Search results for: economic loss

Authors: Salako Rotimi, Oshungade Stephen, Ojewoye Opeyemi

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The maintenance of price stability is one of the macroeconomic challenges facing Nigeria as a nation. This paper attempts to build a co-integration multivariate time series model for inflation movement in Nigeria using data extracted from the abstract of statistics of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from 2008 to 2017. The Johansen cointegration test suggests at least one co-integration vector describing the long run relationship between Consumer Price Index (CPI), Food Price Index (FPI) and Non-Food Price Index (NFPI). All three series show increasing pattern, which indicates a sign of non-stationary in each of the series. Furthermore, model predictability was established with root-mean-square-error, mean absolute error, mean average percentage error, and Theil’s unbiased statistics for n-step forecasting. The result depicts that the long run coefficient of a consumer price index (CPI) has a positive long-run relationship with the food price index (FPI) and non-food price index (NFPI).

Keywords: economic, inflation, model, series

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Authors: Yahya Asanoglu, Celaletdin Ergun

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Ceramic-matrix composites (CMC) have significant prominence in various engineering applications because of their heat resistance associated with an ability to withstand the brittle type of catastrophic failure. In this study, specific raw materials have been chosen for the purpose of having suitable CMC material for high-temperature dielectric applications. CMC material will be manufactured through the polymer infiltration and pyrolysis (PIP) method. During the manufacturing process, vacuum infiltration and autoclave will be applied so as to decrease porosity and obtain higher mechanical properties, although this advantage leads to a decrease in the electrical performance of the material. Time and temperature adjustment in pyrolysis parameters provide a significant difference in the properties of the resulting material. The mechanical and thermal properties will be investigated in addition to the measurement of dielectric constant and tangent loss values within the spectrum of Ku-band (12 to 18 GHz). Also, XRD, TGA/PTA analyses will be employed to prove the transition of precursor to ceramic phases and to detect critical transition temperatures. Additionally, SEM analysis on the fracture surfaces will be performed to see failure mechanism whether there is fiber pull-out, crack deflection and others which lead to ductility and toughness in the material. In this research, the cost-effectiveness and applicability of the PIP method will be proven in the manufacture of CMC materials while optimization of pyrolysis time, temperature and cycle for specific materials is detected by experiment. Also, several resins will be shown to be a potential raw material for CMC radome and antenna applications. This research will be distinguished from previous related papers due to the fact that in this research, the combination of different precursors and fabrics will be experimented with to specify the unique cons and pros of each combination. In this way, this is an experimental sum of previous works with unique PIP parameters and a guide to the manufacture of CMC radome and antenna.

Keywords: CMC, PIP, precursor, quartz

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Authors: Osama Hidayat, Yoshitaka Kajiat

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Kabul is a city that is highly representative of Afghanistan’s rapid urbanization process. As the city rapidly expands, there are enormous challenges to the sustainable use of land resources. This paper evaluates land use change and urban spatial expansion, from 1950 to 2016, in Kabul the capital of Afghanistan, using satellite images, field observation, and socio-economic data. The discussion covers the reduction in rural-to-urban land conversion, the delineation of urban growth boundaries, arable land reclamation and the establishment of farmland protection areas, urban upgrading, and the investigation and prosecution of illegal construction. This paper considers the aspects of urbanization and land management systems in Afghanistan. Efficient frames are outlined in Kabul for the following elements: governmental self-restraint and policy modification. The paper concludes that Kabul’s sustainable land use practices can provide a reference for other cities in Afghanistan.

Keywords: urban land expansion, urbanization, land use policy, sustainable development

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Authors: Farzad Alaeimoghadam, Farnaz Alaeimoghadam

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Plants are always being threatened by biotic and abiotic elements in their abode. Although they have inherited mechanisms to defend themselves, sometimes due to overpowering of their enemies or weakening of themselves, they just suffer from those elements. Human, as to help plants defend themselves, have developed several methods among which application of terpenes via plant biotechnology is promising. Terpenes are the most frequent and diverse secondary metabolites in plants. In these plants, terpenes are involved in different protective aspects. In this field, by utilizing biotechnological approaches on them, a delicate, precise, and an economic intervention will be achieved. In this review, first, the importance of terpenes as guardians in plants, which include their allelopathy effect, a call for alliances, and a mitigation impact on abiotic stresses will be pointed out. Second, problems concerning terpenes application in plant biotechnology comprising: damage to cell, undesirable terpene production and undesirable concentration and proportion of terpenes will be discussed. At the end, the approaches in plant biotechnology of terpenes including tampering with terpene gene sequences, compartmentalization, and localization and utilization of membrane transporters will be expressed. It is concluded with some useful notions concerning the topic.

Keywords: plant biotechnology, plant protection, terpenes, terpenoids

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Authors: Mohammad Yousaf Safi Mohibullah Afghan

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The study made on Islamic and conventional banks scrutinizes the risks interconnected with credit and liquidity on the productivity performance of Islamic and conventional banks that operate in Pakistan. Among the banks, only 4 Islamic and 18 conventional banks have been selected to enrich the result of our study on Islamic banks performance in connection to conventional banks. The selection of the banks to the panel is based on collecting quarterly unbalanced data ranges from the first quarter of 2007 to the last quarter of 2017. The data are collected from the Bank’s web sites and State Bank of Pakistan. The data collection is carried out based on Delta-method test. The mentioned test is used to find out the empirical results. In the study, while collecting data on the banks, the return on assets and return on equity have been major factors that are used assignificant proxies in determining the profitability of the banks. Moreover, another major proxy is used in measuring credit and liquidity risks, the loan loss provision to total loan and the ratio of liquid assets to total liability. Meanwhile, with consideration to the previous literature, some other variables such as bank size, bank capital, bank branches, and bank employees have been used to tentatively control the impact of those factors whose direct and indirect effects on profitability is understood. In conclusion, the study emphasizes that credit risk affects return on asset and return on equity positively, and there is no significant difference in term of credit risk between Islamic and conventional banks. Similarly, the liquidity risk has a significant impact on the bank’s profitability, though the marginal effect of liquidity risk is higher for Islamic banks than conventional banks.

Keywords: islamic & conventional banks, performance return on equity, return on assets, pakistan banking sectors, profitibility

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Authors: Lucky Malise, Hilary Rutto, Tumisang Seodigeng

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The use of tires in automobiles is very important in the automobile industry. However, there is a serious environmental problem concerning the disposal of these rubber tires once they become worn out. The main aim of this study was to prepare activated carbon from waste tire pyrolysis char by impregnating KOH on pyrolytic char. Adsorption studies on lead onto chemically activated carbon was carried out using response surface methodology. The effect of process parameters such as temperature (°C), adsorbent dosage (g/1000ml), pH, contact time (minutes) and initial lead concentration (mg/l) on the adsorption capacity were investigated. It was found that the adsorption capacity increases with an increase in contact time, pH, temperature and decreases with an increase in lead concentration. Optimization of the process variables was done using a numerical optimization method. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectra (FTIR) analysis, XRay diffraction (XRD), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscope was used to characterize the pyrolytic carbon char before and after activation. The optimum points 1g/ 100 ml for adsorbent dosage, 7 for pH value of the solution, 115.2 min for contact time, 100 mg/l for initial metal concentration, and 25°C for temperature were obtained to achieve the highest adsorption capacity of 93.176 mg/g with a desirability of 0.994. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectra (FTIR) analysis and Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) show the presence of oxygen-containing functional groups on the surface of the activated carbon produced and that the weight loss taking place during the activation step is small.

Keywords: waste tire pyrolysis char, chemical activation, central composite design (CCD), adsorption capacity, numerical optimization

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Authors: Catarina Cruz, Ana Breda

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Tiling problems have been capturing the attention of many mathematicians due to their real-life applications. In this study, we deal with tilings of Zⁿ by Lee spheres, where n is a positive integer number, being these tilings related with error correcting codes on the transmission of information over a noisy channel. We focus our attention on the question ‘for what values of n and r does the n-dimensional Lee sphere of radius r tile Zⁿ?’. It seems that the n-dimensional Lee sphere of radius r does not tile Zⁿ for n ≥ 3 and r ≥ 2. Here, we prove that is not possible to tile Z⁷ with Lee spheres of radius 2 presenting a proof based on a combinatorial method and faithful to the geometric idea of the problem. The non-existence of such tilings has been studied by several authors being considered the most difficult cases those in which the radius of the Lee spheres is equal to 2. The relation between these tilings and error correcting codes is established considering the center of a Lee sphere as a codeword and the other elements of the sphere as words which are decoded by the central codeword. When the Lee spheres of radius r centered at elements of a set M ⊂ Zⁿ tile Zⁿ, M is a perfect r-error correcting Lee code of word length n over Z, denoted by PL(n, r). Our strategy to prove the non-existence of PL(7, 2) codes are based on the assumption of the existence of such code M. Without loss of generality, we suppose that O ∈ M, where O = (0, ..., 0). In this sense and taking into account that we are dealing with Lee spheres of radius 2, O covers all words which are distant two or fewer units from it. By the definition of PL(7, 2) code, each word which is distant three units from O must be covered by a unique codeword of M. These words have to be covered by codewords which dist five units from O. We prove the non-existence of PL(7, 2) codes showing that it is not possible to cover all the referred words without superposition of Lee spheres whose centers are distant five units from O, contradicting the definition of PL(7, 2) code. We achieve this contradiction by combining the cardinality of particular subsets of codewords which are distant five units from O. There exists an extensive literature on codes in the Lee metric. Here, we present a new approach to prove the non-existence of PL(7, 2) codes.

Keywords: Golomb-Welch conjecture, Lee metric, perfect Lee codes, tilings

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Authors: M. Bukowski, K. Kreissl

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Social and environmental pressures in our times bear threats that often cross-border in scale, such as climate change, poverty-driven migration, demographic change as well as socio-economic developments. One of the hot topics is prevailing in many societies across Europe and worldwide, concerns 'affordable housing' and poverty-driven international and domestic migration (including displacements through gentrification processes), focusing here on the urban and regional context. The right to adequate housing and shelter is one of the recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human rights and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and as such considered as a human right of the second generation. The decreasing supply of affordable housing, especially in urban areas, has reached dimensions that have led to an increasing 'housing crisis'. This crisis, which has even reached middle-income homes, has an even more devastating impact on low income and poor households raising poverty levels. Therefore, the understanding of the connection between housing and poverty is vital to integrate and support the different stakeholders in order to tackle poverty. When it comes to issues of inequalities and poverty within the SDG framework, multi-faceted stakeholders with different claims, distribution of resources and interactions with other development goals (spill-over and trade-offs) account for a highly complex context. To contribute to a sustainable and fair society and hence to support the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the University of Salzburg participates in the Austrian-wide universities' network 'UniNEtZ'. Our joint target is to develop an options report for the Austrian Government regarding the seventeen SDGs, so far hosted by 18 Austrian universities. In this vein, the University of Salzburg; i.e., the Centre for Ethics and Poverty Research, the departments of Geography and Geology and the Department of Sociology and Political Science are focusing on the SDG 1 (No Poverty) and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities). Our target and research focus is to assess and evaluate the status of SDG 1 and 10 in Austria, to find possible solutions and to support stakeholders' integration. We aim at generating and deducing appropriate options as scientific support, from interdisciplinary research studies to 'Sustainability Developing Goals and their Targets' in action. For this reason, and to deal with the complexity of the Agenda 2030, we have developed a special Model for Inequalities and Poverty Assessment (IPAM). Through the example of 'affordable housing' we provide insight into the situation focusing on sustainable outcomes, including ethical and justice perceptions. The IPAM has proven to be a helpful tool in detecting the different imponderables on the Agenda 2030, assessing the situation, showing gaps and options for ethical SDG actions combining different SDG targets. Supported by expert and expert group interviews, this assessment allows different stakeholders to overview a complex and dynamic SDG challenge (here housing) which is necessary to be involved in an action finding process.

Keywords: affordable housing, inequality, poverty, sustainable development goals

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Authors: Marina Shakleina, Konstantin Shaklein, Stanislav Yakiro

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The digitalization of modern human life over the last decade has facilitated the acquisition, storage, and processing of data, which are used to detect changes in consumer preferences and to improve the internal efficiency of the production process. This emerging trend has attracted academic interest in the use of big data in research. The study focuses on modeling the social comfort of the Russian population for the period 2010-2021 using big data. Big data provides enormous opportunities for understanding human interactions at the scale of society with plenty of space and time dynamics. One of the most popular big data sources is Google Trends. The methodology for assessing social comfort using big data involves several steps: 1. 574 words were selected based on the Harvard IV-4 Dictionary adjusted to fit the reality of everyday Russian life. The set of keywords was further cleansed by excluding queries consisting of verbs and words with several lexical meanings. 2. Search queries were processed to ensure comparability of results: the transformation of data to a 10-point scale, elimination of popularity peaks, detrending, and deseasoning. The proposed methodology for keyword search and Google Trends processing was implemented in the form of a script in the Python programming language. 3. Block and summary integral indicators of social comfort were constructed using the first modified principal component resulting in weighting coefficients values of block components. According to the study, social comfort is described by 12 blocks: ‘health’, ‘education’, ‘social support’, ‘financial situation’, ‘employment’, ‘housing’, ‘ethical norms’, ‘security’, ‘political stability’, ‘leisure’, ‘environment’, ‘infrastructure’. According to the model, the summary integral indicator increased by 54% and was 4.631 points; the average annual rate was 3.6%, which is higher than the rate of economic growth by 2.7 p.p. The value of the indicator describing social comfort in Russia is determined by 26% by ‘social support’, 24% by ‘education’, 12% by ‘infrastructure’, 10% by ‘leisure’, and the remaining 28% by others. Among 25% of the most popular searches, 85% are of negative nature and are mainly related to the blocks ‘security’, ‘political stability’, ‘health’, for example, ‘crime rate’, ‘vulnerability’. Among the 25% most unpopular queries, 99% of the queries were positive and mostly related to the blocks ‘ethical norms’, ‘education’, ‘employment’, for example, ‘social package’, ‘recycling’. In conclusion, the introduction of the latent category ‘social comfort’ into the scientific vocabulary deepens the theory of the quality of life of the population in terms of the study of the involvement of an individual in the society and expanding the subjective aspect of the measurements of various indicators. Integral assessment of social comfort demonstrates the overall picture of the development of the phenomenon over time and space and quantitatively evaluates ongoing socio-economic policy. The application of big data in the assessment of latent categories gives stable results, which opens up possibilities for their practical implementation.

Keywords: big data, Google trends, integral indicator, social comfort

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Authors: Van-Thanh Ho, Jaiyoung Ryu

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In soft robotics, the optimization of fluid dynamics through pneumatic methods plays a pivotal role in enhancing operational efficiency and reducing energy loss. This is particularly crucial when replacing conventional techniques such as cable-driven electromechanical systems. The pneumatic model employed in this study represents a sophisticated framework designed to efficiently channel pressure from a high-pressure reservoir to various muscle locations on the robot's body. This intricate network involves a branching system of tubes. The study introduces a comprehensive pneumatic model, encompassing the components of a reservoir, tubes, and Pneumatically Actuated Muscles (PAM). The development of this model is rooted in the principles of shock tube theory. Notably, the study leverages experimental data to enhance the understanding of the interplay between the PAM structure and the surrounding fluid. This improved interactive approach involves the use of morphing motion, guided by a contraction function. The study's findings demonstrate a high degree of accuracy in predicting pressure distribution within the PAM. The model's predictive capabilities ensure that the error in comparison to experimental data remains below a threshold of 10%. Additionally, the research employs a machine learning model, specifically a surrogate model based on the Kriging method, to assess and quantify uncertainty factors related to the initial reservoir pressure and tube diameter. This comprehensive approach enhances our understanding of pneumatic soft robotics and its potential for improved operational efficiency.

Keywords: pneumatic artificial muscles, pressure drop, morhing motion, branched network, surrogate model

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Authors: Tanmay Bisen, Aastha Shayla, Susham Biswas

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Oil spills from tankers can cause significant harm to the environment and local communities, as well as have economic consequences. Early predictions of oil spills can help to minimize these impacts. Our proposed system uses machine learning and neural networks to predict potential oil spills by monitoring data from ship Automatic Identification Systems (AIS). The model analyzes ship movements, speeds, and changes in direction to identify patterns that deviate from the norm and could indicate a potential spill. Our approach not only identifies anomalies but also predicts spills before they occur, providing early detection and mitigation measures. This can prevent or minimize damage to the reputation of the company responsible and the country where the spill takes place. The model's performance on the MV Wakashio oil spill provides insight into its ability to detect and respond to real-world oil spills, highlighting areas for improvement and further research.

Keywords: Anomaly Detection, Oil Spill Prediction, Machine Learning, Image Processing, Graph Neural Network (GNN)

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Authors: Dina Salem

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A variety of definitions and interpretations for sustainable development has been offered since the widely known definition of the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987, the perspectives have ranged from deep ecology to better life quality for people. Sustainable landscape is widely understood as a key contributor to urban sustainability for the fact that all landscapes has a social, economic, cultural and ecological function for the community’s well-being and urban development, that was evident even before the emergence of sustainability concept. In this paper, the concepts of landscape planning and sustainable development are briefly reviewed; visions for landscape sustainability are demonstrated and classified. Challenges facing sustainable landscape planning are discussed. Finally, the paper investigates how our future urban open space could be sustainable and how does this contribute to urban sustainability, by creating urban landscapes that takes into account the social and cultural values of users of urban open space besides the ecological balance of urban open spaces as an integrated network.

Keywords: urban landscape, urban sustainability, resilience, open spaces

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Authors: Seyed Mohammad Mousavi Shalheh, Elham Rostami, Seyed Majid Mousavi, Somayeh Shirin Jani

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The aim of this research was to evaluate the potential of Rogbeh village located in Khanafereh, Shadegan city functions in Khuzestan also is the feasibility to build infrastructure and appropriate spaces to attract tourists as well as creating jobs and transforming the village institute of ecotourism in the region. It seems that the village has the potential for developing rural tourism with careful planning, and with regard to job creation and economic recovery programs, social-cultural and environmental-ecological accompanied will be welcomed by the people. Therefore, we can provide a strategy for developing tourism and achieving sustainable advancement of rural tourism. Based on researches carried out and according to regional climate differences and the position of the Rogbeh Village toward the lagoon, this research can be used by other researchers to develop and manage tourism.

Keywords: Shadegan Lagoon, Iranian villages, tourism industry, local architecture, Rogbeh village, landscape design, ecology

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Authors: Mayuri Roy Choudhury, Deepti Paul

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Many states in the United States are aiming for high renewable energy targets by the year 2045. In order to achieve this goal, they must do transition to Electrical Vehicles (EVS). We first applied the Multi-Level perspective framework to describe the inter-disciplinary complexities associated with the transition to EVs. Thereafter we addressed these complexities by creating an inter-disciplinary policy framework that uses data science algorithms to create evidence-based policies in favor of EVs. Our policy framework uses a systems level approach as it addresses transitions to EVs from a technology, economic, business and social perspective. By Systems-Level we mean approaching a problem from a multi-disciplinary perspective. Our systems-level approach could be a beneficial decision-making tool to a diverse number of stakeholders such as engineers, entrepreneurs, researchers, and policymakers. In addition, it will add value to the literature of electrical vehicles, sustainable energy, energy economics, and management as well as efficient policymaking.

Keywords: transition, electrical vehicles, systems-level, algorithms

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Authors: Radka Obořilová, Hana Šimečková, Matěj Pastucha, Jan Přibyl, Petr Skládal, Ivana Mašlaňová, Zdeněk Farka

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Due to the spreading of antimicrobial resistance, alternative approaches to combat superinfections are being sought, both in the field of lysing agents and methods for studying bacterial lysis. A suitable alternative to antibiotics is phage therapy and enzybiotics, for which it is also necessary to study the mechanism of their action. Biosensor-based techniques allow rapid detection of pathogens in real time, verification of sensitivity to commonly used antimicrobial agents, and selection of suitable lysis agents. The detection of lysis takes place on the surface of the biosensor with immobilized bacteria, which has the potential to be used to study biofilms. An example of such a biosensor is surface plasmon resonance (SPR), which records the kinetics of bacterial lysis based on a change in the resonance angle. The bacteria are immobilized on the surface of the SPR chip, and the action of phage as the mass loss is monitored after a typical lytic cycle delay. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is a technique for imaging of samples on the surface. In contrast to electron microscopy, it has the advantage of real-time imaging in the native conditions of the nutrient medium. In our case, Staphylococcus aureus was lysed using the enzyme lysostaphin and phage P68 from the familyPodoviridae at 37 ° C. In addition to visualization, AFM was used to study changes in mechanical properties during lysis, which resulted in a reduction of Young’s modulus (E) after disruption of the bacterial wall. Changes in E reflect the stiffness of the bacterium. These advanced methods provide deeper insight into bacterial lysis and can help to fight against bacterial diseases.

Keywords: biosensors, atomic force microscopy, surface plasmon resonance, bacterial lysis, staphylococcus aureus, phage P68

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Authors: Kamille Beye

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Critical thinking is a topic that has been disputed in the field of education for decades, but many resulting debates have centered around strengthening critical thinking capabilities in the societies, workforces, and educational centers of the global north. In contrast, this paper provides an analysis of the teaching of critical thinking in Liberia, which has been ravaged by years of war and a recent Ebola outbreak. These crises have decimated the Liberian education sector, leading to a loss of teaching capacities that are essential to providing critical thinking education. Until recently, critical thinking had no seat at the table when the future needs of the country were discussed by the government and non-governmental agencies. Now, the University of Liberia has a bold goal to become one of the top twenty universities in West Africa in the next seven years, which has led to a focus on teaching critical thinking skills to improve learning. This paper argues that critical thinking is essential to strengthening not only the Liberian education system, but for promoting peace amongst community members, and yet it suggests that commitments to the teaching of critical thinking in Liberia have hitherto been overly superficial. Based on an initial scoping study, this paper will examine the potential impacts of teaching critical thinking skills to undergraduate students in the William V. S. Tubman School of Education at the University of Liberia on continued peacebuilding and reconstruction efforts of the country. The research contends that if critical thinking skills are taught, practiced and continually utilized, teachers and students will have the ability to engage with information and negotiate challenges to solutions in ways that are beneficial to the communities in which they live. The research will use a variety of methods, that include the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory. This research will demonstrate that critical thinking skills are not only needed for entering the workforce, but necessary for negotiating and expressing the needs and desires of local communities in a peaceful way.

Keywords: critical thinking, higher education, Liberia, peacebuilding, post-conflict

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Authors: Foad Hassaninejadafarahani, Scott Ormiston

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Reflux condensation occurs in a vertical channels and tubes when there is an upward core flow of vapor (or gas-vapor mixture) and a downward flow of the liquid film. The understanding of this condensation configuration is crucial in the design of reflux condensers, distillation columns, and in loss-of-coolant safety analyses in nuclear power plant steam generators. The unique feature of this flow is the upward flow of the vapor-gas mixture (or pure vapor) that retards the liquid flow via shear at the liquid-mixture interface. The present model solves the full, elliptic governing equations in both the film and the gas-vapor core flow. The computational mesh is non-orthogonal and adapts dynamically the phase interface, thus produces sharp and accurate interface. Shear forces and heat and mass transfer at the interface are accounted for fundamentally. This modeling is a big step ahead of current capabilities by removing the limitations of previous reflux condensation models which inherently cannot account for the detailed local balances of shear, mass, and heat transfer at the interface. Discretisation has been done based on a finite volume method and a co-located variable storage scheme. An in-house computer code was developed to implement the numerical solution scheme. Detailed results are presented for laminar reflux condensation from steam-air mixtures flowing in vertical parallel plate channels. The results include velocity and pressure profiles, as well as axial variations of film thickness, Nusselt number and interface gas mass fraction.

Keywords: Reflux, Condensation, CFD-Two Phase, Nusselt number

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Authors: Camelia Porey, Binaya Kumar Jaiswal

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BACKGROUND: Antiphospholipid antibody (APLA) syndrome is an autoimmune disorder predisposing to thrombotic complications affecting CNS either by arterial vasooclusion or venous thrombosis. Cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST) secondarily causes raised intracranial pressure (ICP). However, intracranial hypertension without evidence of CVST is a rare entity. Here we present two cases of elevated ICP with absence of identifiable CVST. CASE SUMMARY: Case 1, 28-year female had a 2 months history of holocranial headache followed by bilateral painless vision loss reaching lack of light perception over 20 days. CSF opening pressure was elevated. Fundoscopy showed bilateral grade 4 papilledema. MRI revealed a partially empty sella with bilateral optic nerve tortuosity. Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) was diagnosed. With acetazolamide, there was complete resolution of the clinical and radiological abnormalities. 5 months later she presented with acute onset right-sided hemiparesis. MRI was suggestive of acute left MCA infarct.MR venogram was normal. APLA came positive with high titres of Anticardiolipin and Beta 2 glycoprotein both IgG and IgM. Case 2, 23-year female, presented with headache and diplopia of 2 months duration. CSF pressure was elevated and Grade 3 papilledema was seen. MRI showed bilateral optic nerve hyperintensities with nerve head protrusion with normal MRV. APLA profile showed elevated beta 2 glycoprotein IgG and IgA. CONCLUSION: This is an important non thrombotic complication of APLA syndrome and requires further large-scale study for insight into the pathogenesis and early recognition to avoid future complications.

Keywords: APLA syndrome, idiopathic intracranial hypertension, MR venogram, papilledema

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Authors: R. Abdeldjebar, B. Labbaci, L. Lahmar, L. Missoum, B. Moudden

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Today to build durably means to build in such a way to create, to preserve in the world an acceptable environment where ecology, social and economic implications are in the center of future generations interest. To achieve this goal, we tried to employ local, durable, powerful ground materials which lead to limit pollution, to have long lifetime, and possibility of recycling or recovery. Using them in the most rational way makes construction technically perfect and put an end to cement invasion, since ground bricks are simple to implement and create a useful decoration, original and pleasant which enables to preserve the historical architectural heritage. This work concerns the study of environmental effects on stabilized bricks of compressed ground, traditionally manufactured containing traditional quicklime after extinction in water as a basic component which offers to brick mechanical resistance in conformity with the standards. Experimental results of compression and bending are exposed and are in conformity with the used standards.

Keywords: characterization, BTS, quicklime, dune sand, environment, durable

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Authors: Bradley Fevrier

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Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus, a non-communicable metabolic disorder, is a fast-growing problem for health, as it presents numerous complications and death worldwide. St. Lucia, much like most other emerging nation in the Caribbean, struggles with the management of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) among its populace. Good knowledge, attitude, and practices [KAP] of T2DM are essential in the prevention and management of this disease.Lifestyle adaptation, including increased knowledge, positive attitude, and efficient practice towards lifestyle modifications, can avert the advancement of difficulties associated with diabetes. Methods: An institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted during the period June 15, 2022, to July15 2022. Data were collected by using the self-administered questionnaire designed to collect the required information from participants, and the data wasanalyzed using the statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 26. Knowledge, attitude, and practice of lifestyle modification among participants were determined using descriptive statistics. Results: A total of 402 participants completed the study, fully yielding an 84% response rate. Overall, the assessed levels of KAP relating to the life-threatening complications of T2DM were moderate. Results further indicated that women outnumbered men 68.4% to 31.6%, respectively. Significant positive correlation (r= 0.244, p<0.001) and (r=.203, p<0.001) were found between the knowledge level as well as the attitude level of study respondents. Conclusion: The overall study findings regarding the level of knowledge and attitude concerning lifestyle modifications among study participants were interpreted as generally high. However, the practice of healthy lifestyle modification habits was poor. The current findings suggest a need for structured educational campaigns prioritizing the importance of lifestyle modifications (weight loss, smoking cessation, physical exercise) to the general population.

Keywords: Diabetes, knowledge, lifestyle, survey

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Authors: Busari Lasisi

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Literary works are often devalued to mere fictions and are left with no essence and contributions to history. The sub-structured rational delineating literary works from history is anchored on the aesthetic and flowery expressions that are therein embedded for artistic enrichment. This does not distance a literary work (from whichever genres it is drawn) reflecting the socio-economic, cultural and political cum religious perspectives of a given people and society. This is the very reason justifying the veracity that a writer does not anchor his writing outside of his society. He writes mirroring (his or a given society’s) events, places and duration of consciousness thereby making history evident. In the light of this reality, literary works are not just seen as fictions, imaginative and unrealistic pieces; for they are never unconnected to history. Thus, making authors of literary works historians and their works engrafted useful historical documents. Using the works of Ahmadou Korouma, a renown Ivorian writer, the praxis of this paper therefore in New Historicism approach postulates that literary works are underlying unexplored historic materials, and literature a jumelle to history.

Keywords: literature, history, New Historicism, authors

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Authors: Yan Ma

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Parents in China now are of great enthusiasm to outsource extracurricular lessons and activities to ensure their children’s English learning. This study draws on one year of ethnographic observations and interviews with parents and children in 6 families in Shaoxing, a small city in East China, to explore how parents in different social classes differ in their ideology and investment practice towards their children’s English education. Through comparative analysis, the study reveals though all the families acknowledge the importance of English and there are great similarities among families in the same social class, differences are distinct among those in different social classes with regard to how they perceived the importance and what measures they take. The results also reflect China’s sociocultural and socioeconomic factors that underlined the heated wave of English learning as well as the social, cultural and economic conditions of different families that exert a decisive influence on their children’s learning experience.

Keywords: family background, extracurricular English learning, language ideologies, language management

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Authors: José Eugenio Ortiz, Pierre Plaza, Josefa Herrero, Iván Cabria, José Luis Blanco, Javier Gavilanes, José Ignacio Escavy, Ignacio López-Cilla, Virginia Yagüe, César Pérez, Silvia Rodríguez, Jorge Rico, Cecilia Serrano, Jesús Bernat

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The development of Artificial Intelligence services in mining processes, specifically in aggregate quarries, is facilitating automation and improving numerous aspects of operations. Ultimately, AI is transforming the mining industry by improving efficiency, safety and sustainability. With the ability to analyze large amounts of data and make autonomous decisions, AI offers great opportunities to optimize mining operations and maximize the economic and social benefits of this vital industry. Within the framework of the European DIGIECOQUARRY project, various services were developed for the identification of material quality, production estimation, detection of anomalies and prediction of consumption and production automatically with good results.

Keywords: aggregates, artificial intelligence, automatization, mining operations

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Authors: M. Abdul Jalil

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Parents caring for a child with a profound disability encounter different experiences compared to the parents caring for a child without a disability. The aim of this paper is to develop a greater understanding of parenting of a child with profound disabilities in the context of developing countries with reference to Bangladesh. The paper reveals that parents caring for a child with a profound disability are experiencing increased financial burden, affiliate and courtesy stigma and negative impact on mothers in terms of additional caregiving role, instability of conjugal relations, giving up of involvement in economic activities, and shrinking kinship and social relationships. In addition, government and non-government services for children with disabilities are very limited. Moreover, the information about the services is also not available to the parents. Therefore, parents find it difficult to cope with the challenges that lead to the alienation of the parents. The paper recommended the strategies to address the issues in the context of Bangladesh, which in turn might be applicable to the developing countries as well.

Keywords: caregiving, coping, parenting, profound disability

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Authors: Fatemeh Rezaei, Mohammad H. Yarmohammadian, Masoud Ferdosi, Abbas Haghshnas

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Background: Failure Modes and Effect Analysis is now having known as the main methods of risk assessment and the accreditation requirements for many organizations. The Risk Priority Number (RPN) approach is generally preferred, especially for its easiness of use. Indeed it does not require statistical data, but it is based on subjective evaluations given by the experts about the Occurrence (O i), the Severity (Si) and the Detectability (D i) of each cause of failure. Methods: This study is a quantitative – qualitative research. In terms of qualitative dimension, method of focus groups with inductive approach is used. To evaluate the results of the qualitative study, quantitative assessment was conducted to calculate RPN score. Results; We have studied patient’s journey process in surgery ward and the most important phase of the process determined Transport of the patient from the holding area to the operating room. Failures of the phase with the highest priority determined by defining inclusion criteria included severity (clinical effect, claim consequence, waste of time and financial loss), occurrence (time- unit occurrence and degree of exposure to risk) and preventability (degree of preventability and defensive barriers) and quantifying risks priority criteria in the context of RPN index. Ability of improved RPN reassess by root cause (RCA) analysis showed some variations. Conclusions: Finally, It could be concluded that understandable criteria should have been developed according to personnel specialized language and communication field. Therefore, participation of both technical and clinical groups is necessary to modify and apply these models.

Keywords: failure mode, effects analysis, risk priority number(RPN), health system, risk assessment

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Authors: Meseret Gebeyehu Yehuala

Abstract:

Women represent the majority of urban farmers engaged in vegetable and fruit production in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. We examine urban agriculture in Bahir Dar city in the context of disruptions caused by the civil war and COVID-19. The Sustainable Livelihoods Framework serves as a conceptual frame to explore the vulnerability context, the structural and institutional challenges faced by women, and how this impacts their livelihoods. A total of 25 urban women farmers and 6 key informants were involved in the study through explorative and structured interviews conducted in 2021. Observations and informal conversations during repeated visits provided deeper insights. In addition, key informants employed in civil service institutions and experts were interviewed. Data were analysed by applying qualitative content analysis by using Atlas tia software. Women report that they experience a lack of access to land, insecurity of tenure, irregular technical support and input provision by agricultural extension services, and lack of access to credit and formal marketplaces. The COVID-19 pandemic restrictions aggravated this situation by delaying agricultural extension offices’ provision of necessary inputs and disrupting food handling and storage leading to the loss of perishable products. Bombing in relation to the civil war has destroyed harvests and left women in fear of returning to their fields. Women stated that vegetable and fruit production could contribute to their incomes, household food supplies, and more diversified diets. However, the city municipal office has, so far, not committed to supporting urban agriculture as a livelihood strategy.

Keywords: urban agriculture, institutional challenges, Bahir Dar, sustainable livelihood framework

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Authors: Chala Elhassen

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City planning and urban management seem more complex our days compared to past times. The interaction of many factors both endogenous and exogenous made more difficult the urban fact. The city has changed status with the demographic bulge. It passed the primary status meeting limited requirements to a multidisciplinary status marked by the diversity of needs. These increase with the increase in population and living standard. Our era is marked by urbanization, complex phenomenon that develops both in industrialized countries in those of the third world. Human concentrations increasingly have significant multiplier effects on the social and economic structure of a region or a country. On the whole, the issue of urban planning revolved around questions related firstly to the understanding of the phenomena of urbanization; and also in search of the most appropriate ways to ensure control, the efficiency and consistency of the urbanization process. Urban planning remains an ambiguous area that mixes scientific contributions, technical, artistic, administrative and legal in varying proportions. What is the founder of specificity is that it always presupposes the existence of a will to act, itself supported by a thorough knowledge of will.

Keywords: urbanization, urban planning, management, industrialized countries

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Authors: Sang Koo Jeon, Seung Hoon Nahm, Oh Heon Kwon

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The unit cell of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) must be stacked as several layers type to obtain the high power. The most of researcher have concerned about the performance of stacked SOFC rather than the structural stability of stacked SOFC and especially interested how to design for reducing the electrical loss and improving the high efficiency. Consequently, the stacked SOFC able to produce the electrical high power and related parts like as manifold, gas seal, bipolar plate were developed to optimize the stack design. However, the unit cell of SOFC was just layered on the interconnector without the adhesion and the hydrogen and oxygen were injected to the interfacial layer in the high temperature. On the operating condition, the interfacial layer can be the one of the weak point in the stacked SOFC. Therefore the evaluation of the structural safety for the failure is essentially needed. In this study, interfacial adhesion between SOFC and metal adhesive was estimated in the high temperature environment. The metal adhesive was used to strongly connect the unit cell of SOFC with interconnector and provide the electrical conductivity between them. The four point bending test was performed to measure the interfacial adhesion. The unit cell of SOFC and SiO2 wafer were diced and then attached by metal adhesive. The SiO2 wafer had the center notch to initiate a crack from the tip of the notch. The modified stereomicroscope combined with the CCD camera and system for measuring the length was used to observe the fracture behavior. Additionally, the interfacial adhesion was evaluated in the high temperature condition because the metal adhesive was affected by high temperature. Also the specimen was exposed in the furnace during several hours and then the interfacial adhesion was evaluated. Finally, the interfacial adhesion energy was quantitatively determined and compared in the each condition.

Keywords: solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), metal adhesive, adhesion, high temperature

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Authors: Hussain Sajid, Jung-Hun Shin, Kum-Won Cho

Abstract:

Image super-resolution is the most common computer vision problem with many important applications. Generative adversarial networks (GANs) have promoted remarkable advances in single-image super-resolution (SR) by recovering photo-realistic images. However, high memory requirements of GAN-based SR (mainly generators) lead to performance degradation and increased energy consumption, making it difficult to implement it onto resource-constricted devices. To relieve such a problem, In this paper, we introduce an optimized and highly efficient architecture for SR-GAN (generator) model by utilizing model compression techniques such as Knowledge Distillation and pruning, which work together to reduce the storage requirement of the model also increase in their performance. Our method begins with distilling the knowledge from a large pre-trained model to a lightweight model using different loss functions. Then, iterative weight pruning is applied to the distilled model to remove less significant weights based on their magnitude, resulting in a sparser network. Knowledge Distillation reduces the model size by 40%; pruning then reduces it further by 18%. To accelerate the learning process, we employ the Horovod framework for distributed training on a cluster of 2 nodes, each with 8 GPUs, resulting in improved training performance and faster convergence. Experimental results on various benchmarks demonstrate that the proposed compressed model significantly outperforms state-of-the-art methods in terms of peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR), structural similarity index measure (SSIM), and image quality for x4 super-resolution tasks.

Keywords: single-image super-resolution, generative adversarial networks, knowledge distillation, pruning

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Authors: Aleksandr S. Demin, Anastasiia V. Ivanova

Abstract:

Purpose: The current economy tends to increase the influence of digital technologies and diminish the human role in management. However, it is impossible to deny that a person still leads a business with its own set of values and priorities. The article presented aims to incorporate the peculiarities of the national culture and the characteristics of the supply chain using the quantitative values of the national culture obtained by the scholars of comparative management (Hofstede, House, and others). Design/Methodology/Approach: The conducted research is based on the secondary data in the field of cross-country comparison achieved by Prof. Hofstede and received in the GLOBE project. The data mentioned are used to design different aspects of the supply chain both on the cross-functional and inter-organizational levels. The connection between a range of principles in general (roles assignment, customer service prioritization, coordination of supply chain partners) and in comparative management (acknowledgment of the national peculiarities of the country in which the company operates) is shown over economic and mathematical models, mainly linear programming models. Findings: The combination of the team management wheel concept, the business processes of the global supply chain, and the national culture characteristics let a transnational corporation to form a supply chain crew balanced in costs, functions, and personality. To elaborate on an effective customer service policy and logistics strategy in goods and services distribution in the country under review, two approaches are offered. The first approach relies exceptionally on the customer’s interest in the place of operation, while the second one takes into account the position of the transnational corporation and its previous experience in order to accord both organizational and national cultures. The effect of integration practice on the achievement of a specific supply chain goal in a specific location is advised to assess via types of correlation (positive, negative, non) and the value of national culture indices. Research Limitations: The models developed are intended to be used by transnational companies and business forms located in several nationally different areas. Some of the inputs to illustrate the application of the methods offered are simulated. That is why the numerical measurements should be used with caution. Practical Implications: The research can be of great interest for the supply chain managers who are responsible for the engineering of global supply chains in a transnational corporation and the further activities in doing business on the international area. As well, the methods, tools, and approaches suggested can be used by top managers searching for new ways of competitiveness and can be suitable for all staff members who are keen on the national culture traits topic. Originality/Value: The elaborated methods of decision-making with regard to the national environment suggest the mathematical and economic base to find a comprehensive solution.

Keywords: logistics integration, logistics services, multinational corporation, national culture, team management, service policy, supply chain management

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