Search results for: nature based solutions

Authors: Abdulrahman Yarali, Machica McClain

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In the context of the increasing use of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) across critical infrastructure sectors, this paper addresses a crucial and emerging topic: the integration of Identity and Access Management (IAM) with Internet of Things (IoT) devices in Medical Cyber-Physical Systems (MCPS). It underscores the significance of robust IAM solutions in the expanding interconnection of IoT devices in healthcare settings, leveraging AI, ML, DL, Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA), biometric authentication advancements, and blockchain technologies. The paper advocates for the potential benefits of transitioning from traditional, static IAM frameworks to dynamic, adaptive solutions that can effectively counter sophisticated cyber threats, ensure the integrity and reliability of CPS, and significantly bolster the overall security posture. The paper calls for strategic planning, collaboration, and continuous innovation to harness these benefits. By emphasizing the importance of securing CPS against evolving threats, this research contributes to the ongoing discourse on cybersecurity and advocates for a collaborative approach to foster innovation and enhance the resilience of critical infrastructure in the digital era.

Keywords: CPS, IAM, IoT, AI, ML, authentication, models, policies, healthcare

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Authors: Orit Baruth, Anat Cohen

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Online courses have become common in many learning programs and various learning environments, particularly in higher education. Social distancing forced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the demand for these courses. Yet, despite the frequency of use, online learning is not free of limitations and may not suit all learners. Hence, the growth of online learning alongside with learners' diversity raises the question: is online learning, as it currently offered, meets the needs of each learner? Fortunately, today's technology allows to produce tailored learning platforms, namely, personalization. Personality influences learner's satisfaction and therefore has a significant impact on learning effectiveness. A better understanding of personality can lead to a greater appreciation of learning needs, as well to assists educators ensure that an optimal learning environment is provided. In the context of online learning and personality, the research on learning design according to personality traits is lacking. This study explores the relations between personality traits (using the 'Big-five' model) and students' satisfaction with five techno-pedagogical learning solutions (TPLS): discussion groups, digital books, online assignments, surveys/polls, and media, in order to provide an online learning process to students' satisfaction. Satisfaction level and personality identification of 108 students who participated in a fully online learning course at a large, accredited university were measured. Cluster analysis methods (k-mean) were applied to identify learners’ clusters according to their personality traits. Correlation analysis was performed to examine the relations between the obtained clusters and satisfaction with the offered TPLS. Findings suggest that learners associated with the 'Neurotic' cluster showed low satisfaction with all TPLS compared to learners associated with the 'Non-neurotics' cluster. learners associated with the 'Consciences' cluster were satisfied with all TPLS except discussion groups, and those in the 'Open-Extroverts' cluster were satisfied with assignments and media. All clusters except 'Neurotic' were highly satisfied with the online course in general. According to the findings, dividing learners into four clusters based on personality traits may help define tailor learning paths for them, combining various TPLS to increase their satisfaction. As personality has a set of traits, several TPLS may be offered in each learning path. For the neurotics, however, an extended selection may suit more, or alternatively offering them the TPLS they less dislike. Study findings clearly indicate that personality plays a significant role in a learner's satisfaction level. Consequently, personality traits should be considered when designing personalized learning activities. The current research seeks to bridge the theoretical gap in this specific research area. Establishing the assumption that different personalities need different learning solutions may contribute towards a better design of online courses, leaving no learner behind, whether he\ she likes online learning or not, since different personalities need different learning solutions.

Keywords: online learning, personality traits, personalization, techno-pedagogical learning solutions

Procedia PDF Downloads 103

Authors: Rodrigo Coelho

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We believe that in the majority of the “recent production of public space", the overvaluation of the "image", of the "ephemeral" and of the "objectual", has come to determine the configuration of banal and (more or less) arbitrary "public spaces", mostly linked to a problem of “outdoor decoration”, reflecting a clear sign of uncertainty and arbitrariness about the meaning, the role and shape of public space and public art.This "inconsistency" which is essentially linked to the loss of urban, but also social, cultural and political, vocation of the disciplines that “shape” the urban space (but is also linked to the lack of urban and technical culture of techinicians and policy makers) converted a significant set of the recently built "public space" and “urban art” into diffuse and multi-referenced pieces, which generally shares the inability of confering to the urban space, civic, aesthetic, social and symbolic meanings. In this sense we consider it is essential to undertake a theoretical reflection on the values, the meaning(s) and the shape(s) that open space, and urban art may (or must) take in the current urban and cultural context, in order to redeem for public space its status of significant physical reference, able to embody a spatial and urban identity, and simultaneously enable the collective accession and appropriation of public space. Taking as reference public space interventions built in the last decade on the European context, we will seek to explore and defend the need of considering public space as a true place of exception, an exceptional support where the emphasis is placed on the quality of the experience, especially by the relations public space/urban art can established with the city, with nature and geography in a broad sense, referring us back to a close and inseparable and timeless relationship between nature and culture.

Keywords: art, city, nature, public space

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Authors: Rishabh Ambavanekar

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Expressive Aphasia (EA) is an oral disability, common among stroke victims, in which the Broca’s area of the brain is damaged, interfering with verbal communication abilities. EA currently has no technological solutions and its only current viable solutions are inefficient or only available to the affluent. This prompts the need for an affordable, innovative solution to facilitate recovery and assist in speech generation. This project proposes a novel concept: using a wearable low-cost electroencephalography (EEG) device-based brain-computer interface (BCI) to translate a user’s inner dialogue into words. A low-cost EEG device was developed and found to be 10 to 100 times less expensive than any current EEG device on the market. As part of the BCI, a machine learning (ML) model was developed and trained using the EEG data. Two stages of testing were conducted to analyze the effectiveness of the device: a proof-of-concept and a final solution test. The proof-of-concept test demonstrated an average accuracy of above 90% and the final solution test demonstrated an average accuracy of above 75%. These two successful tests were used as a basis to demonstrate the viability of BCI research in developing lower-cost verbal communication devices. Additionally, the device proved to not only enable users to verbally communicate but has the potential to also assist in accelerated recovery from the disorder.

Keywords: neurotechnology, brain-computer interface, neuroscience, human-machine interface, BCI, HMI, aphasia, verbal disability, stroke, low-cost, machine learning, ML, image recognition, EEG, signal analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 119

Authors: AlHanoof A. Alharbi, Fatima M. Alamoudi, Razan A. Albrahim, Sarah F. Alharbi, Abdullah M Almuhaideb, Norah A. Almubairik, Abdulrahman Alharby, Naya M. Nagy

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Recently, drones received a rapid interest in different industries worldwide due to its powerful impact. However, limitations still exist in this emerging technology, especially privacy violation. These aircrafts consistently threaten the security of entities by entering restricted areas accidentally or deliberately. Therefore, this research project aims to develop drone detection and prevention mechanism to protect the restricted area. Until now, none of the solutions have met the optimal requirements of detection which are cost-effectiveness, high accuracy, long range, convenience, unaffected by noise and generalization. In terms of prevention, the existing methods are focusing on impractical solutions such as catching a drone by a larger drone, training an eagle or a gun. In addition, the practical solutions have limitations, such as the No-Fly Zone and PITBULL jammers. According to our study and analysis of previous related works, none of the solutions includes detection and prevention at the same time. The proposed solution is a combination of detection and prevention methods. To implement the detection system, a passive radar will be used to properly identify the drone against any possible flying objects. As for the prevention, jamming signals and forceful safe landing of the drone integrated together to stop the drone’s operation. We believe that applying this mechanism will limit the drone’s invasion of privacy incidents against highly restricted properties. Consequently, it effectively accelerates drones‘ usages at personal and governmental levels.

Keywords: detection, drone, jamming, prevention, privacy, RF, radar, UAV

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Authors: Dur-E- Shahwar

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Much attention has been given to ‘bridging the gap’ between neuroscience and educational practice. In order to gain a better understanding of the nature of this gap and of possibilities to enable the linking process, we have taken a boundary perspective on these two fields and the brain-based learning approach, focusing on boundary-spanning actors, boundary objects, and boundary work. In 26 semi-structured interviews, neuroscientists and education professionals were asked about their perceptions in regard to the gap between science and practice and the role they play in creating, managing, and disrupting this boundary. Neuroscientists and education professionals often hold conflicting views and expectations of both brain-based learning and of each other. This leads us to argue that there are increased prospects for a neuro-scientifically informed learning practice if science and practice work together as equal stakeholders in developing and implementing neuroscience research.

Keywords: language learning, explore, educational practices, mentalist, practice

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Authors: Sven Ratković

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The survey of public attitudes and knowledge was conducted as part of the Dinara back to LIFE project during June and July 2020. The aim of the research was to collect public opinions and knowledge on the topics of the biodiversity of Dinara, perception of tourist potential, sustainable development, and acceptance of the project. The research was conducted using the survey method in the cities of Sinj, Knin, Vrlika, and Trilj, and the municipalities of Hrvace, Otok, Kijevo, and Civljane, where a total of 404 people were surveyed. The respondents perceive the cultural and recreational potential of Dinara and recognize it as a potential for agriculture and tourism. According to respondents, the biological diversity of Dinara is most affected by fires and human activity. When it comes to nature protection, the majority of respondents don’t trust local self-government units and relevant ministries. The obtained results indicate the need for informing and educating the community, and they serve to adjust the project activities and better guide the touristic development of the project area. The examination will be repeated in the last project year (2023).

Keywords: protected area tourism, Dinara Nature Park, dry grasslands, touristic infrastructure

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Authors: Eugene Allevato

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Developing a responsible personal worldview is central to sustainable development, but achieving quality education to promote transformative learning for sustainability is thus far, poorly understood. Most programs involving education for sustainable development rely on changing behavior, rather than attitudes. The emphasis is on the scientific and utilitarian aspect of sustainability with negligible importance on the intrinsic value of nature. Campus sustainability projects include building sustainable gardens and implementing energy-efficient upgrades, instead of focusing on educating for sustainable development through exploration of students’ values and beliefs. Even though green technology adoption maybe the right thing to do, most schools are not targeting the root cause of the environmental crisis; they are just providing palliative measures. This study explores the under-examined factors that lead to pro-environmental behavior by investigating the environmental perceptions of both college business students and personnel of green organizations. A mixed research approach of qualitative, based on structured interviews, and quantitative instruments was developed including 30 college-level students’ interviews and 40 green organization staff members involved in sustainable activities. The interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed for analysis. Categorization of the responses to the open‐ended questions was conducted with the purpose of identifying the main types of factors influencing attitudes and correlating with behaviors. Overall the findings of this study indicated a lack of appreciation for nature, and inability to understand interconnectedness and apply critical thinking. The results of the survey conducted on undergraduate students indicated that the responses of business and liberal arts students by independent t-test were significantly different, with a p‐value of 0.03. While liberal arts students showed an understanding of human interdependence with nature and its delicate balance, business students seemed to believe that humans were meant to rule over the rest of nature. This result was quite intriguing from the perspective that business students will be defining markets, influencing society, controlling and managing businesses that supposedly, in the face of climate change, shall implement sustainable activities. These alarming results led to the focus on green businesses in order to better understand their motivation to engage in sustainable activities. Additionally, a probit model revealed that childhood exposure to nature has a significantly positive impact in pro-environmental attitudes to most of the New Ecological Paradigm scales. Based on these findings, this paper discusses educators including Socrates, John Dewey and Paulo Freire in the implementation of eco-pedagogy and transformative learning following a curriculum with emphasis on critical and systems thinking, which are deemed to be key ingredients in quality education for sustainable development.

Keywords: eco-pedagogy, environmental behavior, quality education for sustainable development, transformative learning

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Authors: Parastoo Ahmadpoor

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Textile waste has become a significant environmental concern in recent years due to its adverse effects on ecosystems and human health. This manuscript presents a comprehensive overview of textile waste management, focusing on sustainable solutions for minimizing waste generation, promoting recycling and upcycling, and adopting circular economy principles. The manuscript explores the challenges and opportunities in textile waste management and highlights the importance of collaboration between stakeholders to achieve a more sustainable and responsible textile industry.

Keywords: textile waste, waste management, recycling, upcycling, circular economy, sustainability, environmental impact

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Authors: C. S. Caires, A. Barbosa, W. Hanyou

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In this paper, we present the main results achieved during a five-week international workshop on Interactive Furniture for the Classroom, with 22 Chinese design students, in Jiangmen city (Guangdong province, China), and five teachers from Portugal, France, Iran, Macao SAR, and China. The main goal was to engage design students from China with new skills and practice methodologies towards interactive design research for furniture and product design for the classroom. The final results demonstrate students' concerns on improving Chinese furniture design for the classrooms, including solutions related to collaborative learning and human-interaction design for interactive furniture products. The findings of the research led students to the fabrication of five original prototypes: two for kindergartens ('Candy' and 'Tilt-tilt'), two for primary schools ('Closer' and 'Eks(x)'), and one for art/creative schools ('Wave'). From the findings, it was also clear that collaboration, personalization, and project-based teaching are still neglected when designing furniture products for the classroom in China. Students focused on these issues and came up with creative solutions that could transform this educational field in China.

Keywords: product design, collaborative education, interactive design, design research and prototyping

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Authors: Ivan Ashif Ardhana, Intan Mahanani

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Chemistry education tends to change from triplet representation among macroscopic, microscopic, and symbolic to tetrahedron shape. This change set the aspect of human element on the top of learning. Meaning that students are expected to solve the problems involving the ethic, morality, and humanity through the class. Ability to solve the problems connecting either theories or applications is called scientific literacy which have been implemented in curriculum 2013 implicitly. Scientific literacy has an aspect of nature science and critical thinking. Both can be integrated to learning using scientific approach and scientific inquiry. Unfortunately, students’ ability of scientific literacy in Indonesia is far from expectation. A survey from PISA had proven it. Scientific literacy of Indonesian students is always at bottom five position from 2002 till 2012. Improving a scientific literacy needs many efforts against them. Developing an instructional material based on scientific approach is one kind of that efforts. Instructional material contains both aspect of nature of science and critical thinking which is instructed explicitly to improve the students’ understanding about science. Developing goal is to produce a prototype and an instructional material using scientific approach whose chapter is chemical bonding and intermolecular forces for high school students grade ten. As usual, the material is subjected to get either quantitative mark or suggestion through validation process using validation sheet instrument. Development model is adapted from 4D model containing four steps. They are define, design, develop, and disseminate. Nevertheless, development of instructional material had only done until third step. The final step wasn’t done because of time, cost, and energy limitations. Developed instructional material had been validated by four validators. They are coming from chemistry lecture and high school’s teacher which two at each. The result of this development research shown the average of quantitative mark of students’ book is 92.75% with very proper in criteria. Given at same validation process, teacher’s guiding book got the average mark by 96.98%, similar criteria with students’ book. Qualitative mark including both comments and suggestions resulted from validation process were used as consideration for the revision. The result concluded us how the instructional materials using scientific approach to explicit nature of science and critical thinking on the topic of chemical bonding and intermolecular forces are very proper if they are used at learning activity.

Keywords: critical thinking, instructional material, nature of science, scientific literacy

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Authors: Ayaz Ahmad

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In this work, we present the effect of noise on the solution of a partial differential equation (PDE) in three different setting. We shall first consider random initial condition for two nonlinear dispersive PDE the non linear Schrodinger equation and the Kortteweg –de vries equation and analyse their effect on some special solution , the soliton solutions.The second case considered a linear partial differential equation , the wave equation with random initial conditions allow to substantially decrease the computational and data storage costs of an algorithm to solve the inverse problem based on the boundary measurements of the solution of this equation. Finally, the third example considered is that of the linear transport equation with a singular drift term, when we shall show that the addition of a multiplicative noise term forbids the blow up of solutions under a very weak hypothesis for which we have finite time blow up of a solution in the deterministic case. Here we consider the problem of wave propagation, which is modelled by a nonlinear dispersive equation with noisy initial condition .As observed noise can also be introduced directly in the equations.

Keywords: drift term, finite time blow up, inverse problem, soliton solution

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Authors: Josiane R. Pires, Marco A. S. González, Bruna L. Brenner, Luciana S. Roos

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The concern with sustainability brought the need for optimization of the buildings to reduce consumption of natural resources. Almost 1/3 of energy demanded by Brazilian housings is used to provide thermal solutions. AEC sector may contribute applying bioclimatic strategies on building design. The aim of this research is to investigate the viability of applying some alternative solutions in residential buildings. The research was developed with computational simulation on single family social housing, examining envelope type, absorptance, and insolation. The analysis of the thermal performance applied both Brazilian standard NBR 15575 and degree-hour method, in the scenery of Porto Alegre, a southern Brazilian city. We used BIM modeling through Revit/Autodesk and used Energy Plus to thermal simulation. The payback of the investment was calculated comparing energy savings and building costs, in a period of 50 years. The results shown that with the increment of envelope’s insulation there is thermal comfort improvement and energy economy, with a pay-back period of 24 to 36 years, in some cases.

Keywords: civil construction, design, thermal performance, energy, economic analysis

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Authors: Rebecca A. Deek

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There is evidence that erratic and extreme weather is becoming a common occurrence, and even predictions that this will become even more frequent and more severe. It also appears that the severity of earthquakes is intensifying. Some observers believe that human conduct has given reasons for such change; others attribute this to environmental and geological cycles. However, as some physicists, environmental scientists, politicians, and others continue to debate the connection between weather events, seismic activities, and climate change, other scientists, engineers, and urban planners are exploring how can our habitat become more responsive and resilient to such phenomena. There are a number of recent instances of nature’s destructive events that provide basis for the development of defensive measures.

Keywords: biomimicry, natural disasters, protection of human lives, resilient infrastructures

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Authors: Krešimir Fertalj, Mladen Matejaš

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In turbulent modern economy, the companies need to properly manage their business processes. Well defined and stable business processes ensure the security of crucial data and application, and provide a quality product or service to the end customer. On the other side constant changes on the market, new regulatory provisions and emerging new technologies require the need of issuing prompt and effective changes of business process. In this article, we explore the use of agile principles in working with business process management (BPM) solutions. We deal with difficulties in BPM development cycle, review the benefits of using agility and choose the basic agile principles that ensure the success of a BPM project.

Keywords: agile development, BPM environment, Kanban, SCRUM, XP

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Authors: Konstantinos Sotiriadis, Michael Tupý, Nikol Žižková, Vít Petránek

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The acid attack on cement mortars modified with rubber aggregates and EVA polymer binder was studied. Mortar specimens were prepared using a type CEM I 42.5 Portland cement and siliceous sand, as well as by substituting 25% of sand with shredded used automobile tires, and by adding EVA polymer in two percentages (5% and 10% of cement mass). Some specimens were only air cured, at laboratory conditions, and their compressive strength and water absorption were determined. The rest specimens were stored in acid solutions (HCl, H2SO4, HNO3) after 28 days of initial curing, and stored at laboratory temperature. Compressive strength tests, mass measurements and visual inspection took place for 28 days. Compressive strength and water absorption of the air-cured specimens were significantly decreased when rubber aggregates are used. The addition of EVA polymer further reduced water absorption, while had no important impact on strength. Compressive strength values were affected in a greater extent by hydrochloric acid solution, followed by sulfate and nitric acid solutions. The addition of EVA polymer decreased compressive strength loss for the specimens with rubber aggregates stored in hydrochloric and nitric acid solutions. The specimens without polymer binder showed similar mass loss, which was higher in sulfate acid solution followed by hydrochloric and nitric acid solutions. The use of EVA polymer delayed mass loss, while its content did not affect it significantly.

Keywords: acid attack, mortar, EVA polymer, rubber aggregates

Procedia PDF Downloads 288

Authors: Zineb Taidirt, Fathia Sebahi, Mohamed Karim Guarchani, Anissa Berkane, Noureddine Smail, Ouahiba Hadjoudj

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Cardiovascular diseases are one of the most important causes of death in Algeria. Several risk factors are responsible for this, including the consumption of foods containing saturated fat and trans fatty acids TFAs. This brief presents the results of a descriptive study of the lipid composition of 251 food products marketed in Algeria. The objective of the study is to describe the nature and composition of lipids and to verify the compliance of saturated and trans fatty acids intakes with the regulations. The study is based on data from the nutrition labelling of marketed food products. The results showed that the lipids in foodstuffs are diverse in nature and of varying amounts, but their nature is not specified on all products. In addition, the required content of saturated fatty acids is mentioned only in 29.48% of the products; 21.62% of them do not comply with the standard. Hydrogenation of fats, which produced Trans fatty acids, is common: 19.92% of products contain hydrogenated fats, and 74.89% may contain them according to the aspect of the lipid (solid fat). However, the trans fatty acid content is only mentioned in 5.18% of the products. The latter is above the limits set by Algerian regulations in 50% of the butter samples studied. The composition of lipids in mono- and polyunsaturated fatty acids essential for the body is insufficient: only 13.94% of the products inform their contents on their labels. It is necessary to adopt mandatory restriction of trans fatty acids, to ban the use of partially-hydrogenated oils, and to require required mandatory labeling of the TFAs and the other fatty acids on packaged foods, and to conduct more studies in order to appreciate the intake of TFAs and saturated fat and appreciate their effects on the Algerian population and to get more informed about the composition of the lipid in packaged foods.

Keywords: cardiovascular diseases, lipids, nutrition labelling, lipids, trans fatty acids

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Authors: Letemariam Gebreslassie Gebrekidan

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Water pollution is one of the most feared problems in modern societies, especially in developing countries like Ethiopia. Nanoparticles with controlled size and composition are of fundamental and technological interest as they provide solutions to technological and environmental challenges in the areas of solar energy conversion, catalysis, medicine, and water treatment. The synthesis of metallic nanoparticles is an active area of academic and, more importantly, application research in nanotechnology. Adsorption is a process in which pollutants are absorbed on a solid surface. A molecule (pollutant) adhered to the solid surface is called an adsorbate, and the solid surface is an adsorbent. Adsorption is controlled by various parameters such as temperature, the nature of the adsorbate and adsorbent, and the presence of other pollutants along with the experimental conditions (pH, concentration of pollutants, contact time, particle size, and temperature). Depending on the main problem of water pollution, this research is available on the adsorption of wastewater using silver nanoparticles extracted from phytolacca Dodecandra leaf. AgNP was synthesized from a 1mM aqueous solution of silver nitrate (AgNO3) and Phytolacca Dodecandra leaf extract at room temperature. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized using UV/visible Spectrometer, FTIR and XRD. In the UV-Vis spectrum, The Surface Plasmon resonance (SPR) peak was observed at 414 nm, which confirmed the synthesis of AgNPs. FTIR spectroscopy, recorded from 4000 cm-1 to 400 cm-1, indicated the presence of a capping agent with the nanoparticles. From the XRD results, the average crystalline size was estimated to be 20 nm Confirming the nanoparticle nature of the obtained sample. Thus, the present method leads to the formation of silver nanoparticles with well-defined dimensions. The effects of different parameters like solution pH, adsorbent dose, contact time and initial concentration of dye were studied. The concentration of MB is 0.01 mg/L and 0.002 mg/L before and after adsorption, respectively. The wastewater containing MB was well purified using AgNP adsorbent.

Keywords: wastewater, silver nanoparticle, Characterization, adsorption, parameter

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Authors: Kiatkulchai Jitt-Aer, Graham Wall, Dylan Jones

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As a result of the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, logistics applied to disaster relief operations has received great attention in the humanitarian sector. As learned from such disaster, preparing and responding to the aspect of delivering essential items from distribution centres to affected locations are of the importance for relief operations as the nature of disasters is uncertain especially in suffering figures, which are normally proportional to quantity of supplies. Thus, this study proposes a spatial decision support system (SDSS) for humanitarian logistics by integrating Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and the capacitated vehicle routing problem (CVRP). The GIS is utilised for acquiring demands simulated from the tsunami flooding model of the affected area in the first stage, and visualising the simulation solutions in the last stage. While CVRP in this study encompasses designing the relief routes of a set of homogeneous vehicles from a relief centre to a set of geographically distributed evacuation points in which their demands are estimated by using both simulation and randomisation techniques. The CVRP is modeled as a multi-objective optimization problem where both total travelling distance and total transport resources used are minimized, while demand-cost efficiency of each route is maximized in order to determine route priority. As the model is a NP-hard combinatorial optimization problem, the Clarke and Wright Saving heuristics is proposed to solve the problem for the near-optimal solutions. The real-case instances in the coastal area of Phuket, Thailand are studied to perform the SDSS that allows a decision maker to visually analyse the simulation scenarios through different decision factors.

Keywords: demand simulation, humanitarian logistics, geographical information systems, relief operations, capacitated vehicle routing problem

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Authors: Fatbardha Kadiu, Nulifer Caliskan

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The value added tax came as a necessity of substituting the old tax on sales. Based on the advantages of this new tax in our days it is used successfully in more than 140 countries around the world. The aim of the paper is to describe the nature of this tax with its advantages and disadvantages. Also it will describe the way how it functions in most of the European countries and the actual challenges of these countries on value added tax. It will be present the types of goods which are exempt from this tax, the reasons and the consequences of those exemptions. The paper will be based on secondary data taken from respective literature. An econometric model will be present in order to identify the dependence of value tax from other parameters. The analyzing most refers to the two main principles of harmonization and billing on the fiscal system and the ways how to restructures the system in order to minimize the fiscal evasion.

Keywords: value added tax, revenues, complexity, legal uncertainty

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Authors: Daniela Ribeiro, Silvia Lenyra Meirelles Campos Titotto

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Nature has long served as inspiration for humans, since various technologies present in society are a mirror of the natural world. This is due to the fact that nature has adapted for millions of years to possess the characteristics they have today. In this sense, man takes advantage of this situation and uses it to produce his own objects and solve his problems. This concept, which is known as biomimetics, is something relatively new, once it was only denominated in 1957. Nature, in turn, responds directly and consistently to environmental conditions. For example, plants that have touch sensitivity contract with this stimulus. Such a situation resembles a technology that has been gaining ground in the contemporary world of scientific innovation: 4D printing. 4D printing technology emerged in 2012 as a complement to 3D printing and presents numerous benefits since it provides a deficiency in the second kind of printing mentioned. This type of technology reaches several areas, since it is capable of producing materials that change over time, be it in its composition, form or properties and is such a characteristic that determines the additional dimension of the material. Precisely because of these factors, this type of impression resembles nature and is related to biomimetics. However, only certain types of ‘intelligent’ materials are generally employed in this type of impression, since only they will respond well to such stimuli, one of which is the hydrogel. The hydrogel is a biocompatible polymer that presents several applications, these in turn will be briefly mentioned in this article to exemplify its importance and the reason for choosing this material as object of study. In addition, aspects that configure 4D printing will be treated here, such as the importance of architecture, programming language and the reversibility of printed materials.

Keywords: 4D printing, biomimetic, hydrogel, materials

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Authors: Hi̇lal Surat

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People who want to get rid of stress and intensive working tempo for a while head for recreation operations in order to get rest and have fun. Therefore, planning recreation operation makes contributions to social, physiological, economic and psychological development of an individual and the community in a way that the needs of people meet regularly and constantly. The rapid increase of world population rate makes necessary of benefit from natural or man-made resources in a multiple way. Dams and reservoirs which are built near urban area with the aim of electrical energy conversion and agricultural irrigation are considered as natural area providing various opportunities such as recreation operations. Dams have a great importance regarding to protection and improvement of water resources and coming into service of community. There should be a priority to protect these water resources, which are essential for nature and living organisms. It should be taken into consideration that these water resources are the most important input in the area and have high nature value to make sustainability of recreation effectiveness. The Deriner reservoir that has been built yet near the province of Artvin with natural and cultural properties is considered as an alternative option for meeting the needs of people for sportive and recreation activities and as a potential for planning of water-based recreation activities. Hence, in this study, activities that meet the expectations of people who get benefit from the area considering to natural, cultural and sportive recreation opportunities will be developed. In the first place, planning criteria for some sportive and water-based recreation operations will be defined in order to use the area for recreation and sportive activities and these criteria will be a base for a macro planning work within the holistic perspective of natural, cultural, and economical structure of the area. After this time, necessities of local people and evaluation of reservoir recreational potential will be determined, end then different socio-economic groups according to their in-come, age groups will be chosen and the questionnaire which has already prepared will be done these groups, as a result of these questionnaire recreational activities in water necessities will determine and we are going to develop different suggestion for this reservoir.

Keywords: dam, dam lakes, Deriner, recreation, water based activities

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Authors: Boris Djartov, Sanaz Mostaghim

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This paper presents a number-based dominance method. The main idea is how to fragment the many attributes of the problem into subsets suitable for the well-established concept of Pareto dominance. Although other similar methods can be found in the literature, they focus on comparing the solutions one objective at a time, while the focus of this method is to compare entire subsets of the objective vector. Given the nature of the method, it is computationally costlier than other methods and thus, it is geared more towards selecting an option from a finite set of alternatives, where each solution is defined by multiple objectives. The need for this method was motivated by dynamic alternate airport selection (DAAS). In DAAS, pilots, while en route to their destination, can find themselves in a situation where they need to select a new landing airport. In such a predicament, they need to consider multiple alternatives with many different characteristics, such as wind conditions, available landing distance, the fuel needed to reach it, etc. Hence, this method is primarily aimed at human decision-makers. Many methods within the field of multi-objective and many-objective decision-making rely on the decision maker to initially provide the algorithm with preference points and weight vectors; however, this method aims to omit this very difficult step, especially when the number of objectives is so large. The proposed method will be compared to Favour (1 − k)-Dom and L-dominance (LD) methods. The test will be conducted using well-established test problems from the literature, such as the DTLZ problems. The proposed method is expected to outperform the currently available methods in the literature and hopefully provide future decision-makers and pilots with support when dealing with many-objective optimization problems.

Keywords: multi-objective decision-making, many-objective decision-making, multi-objective optimization, many-objective optimization

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Authors: Nourhane Mohamed El Haridi, Mostafa El Arabi, Zeyad El Sayad

Abstract:

Biomimicry is defined, by Benyus the natural sciences writer, as imitating or taking inspiration from nature’s forms and processes to solve human problems. Biomimicry is the conscious emulation of life’s genius. As the design community realizes the tremendous impact human constructions have on the world, environmental designers look to new approaches like biomimicry to advance sustainable design. Building leading the declaration made by biomimicry scientists that a full imitation of nature engages form, ecosystem, and process; this paper uses a logic approach to interpret human and environmental wholeness. Designers would benefit from both integrating social theory with environmental thinking and from combining their substantive skills with techniques for getting sustainable biomimic urban design. Integrating biomimicryʹs “Life’s Principles” into a built environment process model will make biomimicry more accessible and thus more widely accepted throughout the industry, and the sustainability of all species will benefit. The Biomimicry Guild hypothesizes the incorporation of these principles, called Lifeʹs Principles, increase the likelihood of sustainability for a respective design, and make it more likely that the design will have a greater impact on sustainability for future generations of all species as mentioned by Benyus in her book. This thesis utilizes Life’s Principles as a foundation for a design process model intended for application on built environment projects at various scales. This paper takes a look at the importance of the integration of biomimicry in urban design to get more sustainable cities and better life, by analyzing the principles of both sustainability and biomimicry, and applying these ideas on futuristic or existing cities to make a biomimic sustainable city more healthier and more conductive to life, and get a better biomimic urban design. A group of experts, architects, biologists, scientists, economists and ecologists should work together to face all the financial and designing difficulties, to have better solutions and good innovative ideas for biomimic sustainable urban design, it is not the only solution, but it is one of the best studies for a better future.

Keywords: biomimicry, built environment, sustainability, urban design

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Authors: Sajjad Azeez

Abstract:

The Leadership of prophet(PBUH) indicates the basic norms of leadership to the society to be lead in the best possible manner. The prophet (PBUH) manifests the world with Justice, equality, humanity, and respect. Because of his leadership strategy, the companions who had to be depicted in the history as uncivilised and ignorant people became someone who caught the eyes of the world. Therefore, it is need of the today to understand the strategy of prophetic leadership in order to construct a good and generous society. However, this paper discusses some of the modern problems which can be solved through implementing the prophetic leadership strategy. References for preparing this paper are taken mainly from the traditions of the prophet (PBUH)

Keywords: prophet Muhammad PBUH, leadership strategy, modern problems, solutions

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Authors: Shaista Maseeh

Abstract:

English Literature from the beginning itself has had psychological, social and environment concerns. Virgil, Shakespeare, John Milton, William Wordsworth to the most current Robert Hass have shown and proved their environmental and ecological interests as well as distress related to its loss. Pastoral literature is also one such genre that links literature with environment. Thanks to the contemporary literary theories that they successfully are relating Literature formally to the subjects other than written text. One of such literary theory is 'Ecocriticism.' It stands under the umbrella of the Economics term, Sustainable Development,' or it can also be understood as an ecological extension of it. Ecocriticism helps the reader to study the dynamic relation between literature and our degrading environment. It draws attention towards the ravaged condition of nature and animals, that how nature is exploited by human beings for their own benefit leaving nature at a repairable loss. For instance, deforestation is reducing the size of forest every year, injuring permanently flora, fauna and also the habitat of animals. This paper will study the ecological and environmental concerns in the latest novel by Pakistani British writer Kamila Shamsie, A God in every Stone (2014). The book is not only a literary masterpiece in elegant prose, but also a novel posing a lot of questions about 'nature and environment' in general and 'animals' in particular. It gives the glimpses of the interesting history of Temple of Zeus in Greece and Ancient Caria, and covers many episodes of history the Indian freedom struggle. In course of novel's narrative Kamila Shamsie poses disturbing question about environmental abuse, about how human beings are more 'beasts' than so call beasts, poor animals. She also glorifies the simplicity of past. The novel has enough instances to prove Shamsie's positive stand on saving the earth that is being more abused than used by human beings. This paper will provide an ecocritical approach to study A God in Every Stone (2014).

Keywords: animals, ecocriticism, environment, nature

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Authors: Sujesh F. Sujan, Steve W. Jones, Arto Kiviniemi

Abstract:

The use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) in the Architectural-Engineering-Construction (AEC) industry is a form of systemic innovation. Unlike incremental innovation, (such as the technological development of CAD from hand based drawings to 2D electronically printed drawings) any form of systemic innovation in Project-Based Inter-Organisational Networks requires complete collaboration and results in numerous benefits if adopted and utilised properly. Proper use of BIM involves people collaborating with the use of interoperable BIM compliant tools. The AEC industry globally has been known for its adversarial and fragmented nature where firms take advantage of one another to increase their own profitability. Due to the industry’s nature, getting people to collaborate by unifying their goals is critical to successful BIM adoption. However, this form of innovation is often being forced artificially in the old ways of working which do not suit collaboration. This may be one of the reasons for its low global use even though the technology was developed more than 20 years ago. Therefore, there is a need to develop a metric/method to support and allow industry players to gain confidence in their investment into BIM software and workflow methods. This paper departs from defining systemic risk as a risk that affects all the project participants at a given stage of a project and defines categories of systemic risks. The need to generalise is to allow method applicability to any industry where the category will be the same, but the example of the risk will depend on the industry the study is done in. The method proposed seeks to use individual perception of an example of systemic risk as a key parameter. The significance of this study lies in relating the variance of individual perception of systemic risk to how much the team is collaborating. The method bases its notions on the claim that a more unified range of individual perceptions would mean a higher probability that the team is collaborating better. Since contracts and procurement devise how a project team operates, the method could also break the methodological barrier of highly subjective findings that case studies inflict, which has limited the possibility of generalising between global industries. Since human nature applies in all industries, the authors’ intuition is that perception can be a valuable parameter to study collaboration which is essential especially in projects that utilise systemic innovation such as BIM.

Keywords: building information modelling, perception of risk, systemic innovation, team collaboration

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Authors: Raj Kumar Kama, Rajshree Kamat

Abstract:

Traffic congestion is a serious problem that is to be considered, and it is increasing day-by-day in urban areas that is seriously affecting the urban society. From the study, it is understood that increased urbanization and growth of population are the principal causes of congestion. It has adverse effects on society, economy, environment, and health. This study mainly focussed on studying and understanding the causes of congestion, consequences faced by urban society, and planning solutions to mitigate congestion. Techniques like transit oriented development (TOD) and integrated transport systems are more effective in mitigating traffic congestion.

Keywords: traffic congestion, transit oriented development, integrated transport system, urbanization

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Authors: Yongmei Li, Chang-Gun Park

Abstract:

China-Japan-South Korea (CJK) trilateral cooperation has experienced historical challenges in recent years, which negatively influenced the development of their relationship. Results of the interviews with three citizens on trilateral relations illustrate that most people are concerned with the historical conflicts among CJK. This paper specifically focuses on managing historical issues, including comfort women issues, territorial disputes, and divergence in historical education. Accordingly, the effectiveness of management of tensions productively provides a method for detecting historical concerns, managing issues, and connecting the three countries and citizens through advocating for fair media reporting, effective network institutionalization, and active local government cooperation. Furthermore, this paper contributes to providing government solutions for reinforcing the CJK partnership. It specially involves history education, East Asian identity and mutual trust establishment, East Asia intra-regional exchange programs, and reorganization of the role of the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS).

Keywords: China-Japan-South Korea, trilateral cooperation, government solutions, effectiveness of management, historical conflicts

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Authors: Rahele Mosleh

Abstract:

This paper gives a survey of results on global stability of extended Ross model for malaria by constructing some elegant Lyapunov functions for two cases of epidemic, including disease-free and endemic occasions. The model is a nonlinear seven-dimensional system of ordinary differential equations that simulates this phenomenon in a more realistic fashion. We discuss the existence of positive disease-free and endemic equilibrium points of the model. It is stated that extended Ross model possesses invariant solutions for human and mosquito in a specific domain of the system.

Keywords: global stability, invariant solutions, Lyapunov function, stationary points

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