Search results for: and systematic approach

Authors: Benyamin Ahmadnia, Javier Serrano

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In this paper we compare two different approaches for translating from Persian to Spanish, as a language pair with scarce parallel corpus. The first approach involves direct transfer using an statistical machine translation system, which is available for this language pair. The second approach involves translation through English, as a pivot language, which has more translation resources and more advanced translation systems available. The results show that, it is possible to achieve better translation quality using English as a pivot language in either approach outperforms direct translation from Persian to Spanish. Our best result is the pivot system which scores higher than direct translation by (1.12) BLEU points.

Keywords: statistical machine translation, direct translation approach, pivot language translation approach, parallel corpus

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Authors: Hossein Gitinavard, Mohammad Hossein Fazel Zarandi

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In the last decades, concerns about the environmental issues lead to professional and academic efforts on green supplier selection problems. In this sake, one of the main issues in evaluating the green supplier selection problems, which could increase the uncertainty, is the preferences of the experts' judgments about the candidate green suppliers. Therefore, preparing an expert system to evaluate the problem based on the historical data and the experts' knowledge can be sensible. This study provides an expert evaluation system to assess the candidate green suppliers under selected criteria in a multi-period approach. In addition, a ranking approach under interval-valued hesitant fuzzy set (IVHFS) environment is proposed to select the most appropriate green supplier in planning horizon. In the proposed ranking approach, the IVHFS and the last aggregation approach are considered to margin the errors and to prevent data loss, respectively. Hence, a comparative analysis is provided based on an illustrative example to show the feasibility of the proposed approach.

Keywords: green supplier selection, expert system, ranking approach, interval-valued hesitant fuzzy setting

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Authors: Diksha Sapkota, Kathleen Baird, Amornrat Saito, Debra Anderson

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Background: Violence during pregnancy is global public health problem incurring huge amount of social, economic and human costs. It is of particular concern as it affects health of mother, neonates and also disrupt family functioning. Mental illness is one of its commonest consequences affecting both mother and baby and likely to be chronic if left unattended. Past decade has seen advances in knowledge about different forms of violence, its health impacts and intervention/s helping to confront the violence. However, limited range and lack of consistency in measurable outcomes undermine overall effect of interventions, and available evidence are largely slanted towards high-income countries. Despite recognition of integrating screening and counselling for abused pregnant women in health settings, there is a dearth of evidence on its effectiveness from developing countries limiting its applicability and feasibility. This study intends to summarise the high-quality evidence on intimate partner violence interventions in reducing violence and improving mental health and implement the promising intervention in our context. Methods: Quantitative systematic review will be done using PRISMA statement and based on its finding; randomised controlled intervention will be carried out. The study will be conducted among women attending ANC clinic of Dhulikhel Hospital, Nepal. Being the pilot study, samples just adequate to draw the inferences i.e. not less than 30 in each arm will be taken. Phenomological approach will be used to explore the strengths and weaknesses of tested intervention and recommendations for better planning in future. Conclusion: This study intends to provide concrete evidence on what works best in our context and will assist policymakers, programme planners, donors in informed decision making.

Keywords: intimate partner violence/prevention and control, mental health, Nepal, pregnant

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Authors: Fouzia Shersad, Sabeena Salam

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Introduction: Quality assurance cycles like RADAR, PDCA, ADRI are cycles of planning, implementation, assessment and improvement. These cycles are required when institutions apply for reaccreditation to accreditation bodies and for adoption of holistic models of institutional quality. Method of Study: The adoption of these cycles at the higher education institutions under the Dubai Medical University is studied to explore the feasibility and the benefits in institutions outcomes. After adequate faculty training, these steps were incorporated in all new activities and embedded in every new initiative and approach undertaken at unit and institutional levels. Conclusions: Improvement in student satisfaction rates and performance levels has been achieved. Wherever weaknesses or deficits have been identified, improvement strategies are implemented in a timely manner. The feedback has become an incentive for faculty members to implement new ideas. Implementation of these cycles for core processes at micro and macro levels have ensured that a systematic mechanism for corrective actions existed. This has led to increasing adoption of innovative initiatives. Another outcome was the recognition through national level awards for the overall institutions which have been certified by external reviewers.

Keywords: higher education, quality, accreditation, institutional improvement

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Authors: Umair Shoukat Ali, Kamil Zafar, Rashna Hoshang Sukhia, Mubassar Fida, Aqeel Ahmed

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Objective: This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to summarize the effectiveness of bonded and removable retainers (Hawley and Essix retainer) in terms of improvement in occlusal settling (occlusal contact points/areas) after orthodontic treatment. Search Method: We searched the Cochrane Library, CINAHL Plus, PubMed, Web of Science, Orthodontic journals, and Google scholar for eligible studies. We included randomized control trials (RCT) along with Cohort studies. Studies that reported occlusal contacts/areas during retention with fixed bonded and removable retainers were included. To assess the quality of the RCTs Cochrane risk of bias tool was utilized, whereas Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was used for assessing the quality of cohort studies. Data analysis: The data analysis was limited to reporting mean values of occlusal contact points/areas with different retention methods. By utilizing the RevMan software V.5.3, a meta-analysis was performed for all the studies with the quantitative data. For the computation of the summary effect, a random effect model was utilized in case of high heterogeneity. I2 statistics were utilized to assess the heterogeneity among the selected studies. Results: We included 6 articles in our systematic review after scrutinizing 219 articles and eliminating them based on duplication, titles, and objectives. We found significant differences between fixed and removable retainers in terms of occlusal settling within the included studies. Bonded retainer (BR) allowed faster and better posterior tooth settling as compared to Hawley retainer (HR). However, HR showed good occlusal settling in the anterior dental arch. Essix retainer showed a decrease in occlusal contact during the retention phase. Meta-analysis showed no statistically significant difference between BR and removable retainers. Conclusions: HR allowed better overall occlusal settling as compared to other retainers in comparison. However, BR allowed faster settling in the posterior teeth region. Overall, there are insufficient high-quality RCTs to provide additional evidence, and further high-quality RCTs research is needed.

Keywords: orthodontic retainers, occlusal contact, Hawley, fixed, vacuum-formed

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Authors: Marziye Hadian, Alireza Jabbari

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Background: The World Health Organization has identified COVID-19 as a public health emergency and is urging governments to stop the virus transmission by adopting appropriate policies. In this regard, authorities have taken different approaches to cut the chain or controlling the spread of the disease. Now, the questions we are facing include what these approaches are? What tools should be used to implement each preventive protocol? In addition, what is the impact of each approach? Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the approaches to biological epidemics and related prevention tools with an emphasis on COVID-19 disease. Data sources: Databases including ISI web of science, PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, Ovid, and ProQuest were employed for data extraction. Furthermore, authentic sources such as the WHO website, the published reports of relevant countries, as well as the Worldometer website were evaluated for gray studies. The time-frame of the study was from 1 December 2019 to 30 May 2020. Methods: The present study was a systematic study of publications related to the prevention strategies for the COVID-19 disease. The study was carried out based on the PRISMA guidelines and CASP for articles and AACODS for grey literature. Results: The study findings showed that in order to confront the COVID-19 epidemic, in general, there are three approaches of "mitigation", "active control" and "suppression" and four strategies of "quarantine", "isolation", "social distance" and "lockdown" in both individual and social dimensions to deal with epidemics. Selection and implementation of each approach requires specific strategies and has different effects when it comes to controlling and inhibiting the disease. Key finding: One possible approach to control the disease is to change individual behavior and lifestyle. In addition to prevention strategies, use of masks, observance of personal hygiene principles such as regular hand washing and non-contact of contaminated hands with the face, as well as an observance of public health principles such as sneezing and coughing etiquettes, safe extermination of personal protective equipment, must be strictly observed. Have not been included in the category of prevention tools. However, it has a great impact on controlling the epidemic, especially the new coronavirus epidemic. Conclusion: Although the use of different approaches to control and inhibit biological epidemics depends on numerous variables, however, despite these requirements, global experience suggests that some of these approaches are ineffective. The use of previous experiences in the world, along with the current experiences of countries, can be very helpful in choosing the accurate approach for each country in accordance with the characteristics of that country and lead to the reduction of possible costs at the national and international levels.

Keywords: novel corona virus, COVID-19, approaches, prevention tools, prevention strategies

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Authors: Cathy T. Mpanga Kowet, Aghaegbuna Obinna U. Ozumba

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This study examined and identified the inconsistencies, relationships, gaps and recurring themes in literature regarding the relationship between procurement strategies employed in the construction projects for sustainable buildings and realization of sustainability goals. A systematic literature review of studies on the relationship between various procurement strategies and attainment of sustainability outcomes was conducted. Using specific terms, papers published between 2002 and 2018 were identified and screened according to an inclusion and exclusion criteria. Current findings reveal that, although the attainment of sustainability goals is achievable with both traditional and contemporary procurement strategies, only projects delivered using modern procurement strategies are capable of meeting and exceeding targeted sustainability objectives. However, traditional procurement strategy remains the preferred method for most green building construction projects. The results suggest implications for decision makers in considering the impact of selected procurement strategies on targeted sustainability goals, in the early stages of sustainable building construction projects. The study shows that there is a gap between the reported appropriate procurement strategies and what is being practiced currently. Theoretically, the study expands on the literature on adoption and diffusion of contemporary procurement strategies, by consolidating existing studies to highlight the current gaps. While the study is at the literature review stage, deductions will serve as basis for field work involving empirical data.

Keywords: green buildings construction, procurement method, procurement strategy, sustainability objectives, sustainability outcomes

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Authors: Richard Mbatu

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Implementation of the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) program will not only lead to significant net gains in greenhouse gas reduction but also gains in biodiversity conservation. However, the looming paradigm shift in the program in the form of the proposed landscape governance approach could change this inclination. The concern lies with the fact that pursue of carbon credits by governments and private entities under the proposed landscape approach could encourage obstinate land use behaviors that are detrimental to the cause of biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services. Yet, the landscape approach could also stimulate governments to develop and implement land use management policies for climate change adaptation and mitigation. Using two potential areas of land use under the proposed landscape approach – carbon farming in grasslands and carbon farming in plantations – this paper provides a balanced analytical review of conservation challenges and opportunities for forest governance and beyond under the proposed landscape approach to REDD+. The paper argues that such a balanced view will enable policymakers and other stakeholders to better present their arguments in their efforts to shape the course of the REDD+ program in the post-Paris Agreement era.

Keywords: biodiversity conservation, REDD+, forest governance, grasslands, landscape approach, plantations

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Authors: Liubov Lutsyshyn, Yaroslava Zhukova

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Over the past twenty years, there has been a drastic change in the mode of nutrition in many countries which has been reflected in the development of new products, production techniques, and has also led to the expansion of sales markets for food products. Studies have shown that solution of the food safety problems is almost impossible without the active and systematic activity of organizations directly involved in the production, storage and sale of food products, as well as without management of end-to-end traceability and exchange of information. The aim of this research is development of the integrated system of the quality management and safety assurance based on the principles of HACCP, traceability and system approach with creation of an algorithm for the identification and monitoring of parameters of technological process of manufacture of cooked sausage products. Methodology of implementation of the integrated system based on the principles of HACCP, traceability and system approach during the manufacturing of cooked sausage products for effective provision for the defined properties of the finished product has been developed. As a result of the research evaluation technique and criteria of performance of the implementation and operation of the system of the quality management and safety assurance based on the principles of HACCP have been developed and substantiated. In the paper regularities of influence of the application of HACCP principles, traceability and system approach on parameters of quality and safety of the finished product have been revealed. In the study regularities in identification of critical control points have been determined. The algorithm of functioning of the integrated system of the quality management and safety assurance has also been described and key requirements for the development of software allowing the prediction of properties of finished product, as well as the timely correction of the technological process and traceability of manufacturing flows have been defined. Based on the obtained results typical scheme of the integrated system of the quality management and safety assurance based on HACCP principles with the elements of end-to-end traceability and system approach for manufacture of cooked sausage products has been developed. As a result of the studies quantitative criteria for evaluation of performance of the system of the quality management and safety assurance have been developed. A set of guidance documents for the implementation and evaluation of the integrated system based on the HACCP principles in meat processing plants have also been developed. On the basis of the research the effectiveness of application of continuous monitoring of the manufacturing process during the control on the identified critical control points have been revealed. The optimal number of critical control points in relation to the manufacture of cooked sausage products has been substantiated. The main results of the research have been appraised during 2013-2014 under the conditions of seven enterprises of the meat processing industry and have been implemented at JSC «Kyiv meat processing plant».

Keywords: cooked sausage products, HACCP, quality management, safety assurance

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Authors: Ceylan Sozer, Ece Ceylan Baba

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The reforms and changes that began with industrialization in cities and continued with globalization in 1980’s, created many changes in urban environments. City centers which are desolated due to industrialization, began to get crowded with globalization and became the heart of technology, commerce and social activities. While the immediate and intense alterations are planned around rigorous visions in developed countries, several urban areas where the processes were underestimated and not taken precaution faced with irrevocable situations. When the effects of the globalization in the cities are examined, it is seen that there are some anticipatory system plans in the cities about the future problems. Several cities such as New York, London and Tokyo have planned to resolve probable future problems in a systematic scheme to decrease possible side effects during globalization. The decisions in urban planning and their applications are the main points in terms of sustainability and livability in such mega-cities. This article examines the effects of globalization on urban planning through 3 mega cities and the applications. When the applications of urban plannings of the three mega-cities are investigated, it is seen that the city plans are generated under light of past experiences and predictions of a certain future. In urban planning, past and present experiences of a city should have been examined and then future projections could be predicted together with current world dynamics by a systematic way. In this study, methods used in urban planning will be discussed and ‘Anticipatory System’ model will be explained and relations with global-urban planning will be discussed. The concept of ‘anticipation’ is a phenomenon that means creating foresights and predictions about the future by combining past, present and future within an action plan. The main distinctive feature that separates anticipatory systems from other systems is the combination of past, present and future and concluding with an act. Urban plans that consist of various parameters and interactions together are identified as ‘live’ and they have systematic integrities. Urban planning with an anticipatory system might be alive and can foresight some ‘side effects’ in design processes. After globalization, cities became more complex and should be designed within an anticipatory system model. These cities can be more livable and can have sustainable urban conditions for today and future.In this study, urban planning of Istanbul city is going to be analyzed with comparisons of New York, Tokyo and London city plans in terms of anticipatory system models. The lack of a system in İstanbul and its side effects will be discussed. When past and present actions in urban planning are approached through an anticipatory system, it can give more accurate and sustainable results in the future.

Keywords: globalization, urban planning, anticipatory system, New York, London, Tokyo, Istanbul

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Authors: Muhamad Azani Yahya, Vikneswaran Munikanan, Mohammed Alias Yusof

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Lean thinking holds the potential for improving the construction sector, and therefore, it is a concept that should be adopted by construction sector players and academicians in the real industry. Bridging from that, a learning process for construction sector players regarding this matter should be the agenda in gaining the knowledge in preparation for their career. Lean principles offer opportunities for reducing lead times, eliminating non-value adding activities, reducing variability, and are facilitated by methods such as pull scheduling, simplified operations and buffer reduction. Thus, the drive for rapid construction, which is a systematic approach in enhancing efficiency to deliver a project using time reduction, while lean is the continuous process of eliminating waste, meeting or exceeding all customer requirements, focusing on the entire value stream and pursuing perfection in the execution of a constructed project. The methodology presented is shown to be valid through literature, interviews and questionnaire. The results show that the majority of construction sector players unfamiliar with lean thinking and they agreed that it can improve the construction process flow. With this background knowledge established and identified, best practices and recommended action are drawn.

Keywords: construction improvement, rapid construction, time reduction, lean construction

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Authors: Olalekan Olaluwoye, Joanne Williams, Elizabeth Hoban, Sonia Brockington

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Cases of sexual violence against men have been reported in at least twenty-five conflict situations in history. However, there is a paucity of academic literature and minimal media, policy and legal discussions on sexual violence against men. Most studies and discussions remain locked in the ‘male perpetrators, female victims’ paradigm. Male victims continue to suffer the consequences of sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict settings in silence. A rigorous narrative systematic review of the literature revealed few studies on the subject and those that exist have a narrow focus on rape as the only form of sexual violence despite the existence of other forms of sexual violence that have equally devastating effects. This paper argues that while research and discussions on sexual violence against women should continue, it is time to conduct rigorous mixed methods research to understand the experiences of men and boys survivors of sexual violence. There is a need to study sexual violence more broadly, without limiting it to rape, and to understand the determinants and health implications of sexual violence perpetrated on men. The paper concludes by proposing a research approach that gives voice to the experiences of male survivors of sexual violence in conflict and post-conflict settings.

Keywords: conflict, male survivors, post-conflict settings, sexual violence

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Authors: R. Clancy, M. Ahern, D. O’Sullivan, K. Bruton

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The manufacturing industry is currently undergoing a digital transformation as part of the mega-trend Industry 4.0. As part of this phase of the industrial revolution, traditional manufacturing processes are being combined with digital technologies to achieve smarter and more efficient production. To successfully digitally transform a manufacturing facility, the processes must first be digitized. This is the conversion of information from an analogue format to a digital format. The objective of this study was to explore the research area of digitizing manufacturing data as part of the worldwide paradigm, Industry 4.0. The formal methodology of a systematic mapping study was utilized to capture a representative sample of the research area and assess its current state. Specific research questions were defined to assess the key benefits and limitations associated with the digitization of manufacturing data. Research papers were classified according to the type of research and type of contribution to the research area. Upon analyzing 54 papers identified in this area, it was noted that 23 of the papers originated in Germany. This is an unsurprising finding as Industry 4.0 is originally a German strategy with supporting strong policy instruments being utilized in Germany to support its implementation. It was also found that the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechatronic Systems Design, in collaboration with the University of Paderborn in Germany, was the most frequent contributing Institution of the research papers with three papers published. The literature suggested future research directions and highlighted one specific gap in the area. There exists an unresolved gap between the data science experts and the manufacturing process experts in the industry. The data analytics expertise is not useful unless the manufacturing process information is utilized. A legitimate understanding of the data is crucial to perform accurate analytics and gain true, valuable insights into the manufacturing process. There lies a gap between the manufacturing operations and the information technology/data analytics departments within enterprises, which was borne out by the results of many of the case studies reviewed as part of this work. To test the concept of this gap existing, the researcher initiated an industrial case study in which they embedded themselves between the subject matter expert of the manufacturing process and the data scientist. Of the papers resulting from the systematic mapping study, 12 of the papers contributed a framework, another 12 of the papers were based on a case study, and 11 of the papers focused on theory. However, there were only three papers that contributed a methodology. This provides further evidence for the need for an industry-focused methodology for digitizing and analyzing manufacturing data, which will be developed in future research.

Keywords: analytics, digitization, industry 4.0, manufacturing

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Authors: Mohammad H. Almomani

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In this paper, we argue the effect of the initial sample size, and the increment in simulation samples on the performance of a sequential approach that used in selecting the top m designs when the number of alternative designs is very large. The sequential approach consists of two stages. In the first stage the ordinal optimization is used to select a subset that overlaps with the set of actual best k% designs with high probability. Then in the second stage the optimal computing budget is used to select the top m designs from the selected subset. We apply the selection approach on a generic example under some parameter settings, with a different choice of initial sample size and the increment in simulation samples, to explore the impacts on the performance of this approach. The results show that the choice of initial sample size and the increment in simulation samples does affect the performance of a selection approach.

Keywords: Large Scale Problems, Optimal Computing Budget Allocation, ordinal optimization, simulation optimization

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Authors: Alvaro Figueira, Bruno Cabral

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Nowadays, students are used to be assessed through an online platform. Educators have stepped up from a period in which they endured the transition from paper to digital. The use of a diversified set of question types that range from quizzes to open questions is currently common in most university courses. In many courses, today, the evaluation methodology also fosters the students’ online participation in forums, the download, and upload of modified files, or even the participation in group activities. At the same time, new pedagogy theories that promote the active participation of students in the learning process, and the systematic use of problem-based learning, are being adopted using an eLearning system for that purpose. However, although there can be a lot of feedback from these activities to student’s, usually it is restricted to the assessments of online well-defined tasks. In this article, we propose an automatic system that informs students of abnormal deviations of a 'correct' learning path in the course. Our approach is based on the fact that by obtaining this information earlier in the semester, may provide students and educators an opportunity to resolve an eventual problem regarding the student’s current online actions towards the course. Our goal is to prevent situations that have a significant probability to lead to a poor grade and, eventually, to failing. In the major learning management systems (LMS) currently available, the interaction between the students and the system itself is registered in log files in the form of registers that mark beginning of actions performed by the user. Our proposed system uses that logged information to derive new one: the time each student spends on each activity, the time and order of the resources used by the student and, finally, the online resource usage pattern. Then, using the grades assigned to the students in previous years, we built a learning dataset that is used to feed a machine learning meta classifier. The produced classification model is then used to predict the grades a learning path is heading to, in the current year. Not only this approach serves the teacher, but also the student to receive automatic feedback on her current situation, having past years as a perspective. Our system can be applied to online courses that integrate the use of an online platform that stores user actions in a log file, and that has access to other student’s evaluations. The system is based on a data mining process on the log files and on a self-feedback machine learning algorithm that works paired with the Moodle LMS.

Keywords: data mining, e-learning, grade prediction, machine learning, student learning path

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Authors: Z. Babic, I. Veza, A. Balic, M. Crnjac

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The linear programming model is sometimes difficult to apply in real business situations due to its assumption of proportionality. This paper shows an example of how to use De Novo programming approach instead of linear programming. In the De Novo programming, resources are not fixed like in linear programming but resource quantities depend only on available budget. Budget is a new, important element of the De Novo approach. Two different production situations are presented: increasing costs and quantity discounts of raw materials. The focus of this paper is on advantages of the De Novo approach in the optimization of production plan for production company which produces souvenirs made from famous stone from the island of Brac, one of the greatest islands from Croatia.

Keywords: business process, De Novo programming, optimizing, production

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Authors: Saowaluck Ukrisdawithid

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The thermal conductivity of thermal insulation materials are measured by Heat Flow Meter (HFM) apparatus. The components of uncertainty are complex and difficult on routine measurement by modelling approach. In this study, uncertainty of thermal conductivity measurement was estimated by single laboratory validation approach. The within-laboratory reproducibility was 1.1%. The standard uncertainty of method and laboratory bias by using SRM1453 expanded polystyrene board was dominant at 1.4%. However, it was assessed that there was no significant bias. For sample measurement, the sources of uncertainty were repeatability, density of sample and thermal conductivity resolution of HFM. From this approach to sample measurements, the combined uncertainty was calculated. In summary, the thermal conductivity of sample, polystyrene foam, was reported as 0.03367 W/m·K ± 3.5% (k = 2) at mean temperature 23.5 °C. The single laboratory validation approach is simple key of routine testing laboratory for estimation uncertainty of thermal conductivity measurement by using HFM, according to ISO/IEC 17025-2017 requirements. These are meaningful for laboratory competent improvement, quality control on products, and conformity assessment.

Keywords: single laboratory validation approach, within-laboratory reproducibility, method and laboratory bias, certified reference material

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Authors: Faisal A. Aburub

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Organizations today need to invest in software in order to run their businesses, and to the organizations’ objectives, the software should be in line with the business process. This research presents an approach for linking process models and system models. Particularly, the new approach aims to synthesize sequence diagram based on role activity diagram (RAD) model. The approach includes four steps namely: Create business process model using RAD, identify computerized activities, identify entities in sequence diagram and identify messages in sequence diagram. The new approach has been validated using the process of student registration in University of Petra as a case study. Further research is required to validate the new approach using different domains.

Keywords: business process modelling, system models, role activity diagrams, sequence diagrams

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Authors: Rahma Amri, Narjès Bellamine Ben Saoud

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Sustainable development or sustainability is one of the most urgent issues in actual debate in almost domains. Particularly the significant way the software pervades our live should make it in the center of sustainability concerns. The social aspects of sustainability haven’t been well studied in the context of software systems and still immature research field that needs more interest among researchers’ community. This paper presents a Goal-Question-Metric based approach to assess social sustainability of software systems. The approach is based on a generic social sustainability model taken from Social sciences.

Keywords: software assessment approach, social sustainability, goal-question-metric paradigm, software project metrics

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Authors: Reza Mehrafarin, Nafiseh Mirshekari

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The Sistan plain has always been a site for the settlement of various human societies, thanks to its favorable environmental conditions, such as abundant water from the Hirmand River and fertile sedimentary soil. Consequently, there was a need for a systematic archaeological investigation in the area. The survey had multiple objectives, with the most significant ones being the creation of an archaeological map and the identification and documentation of all ancient sites to establish their records and chronology. The survey was carried out in two phases, with each phase covering half of the area. The research method involved fieldwork, with two teams of professional archaeologists conducting a comprehensive survey of each of the 22 areas in Sistan. Once an area was identified, various recording, scientific, and field operations were executed to study the site. In the first phase (2007), an intensive field survey focused on the residential area of Sistan, including its northern and eastern regions. This phase resulted in the identification of 808 sites in eleven selected areas. In the second phase (2009), the desert area of Sistan, or its southern half, was surveyed, leading to the identification of approximately 853 sites. Overall, these surveys resulted in the identification of 1661 sites in Sistan. Among these sites, approximately 899 belong to the Bronze Age (late 4th millennium BCE to early 2nd millennium BCE). Of these sites, around 501 date back to the historical period, while nearly 590 sites pertain to the Islamic period. The archaeological investigations of both phases revealed that Sistan has consistently possessed fertile soil, abundant water, and a skilled workforce, making it capable of becoming Iran's granary and the center of the East once again if these conditions are restored.

Keywords: sistan, field surveys, archaeology, archaeological map

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Authors: Mohammed Hasan Salahat, Stave Wade

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This paper presents an application of a “Systematic Soft Domain Driven Design Framework” as a soft systems approach to domain-driven design of information systems development. The framework combining techniques from Soft Systems Methodology (SSM), the Unified Modeling Language (UML), and an implementation pattern knows as ‘Naked Objects’. This framework have been used in action research projects that have involved the investigation and modeling of business processes using object-oriented domain models and the implementation of software systems based on those domain models. Within this framework, Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) is used as a guiding methodology to explore the problem situation and to develop the domain model using UML for the given business domain. The framework is proposed and evaluated in our previous works, and a real case study ‘Information Retrieval System for Academic Research’ is used, in this paper, to show further practice and evaluation of the framework in different business domain. We argue that there are advantages from combining and using techniques from different methodologies in this way for business domain modeling. The framework is overviewed and justified as multi-methodology using Mingers Multi-Methodology ideas.

Keywords: SSM, UML, domain-driven design, soft domain-driven design, naked objects, soft language, information retrieval, multimethodology

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Authors: Julija Konstantinavičienė, Vlada Vitunskienė

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The role of sustainable biomass, including wood biomass, is becoming more important because of European Green Deal. The New EU Forest strategy is a flagship element of the European Green Deal and a key action on the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030. The first measure of this strategy is promoting sustainable forest management, including encouraging the sustainable use of wood-based resources. The first aim of this research was to develop and present a new approach to the concept of forest wood biomass potential in terms of sustainable development, distinguishing theoretical, technical and sustainable potential and detailing its constraints. The second aim was to prepare the methodology outline of sustainable forest wood biomass potential assessment and empirically check this methodology, considering economic, social and ecological constraints. The basic methodologies of the research: the review of research (with a combination of semi-systematic and integrative review methodologies), rapid assessment method and statistical data analysis. The developed methodology of assessment of forest wood potential in terms of sustainable development can be used in Lithuania and in other countries and will let us compare this potential a different time and spatial levels. The application of the methodology will be able to serve the development of new national strategies for the wood sector.

Keywords: assessment, constraints, forest wood biomass, methodology, potential, sustainability

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Authors: Dewi Indah Irianti

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Introduction: Street children include one of the populations at risk of HIV infection. Their vulnerability to these situations is increased by their lack of understanding of the changes associated with adolescence, the lack of knowledge and skills which could help them to make healthy choices. Social integration increased AIDS knowledge among migrant workers in Thailand. Although social integration has been incorporated into health research in other areas, it has received less attention in AIDS prevention research. This factor has not been integrated into models for HIV prevention. Objectives: The goal of this review is to summarize available knowledge about factors related to HIV/AIDS knowledge and to examine whether social integration was reviewed among street children. Methodology: This study performed a systematic search for English language articles published between January 2006 and March 2016 using the following keywords in various combination: street children, HIV/AIDS knowledge and social integration from the following bibliographic databases: Scopus, ProQuest, JSTOR, ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, EBSCOhost, Sage Publication, Clinical Key, Google Web, and Google Scholar . Results: A total of 10 articles met the inclusion criteria were systematically reviewed. This study reviews the existing quantitative and qualitative literature regarding the HIV/AIDS knowledge of street children in many countries. The study locations were Asia, the Americas, Europe, and Africa. The most determinants associated with HIV/AIDS knowledge among street children are age and sex. In this review, social integration that may be associated with HIV/AIDS knowledge among street children has not been investigated. Conclusion: To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study found that there is no research examining the relationship of social integration with the HIV knowledge among street children. This information may assist in the development of relevant strategies and HIV prevention programs to improve HIV knowledge and decrease risk behaviors among street children.

Keywords: HIV/AIDS knowledge, review, social integration, street children

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Authors: M. Okeke, A. Blyth

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Industrial Control Systems (ICS) such as Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) can be seen in many different critical infrastructures, from nuclear management to utility, medical equipment, power, waste and engine management on ships and planes. The role SCADA plays in critical infrastructure has resulted in a call to secure them. Many lives depend on it for daily activities and the attack vectors are becoming more sophisticated. Hence, the security of ICS is vital as malfunction of it might result in huge risk. This paper describes how the application of Prey Predator (PP) approach in flocks of birds could enhance the detection of malicious activities on ICS. The PP approach explains how these animals in groups or flocks detect predators by following some simple rules. They are not necessarily very intelligent animals but their approach in solving complex issues such as detection through corporation, coordination and communication worth emulating. This paper will emulate flocking behavior seen in birds in detecting predators. The PP approach will adopt six nearest bird approach in detecting any predator. Their local and global bests are based on the individual detection as well as group detection. The PP algorithm was designed following MapReduce methodology that follows a Split Detection Convergence (SDC) approach.

Keywords: artificial life, industrial control system (ICS), IDS, prey predator (PP), SCADA, SDC

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Authors: Shailendra Natraj, Kristin Paetzold, B. R. Katzy

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The significant role of technology in strategic business decisions has created the need for executives who understand technology and recognize profitable applications to products, services and processes. The role of CTO’s is very complex within technology-based firms, which stretches from the technology aspects to the strategic goal and vision of the firm. Often the roles of CTOs scales from as functional leaders, strategic leaders or supera- functional leaders. In most of the companies the roles are unclear and fuzzy. We in our research are trying to explore each of the orientation and link between leadership types (functional, strategic and super functional) of CTOs, responsibilities, credibility and strategic and conceptual responsibilities. Approach: We conducted a comprehensive literature review with the available databank sources. Results: From the conducted literature review we could identify that most of the research work conducted so far were mainly distributed between roles and responsibilities of CTOs. The available sources pointed were limited to roles of CTOs as functional leaders. Contribution: In our findings based on the literature review, we could identify that apart from the conducted research what so far has not been focused yet are (a) The leadership types (mainly) strategic and super-functional leaders) of CTOs, (b) the responsibilities and credibility of CTOs and (c) the strategic and conceptual responsibilities of CTOs.

Keywords: CTO, chief technology officer, strategy, technology leaders

Procedia PDF Downloads 511

Authors: Seyed Esmail Seyedi Bariran, Khairul Salleh Mohamed Sahari

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Apparent quality defects such as warpage, shrinkage, weld line, etc. are such an irresistible phenomenon in mass production of auto plastic appearance parts. These frequently occurred manufacturing defects should be satisfied concurrently so as to achieve a final product with acceptable quality standards. Determining the significant control factors that simultaneously affect multiple quality characteristics can significantly improve the optimization results by eliminating the deviating effect of the so-called ineffective outliers. Hence, a robust quantitative approach needs to be developed upon which major control factors and their level can be effectively determined to help improve the reliability of the optimal processing parameter design. Hence, the primary objective of current study was to develop a systematic methodology for selection of significant control factors (SCF) relevant to multiple quality optimization of auto plastic appearance part. Auto bumper was used as a specimen with the most identical quality and production characteristics to APAP group. A preliminary failure modes and effect analysis (FMEA) was conducted to nominate a database of pseudo significant significant control factors prior to the optimization phase. Later, CAE simulation Moldflow analysis was implemented to manipulate four rampant plastic injection quality defects concerned with APAP group including warpage deflection, volumetric shrinkage, sink mark and weld line. Furthermore, a step-backward elimination searching method (SESME) has been developed for systematic pre-optimization selection of SCF based on hierarchical orthogonal array design and priority-based one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The development of robust parameter design in the second phase was based on DOE module powered by Minitab v.16 statistical software. Based on the F-test (F 0.05, 2, 14) one-way ANOVA results, it was concluded that for warpage deflection, material mixture percentage was the most significant control factor yielding a 58.34% of contribution while for the other three quality defects, melt temperature was the most significant control factor with a 25.32%, 84.25%, and 34.57% contribution for sin mark, shrinkage and weld line strength control. Also, the results on the he least significant control factors meaningfully revealed injection fill time as the least significant factor for both warpage and sink mark with respective 1.69% and 6.12% contribution. On the other hand, for shrinkage and weld line defects, the least significant control factors were holding pressure and mold temperature with a 0.23% and 4.05% overall contribution accordingly.

Keywords: plastic injection moulding, quality optimization, FMEA, ANOVA, SESME, APAP

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Authors: Ivan Maguire, Ciprian Briciu, Alan Barrett, Dara Kervick, Jens Ducrèe, Fiona Regan

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With the ever-increasing myriad of applications of which microfluidic devices are capable, reliable fluidic actuation development has remained fundamental to the success of these microfluidic platforms. There are a number of approaches which can be taken in order to integrate liquid actuation on microfluidic platforms, which can usually be split into two primary categories; active microvalves and passive microvalves. Active microvalves are microfluidic valves which require a physical parameter change by external, or separate interaction, for actuation to occur. Passive microvalves are microfluidic valves which don’t require external interaction for actuation due to the valve’s natural physical parameters, which can be overcome through sample interaction. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how further improvements to past microvalve solutions can largely enhance systematic reliability and performance, with both novel active and passive microvalves demonstrated. Covered within this scope will be two alternative and novel microvalve solutions for centrifugal microfluidic platforms; a revamped pneumatic-dissolvable film active microvalve (PAM) strategy and a spray-on Sol-Gel based hydrophobic passive microvalve (HPM) approach. Both the PAM and the HPM mechanisms were demonstrated on a centrifugal microfluidic platform consisting of alternating layers of 1.5 mm poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) (for reagent storage) sheets and ~150 μm pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA) (for microchannel fabrication) sheets. The PAM approach differs from previous SOLUBON™ dissolvable film methods by introducing a more reliable and predictable liquid delivery mechanism to microvalve site, thus significantly reducing premature activation. This approach has also shown excellent synchronicity when performed in a multiplexed form. The HPM method utilises a new spray-on and low curing temperature (70°C) sol-gel material. The resultant double layer coating comprises a PMMA adherent sol-gel as the bottom layer and an ultra hydrophobic silica nano-particles (SNPs) film as the top layer. The optimal coating was integrated to microfluidic channels with varying cross-sectional area for assessing microvalve burst frequencies consistency. It is hoped that these microvalving solutions, which can be easily added to centrifugal microfluidic platforms, will significantly improve automation reliability.

Keywords: centrifugal microfluidics, hydrophobic microvalves, lab-on-a-disc, pneumatic microvalves

Procedia PDF Downloads 187

Authors: Seppo Kittilä, Sonja Dahlgren

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In this paper, a (morpho)phonological typology of proximal and distal demonstratives is proposed. Only the most basic proximal (‘this’) and distal (‘that’) forms have been considered, potential more fine-grained distinctions based on proximity are not relevant to our discussion, nor are the other functions the discussed demonstratives may have. The sample comprises 82 languages that represent the linguistic diversity of the world’s languages, although the study is not based on a systematic sample. Four different major types are distinguished; (1) Vowel type: front vs. back; high vs. low vowel (2) Consonant type: front-back consonants (3) Additional element –type (4) Varia. The proposed types can further be subdivided according to whether the attested difference concern only, e.g., vowels, or whether there are also other changes. For example, the first type comprises both languages such as Betta Kurumba, where only the vowel changes (i ‘this’, a ‘that’) and languages like Alyawarra (nhinha vs. nhaka), where there are also other changes. In the second type, demonstratives are distinguished based on whether the consonants are front or back; typically front consonants (e.g., labial and dental) appear on proximal demonstratives and back consonants on distal demonstratives (such as velar or uvular consonants). An example is provided by Bunaq, where bari marks ‘this’ and baqi ‘that’. In the third type, distal demonstratives typically have an additional element, making it longer in form than the proximal one (e.g., Òko òne ‘this’, ònébé ‘that’), but the type also comprises languages where the distal demonstrative is simply phonologically longer (e.g., Ngalakan nu-gaʔye vs. nu-gunʔbiri). Finally, the last type comprises cases that do not fit into the three other types, but a number of strategies are used by the languages of this group. The two first types can be explained by iconicity; front or high phonemes appear on the proximal demonstratives, while back/low phonemes are related to distal demonstratives. This means that proximal demonstratives are pronounced at the front and/or high part of the oral cavity, while distal demonstratives are pronounced lower and more back, which reflects the proximal/distal nature of their referents in the physical world. The first type is clearly the most common in our data (40/82 languages), which suggests a clear association with iconicity. Our findings support earlier findings that proximal and distal demonstratives have an iconic phonemic manifestation. For example, it has been argued that /i/ is related to smallness (small distance). Consonants, however, have not been considered before, or no systematic correspondences have been discovered. The third type, in turn, can be explained by markedness; the distal element is more marked than the proximal demonstrative. Moreover, iconicity is relevant also here: some languages clearly use less linguistic substance for referring to entities close to the speaker, which is manifested in the longer (morpho)phonological form of the distal demonstratives. The fourth type contains different kinds of cases, and systematic generalizations are hard to make.

Keywords: demonstratives, iconicity, language typology, phonology

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Authors: Sarisa Pinkham, Kanyarat Bussaban

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The research aims to approximate the amount of daily rainfall by using a pixel value data approach. The daily rainfall maps from the Thailand Meteorological Department in period of time from January to December 2013 were the data used in this study. The results showed that this approach can approximate the amount of daily rainfall with RMSE=3.343.

Keywords: daily rainfall, image processing, approximation, pixel value data

Procedia PDF Downloads 386

Authors: Syahruddin Sumardi, Indra Fajar Alamsyah, Junaidah Hashim

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This study attempts to explore and presents a proposed recruitment model in Islamic university which aligned with holistic role. It is a conceptual paper in nature. In turn, this study is designed to utilize exploratory approach. Literature and document review that related to this topic are used as the methods to analyse the content found. Recruitment for any organization is fundamental to achieve its goal effectively. Staffing in universities is vital due to the importance role of lecturers. Currently, Islamic universities still adopt the common process of recruitment for their academic staffs. Whereas, they have own characteristics which are embedded in their institutions. Furthermore, the FCWC (Foundation, Capability, Worldview and Commitment) model of recruitment proposes to suit the holistic character of Islamic university. Further studies are required to empirically validate the concept through systematic investigations. Additionally, measuring this model by a designed means is appreciated. The model provides the map and alternative tool of recruitment for Islamic universities to determine the process of recruitment which can appropriate their institutions. In addition, it also allows stakeholders and policy makers to consider regarding Islamic values that should inculcate in the Islamic higher learning institutions. This study initiates a foundational contribution for an early sequence of research.

Keywords: academic staff, Islamic values, recruitment model, university

Procedia PDF Downloads 168