Search results for: nonprofit organizations-national data maturity index (NDI)

Authors: Feng Yang

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Machine learning (ML), especially deep learning (DL), has been extensively applied to many applications in recently years and gained great success in solving different problems, including scientific problems. However, conventional ML/DL methodologies are purely data-driven which have the limitations, such as need of ample amount of labelled training data, lack of consistency to physical principles, and lack of generalizability to new problems/domains. Recently, there is a growing consensus that ML models need to further take advantage of prior knowledge to deal with these limitations. Physics-informed machine learning, aiming at integration of physics/domain knowledge into ML, has been recognized as an emerging area of research, especially in the recent 2 to 3 years. In this work, physics-informed ML, specifically physics-informed neural network (NN), is employed and implemented to estimate the displacements at x, y, z directions in a solid mechanics problem that is controlled by equilibrium equations with boundary conditions. By incorporating the physics (i.e. the equilibrium equations) into the learning process of NN, it is showed that the NN can be trained very efficiently with a small set of labelled training data. Experiments with different settings of the NN model and the amount of labelled training data were conducted, and the results show that very high accuracy can be achieved in fulfilling the equilibrium equations as well as in predicting the displacements, e.g. in setting the overall displacement of 0.1, a root mean square error (RMSE) of 2.09 × 10−4 was achieved.

Keywords: deep learning, neural network, physics-informed machine learning, solid mechanics

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Authors: Bonaventure Naab Dery, Abdul Muntaka Samad

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During the past two decades, huge population growth has been recorded in developing countries. Thisled to an increase in the demand for transport services for human and merchandises. The study sought to examine the effect of freight transport intensity on firm performance. Among others, this study sought to examine the link between freight transport intensity and firm performance; the link between operational capability and firm performance, and the mediating role of operational capability on the relationship between freight transport intensity and firm performance. The study used a descriptive research design and a quantitative research approach. Questionnaireswereusedfor the data collection through snowball sampling and purposive sampling. SPSS and Mplus are being used to analyze the data. It is anticipated that, when the data is analyzed, it would validate the hypotheses that have been proposed by the researchers. Base on the findings, relevant recommendations would be made for managerial implications and future studies.

Keywords: freight transport intensity, freight economy transport intensity, freight efficiency transport intensity, operational capability, firm performance

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Authors: Jonathan Nash, Allen Hartt, Catherine Plante

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In many nations, community colleges, or similar institutions, play a crucial role in higher education. For example, in the United States more than half of all undergraduate students enroll in a community college at some point during their academic career. Similar statistics have been reported for Australia and Canada. Recognizing the important role these institutions play in educating future accountants, the American Accounting Association has called for research that contributes to a better understanding of these members of the academic community. Although previous literature has shown that community colleges and 4-year institutions differ on many levels, the extant literature has provided data on the characteristics of introductory accounting courses for four-year institutions but not for community colleges. We fill a void in the literature by providing data on the characteristics of introductory accounting courses offered by community colleges in the United States. Data are collected on several dimensions including: course size and staffing, pedagogical orientation, standardization of course elements, textbook selection, and use of technology-based course management tools. Many of these dimensions have been used in previous research examining four-year institutions thereby facilitating comparisons. The resulting data should be of interest to instructors, regulators and administrators, researchers, and the accounting profession. The data provide information on the introductory accounting courses completed by the average community college student which can help instructors identify areas where transfer students’ experiences might differ from their contemporaries at four-year colleges. Regulators and administrators may be interested in the differences between accounting courses offered by two- and four-year institutions when implementing standardized transfer programs. Researchers might use the data to motivate future research into whether differences between two- and four-year institutions affect outcomes like the probability of students choosing to major in accounting and their performance within the major. Accounting professionals may use our findings as a springboard for facilitating discussions related to the accounting labor supply.

Keywords: Accounting curricula, Community college, Descriptive study, Introductory accounting

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Authors: Ladaporn Pithuk

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This study aims to investigate the marketing mixed factors that affecting on expectations about commercial transactions through social networks. The research method will using quantitative research, data was collected by questionnaires to person have experience access to trading over the internet for 400 sample by purposive sampling method. Data was analyzed by descriptive statistic including percentage, mean, standard deviation and using quality function deployment for hypothesis testing. Finding the most significant interrelationship between marketing mixed factors and commercial transactions expectations through social networks are product and place the relationship of five ties product and place (location) is involved in almost all will make the site a model that meets the needs of the user visit. In terms of price, the promotion, privacy, personalization and providing a process technical. This will make operations more efficient, reduce confusion, duplication, delays in data transmission, including the creation of different elements in products and services.

Keywords: commercial transactions expectations, marketing mixed factors, social networks, consumer behavior

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Authors: Bin Su

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The draft Auckland Unitary Plan outlines the future land used for new housing and businesses with Auckland population growth over the next thirty years. According to Auckland Unitary Plan, over the next 30 years, the population of Auckland is projected to increase by one million, and up to 70% of total new dwellings occur within the existing urban area. Intensification will not only increase the number of median or higher density houses such as terrace house, apartment building, etc. within the existing urban area but also change mean housing design data that can impact building thermal performance under the local climate. Based on mean energy consumption and building design data, and their relationships of a number of Auckland sample houses, this study is to estimate the future mean housing energy consumption associated with the change of mean housing design data and evaluate housing energy efficiency with the Auckland Unitary Plan.

Keywords: Auckland Unitary Plan, building thermal design, housing design, housing energy efficiency

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Authors: Elvira Wahyuni

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This study is a classroom action research. The general objective of this study was to find out students’ speaking ability through teaching English by using video and to find out the effectiveness of using video in teaching English to improve students’ speaking ability. The subjects of this study were 34 of the first-year students of SMAN 12 Pekanbaru who were learning English as a foreign language (EFL). Students were given pre-test before the treatment and post-test after the treatment. Quantitative data was collected by using speaking test requiring the students to respond to the recorded questions. Qualitative data was collected through observation sheets and field notes. The research finding reveals that there is a significant improvement of the students’ speaking ability through the use of video in speaking class. The qualitative data gave a description and additional information about the learning process done by the students. The research findings indicate that the use of video in teaching and learning is good in increasing learning outcome.

Keywords: English teaching, fun learning, speaking ability, video

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Authors: El-Sayed Negim, Ainakulova D. T., Puteri S. M., Khaldun M. Azzam, Bekbayeva L. K., Arpit Goyal, Ganjian E.

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Anticorrosion coatings protect metal surfaces from environmental factors including moisture, oxygen, and gases that caused corrosion to the metal. Various types of anticorrosion coatings are available, with different properties and application methods. Many researchers have been developing methods to prevent corrosion, and epoxy polymers are one of the wide methods due to their excellent adhesion, chemical resistance, and durability. In this study, synthesis reactive dilute based on glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) with each of 2-ethylhexyl acrylate (2-EHA) and butyl acrylate (BuA) to improve the performance of epoxy resin and anticorrosion coating. The copolymers were synthesized with composition ratio (5/5) by bulk polymerization technique using benzoyl peroxide as a catalyst and temperature at 85 oC for 2 hours and at 90 oC for 30 minutes to complete the polymerization process. The obtained copolymers were characterized by FTIR, viscosity and thixotropic index. The effect of copolymers as reactive dilute on the physical and mechanical properties of epoxy resin was investigated. Metal plates coated by the modified epoxy resins with different contents of copolymers were tested using alkali and salt test methods, and the copolymer based on GMA and BUA showed the best protection efficiency due to the barrier effect of the polymer layer.

Keywords: epoxy, coating, dilute, corrosion, reactive

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Authors: M. A. Hannan, N. Matthias Neisius

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Organophosphorus compound diethyloxymethyl-9-oxa-10-phosphaphenanthrene-10-oxide (DOPAC) was applied on cotton cellulose to impart eco-friendly flame retardant property to it. Here acetal linkage was introduced rather than conventionally used ester linkage to rescue from the undurability problem of flame retardant compound. Some acidic catalysts, sodium dihydrogen phosphate (NaH2PO4), ammonium dihydrogen phosphate (NH4H2PO4) and phosphoric acid (H3PO4) were successfully used to form acetal linkage between the base material and flame retardant compound. Inspiring limiting oxygen index (LOI) value of 22.4 was found after exclusive washing treatment. A good outcome of total heat of combustion (THC) 6.05 KJ/g was found possible during pyrolysis combustion flow calorimetry (PCFC) test of the treated sample. Low temperature dehydration with sufficient amount of char residue (14.89%) was experienced in case of treated sample. In addition, the temperature of peak heat release rate (TPHRR) 343.061°C supported the expected low temperature pyrolysis in condensed phase mechanism. With the consequence of pyrolysis effects, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) also reported inspiring weight retention% of the treated samples.

Keywords: acetal linkage, char residue, cotton cellulose, flame retardant, loi, low temperature pyrolysis, organophosphorus, THC, THRR

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Authors: Luljeta Gashi, Naser Ramadani, Zana Deva, Dafina Gexha-Bunjaku

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The official HIV/AIDS data in Kosovo are based on HIV case reporting from health-care services, the blood transfusion system and Voluntary Counselling and Testing centres. Between 1986 and 2014, are reported 95 HIV and AIDS cases, of which 49 were AIDS, 46 HIV and 40 deaths. The majority (69%) of cases were men, age group 25 to 34 (37%) and route of transmission is: heterosexual (90%), MSM (7%), vertical transmission (2%) and IDU (1%). Based on existing data and the UNAIDS classification system, Kosovo is currently still categorised as having a low-level HIV epidemic. Even though with a low HIV prevalence, Kosovo faces a number of threatening factors, including increased number of drug users, a stigmatized and discriminated MSM community, high percentage of youth among general population (57% of the population under the age of 25), with changing social norms and especially the sexual ones. Methods: Data collection was done using self administered structured questionnaires amongst 249 high school students. Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Results: The findings revealed that 68% of students know that HIV transmission can be reduced by having sex with only one uninfected partner who has no other partners, 94% know that the risk of getting HIV can be reduced by using a condom every time they have sex, 68% know that a person cannot get HIV from mosquito bites, 81% know that they cannot get HIV by sharing food with someone who is infected and 46% know that a healthy looking person can have HIV. Conclusions: Seventy one percent of high school students correctly identify ways of preventing the sexual transmission of HIV and who reject the major misconceptions about HIV transmission. The findings of the study indicate a need for more health education and promotion.

Keywords: Kosovo, KPAR, HIV, high school

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Authors: Ofra Walter Btel Liran Hazan

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This study’s goal was to clarify whether psychological capital (PsyCap) mediated the relations between social support and subjective well-being among post-secondary students during the Covid-19 pandemic and to assess whether students diagnosed with a learning disability (LD) and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) differed from others in their reliance on social support and their level of PsyCap and subjective wellbeing. Participants were257 students, 152 diagnosed with LD/ADHD and the rest neurotypical. The study used four questionnaires: demographic and academic information; Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ); Subjective Well-Being Index; social support questionnaire. The results indicated PsyCapmediated relations between social support and subjective wellbeing. Students diagnosed with LD/ADHD differed from neurotypicals in their PsyCap and subjective wellbeing levels but not in their social support. In addition, the relations between PsyCap and social support were stronger among students diagnosed with LD/ADHD. PsyCap was an important resource for all participants and was related to social support and subjective wellbeing, making it especially valuable for LD/ADHD students facing new and threatening situations, such as the Covid-19 pandemic.

Keywords: LD/ADHD post-secondary students, subjective wellbeing, social support, PsyCap, covid-19

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Authors: Niyi Adegoke, Saanumi Jimmy Omolou

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The prevalence rate of youth involving in cybercrime is alarming, which calls for concern among the government, parents, NGO and religious bodies, hence this paper aims at examining youth involvement in cybercrime in Nigeria. Achievement motivation theory was used to explain the activities of cyber-criminals in Nigerian society. A descriptive survey method was adopted for the study. The sample for the study was one hundred and fifty (150) respondents randomly selected from the population of the study. A questionnaire was used to gather information and data from the respondents. Data collected through the questionnaire were analyzed using percentage tool for the respondents’ bio-data while chi-square was employed to test the hypotheses. Findings from the study have revealed that parental negligence, unemployment, peer influence, and quest for materialism were responsible for cyber-crimes in Nigeria. The study concludes with the following recommendations among which are: creating employment opportunities for the youths and ensure good governance and accountability among other things will go a long way to solve the problem of cybercrime in our society.

Keywords: cybercrime, youth, Nigeria, unemployment, information communication technology

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Authors: Budi Nurani Ruchjana, Atje Setiawan Abdullah, I. Gede Nyoman Mindra Jaya, Eddy Hermawan

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In this paper, we propose the application package to estimate parameters of spatiotemporal model based on the multivariate time series analysis using the R open-source software. We build packages mainly to estimate the parameters of the Generalized Space Time Autoregressive (GSTAR) model. GSTAR is a combination of time series and spatial models that have parameters vary per location. We use the method of Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and use the Mean Average Percentage Error (MAPE) to fit the model to spatiotemporal real phenomenon. For case study, we use oil production data from volcanic layer at Jatibarang Indonesia or climate data such as rainfall in Indonesia. Software R is very user-friendly and it is making calculation easier, processing the data is accurate and faster. Limitations R script for the estimation of model parameters spatiotemporal GSTAR built is still limited to a stationary time series model. Therefore, the R program under windows can be developed either for theoretical studies and application.

Keywords: GSTAR Model, MAPE, OLS method, oil production, R software

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Authors: Oxana Lukoshus

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The methods of corpus linguistics, a well-established field of research, are being increasingly applied in cognitive linguistics. Corpora data are especially useful for different quantitative studies of grammatical and other aspects of language. The main objective of this paper is to demonstrate how present-day corpora can be applied in semantic studies in general and in semantic studies of adjectives in particular. Polysemantic adjectives have been the subject of numerous studies. But most of them have been carried out on dictionaries. Undoubtedly, dictionaries are viewed as one of the basic data sources, but only at the initial steps of a research. The author usually starts with the analysis of the lexicographic data after which s/he comes up with a hypothesis. In the research conducted three polysemantic synonyms true, loyal, faithful have been analyzed in terms of differences and similarities in their semantic structure. A corpus-based approach in the study of the above-mentioned adjectives involves the following. After the analysis of the dictionary data there was the reference to the following corpora to study the distributional patterns of the words under study – the British National Corpus (BNC) and the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA). These corpora are continually updated and contain thousands of examples of the words under research which make them a useful and convenient data source. For the purpose of this study there were no special needs regarding genre, mode or time of the texts included in the corpora. Out of the range of possibilities offered by corpus-analysis software (e.g. word lists, statistics of word frequencies, etc.), the most useful tool for the semantic analysis was the extracting a list of co-occurrence for the given search words. Searching by lemmas, e.g. true, true to, and grouping the results by lemmas have proved to be the most efficient corpora feature for the adjectives under the study. Following the search process, the corpora provided a list of co-occurrences, which were then to be analyzed and classified. Not every co-occurrence was relevant for the analysis. For example, the phrases like An enormous sense of responsibility to protect the minds and hearts of the faithful from incursions by the state was perceived to be the basic duty of the church leaders or ‘True,’ said Phoebe, ‘but I'd probably get to be a Union Official immediately were left out as in the first example the faithful is a substantivized adjective and in the second example true is used alone with no other parts of speech. The subsequent analysis of the corpora data gave the grounds for the distribution groups of the adjectives under the study which were then investigated with the help of a semantic experiment. To sum it up, the corpora-based approach has proved to be a powerful, reliable and convenient tool to get the data for the further semantic study.

Keywords: corpora, corpus-based approach, polysemantic adjectives, semantic studies

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Authors: Seung-Jun Yu, Young-Min Ko, Hyoung-Kyu Song

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Recently developed cooperative diversity scheme enables a terminal to get transmit diversity through the support of other terminals. However, most of the introduced cooperative schemes have a common fault of decreased transmission rate because the destination should receive the decodable compositions of symbols from the source and the relay. In order to achieve high data rate, we propose a cooperative scheme that employs hierarchical modulation. This scheme is free from the rate loss and allows seamless cooperative communication.

Keywords: cooperative communication, hierarchical modulation, high data rate, transmission scheme

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Authors: Abiodun Ayodele Sanyaolu

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The research was carried out to investigate the time series analysis on quarterly production of fruit juice at the National Horticultural Research Institute Ibadan from 2010 to 2018. Documentary method of data collection was used, and the method of least square and moving average were used in the analysis. From the calculation and the graph, it was glaring that there was increase, decrease, and uniform movements in both the graph of the original data and the tabulated quarter values of the original data. Time series analysis was used to detect the trend in the highest number of fruit juice and it appears to be good over a period of time and the methods used to forecast are additive and multiplicative models. Since it was observed that the production of fruit juice is usually high in January of every year, it is strongly advised that National Horticultural Research Institute should make more provision for fruit juice storage outside this period of the year.

Keywords: fruit juice, least square, multiplicative models, time series

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Authors: M. Celeska, K. Najdenkoski, V. Dimchev, V. Stoilkov

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Accurate determination of wind turbine performance is necessary for economic operation of a wind farm. At present, the procedure to carry out the power performance verification of wind turbines is based on a standard of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). In this paper, nonparametric statistical inference is applied to designing a simple, inexpensive method of verifying the power performance of a wind turbine. A statistical test is explained, examined, and the adequacy is tested over real data. The methods use the information that is collected by the SCADA system (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) from the sensors embedded in the wind turbines in order to carry out the power performance verification of a wind farm. The study has used data on the monthly output of wind farm in the Republic of Macedonia, and the time measuring interval was from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2016. At the end, it is concluded whether the power performance of a wind turbine differed significantly from what would be expected. The results of the implementation of the proposed methods showed that the power performance of the specific wind farm under assessment was acceptable.

Keywords: canonical correlation analysis, power curve, power performance, wind energy

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Authors: Naser Alenezi, Ibrahim Alsakkaf, Osama Eid

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The main objective of this study is to develop an independent reliability based code for reinforced concrete (R/C) structural components and elements solely for the State of Kuwait and its neighboring countries. The proposed code will take into account the harsh Kuwait’s harsh environment, loading conditions and material strengths. The method for developing such a code is based on structural reliability theory that takes into accounts the specific geographical and the various prescribed societal environment of the Kuwait region. These methods were developed according to the following four components: (1) loads, (2) structural strength, (3) reliability analysis, and (4) achieving target reliability levels (reliability index ’s ). The final product from this study will be a design code for R/C structural elements that include beams and columns, and some other structural members. This reliability-based LRFD design code will provide appropriate, easy, fast, and economical approach for designing R/C structural elements such as, beams and columns, for both houses and bridges, and other concrete structures. In addition, this reliability-based codified design of R/C beams, columns, and, possibly, concrete slabs will improve the design and serviceability of R/C bridge and building systems in Kuwait and neighboring GCC countries. Also, it has the potential to reduce the cost of new concrete structures, as fewer materials are used with more design efficiency.

Keywords: live laod, design, evaluation, structural building

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Authors: Fathi Soliman

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With the ultimate goal of developing the separation of n-paraffin as phase change material (PCM) by means of molecular dynamic simulations, we attempt to predict the solubility of aromatic n-paraffin in two organic solvents: Butyl Acetate (BA) and Methyl Iso Butyl Ketone (MIBK). A simple model of aromatic paraffin: 2-hexadecylantharacene with amorphous molecular structure and periodic boundary conditions was constructed. The results showed that MIBK is the best solvent to separate ultra-pure phase change materials and this data was compatible with experimental data done to separate ultra-pure n-paraffin from waste petroleum aromatic paraffin wax, the separated n-paraffin was characterized by XRD, TGA, GC and DSC, moreover; data revealed that the n-paraffin separated by using MIBK is better as PCM than that separated using BA.

Keywords: molecular dynamics simulation, n-paraffin, organic solvents, phase change materials, solvent extraction

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Authors: Triano Nurhikmat

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Along with the progress of science and technology, the development of the industrialized world in Indonesia took place very rapidly. This leads to a process of industrialization of society Indonesia faster with the establishment of the company and the workplace are diverse. Development of the industry relates to the activity of the worker. Where in these work activities do not cover the possibility of an impending crash on either the workers or on a construction project. The cause of the occurrence of industrial accidents was the fault of electrical damage, work procedures, and error technique. The method of an association rule is one of the main techniques in data mining and is the most common form used in finding the patterns of data collection. In this research would like to know how relations of the association between the incidence of any industrial accidents. Therefore, by using methods of analysis association rule patterns associated with combination obtained two iterations item set (2 large item set) when every factor of industrial accidents with a West Jakarta so industrial accidents caused by the occurrence of an electrical value damage = 0.2 support and confidence value = 1, and the reverse pattern with value = 0.2 support and confidence = 0.75.

Keywords: association rule, data mining, industrial accidents, rules

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Authors: Shirin Jalili, Hadi Shirzad, Samaneh Nabavi, Somayeh Khanjani

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Forensic entomology is the science of study and analysis of insects evidences to aid in criminal investigation. Being aware of the distribution, biology, ecology and behavior of insects, which are founded at crime scene can provide information about when, where and how the crime has been committed. It has many application in criminal investigations. Its main use is estimation of the minimum time after death in suspicious death. The close association between insects and corpses and the use of insects in criminal investigations is the subject of forensic entomology. Because insects attack to the decomposing corpse and spawning on it from the initial stages. Forensic scientists can estimate the postmortem index by studying the insects population and the developing larval stages.In addition, toxicological and molecular studies of these insects can reveal the cause of death or even the identity of a victim. It also be used to detect drugs and poisons, and determination of incident location. Gathering robust entomological evidences is made possible for experts by recent Techniques. They can provide vital information about death, corpse movement or burial, submersion interval, time of decapitation, identification of specific sites of trauma, post-mortem artefacts on the body, use of drugs, linking a suspect to the scene of a crime, sexual molestations and the identification of suspects.

Keywords: Forensic entomology, post mortem interval, insects, larvae

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Authors: Salam Alzubaidi, G. Fantoni, F. Failli, M. Frosolini

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The dynamic facility layout problem is a really critical issue in the competitive industrial market; thus, solving this problem requires robust design and effective simulation systems. The sustainable simulation requires inputting reliable and accurate data into the system. So this paper describes an automated system integrated into the real environment to measure the duration of the material handling operations, collect the data in real-time, and determine the variances between the actual and estimated time schedule of the operations in order to update the simulation software and redesign the facility layout periodically. The automated method- time measurement system collects the real data through using Radio Frequency-Identification (RFID) and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. Hence, attaching RFID- antenna reader and RFID tags enables the system to identify the location of the objects and gathering the time data. The real duration gathered will be manipulated by calculating the moving average duration of the material handling operations, choosing the shortest material handling path, and then updating the simulation software to redesign the facility layout accommodating with the shortest/real operation schedule. The periodic simulation in real-time is more sustainable and reliable than the simulation system relying on an analysis of historical data. The case study of this methodology is in cooperation with a workshop team for producing mechanical parts. Although there are some technical limitations, this methodology is promising, and it can be significantly useful in the redesigning of the manufacturing layout.

Keywords: dynamic facility layout problem, internet of things, method time measurement, radio frequency identification, simulation

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Authors: Francois Brambati, Daniele Ruscio, Federica Biassoni, Rebecca Hueting, Alessandra Tedeschi

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This research, in the frame of social acceptance of renewable energies and community-based production and consumption models, aims at (1) supporting a data-driven approachable to dealing with climate change and (2) identifying & quantifying the psycho-sociological dimensions and factors that could support the transition from a technology-driven approach to a consumer-driven approach throughout the emerging “prosumer business models.” In addition to the existing Social Acceptance dimensions, this research tries to identify a purely individual psychological fourth dimension to understand processes and factors underling individual acceptance and adoption of renewable energy business models, realizing a Prosumer Acceptance Index. Questionnaire data collection has been performed throughout an online survey platform, combining standardized and ad-hoc questions adapted for the research purposes. To identify the main factors (individual/social) influencing the relation with renewable energy technology (RET) adoption, a Factorial Analysis has been conducted to identify the latent variables that are related to each other, revealing 5 latent psychological factors: Factor 1. Concern about environmental issues: global environmental issues awareness, strong beliefs and pro-environmental attitudes rising concern on environmental issues. Factor 2. Interest in energy sharing: attentiveness to solutions for local community’s collective consumption, to reduce individual environmental impact, sustainably improve the local community, and sell extra energy to the general electricity grid. Factor 3. Concern on climate change: environmental issues consequences on climate change awareness, especially on a global scale level, developing pro-environmental attitudes on global climate change course and sensitivity about behaviours aimed at mitigating such human impact. Factor 4. Social influence: social support seeking from peers. With RET, advice from significant others is looked for internalizing common perceived social norms of the national/geographical region. Factor 5. Impact on bill cost: inclination to adopt a RET when economic incentives from the behaviour perception affect the decision-making process could result in less expensive or unvaried bills. Linear regression has been conducted to identify and quantify the factors that could better predict behavioural intention to become a prosumer. An overall scale measuring “acceptance of a renewable energy solution” was used as the dependent variable, allowing us to quantify the five factors that contribute to measuring: awareness of environmental issues and climate change; environmental attitudes; social influence; and environmental risk perception. Three variables can significantly measure and predict the scores of the “Acceptance in becoming a prosumer” ad hoc scale. Variable 1. Attitude: the agreement to specific environmental issues and global climate change issues of concerns and evaluations towards a behavioural intention. Variable 2. Economic incentive: the perceived behavioural control and its related environmental risk perception, in terms of perceived short-term benefits and long-term costs, both part of the decision-making process as expected outcomes of the behaviour itself. Variable 3. Age: despite fewer economic possibilities, younger adults seem to be more sensitive to environmental dimensions and issues as opposed to older adults. This research can facilitate policymakers and relevant stakeholders to better understand which relevant psycho-sociological factors are intervening in these processes and what and how specifically target when proposing change towards sustainable energy production and consumption.

Keywords: behavioural intention, environmental risk perception, prosumer, renewable energy technology, social acceptance

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Authors: Fatma Tezel Sahin, Zeynep Nur Aydin Kilic, Aysegul Akinci Cosgun

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Family involvement activities are a significant place in increasing the success in preschool education and maintaining the education. It is necessary that both of the parents be in the family involvement activities. However, while mother involvement is obtained in the family involvement activities, father involvement is neglected. For that reason, the current study aims at determining the views of teachers with regard to father involvement in the preschool education programs. The working group of the study consisted of 23 preschool teachers. The study is a descriptive survey. The data were obtained through individual interviews. As a data collection instrument, “Teacher Interview Form” was used. The data were analysed through content analysis method. The data regarding the views of the teachers were given as frequency and percentage values. At the end of the research, a great majority of the teachers stated that they were proficient in applying family involvement studies. They also pointed out that they held more family meetings in order to obtain family involvement and then they implemented involvement activities both in the class and out of the class for parents. They expressed that they observed more mother involvement in these activities that fathers. Parents expressed that the reasons why fathers involved in these activities less compared to mothers were the working conditions of fathers and that it was regarded as a task of mothers. Depending on the results of the research, it is likely to recommend that fathers should be informed about the involvement in family activities and that some applications and opportunities should be supplied for the fathers in preschool education institutions in order to encourage them.

Keywords: preschool education, parent involvement, father involvement, teacher views

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Authors: Perpetual Nwakaego Ibe

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The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), were an integrated project formed to eradicate many unnatural situations the citizens of the third world country may found themselves in. The MDGs, to be a sustainable project for the future depends 100% on the actions of governments, multilateral institutions and civil society. This paper first looks at the political views on the MDGs and relates it to the current electoral situations around the country by underlining the drastic changes over the few months. The second part of the paper presents ICT in tertiary institutions as one of the solutions in terms of the success of the MDGs. ICT is vital in all phases of educational process and development of the cloud connectivity is an added advantage of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for sharing a common data bank for research purposes among UNICEF, RED CROSS, NPS, INEC, NMIC, and WHO. Finally, the paper concludes with areas that needs twigging and recommendations for the tertiary institutions committed to delivering an ambitious set of goals. A combination of observation, and document materials for data gathering was employed as the methodology for carrying out this research.

Keywords: MDG, ICT, data bank, database

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Authors: Sayeeda Laeque Bangi

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Objectives: Treating white spot lesions (WSL) to create a sound and esthetically pleasing enamel surface is a question yet to be fully answered. The objective of this randomized controlled trial was to measure and compare the degree of regression of WSL during orthodontic treatment achieved by using three commercially available materials. Methods: A single-blinded randomized prospective clinical trial, comprising 80 patients categorized into four groups (one control group and three experimental groups, with 20 subjects per group) using block randomization, was conducted. Group A (control group): Colgate strong toothpaste; and experiments groups were Group B: GC tooth mousse, Group C: Phos-Flur mouthwash and Group D: SHY-NM. Subjects were instructed to use the designated dentifrice/mouthwash and photographs were taken at baseline, third and sixth months, and white spot lesions were reassessed in the maxillomandibular anterior teeth. Results: All the three groups had shown an improvement in WSL. But Group B has shown the greatest difference in mean values of decalcification index (DI) scores. Conclusion: All three commercially available products showed a regression of WSL over a 6-month duration. GC tooth mousse proved to be the most effective means of treating WSL over other regimens.

Keywords: white spot lesions, dentifrices, orthodontic therapy, remineralization

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Authors: Averalda van Graan, Joelaine Chetty, Malory Links, Agness Mwangwela, Sitilitha Masangwi, Dalitso Chimwala, Shiban Ghosh, Elizabeth Marino-Costello

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Food composition data is becoming increasingly important as dealing with food insecurity and malnutrition in its persistent form of under-nutrition is now coupled with increasing over-nutrition and its related ailments in the developing world, of which Malawi is not spared. In the absence of a food composition database (FCDB) inherent to our dietary patterns, efforts were made to develop a country-specific FCDB for nutrition practice, research, and programming. The main objective was to develop a multi-user, country-specific food composition database, and table from existing published and unpublished scientific literature. A multi-phased approach guided by the project framework was employed. Phase 1 comprised a scoping mission to assess the nutrition landscape for compilation activities. Phase 2 involved training of a compiler and data collection from various sources, primarily; institutional libraries, online databases, and food industry nutrient data. Phase 3 subsumed evaluation and compilation of data using FAO and IN FOODS standards and guidelines. Phase 4 concluded the process with quality assurance. 316 Malawian food items categorized into eight food groups for 42 components were captured. The majority were from the baby food group (27%), followed by a staple (22%) and animal (22%) food group. Fats and oils consisted the least number of food items (2%), followed by fruits (6%). Proximate values are well represented; however, the percent missing data is huge for some components, including Se 68%, I 75%, Vitamin A 42%, and lipid profile; saturated fat 53%, mono-saturated fat 59%, poly-saturated fat 59% and cholesterol 56%. A multi-phased approach following the project framework led to the development of the first Malawian FCDB and table. The table reflects inherent Malawian dietary patterns and nutritional concerns. The FCDB can be used by various professionals in nutrition and health. Rising over-nutrition, NCD, and changing diets challenge us for nutrient profiles of processed foods and complete lipid profiles.

Keywords: analytical data, dietary pattern, food composition data, multi-phased approach

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Authors: Sultan Ghaleb Aldaihani

Abstract:

- The environment in which educational leadership takes place is becoming increasingly complex due to factors like globalization and rapid technological change. - This is creating a "leadership gap" where the complexity of the environment outpaces the ability of leaders to effectively respond. - Educational leadership involves guiding teachers and the broader school system towards improved student learning and achievement. 2. Implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Educational Leadership: - AI has great potential to enhance education, such as through intelligent tutoring systems and automating routine tasks to free up teachers. - AI can also have significant implications for educational leadership by providing better information and data-driven decision-making capabilities. - Computer-adaptive testing can provide detailed, individualized data on student learning that leaders can use for instructional decisions and accountability. 3. Enhancing Decision-Making Processes: - Statistical models and data mining techniques can help identify at-risk students earlier, allowing for targeted interventions. - Probability-based models can diagnose students likely to drop out, enabling proactive support. - These data-driven approaches can make resource allocation and decision-making more effective. 4. Improving Efficiency and Productivity: - AI systems can automate tasks and change processes to improve the efficiency of educational leadership and administration. - Integrating AI can free up leaders to focus more on their role's human, interactive elements.

Keywords: Education, Leadership, Technology, Artificial Intelligence

Procedia PDF Downloads 43

Authors: Nini Johana Marin Rodriguez

Abstract:

This paper applies DCC, EWMA and OGARCH models to compare the dynamic correlations between exchange rates, oil prices, exchange rates and stock markets to examine the time-varying conditional correlations to the daily oil prices and index returns in relation to the US dollar/local currency for developed (Canada and Mexico) and emerging Latin American markets (Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru). Changes in correlation interactions are indicative of structural changes in market linkages with implications to contagion and interdependence. For each pair of stock price-exchange rate and oil price-US dollar/local currency, empirical evidence confirms of a strengthening negative correlation in the last decade. Methodologies suggest only two events have significatively impact in the countries analyzed: global financial crisis and Europe crisis, both events are associated with shifts of correlations to stronger negative level for most of the pairs analyzed. While, the first event has a shifting effect on mainly emerging members, the latter affects developed members. The identification of these relationships provides benefits in risk diversification and inflation targeting.

Keywords: crude oil, dynamic conditional correlation, exchange rates, interdependence, stock prices

Procedia PDF Downloads 307

Authors: Mary L. G. S. Senna, Afonso R. Aquino

Abstract:

The development of tourism causes negative impacts on the environment. It is in this context, through the Ecological Footprint (EF) method that this study aimed to characterize the impacts of ecotourism on the community of Mateiros, Jalapão, Brazil. The EF, which consisted in its original a method to construct a land use matrix, considering some major categories of human consumption such as food, housing, transportation, consumer goods and services, and six other categories from the main land use which are divided into the topics: land use, degraded environment, gardens, fertile land, pasture and forests protected by the government. The main objective of this index is to calculate the land area required for the production and maintenance of goods and services consumed by a community. The field research was conducted throughout the year of 2014 until July 2015. After the calculations of each category, these components were added according to the presented method in order to determine the annual EF of the tourism sector in Mateiros. The results show that the EF resulting from tourism in Mateiros is 2,194.22 hectares of land required for tourism activities in the region. The EF of tourism was considered high, nevertheless, if it is added the total of hectares needed annually for tourism activities, the result found would be 2,194.22 hectares needed to absorb the CO₂ emissions generated in the region directly from the tourism sector.

Keywords: sustainable tourism, tourism ecological footprint, Jalapão/TO/Brazil

Procedia PDF Downloads 327

Authors: Riktesh Srivastava

Abstract:

Online Shopping have established an astonishing evolution in the last few years. And it is now apparent that B2C architecture is becoming progressively imperative channel for even traditional brick and mortar type traders as well. In this completion knowing customers and predicting behavior are extremely important. More important, when any customer logs onto the B2C architecture, the traces of their buying patterns can be stored and used for future predictions. Such a prediction is called Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). Earlier, we used Net Present Value to do so, however, it ignores two important aspects of B2C architecture, “market risks” and “big amount of customer data”. Now, we use RFM- Recency, Frequency and Monetary Value to estimate the CLV, and as the term exemplifies, market risks, is well sheltered. Big Data Analysis is also roofed in RFM, which gives real exploration of the Big Data and lead to a better estimation for future cash flow from customers. In the present paper, 6 factors (collected from varied sources) are used to determine as to what attracts the customers to the B2C architecture. For these 6 factors, RFM is computed for 3 years (2013, 2014 and 2015) respectively. CLV and Revenue are the two parameters defined using RFM analysis, which gives the clear picture of the future predictions.

Keywords: CLV, RFM, revenue, recency, frequency, monetary value

Procedia PDF Downloads 220