Search results for: level of numeracy

Authors: Jorge Ferrada Herrera, Pablo M. Millán-Millán

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The delimitation in the cities of heritage areas implicit in strong processes of transformation, both social and material. The study shows how two cities, seemingly different as Seville (Spain) and Valparaiso (Chile), share the same transformation process from its declaration as heritage cities. The metdología used in research has been on the one hand the analytic-criticism has shown us all processes and the level of involvement of these. On the other hand the direct observation methodology has allowed us to ratify all studied. Faced with these processes research shows social resources that people have developed to address each of them. The study concludes the need to strengthen the social and associative fabric in heritage areas as a resource to ensure the survival of heritage, not only material but also social and cultural. As examples, we have chosen Seville and Valparaiso: the gentrification of Seville prior to the universal exhibition of ‘92 –with pretty specific plans-- is paralleled by Valparaiso’s plan to revitalize its port and its protected (UNESCO) area. The whole of our theoretical discourse will be based thereupon.

Keywords: historical centers, tourism, heritage, social processes

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Authors: Mawarni Mohamed, Sharifah Shahira A. Hamid

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Leisure time is an important component to offset the sedentary lifestyle of the people. Women tend to benefit from leisure activities not only to reduce stress but also to provide opportunities for well-being and self-satisfaction. This study was conducted to investigate body composition and leisure time use among women in Selangor from the influences of community settlement. A total of 419 women aged 18-65 years were selected to participate in this study. Descriptive statistics, t-test and ANOVA were used to analyze the level of physical activity and the relationship between leisure-time use and body composition were made to analyze the physical lifestyles. The results showed that women with normal body composition seem to be involved in more passive activities than women with less weight gain and obesity. Thus, the study recommended that the government and other health and recreational agencies should develop more places and activities suitable for leisure preference for women in their community settlement so they become more interested to engage in more active recreational and physical activities.

Keywords: body composition, community settlement, leisure time, physical lifestyles

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Authors: Hamza A. Al-Sewadi, Akram N. A. Aldakari

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Copyright protection and ownership proof of digital multimedia are achieved nowadays by digital watermarking techniques. A text watermarking algorithm for protecting the property rights and ownership judgment of color images is proposed in this paper. Embedding is achieved by inserting texts elements randomly into the color image as noise. The YIQ image processing model is found to be faster than other image processing methods, and hence, it is adopted for the embedding process. An optional choice of encrypting the text watermark before embedding is also suggested (in case required by some applications), where, the text can is encrypted using any enciphering technique adding more difficulty to hackers. Experiments resulted in embedding speed improvement of more than double the speed of other considered systems (such as least significant bit method, and separate color code methods), and a fairly acceptable level of peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR) with low mean square error values for watermarking purposes.

Keywords: steganography, watermarking, time complexity measurements, private keys

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Authors: Mohamed Mohsen

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The purpose of this study is to explore the level of service quality performance from the perspectives of hotel guests. The aim is to examine hotel guests’ perceptions of service quality performance and its relation with their brand loyalty and gender. The study utilized the instrument of SERVPERF developed by Cronin and Taylor (1992) to measure service quality performance. The study was conducted in three upscale hotels in Saudi Arabia. The study found that service quality performance is significantly correlated to both brand loyalty and gender of hotel guests. The study also found that loyal and female hotel guests have perceptions of service quality performance than do non-loyal and male hotel guests. This research is the first empirical study in the Middle East that links service quality performance with brand loyalty and gender of hotel guests.

Keywords: service quality, SERVPERF, customer satisfaction, brand loyalty, gender

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Authors: Ghazi Al Sukkar, Yazid Khattabi, Shifen Zhong

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Most of the recent wireless LANs, broadband access networks, and digital broadcasting use Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing techniques. In addition, the increasing demand of Data and Internet makes fiber optics an important technology, as fiber optics has many characteristics that make it the best solution for transferring huge frames of Data from a point to another. Radio over fiber is the place where high quality RF is converted to optical signals over single mode fiber. Optimum values for the bias level and the switching voltage for Mach-Zehnder modulator are important for the performance of radio over fiber links. In this paper, we propose a method to optimize the two parameters simultaneously; the bias and the switching voltage point of the external modulator of a radio over fiber system considering RF gain. Simulation results show the optimum gain value under these two parameters.

Keywords: OFDM, Mach Zehnder bias voltage, switching voltage, radio-over-fiber, RF gain

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Authors: Patrick Weber, Daniel Gredig

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Background and Purpose: Research has well documented the impact of discrimination and micro-aggressions on the wellbeing of gay men and, especially, adolescents. For the prevention of homophobic behavior against gay adolescents, however, the focus has to shift on those who discriminate: For the design and tailoring of prevention and intervention, it is important to understand the factors responsible for homophobic behavior such as, for example, verbal abuse. Against this background, the present study aimed to assess homophobic – in terms of verbally abusive – behavior against gay people among high school students. Furthermore, it aimed to establish the predictors of the reported behavior by testing an explanatory model. This model posits that homophobic behavior is determined by negative attitudes and knowledge. These variables are supposed to be predicted by the acceptance of traditional gender roles, religiosity, orientation toward social dominance, contact with gay men, and by the perceived expectations of parents, friends and teachers. These social-cognitive variables in turn are assumed to be determined by students’ gender, age, immigration background, formal school level, and the discussion of gay issues in class. Method: From August to October 2016, we visited 58 high school classes in 22 public schools in a county in Switzerland, and asked the 8th and 9th year students on three formal school levels to participate in survey about gender and gay issues. For data collection, we used an anonymous self-administered questionnaire filled in during class. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and structural equation modelling (Generalized Least Square Estimates method). The sample included 897 students, 334 in the 8th and 563 in the 9th year, aged 12–17, 51.2% being female, 48.8% male, 50.3% with immigration background. Results: A proportion of 85.4% participants reported having made homophobic statements in the 12 month before survey, 4.7% often and very often. Analysis showed that respondents’ homophobic behavior was predicted directly by negative attitudes (β=0.20), as well as by the acceptance of traditional gender roles (β=0.06), religiosity (β=–0.07), contact with gay people (β=0.10), expectations of parents (β=–0.14) and friends (β=–0.19), gender (β=–0.22) and having a South-East-European or Western- and Middle-Asian immigration background (β=0.09). These variables were predicted, in turn, by gender, age, immigration background, formal school level, and discussion of gay issues in class (GFI=0.995, AGFI=0.979, SRMR=0.0169, CMIN/df=1.199, p>0.213, adj. R2 =0.384). Conclusion: Findings evidence a high prevalence of homophobic behavior in the responding high school students. The tested explanatory model explained 38.4% of the assessed homophobic behavior. However, data did not found full support of the model. Knowledge did not turn out to be a predictor of behavior. Except for the perceived expectation of teachers and orientation toward social dominance, the social-cognitive variables were not fully mediated by attitudes. Equally, gender and immigration background predicted homophobic behavior directly. These findings demonstrate the importance of prevention and provide also leverage points for interventions against anti-gay bias in adolescents – also in social work settings as, for example, in school social work, open youth work or foster care.

Keywords: discrimination, high school students, gay men, predictors, Switzerland

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Authors: M. Golam Rabbi

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Theme of wildlife crime is unique in Bangladesh. In earlier of 2010, wildlife crime was not designated as a crime, unlike other offenses. Forest Department and other enforcement agencies were not in full swing to find out the organized crime scene at that time and recorded few cases along with forest crime. However, after the establishment of Wildlife Crime Control Unitin 2012a, total of 374 offenses have been detected with 566 offenders and 37,039 wildlife and trophies were seized till November 2016. Most offenses seem to be committed outside the forests where the presence of the forest staff is minimal. Total detection percentage of offenses is not known, but offenders are not identified in 60% of detected cases (UDOR). Only 20% cases are decided by the courts even after eight years, conviction rate of the total disposal is 70.65%. Mostly six months imprisonment and BDT 5000 fine seems to be the modal penalty. The monetary value of wildlife crime in the country is approximate $0.72M per year and the maximum value counted for reptiles around $0.45M especially for high-level trafficking of geckos and turtles. The most common seizures of wildlife are birds (mynas, munias, parakeets, lorikeets, water birds, etc.) which have domestic demand for pet. Some other wildlife like turtles, lizards and small mammals are also on the list. Venison and migratory waterbirds often seized which has a large quantity demand for consuming at aristocratic level.Due to porous border and weak enforcement in border region poachers use the way for trafficking of geckos, turtles, and tortoises, snakes, venom, tiger and body parts, spotted deerskin, pangolinetc. Those have very high demand in East Asian countries for so-called medicinal purposes. The recent survey also demonstrates new route for illegal trade and trafficking for instance, after poaching of tiger and deer from the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove track of the planet to Thailand through the Bay of Bengal, sharks fins and ray fish through Chittagong seaport and directly by sea routes to Myanmar and Thailand. However, a good number of records of offense demonstrate the transition route from India to South and South East Asian countries. Star tortoises and Hamilton’s turtles are smuggled in from India which mostly seized at Benapole border of Jessore and Hazrat Shah Jajal International Airport of Dhaka, in very large numbers for transmission to East Asian countries. Most of the cases of wildlife trade routes leading to China, Thailand, Malaysia, and Myanmar. Most surprisingly African ivory was seized in Bangladesh recently, which was meant to be trafficked to the South-East Asia. However; forest department is working to fight against wildlife poaching, illegal trade and trafficking in collaboration with other law enforcement agencies. The department needs a clear mandate and to build technical capabilities for identifying, seizing and holding specimens. The department also needs to step out of the forests and must develop the capacity to surveillance and patrol all sensitive locations across the country.

Keywords: Bangladesh forest department, Sundarban, tiger, wildlife crime, wildlife trafficking

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Authors: Tolga Levent

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Throughout the past few decades, forced immigration has been a significant problem for many developing countries. Turkey is one of those countries, which has experienced lots of forced immigration waves in the Republican era. However, the ongoing forced immigration wave of Syrians started with Syrian Civil War in 2011, is strikingly influential due to its intensity. In six years, approximately 3,4 million Syrians have entered to Turkey and presented high-level spatial concentrations in certain cities proximate to the Syrian border. These concentrations make Syrians and their problems relatively visible, especially in those cities. The problems of Syrians in Turkish cities could be associated with all dimensions of daily lives. Within economical dimension, high rates of Syrian unemployment push them to informal jobs offering very low wages. The financial aids they continuously demand from public authorities trigger anti-Syrian behaviors of local communities. Moreover, their relatively limited social adaptation capacities increase integration problems within social dimension day by day. Even, there are problems related to public health dimension such as the reappearance of certain child's illnesses due to the insufficiency of vaccination of Syrian children. These problems are significant but relatively easy to be prevented by using different types of management strategies and structural policies. However, there are other types of problems -urban problems- emerging with socio-spatial impacts of Syrians on Turkish cities in a very short period of time. There are relatively limited amount of studies about these impacts since they are difficult to be comprehended. The aim of the study, in this respect, is to understand these rapidly-emerging impacts and urban problems resulted from this massive immigration influx and to discuss new qualities of urban planning facing them. In the first part, there is a brief historical consideration of forced immigration waves in Turkey. These waves are important to make comparison with the ongoing immigration wave and to understand its significance. The second part is about quantitative and qualitative analyses of the spatial existence of Syrian immigrants in the city of Mersin, as an example of cities where Syrians are highly concentrated. By using official data from public authorities, quantitative statistical analyses are made to detect spatial concentrations of Syrians at neighborhood level. As methods of qualitative research, observations and in-depth interviews are used to define socio-spatial impacts of Syrians. The main results show that there emerges 'cities in cities' though sharp socio-spatial segregations which change density surfaces; produce unforeseen land-use patterns; result in inadequacies of public services and create degradations/deteriorations of urban environments occupied by Syrians. All these problems are significant; however, Turkish planning system does not have a capacity to cope with them. In the final part, there is a discussion about new qualities of urban planning facing these impacts and urban problems. The main point of discussion is the possibility of resilient urban planning under the conditions of uncertainty and unpredictability fostered by immigration crisis. Such a resilient planning approach might provide an option for countries aiming to cope with negative socio-spatial impacts of massive immigration influxes.

Keywords: cities, forced immigration, Syrians, urban planning

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Authors: Suba Periyal Subramaniam, Babette Scheres, Altomare Corrado, Holger Schuttrumpf

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Due to the climatic change and the usage of coastal areas, there is an increasing risk of dike failures along the coast worldwide. Wave run-up plays a key role in planning and design of a coastal structure. The coastal dike lines are bent either due to geological characteristics or due to influence of anthropogenic activities. The effect of the curvature of coastal dikes on wave run-up and overtopping is not yet investigated. The scope of this research is to find the effects of the dike curvature on wave run-up by employing numerical model studies for various dike opening angles. Numerical simulation is carried out using DualSPHysics, a meshless method, and OpenFOAM, a mesh-based method. The numerical results of the wave run-up on a curved dike and the wave transformation process for various opening angles, wave attacks, and wave parameters will be compared and discussed. This research aims to contribute a more precise analysis and understanding the influence of the curvature in the dike line and thus ensuring a higher level of protection in the future development of coastal structures.

Keywords: curved dikes, DualSPHysics, OpenFOAM, wave run-up

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Authors: Osifeko Olalekan Remigious, Adesanya Adebisi Joseph, Omolade Akinmade Olatunde

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The focus of this study was to determine the factors associated with the use of substances for sport performance of youth in Lagos state sport. Questionnaire was the instrument used for the study. Descriptive research method was used. The estimated population for the study was 2000 sport men and women. The sample size was 200 respondents for purposive sampling techniques were used. The instrument was validated in it content and constructs value. The instrument was administered with the assistance of the coaches. Same 200 copies administered were returned. The data obtained was analysed using simple percentage and chi-square (x2) for stated hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The finding reveal that sport injuries exercise induced and anaphylaxis and asthma and feeling of loss of efficacy associated with alcohol used on sport performance among the users of substances. Alcohol users are recommended to partake in sport like swimming, basketball and volleyball because they have space of time for resting while at play. Government should be fully in charge of the health of sport men and women.

Keywords: implications, Lagos state, substances, sports performance, youth

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Authors: Anisha Mandal, Swambabu Varanasi

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Lead is one of the most prevalent toxic heavy metal ions, and its pollution poses a significant threat to the environment and human health. On the other hand, Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid is a widely used metal chelating agent that, due to its poor biodegradability, is an incessant pollutant to the environment. For the first time, a green, simple, and cost-effective approach is used to hydrothermally synthesise photoluminescent carbon dots using Moringa Oleifera Gum in a single step. Then, using Moringa Oleifera Gum-derived carbon dots, a photoluminescent "ON-OFF-ON" mechanism for dual mode detection of trace Pb2+ and EDTA was proposed. MOG-CDs detect Pb2+ selectively and sensitively using a photoluminescence quenching mechanism, with a detection limit (LOD) of 0.000472 ppm. (1.24 nM). The quenched photoluminescence can be restored by adding EDTA to the MOG-CD+Pb2+ system; this strategy is used to quantify EDTA at a level of detection of 0.0026 ppm. (8.9 nM). The quantification of Pb2+ and EDTA in actual samples encapsulated the applicability and dependability of the proposed photoluminescent probe.

Keywords: carbon dots, photoluminescence, sensor, moringa oleifera gum

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Authors: Rizwana Tabassum

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Introductive Statement: Delay in budget releases is often cited as one of the biggest bottlenecks to smooth and efficient service delivery. While budget release from the ministry of finance to the line ministries has been expedited by simplifying the procedure, budget distribution within the line ministries remains one of the major causes of slow budget utilization. While the budget preparation is a bottom-up process where all DDOs submit their proposals to their controlling officers (such as Upazila Civil Surgeon sends it to Director General Health), who consolidate the budget proposals in iBAS++ budget preparation module, the approved budget is not disaggregated by all DDOs. Instead, it is left to the discretion of the controlling officers to distribute the approved budget to their sub-ordinate offices over the course of the year. Though there are some need-based criteria/formulae to distribute the approved budget among DDOs in some sectors, there is little evidence that these criteria are actually used. This means that majority of the DDOs don’t know their yearly allocations upfront to enable yearly planning of activities and expenditures. This delays the implementation of critical activities and the payment to the suppliers of goods and services and sometimes leads to undocumented arrears to suppliers for essential goods/services. In addition, social sector budgets are fragmented because of the vertical programs and externally financed interventions that pose several management challenges at the level of the budget holders and frontline service providers. Slow procurement processes further delay the provision of necessary goods and services. For example, it takes an average of 15–18 months for drugs to reach the Upazila Health Complex and below, while it should not take more than 9 months in procuring and distributing these. Aim of the Study: This paper aims to investigate the budget distribution practices of an emerging economy, Bangladesh. The paper identifies challenges of timely distribution and ways to deal with problems as well. Methodology: The study draws conclusions on the basis of document analysis which is a branch of the qualitative research method. Major Findings: Upon approval of the National Budget, the Ministry of Finance is required to distribute the budget to budget holders at the department level; however, budget is distributed to drawing and disbursing officers much later. Conclusions: Timely and predictable budget releases assist completion of development schemes on time and on budget, with sufficient recurrent resources for effective operation. ADP implementation is usually very low at the beginning of the fiscal year and expedited dramatically during the last few months, leading to inefficient use of resources. The timely budget release will resolve this issue and deliver economic benefits faster, better, and more reliably. This will also give the project directors/DDOs the freedom to think and plan the budget execution in a predictable manner, thereby ensuring value for money by reducing time overrun and expediting the completion of capital investments, and improving infrastructure utilization through timely payment of recurrent costs.

Keywords: budget distribution, challenges, digitization, emerging economy, service delivery

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Authors: Abdulatif Abdulsalam Mohamed Shaban

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This paper states that the art of Procedure Entry Array (PEA) plan with a focus on control system applications. This paper begins with an impression of PEA technology development, followed by an arrangement of design technologies, and the use of programmable description languages and system-level design tools. They allow a practical approach based on a unique model for complete engineering electronics systems. There are three main design rules are implemented in the system. These are algorithm based fine-tuning, modularity, and the control act and the architectural constraints. An overview of contributions and limits of PEAs is also given, followed by a short survey of PEA-based gifted controllers for recent engineering systems. Finally, two complete and timely case studies are presented to illustrate the benefits of a PEA implementation when using the proposed system modelling and devise attitude. These consist of the direct control for training motor drives and the control of a diesel-driven stand-alone generator with the help of logical design.

Keywords: control (DC), engineering electronics systems, training motor drives, procedure entry array

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Authors: Carolina Busco, Daniela Osses

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The development of digital literacy has become a fundamental element that allows for citizen inclusion, access to quality jobs, and a labor market capable of responding to the digital economy. There are no methodological instruments available in Chile to measure the workforce’s digital literacy and improve national policies on this matter. Thus, the objective of this research is to develop a survey to measure digital literacy in a sample of 200 Chilean workers. Dimensions considered in the instrument are sociodemographics, access to infrastructure, digital education, digital skills, and the ability to use e-government services. To achieve the research objective of developing a digital literacy model of indicators and a research instrument for this purpose, along with an exploratory analysis of data using factor analysis, we used an empirical, quantitative-qualitative, exploratory, non-probabilistic, and cross-sectional research design. The research instrument is a survey created to measure variables that make up the conceptual map prepared from the bibliographic review. Before applying the survey, a pilot test was implemented, resulting in several adjustments to the phrasing of some items. A validation test was also applied using six experts, including their observations on the final instrument. The survey contained 49 items that were further divided into three sets of questions: sociodemographic data; a Likert scale of four values ranked according to the level of agreement; iii) multiple choice questions complementing the dimensions. Data collection occurred between January and March 2022. For the factor analysis, we used the answers to 12 items with the Likert scale. KMO showed a value of 0.626, indicating a medium level of correlation, whereas Bartlett’s test yielded a significance value of less than 0.05 and a Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.618. Taking all factor selection criteria into account, we decided to include and analyze four factors that together explain 53.48% of the accumulated variance. We identified the following factors: i) access to infrastructure and opportunities to develop digital skills at the workplace or educational establishment (15.57%), ii) ability to solve everyday problems using digital tools (14.89%), iii) online tools used to stay connected with others (11.94%), and iv) residential Internet access and speed (11%). Quantitative results were discussed within six focus groups using heterogenic selection criteria related to the most relevant variables identified in the statistical analysis: upper-class school students; middle-class university students; Ph.D. professors; low-income working women, elderly individuals, and a group of rural workers. The digital divide and its social and economic correlations are evident in the results of this research. In Chile, the items that explain the acquisition of digital tools focus on access to infrastructure, which ultimately puts the first filter on the development of digital skills. Therefore, as expressed in the literature review, the advance of these skills is radically different when sociodemographic variables are considered. This increases socioeconomic distances and exclusion criteria, putting those who do not have these skills at a disadvantage and forcing them to seek the assistance of others.

Keywords: digital literacy, digital society, workforce digitalization, digital skills

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Authors: Anuoluwapo O. Adewole

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Fermentation is the conversion of monomeric sugars into ethanol and carbondioxide in the presence of microorganisms under anaerobic conditions. In line with the aim and objective of this research project, which is to investigate into the variables affecting the use of charcoal to delay fermentation in wet beans slurry, some physical and chemical analysis were carried out on the wet beans slurry using a PH meter in which a thermometer is incorporated in it, and a measuring cylinder was used for the foam level test. About 250 grams of the ground beans slurry was divided into two portions for testing. The sample with charcoal was labeled sample 'A' while the second sample without charcoal was labeled sample 'B' subsequently. The experiment lasted for a period of 41.15 hours (i.e., forty-one hours and nine minutes). During the fourth process, both samples could not be tested as the laboratory had been saturated with foul odor and both samples were packed and sealed in polythene bag for disposal in the trash can. It was generally observed that the sample with the charcoal lasted for a longer time before that without charcoal before total spoilage occurred.

Keywords: fermentation, monomeric sugars, beans slurry, charcoal, anaerobic conditions

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Authors: Rashid Ahmed , John N. Avaritsiotis

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Many signal subspace-based approaches have already been proposed for determining the fixed Direction of Arrival (DOA) of plane waves impinging on an array of sensors. Two procedures for DOA estimation based neural networks are presented. First, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is employed to extract the maximum eigenvalue and eigenvector from signal subspace to estimate DOA. Second, minor component analysis (MCA) is a statistical method of extracting the eigenvector associated with the smallest eigenvalue of the covariance matrix. In this paper, we will modify a Minor Component Analysis (MCA(R)) learning algorithm to enhance the convergence, where a convergence is essential for MCA algorithm towards practical applications. The learning rate parameter is also presented, which ensures fast convergence of the algorithm, because it has direct effect on the convergence of the weight vector and the error level is affected by this value. MCA is performed to determine the estimated DOA. Preliminary results will be furnished to illustrate the convergences results achieved.

Keywords: Direction of Arrival, neural networks, Principle Component Analysis, Minor Component Analysis

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Authors: Michelle Roesler, Ian Glendon, Francis O'Callaghan

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This study expands on recent findings and offers a new perspective on recovery from injury and return to work (RTW) after an acute traumatic occupational hand injury. Recovery is a complex medical and psychosocial process. A number of predictor variables were studied simultaneously to identify the bio-psychosocial variables that impede recovery. An unexpected phenomenon to emerge from this study was the high incidence of complications within the hand-injured patient sample. Twenty six percent (n = 71) of the total sample (N = 263) required a second operation due to complications. This warranted further investigation. Results confirmed that complications not only significantly delayed the RTW outcome but also had a profound psychological impact on the individuals affected. Research has found that surgical complications are usually the result of incorrect early assessment and management. A strategic plan needs to be implemented to ensure the optimal level of surgical care is provided for managing acute traumatic hand injuries to avoid such complications.

Keywords: occupational hand trauma, psychological recovery, return to work, psychology

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Authors: Tahar Djebbar Aziza

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The American society, like all societies, is fractured by social divisions between different groups of people. It is divided by race, class, gender, and other social and cultural characteristics. Social divisions affect the way and the manner welfare is delivered for citizens within the American society. The welfare state exists to guarantee the promotion of well –being for all the different components within a society without taking into account their age, gender, their ethnicity/race, or their social belonging (class). Race, class, and even gender issues are the main factors that affected the formal structure, the nature, as well as the evolution of the American welfare state and led to its uniqueness. They have affected the structure and the evolution of the American welfare state since its creation in the 1930s, and led to its uniqueness in an international level. This study aims therefore at enhancing the readers’ awareness of social divisions: race, class, gender and their implications for the distribution of welfare resources and life chances in the USA from the early 1930s to the late 1990s.

Keywords: African Americans, class, gender, minority groups, race, social divisions, social policy, U.S. welfare state

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Authors: Hadeel Al Obaidy, Amani Al Heela

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The main purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of semantic web and the role that ontology and semantic annotation plays in the development of semantic web services. The paper focuses on semantic web infrastructure illustrating how ontology and annotation work to provide the learning capabilities for building content semantically. To improve productivity and quality of software, the paper applies approaches, notations and techniques offered by software engineering. It proposes a conceptual model to develop semantic web services for the infrastructure of web information retrieval system of digital libraries. The developed system uses ontology and annotation to build a knowledge based system to define and link the meaning of a web content to retrieve information for users’ queries. The results are more relevant through keywords and ontology rule expansion that will be more accurate to satisfy the requested information. The level of results accuracy would be enhanced since the query semantically analyzed work with the conceptual architecture of the proposed system.

Keywords: semantic web services, software engineering, semantic library, knowledge representation, ontology

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Authors: Thorsten Prante, Robert Schöch, Ruth Fleisch, Vaheh Khachatouri, Alexander Walch

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The development of industrial plant control software is a complex and often very expensive task. One of the core problems is that a lot of the implementation and adaptation work can only be done after the plant hardware has been installed. In this paper, we present our approach to virtually developing and validating plant-level control software of production plants. This way, plant control software can be virtually commissioned before actual ramp-up of a plant, reducing actual commissioning costs and time. Technically, this is achieved by linking the actual plant-wide process control software (often called plant server) and an elaborate virtual plant model together to form an emulation system. Method-wise, we are suggesting a four-step iterative process with well-defined increments and time frame. Our work is based on practical experiences from planning to commissioning and start-up of several cut-to-size plants.

Keywords: iterative system design, virtual plant engineering, plant control software, simulation and emulation, virtual commissioning

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Authors: Sabrina Neururer, Marco Schweitzer, Werner Hackl, Bernhard Tilg, Patrick Raudaschl, Andreas Huber, Bernhard Pfeifer

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History and the current outbreak of Covid-19 have shown the deadly potential of infectious diseases. However, infectious diseases also have a serious impact on areas other than health and healthcare, such as the economy or social life. These areas are strongly codependent. Therefore, disease control measures, such as social distancing, quarantines, curfews, or lockdowns, have to be adopted in a very considerate manner. Infectious disease modeling can support policy and decision-makers with adequate information regarding the dynamics of the pandemic and therefore assist in planning and enforcing appropriate measures that will prevent the healthcare system from collapsing. In this work, an agent-based simulation package named “survival” for simulating infectious diseases is presented. A special focus is put on SARS-Cov-2. The presented simulation package was used in Austria to model the SARS-Cov-2 outbreak from the beginning of 2020. Agent-based modeling is a relatively recent modeling approach. Since our world is getting more and more complex, the complexity of the underlying systems is also increasing. The development of tools and frameworks and increasing computational power advance the application of agent-based models. For parametrizing the presented model, different data sources, such as known infections, wastewater virus load, blood donor antibodies, circulating virus variants and the used capacity for hospitalization, as well as the availability of medical materials like ventilators, were integrated with a database system and used. The simulation result of the model was used for predicting the dynamics and the possible outcomes and was used by the health authorities to decide on the measures to be taken in order to control the pandemic situation. The survival package was implemented in the programming language Java and the analytics were performed with R Studio. During the first run in March 2020, the simulation showed that without measures other than individual personal behavior and appropriate medication, the death toll would have been about 27 million people worldwide within the first year. The model predicted the hospitalization rates (standard and intensive care) for Tyrol and South Tyrol with an accuracy of about 1.5% average error. They were calculated to provide 10-days forecasts. The state government and the hospitals were provided with the 10-days models to support their decision-making. This ensured that standard care was maintained for as long as possible without restrictions. Furthermore, various measures were estimated and thereafter enforced. Among other things, communities were quarantined based on the calculations while, in accordance with the calculations, the curfews for the entire population were reduced. With this framework, which is used in the national crisis team of the Austrian province of Tyrol, a very accurate model could be created on the federal state level as well as on the district and municipal level, which was able to provide decision-makers with a solid information basis. This framework can be transferred to various infectious diseases and thus can be used as a basis for future monitoring.

Keywords: modelling, simulation, agent-based, SARS-Cov-2, COVID-19

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Authors: Frank Adusah-Poku, John Bosco Dramani, Prince Boakye Frimpong

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Climate change is considered a principal threat to human existence and livelihood. The persistence and intensity of droughts and floods in recent years have adversely affected food production systems and value chains, making it impossible to end global hunger by 2030. Thus, this study aims to examine the effect of climate change on food consumption for both farm and non-farm households in Ghana. An important focus of the analysis is to investigate how climate change affects alternative dimensions of food security, examine the extent to which these effects vary across heterogeneous groups, and explore the channels through which climate change affects food consumption. Finally, we conducted a pilot study to understand the significance of farm and non-farm diversification measures in reducing the harmful impact of climate change on farm households. The approach of this article is to use two secondary and one primary datasets. The first secondary dataset is the Ghana Socioeconomic Panel Survey (GSPS). The GSPS is a household panel dataset collected during the period 2009 to 2019. The second dataset is monthly district rainfall and temperature gridded data from the Ghana Meteorological Agency. This data was matched to the GSPS dataset at the district level. Finally, the primary data was obtained from a survey of farm and non-farm adaptation practices used by farmers in three regions in Northern Ghana. The study employed the household fixed effects model to estimate the effect of climate change (measured by temperature and rainfall) on food consumption in Ghana. Again, it used the spatial and temporal variation in temperature and rainfall across the districts in Ghana to estimate the household-level model. Evidence of potential mechanisms through which climate change affects food consumption was explored using two steps. First, the potential mechanism variables were regressed on temperature, rainfall, and the control variables. In the second and final step, the potential mechanism variables were included as extra covariates in the first model. The results revealed that extreme average temperature and drought had caused a decrease in food consumption as well as reduced the intake of important food nutrients such as carbohydrates, protein and vitamins. The results further indicated that low rainfall increased food insecurity among households with no education compared with those with primary and secondary education. Again, non-farm activity and silos have been revealed as the transmission pathways through which the effect of climate change on farm households can be moderated. Finally, the results indicated over 90% of the small-holder farmers interviewed had no farm diversification adaptation strategies for climate change, and a little over 50% of the farmers owned unskilled or manual non-farm economic ventures. This makes it very difficult for the majority of the farmers to withstand climate-related shocks. These findings suggest that achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of Zero Hunger by 2030 needs an integrated approach, such as reducing the over-reliance on rainfed agriculture, educating farmers, and implementing non-farm interventions to improve food consumption in Ghana.

Keywords: climate change, food consumption, Ghana, non-farm activity

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Authors: Chenchen Liu, Jacques Audran

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Using tablet apps with a certain educational purpose to promote young children’s cognitive development, is quite common now. Developing an educational app on an Ipad like tablet, especially for a young child (age 3-5) requires an optimal level of challenge to continuously attract children’s attention and obtain an educational effect. Adaptive difficulty adjustment, which could dynamically set the difficulty in the challenge according to children’s performance, seems to be a good solution. Since space concept plays an important role in young children’s cognitive development, we made an experimental comparison in a French kindergarten between one group of 23 children using an educational app ‘Debout Ludo’ with adaptive difficulty settings and another group of 20 children using the previous version of ‘Debout Ludo’ with a classic incremental difficulty adjustment. The experiment results of spatial problem solving indicated that a significantly higher learning outcome was acquired by the young children who used the adaptive version of the app.

Keywords: adaptive difficulty, spatial problem solving, tactile tablet, young children

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Authors: Hong Bae Kim, Chang Ho Hur

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Many governments have tried to reduce CO₂ emissions which are believed to be the main cause for global warming. The deployment of electric automobiles is regarded as an effective way to reduce CO₂ emissions. The Korean government has planned to deploy about 200,000 electric automobiles. The policy for the deployment of electric automobiles aims at not only decreasing gasoline consumption but also increasing electricity production. However, if an electricity consuming regions is not consistent with an electricity producing region, the policy generates environmental problems between regions. Hence, this paper has established the energy multi-region input-output model to specifically analyze the impacts of the deployment of electric automobiles on regional energy consumption and CO₂ emissions. Finally, the paper suggests policy directions regarding the deployment of electric automobiles.

Keywords: electric automobiles, CO2 emissions, regional imbalances in electricity production and consumption, energy multi-region input-output model

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Authors: Rachel Barker

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The exponential velocity in the truly knowledge-intensive world today has increasingly bombarded organizations with unfathomable challenges. Hence organizations are introduced to strange lexicons of descriptors belonging to a new paradigm of who, what and how knowledge at individual and organizational levels should be managed. Although organizational knowledge has been recognized as a valuable intangible resource that holds the key to competitive advantage, little progress has been made in understanding how knowledge sharing at individual level could benefit knowledge use at collective level to ensure added value. The research problem is that a lack of research exists to measure knowledge sharing through a multi-layered structure of ideas with at its foundation, philosophical assumptions to support presuppositions and commitment which requires actual findings from measured variables to confirm observed and expected events. The purpose of this paper is to address this problem by presenting a theoretical approach to measure knowledge sharing in emerging knowledge organizations. The research question is that despite the competitive necessity of becoming a knowledge-based organization, leaders have found it difficult to transform their organizations due to a lack of knowledge on who, what and how it should be done. The main premise of this research is based on the challenge for knowledge leaders to develop an organizational culture conducive to the sharing of knowledge and where learning becomes the norm. The theoretical constructs were derived and based on the three components of the knowledge management theory, namely technical, communication and human components where it is suggested that this knowledge infrastructure could ensure effective management. While it is realised that it might be a little problematic to implement and measure all relevant concepts, this paper presents effect of eight critical success factors (CSFs) namely: organizational strategy, organizational culture, systems and infrastructure, intellectual capital, knowledge integration, organizational learning, motivation/performance measures and innovation. These CSFs have been identified based on a comprehensive literature review of existing research and tested in a new framework adapted from four perspectives of the balanced score card (BSC). Based on these CSFs and their items, an instrument was designed and tested among managers and employees of a purposefully selected engineering company in South Africa who relies on knowledge sharing to ensure their competitive advantage. Rigorous pretesting through personal interviews with executives and a number of academics took place to validate the instrument and to improve the quality of items and correct wording of issues. Through analysis of surveys collected, this research empirically models and uncovers key aspects of these dimensions based on the CSFs. Reliability of the instrument was calculated by Cronbach’s a for the two sections of the instrument on organizational and individual levels.The construct validity was confirmed by using factor analysis. The impact of the results was tested using structural equation modelling and proved to be a basis for implementing and understanding the competitive predisposition of the organization as it enters the process of knowledge management. In addition, they realised the importance to consolidate their knowledge assets to create value that is sustainable over time.

Keywords: innovation, intellectual capital, knowledge sharing, performance measures

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Authors: Mohammed Abdullah Alrajhi

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The rapid growth in the number of mobile phone subscribers has resulted in an increased number of mobile base stations all over the world. Generally, mobile base stations are existing in huge numbers in populated areas than in non-populated ones to serve the largest number of users. The total number of mobile subscriptions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia reached around 50 million at the end of 2014, with a penetration rate of 165.1% according to the quarterly electronic newsletter issued by the Communications and Information Technology Commission. The current investigation was conducted primarily to measure the level of electromagnetic fields emitted from 400 mobile base stations for the purpose of environmental safety and radiation protection in light of national guidelines for public exposure as well as the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). The outcomes of this investigation provide valuable comments and recommendation for safety and protection of electromagnetic fields emitted from mobile base stations.

Keywords: electromagnetic fields, mobile, safety, protection, ICNIRP

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Authors: Klas Elmquist, Anders Larsson

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Until the year 2000, almost all short pulse modulators in the accelerator world were made with the pulse forming network (PFN) technique. The pulse forming network systems have since then been replaced with solid state modulators that have better efficiency, better stability, and lower cost of ownership, and they are much smaller. In this paper, it is shown that it is possible to replace a pulse forming network system with a solid-state system without changing the klystron tank and the klystron transformer. The solid-state modulator uses semiconductors switching at 1 kV level. A first pulse transformer transforms the voltage up to 10 kV. The 10 kV pulse is finally fed into the original transformer that is placed under the klystron. A flatness of 0.8 percent and stability of 100 PPM is achieved. The test is done with a CPI 8262 type of klystron. It is also shown that it is possible to run such a system with long cables between the transformers. When using this technique, it will be possible to keep original sub-systems like filament systems, vacuum systems, focusing solenoid systems, and cooling systems for the klystron. This will substantially reduce the cost of an upgrade and prolong the life of the klystron system.

Keywords: modulator, solid-state, PFN-system, thyratron

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Authors: Muhammad Mooneeb Ali

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Institutions, where religious knowledge is given are known as madrassas. They also give formal education along with religious education. This study will be a pioneer to explore if MALL can be beneficial for madrassa students or not in formal educational situations. For investigation, an experimental study was planned in Punjab where the sample size was 100 students, 10 each from 10 different madrassas of Punjab, who are studying at the intermediate level (i.e., 11th grade). The madrassas were chosen through a convenient sampling method, whereas the learners were chosen by a simple random sampling method. A pretest was conducted, and on the basis of the results, the learners were divided into two equal groups (experimental and controlled). After two months of treatment, a posttest was conducted, and the results of both groups were compared. The results indicated that the performance of the experimental group was significantly better than the control one. This indicates that MALL elevates the performance of Madrassa students.

Keywords: english language learners, madrassa students, formal education, mobile assisted language learning (MALL), Pakistan.

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Authors: R. Hasan

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Male factor infertility due to endocrine disturbances such as abnormalities in prolactin levels are encountered in a significant proportion. This case control study was carried out to determine the effects of prolactin on the male reproductive tract, using 200 male white rats. The rats were maintained as the control group (G1), hypoprolactinaemic group (G2), 3 hyperprolactinaemic groups induced using oral largactil (G3), low dose fluphenazine (G4) and high dose fluphenazine (G5). After 100 days, rats were subjected to serum prolactin (PRL) level measurements and for basic seminal fluid analysis (BSA). The difference between serum PRL concentrations of rats in G2, G3, G4 and G5 as compared to the control group were highly significant by Student’s t-test (p<0.001). There were statistically significant differences in seminal fluid characteristics of rats with induced prolactin abnormalities when compared with those of control group (p value <0.05), effects were more marked as the PRL levels rise.

Keywords: male factor infertility, prolactin, seminal fluid analysis, animal studies

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Authors: Indu Gupta

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Climate change and global warming is most burning issue for “our common future”. For this common global interest. Countries organize conferences of government and nongovernment type. Human being destroying the non-renewable resources and polluting the renewable resources of planet for economic growth. Air pollution is mainly responsible for global warming and climate change .Due to global warming ice glaciers are shrinking and melting. Forests are shrinking, deserts expanding and soil eroding. The depletion of stratospheric ozone layer is depleting and hole in ozone layer that protect us from harmful ultra violet radiation. Extreme high temperature in summer and extreme low temperature and smog in winters, floods in rainy season. These all are indication of climate change. The level of carbon dioxide and other heat trapping gases in the atmosphere is increasing at high speed. Nation’s are worried about environmental degradation.

Keywords: environmental degradation, global warming, soil eroding, ultra-Violate radiation

Procedia PDF Downloads 375