means of confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) using the SmartPLS 3 program. The study recruited 376 students from the faculty of technical and vocational education of the University of Education Winneba Kumasi campus, and Ghana Technology University College as well as Kwame Nkrumah University of science and Technology. The results revealed that personal attributes of an effective lecturer were lecturer’s dynamism, rapport, communication and applied knowledge contribute (52.9%) in explaining students interest in statistics. Our regression analysis and structural equation modeling confirm that lecturers personal attribute contribute effectively by predicting student’s interest of 52.9% and 53.7% respectively. The paper concludes that the total effect of a lecturer’s attribute on student’s interest is moderate and significant. While a lecturer’s communication and dynamism were found to contribute positively to students’ interest, they were insignificant in predicting students’ interest. We further showed that a lecturer’s personal attributes such as applied knowledge and rapport have positive and significant effect on tertiary student’s interest in statistic, whilst lecturers’ communication and dynamism do not significantly affect student interest in statistics; though positively related.

Keywords: student interest, effective teacher, personal attributes, regression and SEM

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Authors: Cristina Sanchez-Sanchez

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Although there seems to be a growing interest in the study of the citizen’s happiness as an alternative measure of a country’s progress to GDP, happiness as a public concern is still an ambiguous concept, hard to define. Moreover, different notions are used indiscriminately to talk about the same thing. This investigation aims to determine the conceptions of happiness, well-being and quality of life that originate from the indexes that different governments and public institutions around the world have created to study them. Through the Scoping Review method, this study identifies the recent academic research in this field (a total of 267 documents between 2006 and 2016) from some of the most popular social sciences databases around the world, Web of Science, Scopus, JSTOR, Sage, EBSCO, IBSS and Google Scholar, and in Spain, ISOC and Dialnet. These 267 documents referenced 53 different indexes and researches. The Grounded Theory method has been applied to a sample of 13 indexes in order to identify the main categories they use to determine these three concepts. The results show that these are multi-dimensional concepts and similar indicators are used indistinctly to measure happiness, well-being and quality of life.

Keywords: common good, grounded theory, happiness economics, happiness index, quality of life, scoping review, well-being

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Authors: Mohammad Abdallah

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Due to the constant increase in terrorist attacks, the research and engineering communities have given significant attention to building performance under explosions. This paper presents a methodology for studying and simulating the dynamic responses of steel structures during external detonations, particularly for accurately investigating the impact of incrementing charge weight on the members total behavior, resistance and failure. Prediction damage method was introduced to evaluate the damage level of the steel members based on five scenarios of explosions. Johnson–Cook strength and failure model have been used as well as ABAQUS finite element code to simulate the explicit dynamic analysis, and antecedent field tests were used to verify the acceptance and accuracy of the proposed material strength and failure model. Based on the structural response, evaluation criteria such as deflection, vertical displacement, drift index, and damage level; the obtained results show the vulnerability of steel columns and un-braced steel frames which are designed and optimized to carry dead and live load to resist and endure blast loading.

Keywords: steel structure, blast load, terrorist attacks, charge weight, damage level

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Authors: Keith Dominic T. Li

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The soaring prices of residential properties in Hong Kong has become a social problem that even the middle class is having dif?iculties in purchasing homes. In making policies to curb the prices, it is important to determine the factors that contribute to the property in?lation. Many researches attribute this in?lation to macroeconomic factors especially the interest rate. However, it is important to remember that Hong Kong is under a Currency Board system which makes its interest rate exogenously determined. This research aims to show the signi?icance of the money supply on Hong Kong residential property prices in post-1997 Asian Financial Crisis period. Using money supply data, macroeconomic fundamentals, and demographic variables from 2000Q1 to 2013Q2, the factors contributed to residential property price in?lation are estimated to calculate the share of each explanatory variable in disparity. It is found that the Hong Kong property market is mainly driven by investment and that the in?lation on Hong Kong residential property prices can explained by the increase in the Hang Seng Index and in the money supply M2.

Keywords: real estate, Hong Kong, property market, monetary economics, monetary policy

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Authors: Chia-Ju Peng, Shih-Jui Chen

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This paper proposes a method to discriminate electroencephalogram (EEG) signals between different concentration states using empirical mode decomposition (EMD). Brain-computer interface (BCI), also called brain-machine interface, is a direct communication pathway between the brain and an external device without the inherent pathway such as the peripheral nervous system or skeletal muscles. Attention level is a common index as a control signal of BCI systems. The EEG signals acquired from people paying attention or in relaxation, respectively, are decomposed into a set of intrinsic mode functions (IMF) by EMD. Fast Fourier transform (FFT) analysis is then applied to each IMF to obtain the frequency spectrums. By observing power spectrums of IMFs, the proposed method has the better identification of EEG attention level than the original EEG signals between different concentration states. The band power of IMF3 is the most obvious especially in β wave, which corresponds to fully awake and generally alert. The signal processing method and results of this experiment paves a new way for BCI robotic system using the attention-level control strategy. The integrated signal processing method reveals appropriate information for discrimination of the attention and relaxation, contributing to a more enhanced BCI performance.

Keywords: biomedical engineering, brain computer interface, electroencephalography, rehabilitation

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Authors: Noha M. Rashad, W. Swelam, M. H. Abd ElAzeem

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A simple design of array antenna is presented in this paper, supporting millimeter wave applications which can be used in short range wireless communications such as 5G applications. This design enhances the use of V-band, according to IEEE standards, as the antenna works in the 70 GHz band with bandwidth more than 11 GHz and peak gain more than 13 dBi. The design is simulated using different numerical techniques achieving a very good agreement.

Keywords: 5G technology, array antenna, microstrip, millimeter wave

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Authors: Lourena M. Veríssimo, Lucas A. Machado, Renata Rutckeviski, Francisco H. Xavier Júnior, Éverton N. Alencar, Andreza R. V. Morais, Teresa R. F. Dantas, Christian M. Oliveira, Arnóbio A. Silva Júnior, Eryvaldo S. T. Egito

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This study aimed to obtain emulsion systems based on bullfrog oil (BO). The BO was extracted at 80ºC and analyzed by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS). The critical Hydrophilic-Lipophilic Balance (HLBc) Assay of the BO was performed through BO, Tween® 20, Span® 80 and deionized water mixtures using an Ultra-Turrax® and determined using dynamic light scattering, pH, electrical conductivity and creaming rate. Then, a pseudoternary phase diagram (PPD) was constructed by water titration. The GC/MS analysis of BO suggested Methyl Oleate (9.26%) as major compound. The HLBc was 12.1, wherein the correspondent emulsion showed a pH of 4.83±1.29, electrical conductivity of 103.65 µS, creaming rate of 2.51±0.54%, droplet size of 207.07±8.31 nm and polydispersity index of 0.212±0.005. The PPD showed different formulations characterized as O/W emulsions. Thus, the PPD proved to be a useful tool to produce BO emulsions, in which their constituents may vary within the range of the desired system.

Keywords: bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana Shaw) oil, emulsion production, hydrophilic-lipophilic balance, gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis

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Authors: Zhang Hui, Wu Caiqiu, Yuan Xuyin, Qiu Jie, Zhang Hanpei

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The heavy metal contaminations were determined with a detailed soil survey in roadside soils along Shenyang-Dalian Highway of Liaoning Province (China) and Pb, Cu, Cd, Ni and Zn were analyzed using the atomic absorption spectrophotometric method. The average concentration of Pb, Cu, Cd, Ni and Zn in roadside soils was determined to be 43.8, 26.5, 0.119, 32.1, 71.3 mg/kg respectively, and all of the heavy metal contents were higher than the background values. Different heavy metal distribution regularity was found in different land use type of roadside soil, there was an obvious peak of heavy concentration at 25m from road edge in the farmland, while in the forest and orchard soil, all heavy metals gradually decreased with the increase of distance from road edge and conformed to the exponential model. Furthermore, the heavy metal contents of heavy metals except Cd were markedly increased compared with those in 1999 and 2007, and the heavy metals concentrations of Shenyang- Dalian Highway were considered medium or low in comparison with those in other cities around the world. The assessment of heavy metal contamination of roadside soils illustrated a common low pollution for all heavy metal and recommended that more attention should be paid to Pb contamination in roadside soils in Shenyang-Dalian Highway.

Keywords: heavy metal contamination, roadside, highway, Nemerow Pollution Index

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Authors: Humayun Kabir, Amirul Hasan, Yu Miyaoka, Makiko Yamaguchi, Chisaki Kadota, Kazuaki Takehara

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From field isolates of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) in Japan, one avirulent strain, APMV/northern pintail/Japan/Aomori/2003 (dk-Aomori/03, NDV 261), was selected for its excellent thermostability, and the strain was heat-treated at 56℃ temperatures for 30 min with each passage into Vero cells to maintain thermostability and to adapt Vero cells. After serial 20 passages in Vero cells, it was named NDV Vero20. When growth curves were tested in Vero cells, NDV Vero20 grew well to compare the original NDV261. The HN gene was sequenced, and found motifs that show thermostability. The intracerebral pathogenicity index (ICPI) test score was 0. The thermostability of the virus was confirmed by storing it at different temperatures, including at 37°C. When susceptible chicks were inoculated with NDV Vero20 through eye drops, induced adequate levels of antibody were measured using a serum neutralization test. The results showed that NDV Vero20, a vaccine candidate strain is thermostable, Vero cell adapted, and has immunogenic potential, which would make as an alternative to the traditional embryonated chicken eggs-based vaccine.

Keywords: Newcastle disease virus, thermostability, vaccine, Vero cell adaptability

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Authors: Zahra Hatami, Hesham Ali, David Volkman

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Selecting a portfolio for investing is a crucial decision for individuals and legal entities. In the last two decades, with economic globalization, a stream of financial innovations has rushed to the aid of financial institutions. The importance of selecting stocks for the portfolio is always a challenging task for investors. This study aims to create a financial network to identify optimal portfolios using network centralities metrics. This research presents a community detection technique of superior stocks that can be described as an optimal stock portfolio to be used by investors. By using the advantages of a network and its property in extracted communities, a group of stocks was selected for each of the various time periods. The performance of the optimal portfolios compared to the famous index. Their Sharpe ratio was calculated in a timely manner to evaluate their profit for making decisions. The analysis shows that the selected potential portfolio from stocks with low centrality measurement can outperform the market; however, they have a lower Sharpe ratio than stocks with high centrality scores. In other words, stocks with low centralities could outperform the S&P500 yet have a lower Sharpe ratio than high central stocks.

Keywords: portfolio management performance, network analysis, centrality measurements, Sharpe ratio

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Authors: Yin-Chen Liu, Chih-Chun Wu, Mei-He Shih

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In this technology society, using ICT(Information and communications technology) to contact each other is very common. Interpersonal ICT communication maintains social support. Therefore, the study investigated the ICT communication between undergraduates and their parents, and gender differences were also detected. The sample size was 1,209 undergraduates, including 624(51.6%) males, 584(48.3%) females, and 1 gender unidentified. In the sample, 91.8% of the sample used phones to contact their fathers and 93.8% of them use phones to contact their mothers. 78.5% and 87.6% of the sample utilized LINE to contact their fathers and mothers respectively. As for Facebook, only 13.4% and 16.5% of the sample would use to contact their fathers and mothers respectively. Aforementioned results implied that the undergraduates nowadays use phone and LINE to contact their parents more common than Facebook. According to results from Pearson correlations, the more undergraduates refused to add their fathers as their Facebook friends, the more they refused to add their mothers as Facebook friends. The possible reasons for it could be that to distinguish different social network such as family and friends. Another possible reason could be avoiding parents’ controlling. It could be why the kids prefer to use phone and LINE to Facebook when contacting their parents. Result from Pearson correlations showed that the more undergraduates actively contact their fathers, the more they actively contact their mothers. On the other hand, the more their fathers actively contact them, the more their mothers actively contact them. Based on the results, this study encourages both parents and undergraduates to contact each other, for any contact between any two family members is associated with contact between other two family members. Obviously, the contact between family members is bidirectional. Future research might want to investigate if this bidirectional contact is associated with the family relation. For gender differences, results from the independent t-tests showed that compared to sons, daughters actively contacted their parents more. Maybe it is because parents keep saying that it is dangerous out there for their daughters, so they build up the habit for their daughters to contact them more. Results from paired sample t-tests showed that the undergraduates agreed that talking to mother on the phone had more satisfaction, felt more intimacy and supported than fathers.

Keywords: family ICT communication, parent-child ICT communication, FACEBOOK and LINE, gender differences

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Authors: Muhammad Tariq, Hammad Tahir, Fawwad Mahmood Butt

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Purpose: This study attempts to examine the best forecasting methodologies in the time series. The time series forecasting models such as VAR, ARCH and the ARMA are considered for the analysis. Methodology: The Bench Marks or the parameters such as Adjusted R square, F-stats, Durban Watson, and Direction of the roots have been critically and empirically analyzed. The empirical analysis consists of time series data of Consumer Price Index and Closing Stock Price. Findings: The results show that the VAR model performed better in comparison to other models. Both the reliability and significance of VAR model is highly appreciable. In contrary to it, the ARCH model showed very poor results for forecasting. However, the results of ARMA model appeared double standards i.e. the AR roots showed that model is stationary and that of MA roots showed that the model is invertible. Therefore, the forecasting would remain doubtful if it made on the bases of ARMA model. It has been concluded that VAR model provides best forecasting results. Practical Implications: This paper provides empirical evidences for the application of time series forecasting model. This paper therefore provides the base for the application of best time series forecasting model.

Keywords: forecasting, time series, auto regression, ARCH, ARMA

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Authors: Claire Norman-Maillet

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Insider fraud is a major financial crime threat whereby an employee defrauds (or attempts to defraud) their current, prospective, or past employer. ‘Employee’ covers anyone employed by the company, including Board members and part-time staff. Insider fraud can take many forms, including an employee working alone or in collusion with others. Insider fraud has been on the rise since the Coronavirus pandemic and shows no signs of slowing. The objective of the research is to better understand how FinTechs are impacted by insider fraud and, therefore, how to stop it. This research will make an original contribution to the financial crime field, given the timing of this research being intertwined with the cost-of-living crisis in the UK and the global Coronavirus pandemic. This research focuses on insider fraud within FinTechs specifically, as they are arguably a modern phenomenon in the financial institutions space and have cutting-edge technology at their disposal. To achieve the research objective, the researcher held semi-structured interviews with over 20 individuals who deal with insider fraud perpetration in a practitioner, recruitment, or advisory capacity. The interviews were subsequently transcribed and analysed thematically. Main findings in the research suggest that FinTechs are arguably in the best position to combat insider fraud, given their focus on using recent technologies, as this can be used to combat the threat. However, insider fraud has been ignored owing to the denial of accepting the possibility that colleagues would defraud their employer, as well as the idea that external fraud is the most important threat. The research concludes that, whilst the technology is understandably prioritised by FinTechs for providing an agreeable customer experience, insider fraud needs to be given a platform upon which to be recognised as a significant threat to any company. Moreover, insider fraud needs to be given the same level of weighting and attention by Executive Committees and Boards as the customer experience.

Keywords: insider fraud, occupational fraud, COVID-19, COVID, Coronavirus, pandemic, internal fraud, financial crime, economic crime

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Authors: M. N. Zelenin, V. S. Mikhailov, R. P. Zhivotovsky

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It is known that residual welding deformations give negative effect to processability and operational quality of welded structures, complicating their assembly and reducing strength. Therefore, selection of optimal technology, ensuring minimum welding deformations, is one of the main goals in developing a technology for manufacturing of welded structures. Through years, JSC SSTC has been developing a theory for estimation of welding deformations and practical activities for reducing and compensating such deformations during welding process. During long time a methodology was used, based on analytic dependence. This methodology allowed defining volumetric changes of metal due to welding heating and subsequent cooling. However, dependences for definition of structures deformations, arising as a result of volumetric changes of metal in the weld area, allowed performing calculations only for simple structures, such as units, flat sections and sections with small curvature. In case of complex 3D structures, estimations on the base of analytic dependences gave significant errors. To eliminate this shortage, it was suggested to use finite elements method for resolving of deformation problem. Here, one shall first calculate volumes of longitudinal and transversal shortenings of welding joints using method of analytic dependences and further, with obtained shortenings, calculate forces, which action is equivalent to the action of active welding stresses. Further, a finite-elements model of the structure is developed and equivalent forces are added to this model. Having results of calculations, an optimal sequence of assembly and welding is selected and special measures to reduce and compensate welding deformations are developed and taken.

Keywords: residual welding deformations, longitudinal and transverse shortenings of welding joints, method of analytic dependences, finite elements method

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Authors: Ravi Kiran Jaladi, Ezz I. El-Masry

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Emerging technologies such as ultra-wide band wireless access technology that operate at ultra-low power present several challenges due to their inherent design that limits the use of voltage-mode filters. Therefore, Continuous-time current-mode (CTCM) filters have become very popular in recent times due to the fact they have a wider dynamic range, improved linearity, and extended bandwidth compared to their voltage-mode counterparts. The goal of this research is to develop analog filters which are suitable for the current scaling CMOS technologies. Bulk-driven MOSFET is one of the most popular low power design technique for the existing challenges, while other techniques have obvious shortcomings. In this work, a CTCM Gate-driven (GD) differentiator has been presented with a frequency range from dc to 100MHz which operates at very low supply voltage of 0.7 volts. A novel CTCM Bulk-driven (BD) differentiator has been designed for the first time which reduces the power consumption multiple times that of GD differentiator. These GD and BD differentiator has been simulated using CADENCE TSMC 65nm technology for all the bilinear and biquadratic band-pass frequency responses. These basic building blocks can be used to implement the higher order filters. A 6th order cascade CTCM Chebyshev band-pass filter has been designed using the GD and BD techniques. As a conclusion, a low power GD and BD 6th order chebyshev stagger-tuned band-pass filter was simulated and all the parameters obtained from all the resulting realizations are analyzed and compared. Monte Carlo analysis is performed for both the 6th order filters and the results of sensitivity analysis are presented.

Keywords: bulk-driven (BD), continuous-time current-mode filters (CTCM), gate-driven (GD)

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Authors: Amin Nakhostin-Ansari, Samaneh Akbarour, Khosro Sadeghniiat Haghighi, Zahra Banafsheh Alemohammad, Farnaz Etesam, Arezu Najafi, Mahnaz Khalafehnilsaz

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Introduction: The outbreak of coronavirus disease has considerably burdened the healthcare system in Iran. This study aimed to evaluate the characteristics of insomnia experienced by the general Iranian population during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: A scale(FCV-19) was used for Fear of COVID-19, Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2), and Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-2 (GAD-2) for detailed characterization of insomnia and its patterns Results: In total, 675 people with insomnia with the mean age of 40.28 years (SD=11.15) participated in this study. Prevalence of difficulty initiating sleep (DIS), difficulty maintaining sleep (DMS), and early morning awakening (EMA) were 91.4%, 86.7%, and 77%, respectively. DIS, DMS, and EMA were more common in people with depression and anxiety. FCV-19 score was higher in those with more severe types of DIS, DMS, and EMA (P<0.001). FCV-19 was a risk factor for all patterns of insomnia (OR=1.19, 1.12, 1.02 for DIS, DMS, and EMA, respectively). Conclusion: fear of COVID-19 is a major factor to insomnia patterns. Investigation of COVID-19 fear in people with insomnia and the addition of attributed relieving or management strategies to conventional management of insomnia are reasonable approaches to improve the sleep condition of people in the pandemic.

Keywords: insomnia, difficulty maintaining sleep, COVID-19, Coronavirus

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Authors: Pablo Chico De Guzman, Cesar Sanchez

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Microservice architectures are increasingly in distributed cloud applications due to the advantages on the software composition, development speed, release cycle frequency and the business logic time to market. On the other hand, these architectures also introduce some challenges on the testing and release phases of applications. Container technology solves some of these issues by providing reproducible environments, easy of software distribution and isolation of processes. However, there are other issues that remain unsolved in current container technology when dealing with multiple machines, such as networking for multi-host communication, service discovery, load balancing or data persistency (even though some of these challenges are already solved by traditional cloud vendors in a very mature and widespread manner). Container cluster management tools, such as Kubernetes, Mesos or Docker Swarm, attempt to solve these problems by introducing a new control layer where the unit of deployment is the container (or the pod — a set of strongly related containers that must be deployed on the same machine). These tools are complex to configure and manage and they do not follow a pure immutable infrastructure approach since servers are reused between deployments. Indeed, these tools introduce dependencies at execution time for solving networking or service discovery problems. If an error on the control layer occurs, which would affect running applications, specific expertise is required to perform ad-hoc troubleshooting. As a consequence, it is not surprising that container cluster support is becoming a source of revenue for consulting services. This paper presents i2kit, a deployment tool based on the immutable infrastructure pattern, where the virtual machine is the unit of deployment. The input for i2kit is a declarative definition of a set of microservices, where each microservice is defined as a pod of containers. Microservices are built into machine images using linuxkit —- a tool for creating minimal linux distributions specialized in running containers. These machine images are then deployed to one or more virtual machines, which are exposed through a cloud vendor load balancer. Finally, the load balancer endpoint is set into other microservices using an environment variable, providing service discovery. The toolkit i2kit reuses the best ideas from container technology to solve problems like reproducible environments, process isolation, and software distribution, and at the same time relies on mature, proven cloud vendor technology for networking, load balancing and persistency. The result is a more robust system with no learning curve for troubleshooting running applications. We have implemented an open source prototype that transforms i2kit definitions into AWS cloud formation templates, where each microservice AMI (Amazon Machine Image) is created on the fly using linuxkit. Even though container cluster management tools have more flexibility for resource allocation optimization, we defend that adding a new control layer implies more important disadvantages. Resource allocation is greatly improved by using linuxkit, which introduces a very small footprint (around 35MB). Also, the system is more secure since linuxkit installs the minimum set of dependencies to run containers. The toolkit i2kit is currently under development at the IMDEA Software Institute.

Keywords: container, deployment, immutable infrastructure, microservice

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Authors: H. C. Chinwenyi, H. D. Ibrahim, F. A. Ahmed

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In modern financial mathematics, valuing derivatives such as options is often a tedious task. This is simply because their fair and correct prices in the future are often probabilistic. This paper examines three different Stochastic Differential Equation (SDE) models in finance; the Constant Elasticity of Variance (CEV) model, the Balck-Karasinski model, and the Heston model. The various Martingales option price valuation formulas for these three models were obtained using the replicating portfolio method. Also, the numerical solution of the derived Martingales options price valuation equations for the SDEs models was carried out using the Monte Carlo method which was implemented using MATLAB. Furthermore, results from the numerical examples using published data from the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE), all share index data show the effect of increase in the underlying asset value (stock price) on the value of the European Put Option for these models. From the results obtained, we see that an increase in the stock price yields a decrease in the value of the European put option price. Hence, this guides the option holder in making a quality decision by not exercising his right on the option.

Keywords: equivalent martingale measure, European put option, girsanov theorem, martingales, monte carlo method, option price valuation formula

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Authors: Reena Panchal, Maunik Jani, S. M. Vyas, G. R. Pandya

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Group V-VI compounds have a narrow bandgap, which makes them useful in many electronic devices. In bulk form, BiSbTe alloys are semi-metals or semi-conductors. They are used in thermoelectric and thermomagnetic devices, fabrication of ionizing, radiation detectors, LEDs, solid-state electrodes, photosensitive heterostructures, solar cells, ionic batteries, etc. Thin films of Bi₂Sb(₃-ₓ):Tex (where x = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3) of various thicknesses were grown by the thermal evaporation technique on a glass substrate at room temperature under a pressure of 10-₄ mbar for different time periods such as 10s, 15s, and 20s. The thickness of these thin films was also obtained by using the swaneopeol envelop method and compared those values with instrumental values. The optical absorption (%) data of thin films was measured in the wave number range of 650 cm-¹ to 4000 cm-¹. The band gap has been evaluated from these optical absorption data, and the results indicate that absorption occurred by a direct interband transition. It was discovered that when thickness decreased, the band gap increased; this dependency was inversely related to the square of thickness, which is explained by the quantum size effect. Using the values of bandgap, found the values of optical electronegativity (∆χ) and optical refractive index (η) using various relations.

Keywords: thin films, band gap, film thickness, optical study, size effect

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Authors: Alessandra Marcelletti, Giovanni Trovato

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Corruption in public offices is found to be the reflection of country-specific features, however, the exact magnitude and the statistical significance of its determinants effect has not yet been identified. The paper aims to propose an estimation method to measure the impact of country fundamentals on corruption, showing that covariates could differently affect the extent of corruption across countries. Thus, we exploit a model able to take into account different factors affecting the incentive to ask or to be asked for a bribe, coherently with the use of the Corruption Perception Index. We assume that discordant results achieved in literature may be explained by omitted hidden factors affecting the agents' decision process. Moreover, assuming homogeneous covariates effect may lead to unreliable conclusions since the country-specific environment is not accounted for. We apply a Finite Mixture Model with concomitant variables to 129 countries from 1995 to 2006, accounting for the impact of the initial conditions in the socio-economic structure on the corruption patterns. Our findings confirm the hypothesis of the decision process of accepting or asking for a bribe varies with specific country fundamental features.

Keywords: Corruption, Finite Mixture Models, Concomitant Variables, Countries Classification

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Authors: Rihab Belguith, Fathi Abid

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The paper develops a system-based approach to investigate the dynamic adjustment of debt structure and investment policies of the Dow-Jones index. This approach enables the assessment of relations among sales, debt, and investment opportunities by considering the simultaneous effect of the market environmental change and future growth opportunities. We integrate the firm-specific sales variance to capture the industries' conditions in the model. Empirical results were obtained through a panel data set of firms with different sectors. The analysis support that environmental change does not affect equally the different industry since operating leverage differs among industries and so the sensitivity to sales variance. Including adjusted-specific variance, we find that there is no monotonic relation between leverage, sales, and investment. The firm may choose a low debt level in response to high sales variance but high leverage to attenuate the negative relation between sales variance and the current level of investment. We further find that while the overall effect of debt maturity on leverage is unaffected by the level of growth opportunities, the shorter the maturity of debt is, the smaller the direct effect of sales variance on investment.

Keywords: dynamic panel, investment, leverage decision, sales uncertainty

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Authors: Tomoaki Hashimoto

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Recently, feedback control systems using random dither quantizers have been proposed for linear discrete-time systems. However, the constraints imposed on state and control variables have not yet been taken into account for the design of feedback control systems with random dither quantization. Model predictive control is a kind of optimal feedback control in which control performance over a finite future is optimized with a performance index that has a moving initial and terminal time. An important advantage of model predictive control is its ability to handle constraints imposed on state and control variables. Based on the model predictive control approach, the objective of this paper is to present a control method that satisfies probabilistic state constraints for linear discrete-time feedback control systems with random dither quantization. In other words, this paper provides a method for solving the optimal control problems subject to probabilistic state constraints for linear discrete-time feedback control systems with random dither quantization.

Keywords: optimal control, stochastic systems, random dither, quantization

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Authors: Hassnen M. Jafer, W. Atherton, F. Ruddock, E. Loffill

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This study represents the results of an experimental work using two types of fly ashes as a cement replacement in soft soil stabilisation. The fly ashes (FA1 and FA2) used in this study are by-products resulting from an incineration processes between 800 and 1200 ˚C. The stabilised soil in this study was an intermediate plasticity silty clayey soil with medium organic matter content. The experimental works were initially conducted on soil treated with different percentages of FA1 (0, 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15%) to identify the optimum FA1 content. Then FA1 was chemically activated by FA2 which has high alkalinity by blending the optimum content of FA1 with different portions of FA2. The improvement levels were evaluated dependent on the results obtained from consistency limits and compaction tests along with the results of unconfined compressive strength (UCS) tests which were conducted on specimens of soil treated with FA1 and FA2 and exposed to different periods of curing (zero, 7, 14, and 28 days). The results indicated that the FA1 and FA2 used in this study effectively improved the physical and geotechnical properties of the soft soil where the index of plasticity (IP) was decreased significantly from 21 to 13.17 with 12% of FA1; however, there was a slight increase in IP with the use of FA2. Meanwhile, 12% of FA1 was identified as the optimum percentage improving the UCS of stabilised soil significantly. Furthermore, FA2 was found effective as a chemical activator to FA1 where the UCS was improved significantly after using FA2.

Keywords: fly ashes, soft soil stabilisation, waste materials, unconfined compressive strength

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Authors: Esther Liyanage, Indrajith Liyanage, Masih Khan

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Neck pain has become a common epidemiological problem. One of the reasons for this is a sedentary way of life, connected with using a personal computer during all daily activities. Work place and work duration has not been properly adapted to the personal physical conditions of these employees. During 1990’s the importance of workstation design and work methods, or ergonomics on health was brought to the forefront of public attention. Ergonomics is the application of scientific information concerning humans to the design of objects. Ergonomic intervention results in improvement of working posture and a decrease in prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms. Stretching and resistance exercises to the neck are easy to do, when performed 1-2 times daily reduce discomfort and ease neck stiffness. This study is aimed at finding if ergonomics with exercises to the neck prove beneficial to reduce neck pain in Computer Professionals. The outcomes measures used were: Oswestry neck disability index and VAS score for pain. 100 subjects satisfying the inclusion criteria were included in the study. Results: Ergonomic intervention along with isometric neck exercises and stretching proved to reduce neck pain and disability among computer professionals.

Keywords: ergonomics, neck pain, neck exercises, physiotherapy for neck pain

Procedia PDF Downloads 327

Authors: G. Suja, J. Sreekumar, A. N. Jyothi, V. S. Santhosh Mithra

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Worldwide concerns regarding food safety, environmental degradation and threats to human health have generated interest in alternative systems like organic farming. Tropical tuber crops, cassava, sweet potato, yams, and aroids are food-cum-nutritional security-cum climate resilient crops. These form stable or subsidiary food for about 500 million global population. Cassava, yams (white yam, greater yam, and lesser yam) and edible aroids (elephant foot yam, taro, and tannia) are high energy tuberous vegetables with good taste and nutritive value. Seven on-station field experiments at ICAR-Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram, India and seventeen on-farm trials in three districts of Kerala, were conducted over a decade (2004-2015) to compare the varietal response, yield, quality and soil properties under organic vs conventional system in these crops and to develop a learning system based on the data generated. The industrial, as well as domestic varieties of cassava, the elite and local varieties of elephant foot yam and taro and the three species of Dioscorea (yams), were on a par under both systems. Organic management promoted yield by 8%, 20%, 9%, 11% and 7% over conventional practice in cassava, elephant foot yam, white yam, greater yam and lesser yam respectively. Elephant foot yam was the most responsive to organic management followed by yams and cassava. In taro, slight yield reduction (5%) was noticed under organic farming with almost similar tuber quality. The tuber quality was improved with higher dry matter, starch, crude protein, K, Ca and Mg contents. The anti-nutritional factors, oxalate content in elephant foot yam and cyanogenic glucoside content in cassava were lowered by 21 and 12.4% respectively. Organic plots had significantly higher water holding capacity, pH, available K, Fe, Mn and Cu, higher soil organic matter, available N, P, exchangeable Ca and Mg, dehydrogenase enzyme activity and microbial count. Organic farming scored significantly higher soil quality index (1.93) than conventional practice (1.46). The soil quality index was driven by water holding capacity, pH and available Zn followed by soil organic matter. Organic management enhanced net profit by 20-40% over chemical farming. A case in point is the cost-benefit analysis in elephant foot yam which indicated that the net profit was 28% higher and additional income of Rs. 47,716 ha-1 was obtained due to organic farming. Cost-effective technologies were field validated. The on-station technologies developed were validated and popularized through on-farm trials in 10 sites (5 ha) under National Horticulture Mission funded programme in elephant foot yam and seven sites in yams and taro. The technologies are included in the Package of Practices Recommendations for crops of Kerala Agricultural University. A learning system developed using artificial neural networks (ANN) predicted the performance of elephant foot yam organic system. Use of organically produced seed materials, seed treatment in cow-dung, neem cake, bio-inoculant slurry, farmyard manure incubated with bio-inoculants, green manuring, use of neem cake, bio-fertilizers and ash formed the strategies for organic production. Organic farming is an eco-friendly management strategy that enables 10-20% higher yield, quality tubers and maintenance of soil health in tuber crops.

Keywords: eco-agriculture, quality, root crops, healthy soil, yield

Procedia PDF Downloads 335

Authors: Kasun P. Wijayaratna, Lauren Gardner, Taha Hossein Rashidi

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Undergraduate students entering university across the last 2 to 3 years tend to be born during the middle years of the 1990s. This generation of students has been exposed to the internet and the desire and dependency on technology since childhood. Brains develop based on environmental influences and technology has wired this generation of student to be attuned to sophisticated complex visual imagery, indicating visual forms of learning may be more effective than the traditional lecture or discussion formats. Furthermore, post-millennials perspectives on career are not focused solely on stability and income but are strongly driven by interest, entrepreneurship and innovation. Accordingly, it is important for educators to acknowledge the generational shift and tailor the delivery of learning material to meet the expectations of the students and the needs of industry. In the context of transport engineering, effectively teaching undergraduate students the basic principles of transport planning, traffic engineering and highway design is fundamental to the progression of the profession from a practice and research perspective. Recent developments in technology have transformed the discipline as practitioners and researchers move away from the traditional “pen and paper” approach to methods involving the use of computer programs and simulation. Further, enhanced accessibility of technology for students has changed the way they understand and learn material being delivered at tertiary education institutions. As a consequence, blended learning approaches, which aim to integrate face to face teaching with flexible self-paced learning resources, have become prevalent to provide scalable education that satisfies the expectations of students. This research study involved the development of a series of ‘Blended Learning’ initiatives implemented within an introductory transport planning and geometric design course, CVEN2401: Sustainable Transport and Highway Engineering, taught at the University of New South Wales, Australia. CVEN2401 was modified by conducting interactive polling exercises during lectures, including weekly online quizzes, offering a series of supplementary learning videos, and implementing a realistic design project that students needed to complete using modelling software that is widely used in practice. These activities and resources were aimed to improve the learning environment for a large class size in excess of 450 students and to ensure that practical industry valued skills were introduced. The case study compared the 2016 and 2017 student cohorts based on their performance across assessment tasks as well as their reception to the material revealed through student feedback surveys. The initiatives were well received with a number of students commenting on the ability to complete self-paced learning and an appreciation of the exposure to a realistic design project. From an educator’s perspective, blending the course made it feasible to interact and engage with students. Personalised learning opportunities were made available whilst delivering a considerable volume of complex content essential for all undergraduate Civil and Environmental Engineering students. Overall, this case study highlights the value of blended learning initiatives, especially in the context of large class size university courses.

Keywords: blended learning, highway design, teaching, transport planning

Procedia PDF Downloads 149

Authors: László Schmidt

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In the context of artificial intelligence, we need to pay primary and particular attention to ethical principles not only in the design process but also during the application process. According to the European Commission's Ethical Guidelines, AI must have three main characteristics: it must be legal, ethical and stabil. We must never lose sight of the ethical principles because we risk that this new technology will not help democratic decision-making under the rule of law, but will, on the contrary, destroy it. The rapid spread and use of artificial intelligence poses an enormous challenge to both lawmaking and law enforcement. On legislation because AI permeates many areas of our daily lives that the legislator must regulate. We can see how challenging it is to regulate e.g., selfdriving cars/taxis/vans etc. Not to mention, more recently, cryptocurrencies and Chat GPT, the use of which also requires legislative intervention, from copyright to scientific use and even law of succession. Artificial intelligence also poses an extraordinary challenge to law enforcement. In criminal cases, police and prosecutors can make great use of AI in investigations, e.g. in forensics, DNA samples, reconstruction, identification, etc. But it can also be of great help in the detection of crimes committed in cyberspace. In criminal or civil court proceedings, AI can also play a major role in the evaluation of evidence and proof. For example, a photo or video or audio recording could be immediately revealed as genuine or fake. Likewise, the authenticity or falsification of a document could be determined much more quickly and cheaply than with current procedure (expert witnesses). Neither the current Hungarian Civil Procedure Act nor the Criminal Procedure Act allows the use of artificial intelligence in the evidentiary process. However, this should be changed. To use this technology in court proceedings would be very useful. The procedures would be faster, simpler, and therefore cheaper. Artificial intelligence could also replace much of the work of expert witnesses. Its introduction into judicial procedures would certainly be justified, but with due respect for human rights, the right to a fair trial and other democratic and rule of law guarantees.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, judiciary, Hungarian, court practice

Procedia PDF Downloads 79

Authors: Bo Ning Lyu

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Blog assisted language learning (BALL) has been trialed by educators in language teaching with the development of Web 2.0 technology. Understanding the development trend of related research helps grasp the whole picture of the use of blog in language education. This paper reviews current research related to blogs enhanced language learning based on bibliometric analysis, aiming at (1) identifying the most frequently used keywords and their co-occurrence, (2) clustering research topics based on co-citation analysis, (3) finding the most frequently cited studies and authors and (4) constructing the co-authorship network. 330 articles were searched out in Web of Science, 225 peer-viewed journal papers were finally collected according to selection criteria. Bibexcel and VOSviewer were used to visualize the results. Studies reviewed were published between 2005 to 2016, most in the year of 2014 and 2015 (35 papers respectively). The top 10 most frequently appeared keywords are learning, language, blog, teaching, writing, social, web 2.0, technology, English, communication. 8 research themes could be clustered by co-citation analysis: blogging for collaborative learning, blogging for writing skills, blogging in higher education, feedback via blogs, blogging for self-regulated learning, implementation of using blogs in classroom, comparative studies and audio/video blogs. Early studies focused on the introduction of the classroom implementation while recent studies moved to the audio/video blogs from their traditional usage. By reviewing the research related to BALL quantitatively and objectively, this paper reveals the evolution and development trends as well as identifies influential research, helping researchers and educators quickly grasp this field overall and conducting further studies.

Keywords: blog, bibliometric analysis, language learning, literature review

Procedia PDF Downloads 210

Authors: Ezekiel Ejiofor Nnadi

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Nigeria construction industry is known for its active construction activities. This has earmarked the industry to be the key to economic growth of the nation. It has largest employer of labour and gives sustenance to other industries like manufacturing industry. While this is a sign of growth and prosperity; the waste generated by the industry has always been a problem and a serious concern. It results in wastage of economic gain and has resultant health effect on the populace apart from injury being sustained on sites. This work provides a platform to learn more about construction waste, its management strategy and how to reduce waste production in Nigeria construction industry. Construction sites, waste management authority and public health institutions in Lagos as the centre of most construction activities in Nigeria were selected, and a set of questionnaire was administered to using the systematic sampling technique. Descriptive statistics and relative importance index (RII) technique were employed for the analysis of the data gathered. The findings of the analysis show that excessive wastes reduce contractors’ profit margin and also that some construction wastes contain hazardous and toxic elements such as lead, asbestos or radioactive materials which required proper handling and effective disposal. The conclusion was drawn that the check on waste on construction sites starts with the designers to the contractors who execute on site.

Keywords: construction cost, construction industry, economic growth, materials wastes

Procedia PDF Downloads 273

Authors: Mustofa Mahmud Al Mamun

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Government spending, one of the major components of gross domestic product (GDP), is composed of government consumption, investment, and transfer payments. A change in government spending during recessionary periods can generate an increase in GDP greater than the increase in spending. This is called the "multiplier effect". Accurate estimation of government spending multiplier is important because fiscal policy has been used to stimulate a flagging economy. Many recent studies have focused on identifying parts of the economy that responds more to a stimulus under a variety of circumstances. This paper used the US dataset from 1966 to 2020 and local projection method assuming standard identification strategy to estimate the multipliers. The model includes important macroaggregates and controls for forecasted government spending, interest rate, consumer price index (CPI), export, import, and level of public debt. Investment multipliers are found to be positive and larger than the consumption multipliers. Consumption multipliers are either negative or not significantly different than zero. Results do not vary across the business cycle. However, the consumption multiplier estimated from pre-1980 data is positive.

Keywords: business cycle, consumption multipliers, forecasted government spending, investment multipliers, local projection method, zero lower bound

Procedia PDF Downloads 232