Search results for: adjustment orders

Authors: Gubiani Rino, Nicola Zucchiatti, Da Broi Ugo, Bietresato Marco

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The problem of vibrations in agriculture is very important due to the different types of machinery used for the different types of soil in which work is carried out. One of the most commonly used machines is the tractor, where the phenomenon has been studied for a long time by measuring the whole body and placing the sensor on the seat. However, this measurement system does not take into account the characteristics of the drivers, such as their body index (BMI), their gender (male, female) or the muscle fatigue they are subjected to, which is highly dependent on their age for example. The aim of the research was therefore to place sensors not only on the seat but along the spinal column to check the transmission of vibration on drivers with different BMI on different tractors and at different travel speeds and of different genders. The test was also done using wearable sensors such as a dynamometer applied to the muscles, the data of which was correlated with the vibrations produced by the tractor. Initial data show that even on new tractors with pneumatic seats, the vibrations attenuate little and are still correlated with the roughness of the track travelled and the forward speed. Another important piece of data are the root-mean square values referred to 8 hours (A(8)x,y,z) and the maximum transient vibration values (MTVVx,y,z) and, the latter, the MTVVz values were problematic (limiting factor in most cases) and always aggravated by the speed. The MTVVx values can be lowered by having a tyre-pressure adjustment system, able to properly adjust the tire pressure according to the specific situation (ground, speed) in which a tractor is operating.

Keywords: fatigue, effect vibration on health, tractor driver vibrations, vibration, muscle skeleton disorders

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Authors: Kalpana Poudel-Tandukar

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Background: Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection has been frequently associated with vitamin D deficiency and depression. Vitamin D deficiency increases the risk of depression in people without HIV. We assessed the cross-sectional and prospective associations between serum concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) and depression in a HIV-positive people. Methods: A survey was conducted among 316 HIV-positive people aged 20-60 years residing in Kathmandu, Nepal for a cross-sectional association at baseline, and among 184 participants without depressive symptoms at baseline who responded to both baseline (2010) and follow-up (2011) surveys for prospective association. The competitive protein-binding assay was used to measure 25(OH)D levels and the Beck Depression Inventory-Ia method was used to measure depression, with cut off score 20 or higher. Relationships were assessed using multiple logistic regression analysis with adjustment of potential confounders. Results: The proportion of participants with 25(OH)D level of <20ng/mL, 20-30ng/mL, and >30ng/mL were 83.2%, 15.5%, and 1.3%, respectively. Only four participants with 25(OH)D level of >30ng/mL were excluded in the further analysis. The mean 25(OH)D level in men and women were 15.0ng/mL and 14.4ng/mL, respectively. Twenty six percent of participants (men:23%; women:29%) were depressed. Participants with 25(OH)D level of < 20 ng/mL had a 1.4 fold higher odds of depression in a cross-sectional and 1.3 fold higher odds of depression after 18 months of baseline compared to those with 25(OH)D level of 20-30ng/mL (p=0.40 and p=0.78, respectively). Conclusion: Vitamin D may not have significant impact against depression among HIV-positive people with 25(OH)D level below normal ( > 30ng/mL).

Keywords: depression, HIV, Nepal, vitamin D

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Authors: Abul Hassan

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Present socio-economic context and women wellbeing in Bangladesh imposes lots of constraints on women’s involvement in income generating activities. Different studies showed that the implementation of World Bank structural adjustment policies have had mixed impacts on women and their wellbeing. By involving poor people specially women in Islamic microfinance programmes in Bangladesh are used as a tool to combat poverty. Women are specifically targeted by Islamic microfinance under the rural development scheme of Islami Bank Bangladesh that provide interest free loan to the women groups. The programme has a multiplier effect since women invest largely in their households. The aim of this research is twofold: firstly, it wanted to confirm or refute a positive link between Islamic microfinance and the socio-economic wellbeing of women in Bangladesh and secondly, to explore the context in which Islamic microfinance programs function in Bangladesh and the way their performance can be improved. Based on structured questionnaires’ survey, this study addressed two research questions: (1) What can be expected from the offer of Islamic microfinance on the welfare of recipients and (2) Under what conditions would such an offer be more beneficial. The main result of this study shows that increase in women’s income and assets played a very important role in enhancing women’s economic independence and sense of self-confidence. An important policy recommendation is that it is necessary to redirect Islamic microfinance towards diversified developmental activities that will contribute to the improvement, in the long run, of the wellbeing of the recipients.

Keywords: business model, Islamic microfinance, women’s wellbeing

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Authors: William L. Whitehouse, Louisa H. Y. Lo, Andrew B. Kinghorn, Simon C. C. Shiu, Julian. A. Tanner

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C-reactive protein (CRP) is an acute-phase reactant and sensitive indicator for sepsis and other life-threatening pathologies, including systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS). Currently, clinical turn-around times for established CRP detection methods take between 30 minutes to hours or even days from centralized laboratories. Here, we report the development of an electrochemical biosensor using redox probe-tagged DNA aptamers functionalized onto cheap, commercially available screen-printed electrodes. Binding-induced conformational switching of the CRP-targeting aptamer induces a specific and selective signal-ON event, which enables single-step and reagentless detection of CRP in as little as 1 minute. The aptasensor dynamic range spans 5-1000nM (R=0.97) or 5-500nM (R=0.99) in 50% diluted human serum, with a LOD of 3nM, corresponding to 2-orders of magnitude sensitivity under the clinically relevant cut-off for CRP. The sensor is stable for up to one week and can be reused numerous times, as judged from repeated real-time dosing and dose-response assays. By decoupling binding events from the signal induction mechanism, structure-switching electrochemical aptamer-based sensors (SS-EABs) provide considerable advantages over their adsorption-based counterparts. Our work expands on the retinue of such sensors reported in the literature and is the first instance of an SS-EAB for reagentless CRP detection. We hope this study can inspire further investigations into the suitability of SS-EABs for diagnostics, which will aid translational R&D toward fully realized devices aimed at point-of-care applications or for use more broadly by the public.

Keywords: structure-switching, C-reactive protein, electrochemical, biosensor, aptasensor.

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Authors: Fu Jia

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The effects of soil-structure interaction (SSI) are often studied using axial-symmetric three-dimensional (3D) models to avoid the high computational cost of the more realistic, fully 3D models, which require 2-3 orders of magnitude more computer time and storage. This paper analyzes the error and presents correction factors for system frequency, system damping, and peak amplitude of structural response computed by axisymmetric models, embedded in uniform or layered half-space. The results are compared with those for fully 3D rectangular foundations of different aspect ratios. Correction factors are presented for a range of the model parameters, such as fixed-base frequency, structure mass, height and length-to-width ratio, foundation embedment, soil-layer stiffness and thickness. It is shown that the errors are larger for stiffer, taller and heavier structures, deeper foundations and deeper soil layer. For example, for a stiff structure like Millikan Library (NS response; length-to-width ratio 1), the error is 6.5% in system frequency, 49% in system damping and 180% in peak amplitude. Analysis of a case study shows that the NEHRP-2015 provisions for reduction of base shear force due to SSI effects may be unsafe for some structures and need revision. The presented correction factor diagrams can be used in practical design and other applications.

Keywords: 3D soil-structure interaction, correction factors for axisymmetric models, length-to-width ratio, NEHRP-2015 provisions for reduction of base shear force, rectangular embedded foundations, SSI system frequency, SSI system damping

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Authors: Saurabh Basu, Sudin Ganguly

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Conductance in graphene nanoribbons (GNR) in presence of magnetic (for example, Iron) and non-magnetic (for example, Gold) adatoms are explored theoretically within a Kane-Mele model for their possible spintronic applications and topologically non-trivial properties. In our work, we have considered the magnetic adatoms to induce a Rashba spin-orbit coupling (RSOC) and an exchange bias field, while the non-magnetic ones induce an RSOC and an intrinsic spin-orbit (SO) coupling. Even though RSOC is present in both, they, however, represent very different physical situations, where the magnetic adatoms do not preserve the time reversal symmetry, while the non-magnetic case does. This has important implications on the topological properties. For example, the non-magnetic adatoms, for moderately strong values of SO, the GNR denotes a quantum spin Hall insulator as evident from a 2e²/h plateau in the longitudinal conductance and presence of distinct conducting edge states with an insulating bulk. Since the edge states are protected by time reversal symmetry, the magnetic adatoms in GNR yield trivial insulators and do not possess any non-trivial topological property. However, they have greater utility than the non-magnetic adatoms from the point of view of spintronic applications. Owing to the broken spatial symmetry induced by the presence of adatoms of either type, all the x, y and z components of the spin-polarized conductance become non-zero (only the y-component survives in pristine Graphene owing to a mirror symmetry present there) and hence become suitable for spintronic applications. However, the values of the spin polarized conductances are at least two orders of magnitude larger in the case of magnetic adatoms than their non-magnetic counterpart, thereby ensuring more efficient spintronic applications. Further the applications are tunable by altering the adatom densities.

Keywords: magnetic and non-magnetic adatoms, quantum spin hall phase, spintronic applications, spin polarized conductance, time reversal symmetry

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Authors: Asma Inge-Hanif, Ayyub Ansari Hanif

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The impact of conflicts, the subsequent refugee migration to America and their attempted use of societal resources implicate the lack of further humanitarian aid as a consequence of the abrupt decrease in services and policy changes stemming from new governmental mandates and Executive Orders. Statistical research data indicates a substantial decline in access to standardized health services by refugee women creating a significant alteration in the management of their maternal health care in America, previously shown to result in decreased mortality and morbidity. Studying nursing at Howard University in Washington, D.C., observed doctors were not always sensitive to the needs and modesty concerns of immigrant Muslim women - often unintentionally. Among health care professionals, the prevailing belief should be that every man, woman and child has the right to quality care in a dignified manner and the achievement of optimal health and well-being, regardless of race, creed, socio-economic level or status. In 1987 Muslimat Al Nisaa Health and Social Services Center was established to care for underserved and uninsured women and children. This Center, plus the subsequent shelter, provided direct access to those homeless, refugees, human trafficking and women victims of domestic violence was established and provides the data for this study. Understanding specific culture, social, economic and religious nuances respects their diversity and addressing their basic human needs that they achieve optimal success. The ultimate goal being to facilitate the rescue and housing of those whom escaped from a country/communities where girls are devalued, brought, sold and abused.

Keywords: women, refugee, domestic violence, health care

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Authors: Anne Jane M. Hallasgo

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This study assessed the level of job satisfaction and organizational commitment among job order personnel at the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) Regional Welfare Office Caraga. The primary objective of the study was to determine a correlation between the employees’ level of organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and their work performance. A carefully selected sample of twenty-five job orders from the OWWA Regional Welfare Office Caraga participated in the study. These individuals were chosen to represent the organization’s job order workforce. For accuracy and dependability, various types of statistical methods and instruments were employed, including advanced statistical tests like the independent sample T-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, as well as descriptive statistics like mean, frequency, and percentage. The study found an acceptable level of job satisfaction regarding work performance. It revealed a significant relationship between affective commitment and job satisfaction concerning leadership and coworkers. A correlation was observed between normative commitment and work performance. The findings suggest that organizations emphasizing positive leadership, fostering supportive coworker relationships, aligning with employee values, and promoting a culture of commitment are likely to enhance both affective and normative commitment, thereby improving overall employee satisfaction. The study recommends designing and implementing a holistic employee well-being program that addresses physical, mental, and emotional health contributing to increased job satisfaction and organizational commitment, creating a healthier and engaged workforce. This research contributes to the understanding of the dynamics of organizational commitment and job satisfaction among job order employees in the public sector.

Keywords: affective commitment, continuous commitment, normative commitment, job satisfaction

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Authors: Korpapa Srisamai, Pawee Siriruk

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The purpose of this study is to forecast product demands and develop appropriate and adequate procurement plans to meet customer needs and reduce costs. When the product exceeds customer demands or does not move, it requires the company to support insufficient storage spaces. Moreover, some items, when stored for a long period of time, cause deterioration to dead stock. A case study of the wholesale company of electronic equipment and components, which has uncertain customer demands, is considered. The actual purchasing orders of customers are not equal to the forecast provided by the customers. In some cases, customers have higher product demands, resulting in the product being insufficient to meet the customer's needs. However, some customers have lower demands for products than estimates, causing insufficient storage spaces and dead stock. This study aims to reduce the loss of sales opportunities and the number of remaining goods in the warehouse, citing 30 product samples of the company's most popular products. The data were collected during the duration of the study from January to October 2022. The methods used to forecast are simple moving averages, weighted moving average, and exponential smoothing methods. The economic ordering quantity and reorder point are used to calculate to meet customer needs and track results. The research results are very beneficial to the company. The company can reduce the loss of sales opportunities by 20% so that the company has enough products to meet customer needs and can reduce unused products by up to 10% dead stock. This enables the company to order products more accurately, increasing profits and storage space.

Keywords: demand forecast, reorder point, lost sale, dead stock

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Authors: Javier Romera, Alberto Justo, Ignacio Fidalgo, Joshue Perez, Javier Araluce

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Nowadays, individuals with mobility needs face a significant challenge when docking vehicles. In many cases, after parking, they encounter insufficient space to exit, leading to two undesired outcomes: either avoiding parking in that spot or settling for improperly placed vehicles. To address this issue, the following paper presents a parking control system employing gestural teleoperation. The system comprises three main phases: capturing body markers, interpreting gestures, and transmitting orders to the vehicle. The initial phase is centered around the MediaPipe framework, a versatile tool optimized for real-time gesture recognition. MediaPipe excels at detecting and tracing body markers, with a special emphasis on hand gestures. Hands detection is done by generating 21 reference points for each hand. Subsequently, after data capture, the project employs the MultiPerceptron Layer (MPL) for indepth gesture classification. This tandem of MediaPipe's extraction prowess and MPL's analytical capability ensures that human gestures are translated into actionable commands with high precision. Furthermore, the system has been trained and validated within a built-in dataset. To prove the domain adaptation, a framework based on the Robot Operating System (ROS), as a communication backbone, alongside CARLA Simulator, is used. Following successful simulations, the system is transitioned to a real-world platform, marking a significant milestone in the project. This real vehicle implementation verifies the practicality and efficiency of the system beyond theoretical constructs.

Keywords: gesture detection, mediapipe, multiperceptron layer, robot operating system

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Authors: Auntika Thipjumnong

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This research study aimed to investigate the production process and the market target of Kraseasin’s woven cloth including the customers’ behaviors towards the local woven products. The suggestions of a better process of production were recommended in this study. This survey research was conducted by using a questionnaire and interview, which were considered as the practical instruments to collect the data. The 200 Kraseasin’s woven makers and consumers were subjects by using a purposive sampling. Percentages, means and standard deviation were used to analyze data. The findings revealed that only 22 local woven members owned their 18 manual weavers in producing the raw materials like cotton or fiber. The main products were flowery woven cloth e.g. pikul, puangchompoo, pakakrong and ban mai roo roiy, and the others were rainy, glass wall, dice glass ball and yok dok etc. At the present, all local woven products were applied to be modernized but the strong point of those products were keeping the quality standard and firming textures, not thickness. The main objective of producing these local woven products was to earn and increase their extra incomes. Moreover, there were two dominant sales: Firstly, the makers sold their own products by themselves in their community and malls; and secondly, they would weave their products by customers’ orders. The prices’ allocation was on the difficulties in producing process. The government officials and non-government officials in local were normally customers. However the drawback of producing this local product was lack of raw material and this brought about the higher investment. The community’s customers were now lacking of interest in wearing these local products, even though they maintained their quality standard. The factors in customers’ purchasing decision were product (M = 3.93), price (M = 3.74), distribution (M = 3.73) and promotion (M = 3.97) for marketing mix well-known. Suggestion was a designing pattern of products had to be matched to the customers’ needs.

Keywords: marketing, consumer behavior, cloth products weaves, Songkhla Thailand

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Authors: Rohtash

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Academically, the concept of Justice in the literature is vast, and theories are voluminous and definitions are numerous but it is very difficult to define. Through the ages, justice has been evolving and developing reasoning that how individuals and communities do the right thing that is just and fair to all in that society. Justice is a relative and dynamic concept, not absolute one. It is different in different societies based on their morality and ethics. The idea of justice cannot arise from a single morality but interaction of competing moralities and contending perspectives. Justice is the conditional and circumstantial term. Therefore, justice takes different meanings in different contexts. Justice is the application of the Laws. It is a values-based concept in order to protect the rights and liberties of the people. It is a socially created concept that has no physical reality. It exists in society on the basis of the spirit of sharing by the communities and members of society. The conception of justice in society or among communities and individuals is based on their social coordination. It can be effective only when people’s judgments are based on collective reasoning. Their behavior is shaped by social values, norms and laws. People must accept, share and respect the set of principles for delivering justice. Thus justice can be a reasonable solution to conflicts and to coordinate behavior in society. The subject matter of distributive justice is the Public Good and societal resources that should be evenly distributed among the different sections of society on the principles developed and established by the State through legislation, public policy and Executive orders. The Socioeconomic transformation of the society is adopted by the constitution within the limit of its morality and gives a new dimension to transformative justice. Therefore, both Procedural and Transformative justice is part of Distributive justice. Distributive justice is purely an economic phenomenon. It concerns the allocation of resources among the communities and individuals. The subject matter of distributive justice is the distribution of rights, responsibilities, burdens and benefits in society on the basis of the capacity and capability of individuals.

Keywords: distributive justice, constitutionalism, institutionalism, constitutional morality

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Authors: Zsuzsanna Fejes

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The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the legal history of constitutionalism in Hungary, in focus of the democratic transitions in 1989-1990, describing the historical and political background of the changes and presenting the main and most important features of the new democracy, and institutional and legal orders. In Hungary the evolved political, economic and moral crisis prior to the constitutional years 2010-11 had been such a constitutional moment, which led to an opportune and unavoidable change at the same time. The Hungarian constitutional power intended to adopt a new constitution, which was competent to create a common constitutional identity and to express a national unity. The Hungarian Parliament on 18th April 2011 passed the New Fundamental Law. The new Fundamental Law rich in national values meant a new challenge for the academics, lawyers, and political scientists. Not only the classical political science, but also the constitutional law and theory have to struggle with the interpretation of the new declarations about national constitutional values in the Fundamental Law. The main features and structure of the new Fundamental Law will be analysed, and given a detailed interpretation of the Preamble as a declaration of constitutional values. During the examination of the Preamble shall be cleared up the components of Hungarian statehood and national unity, individual and common human rights, the practical and theoretical demand on national sovereignty, and the content and possibilities for the interpretation of the achievements of the historical Constitution. These scopes of problems will be presented during the examination of the text of National Avowal, as a preamble of the Fundamental Law. It is examined whether the Fundamental Law itself could be suitable and sufficient means to citizens of Hungary to express the ideas therein as their own, it will be analysed how could the national and European common traditions, values and principles stated in the Fundamental Law mean maintenance in Hungary’s participation in the European integration.

Keywords: common constitutional values, constitutionalism, national identity, national sovereignty, national unity, statehood

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Authors: Kizito Ugochukwu Nwajeri

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This paper presents a distinct approach to solving fractional dynamical systems using hybrid block methods (HBMs). Fractional calculus extends the concept of derivatives and integrals to non-integer orders and finds increasing application in fields such as physics, engineering, and finance. However, traditional numerical techniques often struggle to accurately capture the complex behaviors exhibited by these systems. To address this challenge, we develop HBMs that integrate single-step and multi-step methods, enabling the simultaneous computation of multiple solution points while maintaining high accuracy. Our approach employs polynomial interpolation and collocation techniques to derive a system of equations that effectively models the dynamics of fractional systems. We also directly incorporate boundary and initial conditions into the formulation, enhancing the stability and convergence properties of the numerical solution. An adaptive step-size mechanism is introduced to optimize performance based on the local behavior of the solution. Extensive numerical simulations are conducted to evaluate the proposed methods, demonstrating significant improvements in accuracy and efficiency compared to traditional numerical approaches. The results indicate that our hybrid block methods are robust and versatile, making them suitable for a wide range of applications involving fractional dynamical systems. This work contributes to the existing literature by providing an effective numerical framework for analyzing complex behaviors in fractional systems, thereby opening new avenues for research and practical implementation across various disciplines.

Keywords: fractional calculus, numerical simulation, stability and convergence, Adaptive step-size mechanism, collocation methods

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Authors: B. Cheknane, F. Zermane

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The main objective of the present study is the valorization of natural raw materials of plant origin for the treatment of textile industry wastewater. Selected bark was: maritime (MP), pinyon (PP) and Aleppo pine (AP) bark. The efficiency of these barks were tested for the removal of three dye; rhodamine B (RhB), Green Malachite (GM) and X Methyl Orange (MO). At the first time we focus to study the different parameters which can influence the adsorption processes such as: nature of the adsorbents, nature of the pollutants (dyes) and the effect of pH. Obtained results reveals that the speed adsorption is strongly influencing by the pH medium and the comparative study show that adsorption is favorable in the acidic medium with amount adsorbed of (Q=40mg/g) for rhodamine B and (Q=46mg/g) for orange methyl. Results of adsorption kinetics reveals that the molecules of GM are adsorbed better (Q=48mg/g) than the molecules of RhB (Q=46mg/g) and methyl orange (Q=18mg/g), with equilibrium time of 6 hours. The results of adsorption isotherms show clearly that the maritime pine bark is the most effective adsorbents with adsorbed amount of (QRhB=200mg/g) and (QMO=88mg/g) followed by pinyon pine (PP) with (QRhB=184mg/g) and (QMO=56mg/g) and finally Aleppo pine (AP) bark with (QRhB=131mg/g) and (QMO= 46mg/g). The different obtained isotherms were modeled using the Langmuir and Freundlich models and according to the adjustment coefficient values R2, the obtained isotherms are well represented by Freundlich model.

Keywords: maritime pine bark (MP), pinyon pine bark (PP), Aleppo pine (AP) bark, adsorption, dyes

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Authors: Veniamin Boiarkin, Bruno Bogaz Zarpelão, Muttukrishnan Rajarajan

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The manufacturing sector is a vital component of most economies, which leads to a large number of cyberattacks on organisations, whereas disruption in operation may lead to significant economic consequences. Adversaries aim to disrupt the production processes of manufacturing companies, gain financial advantages, and steal intellectual property by getting unauthorised access to sensitive data. Access to sensitive data helps organisations to enhance the production and management processes. However, the majority of the existing data-sharing mechanisms are either susceptible to different cyber attacks or heavy in terms of computation overhead. In this paper, a privacy-preserving data-sharing scheme for smart utilities is proposed. First, a customer’s privacy adjustment mechanism is proposed to make sure that end-users have control over their privacy, which is required by the latest government regulations, such as the General Data Protection Regulation. Secondly, a local differential privacy-based mechanism is proposed to ensure the privacy of the end-users by hiding real data based on the end-user preferences. The proposed scheme may be applied to different industrial control systems, whereas in this study, it is validated for energy utility use cases consisting of smart, intelligent devices. The results show that the proposed scheme may guarantee the required level of privacy with an expected relative error in utility.

Keywords: data-sharing, local differential privacy, manufacturing, privacy-preserving mechanism, smart utility

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Authors: Esha Saha, Pradip Kumar Ray

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A hospital inventory comprises of a large number and great variety of items for the proper treatment and care of patients, such as pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, surgical items, etc. Improper management of these items, i.e. stockouts, may lead to delay in treatment or other fatal consequences, even death of the patient. So, generally the hospitals tend to overstock items to avoid the risk of stockout which leads to unnecessary investment of money, difficulty in storing, more expiration and wastage, etc. Thus, in such challenging environment, it is necessary for hospitals to follow an inventory policy considering the stochasticity of demand in a hospital. Statistical analysis captures the correlation of patient condition based on bed occupancy with the patient demand which changes stochastically. Due to the dependency on bed occupancy, the markov model is developed that helps to map the changes in demand of hospital inventory based on the changes in the patient condition represented by the movements of bed occupancy states (acute care state, rehabilitative state and long-care state) during the length-of-stay of patient in a hospital. An inventory policy is developed for a hospital based on the fulfillment of patient demand with the objective of minimizing the frequency and quantity of placement of orders of inventoried items. The analytical structure of the model based on probability calculation is provided to show the optimal inventory-related decisions. A case-study is illustrated in this paper for the development of hospital inventory model based on patient demand for multiple inpatient pharmaceutical items. A sensitivity analysis is conducted to investigate the impact of inventory-related parameters on the developed optimal inventory policy. Therefore, the developed model and solution approach may help the hospital managers and pharmacists in managing the hospital inventory in case of stochastic demand of inpatient pharmaceutical items.

Keywords: bed occupancy, hospital inventory, markov model, patient condition, pharmaceutical items

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Authors: Foyezunnesa Setu, S. M. Sharifuzzaman

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Cephalopods, belonging to the taxonomic class Cephalopoda under the phylum Mollusca, have a global distribution and are particularly common in the coastal waters of Bangladesh, specifically in the southeast and southwest regions. Identifying them can be difficult due to their pliable anatomical characteristics. Due to the presence of concealed cephalopod species within the orders Sepioidea, Teuthoidea, and Octopoda, these groupings of invertebrates, which share common characteristics, are frequently misidentified as distinct entities. Until now, cephalopods have been ignored because there is not enough knowledge about the specific species and the necessary preliminary research has not been done. This study offers a systematic description of various cephalopod species found along the south eastern coast of Bangladesh. A combined total of 25 cuttlefish specimens, four squid specimens, and five octopus specimens were gathered from the shores of Saint Martin's Island and Cox's Bazar. Based on morphological analysis, a total of 14 cephalopod species are identified. These species include Sepia aculeata, Sepia esculenta, Sepia pharaonis, Sepia prashadi, Sepiella inermis, Sepiella japonica, Uroteuthis duvauceli, Doryteuthis singhalensis, Sepioteuthis sepioidea, Eupryma stenodactyla, Amphioctopus aegina, Callistoctopus macropus, Octopus ceynea, and Octopus vulgaris. Six newly discovered species, including Sepia prashadi, Sepiella japonica, Sepioteuthis sepioidea, Eupryma stenodactyla, Callistoctopus macropus, and Octopus ceynea, have been identified in Bangladesh. Taxonomically, the identification of cephalopods is difficult due to the significant resemblance between species and the scarcity of information and preparatory research. This study offers significant insights about the cephalopod fauna found in the northern region of the Bay of Bengal.

Keywords: cephalopods, new records, northern bay of bengal, taxonomic identification

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Authors: Xue Wang, Li-Wei Fan

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The technology innovation has become the driving force of social and economic development and transformation. The guidance and support of public policies is an important condition to promote the realization of technology innovation goals. Policy effectiveness evaluation is instructive in policy learning and adjustment. This paper reviews existing studies and systematically evaluates the effectiveness of policy-driven technological innovation. We used 167 articles from WOS and CNKI databases as samples to clarify the measurement of technological innovation indicators and analyze the classification and application of policy evaluation methods. In general, technology innovation input and technological output are the two main aspects of technological innovation index design, among which technological patents are the focus of research, the number of patents reflects the scale of technological innovation, and the quality of patents reflects the value of innovation from multiple aspects. As for policy evaluation methods, statistical analysis methods are applied to the formulation, selection and evaluation of the after-effect of policies to analyze the effect of policy implementation qualitatively and quantitatively. The bibliometric methods are mainly based on the public policy texts, discriminating the inter-government relationship and the multi-dimensional value of the policy. Decision analysis focuses on the establishment and measurement of the comprehensive evaluation index system of public policy. The economic analysis methods focus on the performance and output of technological innovation to test the policy effect. Finally, this paper puts forward the prospect of the future research direction.

Keywords: technology innovation, index, policy effectiveness, evaluation of policy, bibliometric analysis

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Authors: Jung Ae Park, Jooyong Park

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Writing is an important learning activity that cultivates higher level thinking. Effective and immediate feedback is necessary to help improve students' writing skills. Peer assessment can be an effective method in writing tasks because it makes it possible for students not only to receive quick feedback on their writing but also to get a chance to examine different perspectives on the same topic. Peer assessment can be practiced frequently and has the advantage of immediate feedback. However, there is controversy about the accuracy of peer assessment. In this study, we tried to demonstrate experimentally how the accuracy of peer assessment could be improved. Participants (n=76) were randomly assigned to groups of 4 members. All the participant graded two sets of 4 essays on the same topic. They graded the first set twice, and the second set or the posttest once. After the first grading of the first set, each group in the experimental condition 1 (discussion group), were asked to discuss the results of the peer assessment and then to grade the essays again. Each group in the experimental condition 2 (reading group), were asked to read the assessment on each essay by an expert and then to grade the essays again. In the control group, the participants were asked to grade the 4 essays twice in different orders. Afterwards, all the participants graded the second set of 4 essays. The mean score from 4 participants was calculated for each essay. The accuracy of the peer assessment was measured by Pearson correlation with the scores of the expert. The results were analyzed by two-way repeated measure ANOVA. The main effect of grading was observed: Grading accuracy got better as the number of grading experience increased. Analysis of posttest accuracy revealed that the score variations within a group of 4 participants decreased in both discussion and reading conditions but not in the control condition. These results suggest that having students discuss their grading together can be an efficient means to improve peer assessment accuracy. By discussing, students can learn from others about what to consider in grading and whether their grading is too strict or lenient. Further research is needed to examine the exact cause of the grading accuracy.

Keywords: peer assessment, evaluation accuracy, discussion, score variations

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Authors: Bushra Akram, Amina Tariq

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Objective: This cross-sectional descriptive study aimed to compare the level of resilience among children with and without hearing loss. Methodology: In this descriptive cross sectional study total 500 children (with hearing loss = 250 and without hearing loss = 250) were recruited conveniently. Children with hearing loss were recruited from the special schools whereas children without hearing loss were selected from regular schools located in cities of Gujrat and Jhelum of Pakistan. Respondents’ age ranged from 9-14 years. Resiliency scale named RSCA (Resiliency Scales for children and adolescents) developed by Sandra Prince Embury (2006) was used. RSCA consist of three core theoretical areas: MAS (Sense of Mastery Scale), REL (Sense of Relatedness Scale) and REA (Emotional Reactivity Scale). Results: Findings indicated that there was a significant difference in the resilience level of participants with and without hearing loss. The mean comparison showed that the children with hearing loss showed lower scores on MAS (X̅ = 43.32, SD = 7.55) as well as on REL (X̅ = 49.96, SD = 7.65) as compared to their counterparts on MAS (X̅ = 53.96, SD = 9.90, t= -7.31***) and on REL (X̅ = 68.43, SD = 14.57,t= -10.18***). However children with hearing loss showed higher scores on REA (X̅ = 42.12, SD = 5.84) as compared to hearing participants (X̅ = 28.84, SD = 13.97, t = -8.20***). The findings revealed no significance difference in the resilience level of hearing and deaf children on the basis of their gender and age. Research Outcomes and Future Scope: Children with hearing loss showed a lower level of resilience, therefore, needs a program to develop resilience for better social-emotional adjustment and enhancement of their psychological well-being. In the end, the researcher gave recommendations for future research.

Keywords: children with hearing loss, psychological Wellbeing, resiliency scales for children and adolescents, resilience

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Authors: Zaide Montes Ortiz, Jorge Alberto Molina, Alejandro Reyes

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Insects are extremely successful organisms. A sophisticated olfactory system is in part responsible for their survival and reproduction. The detection of volatile organic compounds can positively or negatively affect many behaviors in insects. Compounds such as carbon dioxide (CO2), ammonium, indol, and lactic acid are essential for many species of mosquitoes like Anopheles gambiae in order to locate vertebrate hosts. For instance, in A. gambiae, the olfactory receptor AgOR2 is strongly activated by indol, which accounts for almost 30% of human sweat. On the other hand, in some insects of agricultural importance, the detection and identification of pheromone receptors (PRs) in lepidopteran species has become a promising field for integrated pest management. For example, with the disruption of the pheromone receptor, BmOR1, mediated by transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), the sensitivity to bombykol was completely removed affecting the pheromone-source searching behavior in male moths. Then, the detection and identification of olfactory receptors in the genomes of insects is fundamental to improve our understanding of the ecological interactions, and to provide alternatives in the integrated pests and vectors management. Hence, the objective of this study is to propose a bioinformatic workflow to enhance the detection and identification of potential olfactory receptors in genomes of relevant insects. Applying Hidden Markov models (Hmms) and different computational tools, potential candidates for pheromone receptors in Tuta absoluta were obtained, as well as potential carbon dioxide receptors in Rhodnius prolixus, the main vector of Chagas disease. This study showed the validity of a bioinformatic workflow with a potential to improve the identification of certain olfactory receptors in different orders of insects.

Keywords: bioinformatic workflow, insects, olfactory receptors, protein prediction

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Authors: Foo Shen Hwang, Thomas Confrey, Stephen Scully, Barry Flannery

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Thermal characterization plays an important role in battery pack design. Lithium-ion batteries have to be maintained between 15-35 °C to operate optimally. Heat is generated (Q) internally within the batteries during both the charging and discharging phases. This can be quantified using several standard methods. The most common method of calculating the batteries heat generation is through the addition of both the joule heating effects and the entropic changes across the battery. In addition, such values can be derived by identifying the open-circuit voltage (OCV), nominal voltage (V), operating current (I), battery temperature (T) and the rate of change of the open-circuit voltage in relation to temperature (dOCV/dT). This paper focuses on experimental characterization and comparative modelling of the heat generation rate (Q) across several current discharge rates (0.5C, 1C, and 1.5C) of a 18650 cell. The analysis is conducted utilizing several non-linear mathematical functions methods, including polynomial, exponential, and power models. Parameter fitting is carried out over the respective function orders; polynomial (n = 3~7), exponential (n = 2) and power function. The generated parameter fitting functions are then used as heat source functions in a 3-D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver under natural convection conditions. Generated temperature profiles are analyzed for errors based on experimental discharge tests, conducted at standard room temperature (25°C). Initial experimental results display low deviation between both experimental and CFD temperature plots. As such, the heat generation function formulated could be easier utilized for larger battery applications than other methods available.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics, curve fitting, lithium-ion battery, voltage drop

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Authors: Hirokatsu Kawashima

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One important element of teaching/learning listening is intensive listening such as listening for precise sounds, words, grammatical, and semantic units. Several classroom-based investigations have been conducted to explore the usefulness of auditory recognition of phonological, grammatical and semantic errors in such a context. The current study reports the results of one such investigation, which targeted auditory recognition of phonological, grammatical, and semantic errors at the sentence level. 56 Japanese EFL learners participated in this investigation, in which their recognition performance of phonological, grammatical and semantic errors was measured on a 9-point scale by learners’ self-evaluation from the perspective of 1) two types of similar English sound (vowel and consonant minimal pair words), 2) two types of sentence word order (verb phrase-based and noun phrase-based word orders), and 3) two types of semantic consistency (verb-purpose and verb-place agreements), respectively, and their general listening proficiency was examined using standardized tests. A number of findings have been made about the interactive relationships between the three types of auditory error recognition and general listening proficiency. Analyses based on the OPLS (Orthogonal Projections to Latent Structure) regression model have disclosed, for example, that the three types of auditory error recognition are linked in a non-linear way: the highest explanatory power for general listening proficiency may be attained when quadratic interactions between auditory recognition of errors related to vowel minimal pair words and that of errors related to noun phrase-based word order are embraced (R2=.33, p=.01).

Keywords: auditory error recognition, intensive listening, interaction, investigation

Procedia PDF Downloads 511

Authors: Nicola Rubino

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This paper presents an analysis of a group of commodity exporting countries' nominal exchange rate movements in relationship to the US dollar. Using a series of Unrestricted Self-exciting Threshold Autoregressive models (SETAR), we model and evaluate sixteen national CPI price differentials relative to the US dollar CPI. Out-of-sample forecast accuracy is evaluated through calculation of mean absolute error measures on the basis of two-hundred and fifty-three months rolling window forecasts and extended to three additional models, namely a logistic smooth transition regression (LSTAR), an additive non linear autoregressive model (AAR) and a simple linear Neural Network model (NNET). Our preliminary results confirm presence of some form of TAR non linearity in the majority of the countries analyzed, with a relatively higher goodness of fit, with respect to the linear AR(1) benchmark, in five countries out of sixteen considered. Although no model appears to statistically prevail over the other, our final out-of-sample forecast exercise shows that SETAR models tend to have quite poor relative forecasting performance, especially when compared to alternative non-linear specifications. Finally, by analyzing the implied half-lives of the > coefficients, our results confirms the presence, in the spirit of arbitrage band adjustment, of band convergence with an inner unit root behaviour in five of the sixteen countries analyzed.

Keywords: transition regression model, real exchange rate, nonlinearities, price differentials, PPP, commodity points

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Authors: Chee Fei Chang, May Yee Ng

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As a result of its geographical location, flood is a natural disaster that happens regularly in Malaysia. Every year, heavy rainfall is brought by the cyclical monsoon to the East coast of Peninsular Malaysia. In recent years, the occurrence of unexpected heavy downpour somehow connected to climate-change phenomena is also on the increasing trend. Ironically, despite that Malaysians have suffered significant monetary losses as a result of the recurring floods in past many decades, little has been done by the government from the perspective of taxation. Perhaps due to political reason or as a populist measure, the federal and local government are more inclined to offer small cash handout then rolling out long-term tax policy or measure in relieving the financial and tax burden of the victims and affected business entities. Except for the one-off tax break granted to affected businesses in 2007, the authors have not found any income tax exemption or deduction order gazetted with regard to flood disaster. Hence, it is imperative for this study to explore the need and challenges of implementing flood inflicted disaster tax relief or credit in Malaysia. This research consists of two major parts. First, the assessment of relevant tax policies/ measures with regard to non-government organisations and other affected parties. Content and thematic analyses will be applied on current tax legislations and orders issued for this part. Second, a comparative analysis will be conducted benchmarking various disaster tax reliefs and credits implemented in developed countries. Resulting from the increasing climate change-related disasters in Malaysia, the findings of this study will shed light on the importance of introducing disaster tax relief measures to assist individual victims as well as the affected businesses.

Keywords: climate-changed related disaster, disaster tax credits, tax relief for victims, tax measures for disaster recovery

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Authors: Nayera E. Hassan, Sahar A. El-Masry, Mones M. Abu Shady, Rokia A. El Banna, Muhammad Al-Tohamy, Mehrevan M. Abd El-Moniem, Mona Anwar

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Circulating oxidized LDL (ox-LDL) is associated with obesity, insulin resistance (HOMA), metabolic syndrome, and cardiovascular disease in adults. Little is known about relations in children. Aim: To assess association of ox-LDL with fat distribution and insulin resistance in a group of obese Egyptian children. Methods: Study is cross-sectional consisting of 68 obese children, with a mean age of 9.96 ± 1.32. Each underwent a complete physical examination; blood pressure (SBP, DBP) and anthropometric measurements (weight, height, BMI; waist, hip circumferences, waist/hip ratio), biochemical tests of fasting blood glucose (FBS), insulin levels; lipid profile (TC, LDL,HDL, TG) and ox-LDL; calculated HOMA. Sample was classified according to waist/hip ratio into: group I with and group II without central obesity. Results: ox-LDL showed significant positive correlation with LDL and TC in all groups of obesity. After adjustment for age and sex, significant positive correlation was detected between ox-LDL with SBP, DBP, TC, LDL, insulin, and HOMA in group II and with TC and FBS in group I. Insignificant association was detected between ox-LDL and other anthropometric parameters including BMI in any group of obese children (p > 0.05). Conclusions: ox-LDL, as a marker of oxidative stress is not correlated with BMI among all studied obese children (aged 6-12 years). Increased oxidative stress has causal effects on insulin resistance in obese children without central obesity and on fasting blood sugar in those with central obesity. These findings emphasize the importance of obesity during childhood and suggest that the metabolic complications of obesity and body fat distribution are detectable early in life.

Keywords: ox-LDL, obesity, insulin resistance, children

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Authors: Humara Bano, Nyla Anjum

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Disability in any form has great impact not only for the person facing it but also for its family members too. This effect may be so severe that may lead to mal adjustment of any member of the family in society as well. This impact has also been multiplied due to negative attitudes of the society, unawareness about the needs of special needs and no legislation for the parents of children with special needs. As a result not only the separations among the parents have been reported but also the normal siblings in the home are also badly affected in their daily lives. The situation is more challenging when more than one child with disability is present in the family. The main objectives of this paper are to unfold the relationship of variety of disabilities (hearing, visual or physical impairment, mental retardation, speech impairment) in i) developing depression in home setting, ii) social exclusion, iii) anxiety and aggression and iv) development of insecure feelings among family members of the persons with disabilities, as well as, v) to identify coping strategies to manage the special needs by family members too. To reach on conclusion about fifty families (having any sort of disability in their homes) have been interviewed on basis of convenient sampling. Correlation, ANOVA and different analysis have been used to identify the relationship of disability in developing depression among family members in line of above mentioned problems. Results revealed that depression due to disability among families is a common phenomenon and adversely have affected their lives in daily routines as well as in following their life achievements. Coping with the situation and recommending various remedies by parents is the positive reflection of this study too that can help to families in managing their mental health.

Keywords: depression, anxiety and aggression, social exclusion, parents of children with special needs

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Authors: Arnab Adhikari, Arnab Bisi

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Since the inception, the fashion apparel supply chain is facing the problem of high demand uncertainty. Often the demand volatility compels the corresponding supply chain member to incur substantial holding cost and opportunity cost in case of the overproduction and the underproduction scenario, respectively. It leads to an uncoordinated fashion apparel supply chain. There exist several scholarly works to achieve coordination in the fashion apparel supply chain by employing the different contracts such as the buyback contract, the revenue sharing contract, the option contract, and so on. Specially, the application of option contract in the apparel industry becomes prevalent with the changing global scenario. Exploration of existing literature related to the option contract reveals that most of the research works concentrate on the one direction demand adjustment i.e. either to match the demand upwards or downwards. Here, we present a holistic approach to coordinate a dyadic fashion apparel supply chain comprising one manufacturer and one retailer with the help of bidirectional option contract. We show a combination of wholesale price contract and bidirectional option contract can coordinate the under expanded supply chain. We also propose a framework that captures the variation of the apparel retailer’s order quantity and the apparel manufacturer’s production quantity with the changing exercise price for the different ranges of the option price. We analytically explore that corresponding cost parameters of the supply chain members along with the nature of demand distribution play an instrumental role in the coordination as well as the retailer’s ordering decision.

Keywords: fashion apparel supply chain, supply chain coordination, wholesale price contract, bidirectional option contract

Procedia PDF Downloads 439

Authors: Abera Hailu Degaga, Emana Getu Degaga

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Spodoptera frugiperda is an invasive insect pest that infests and feeds various crops, particularly affecting maize yields. However, nature has its own way of maintaining balance, and in this case, natural enemies play a crucial role in regulating the population of S. frugiperda. Locally available and easily prepared botanical sources, bio-pesticides, are also important. The objectives of the study were to investigate the natural enemies of S. frugiperda in the Gurage zone and to compare Neem aqueous extracts against its larvae in central Ethiopia. S. frugiperda larvae and egg masses were collected randomly from smallholder maize farms infested with pests between June and August 2023. Our findings revealed the existence of diverse types of parasitoids, predators, and entomopathogenic fungi associated with S. frugiperda. Notably, we documented three species of parasitoids, namely Exorista xanthaspis and Tachina spp. (Diptera: Tachinidae) and Charops annulipes (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae). All three species of parasitoids were recorded from Ethiopia for the first time. The overall parasitism rate was 5.3%, with individual rates ranging from 1.3 to 4%. Additionally, we identified ten species of predator insects from four different orders, including Hemiptera, Dermaptera, Coleoptera, and Mantodea, in the maize farms infested with S. frugiperda. Aqueous extract of Neem seed and leaf powder and green leaf exhibited similar mortality rates of S. frugiperda larvae at 72 hours even though there was a significant difference at 24 and 48 hours of the test. For effective management of S. frugiperda further research is necessary to fully exploit the potential of these natural enemies and additionally to use botanical source pesticides like Azadirachta indica.

Keywords: bio-pesticide, natural enemy, parasitoids, predators, Tachinid flies

Procedia PDF Downloads 64