Search results for: state capture

Authors: Sang-Wook Han, In-Hui Hwang, Zhenlan Jin, Chang-In Park

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We used temperature-dependent X-Ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) measurements to examine the local structural properties around vanadium atoms at the V K edge from VO₂ films. A direct comparison of simultaneously-measured resistance and XAFS from the VO₂ films showed that the thermally-driven structural phase transition (SPT) occurred prior to the metal-insulator transition (MIT) during heating, whereas these changed simultaneously during cooling. XAFS revealed a significant increase in the Debye-Waller factors of the V-O and V-V pairs in the {111} direction of the R-phase VO₂ due to the phonons of the V-V arrays along the direction in a metallic phase. A substantial amount of structural disorder existing on the V-V pairs along the c-axis in both M₁ and R phases indicates the structural instability of V-V arrays in the axis. The anomalous structural disorder observed on all atomic sites at the SPT prevents the migration of the V 3d¹ electrons, resulting in a Mott insulator in the M₂-phase VO₂. The anomalous structural disorder, particularly, at vanadium sites, effectively affects the migration of metallic electrons, resulting in the Mott insulating properties in M₂ phase and a non-congruence of the SPT, MIT, and local density of state. The thermally-induced phonons in the {111} direction assist the delocalization of the V 3d¹ electrons in the R phase VO₂ and the electrons likely migrate via the V-V array in the {111} direction as well as the V-V dimerization along the c-axis. This study clarifies that the tetragonal symmetry is essentially important for the metallic phase in VO₂.

Keywords: metal-insulator transition, XAFS, VO₂, structural-phase transition

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Authors: Melissa C. Ingram

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This literature review sought to explore the dimensions of diversity that can affect classroom learning. This review is significant as it can aid educators in reaching more of their diverse student population and creating supportive classrooms for teachers and students. For this study, peer-reviewed articles were found and compiled using Google Scholar. Key terms used in the search include student individuality, classroom equality, student development, teacher development, and teacher individuality. Relevant educational standards such as Common Core and Partnership for the 21st Century were also included as part of this review. Student and teacher individuality and equality is discussed as well as methods to grow both within educational settings. Embracing student and teacher individuality was found to be key as it may affect how each person interacts with given information. One method to grow individuality and equality in educational settings included drafting and employing revised teaching standards which include various Common Core and U.S. State standards. Another was to use educational theories such as constructivism, cognitive learning, and Experiential Learning Theory. However, barriers to growing individuality, such as not acknowledging differences in a population’s dimensions of diversity, still exist. Studies found preserving the dimensions of diversity owned by both teachers and students yielded more positive and beneficial classroom experiences.

Keywords: classroom equality, student development, student individuality, teacher development, teacher individuality

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Authors: Kimberly McCabe

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The trafficking of women and children for abuse and exploitation is not a new problem under the umbrella of human trafficking; however, over the last decade, the problem has attracted increased attention from international governments and non-profits attempting to reduce victimization and provide services for survivors. Research on human trafficking suggests that the trafficking of human beings is, largely, a symptom of poverty. As the trafficking of human beings may be viewed as a response to the demand for people for various forms of exploitation, a product of poverty, and a consequence of the subordinate positions of women and children in society, it reaches beyond randomized victimization. Hence, human trafficking, and especially the trafficking of women and children, goes beyond the realm of poorness. Therefore, to begin to understand the reasons for the existence of human trafficking, one must identify and consider not only the immediate causes but also those underlying structural determinants that facilitate this form of victimization. Specifically, one must acknowledge the economic, social, and cultural factors that support human trafficking. This research attempts to study human trafficking at the country level by focusing on economic, social, and cultural characteristics. This study focuses on inequality and, in particular, gender inequality as related to legislative attempts to address human trafficking. Within the design of this project is the use of the US State Department’s tier classification system for Trafficking in Persons (TIP) and the USA CIA Fact Sheet of country characteristics for over 150 countries in an attempt to model legal outcomes as related to human trafficking. Results of this research demonstrate the significance of characteristics beyond poverty as related to country-level responses to human trafficking.

Keywords: child trafficking, gender inequality, human trafficking, inequality

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Authors: Edilene Machado, Carolina Karoly, Amanda Britz, Luciane Salvi, Claudineia Brazil

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Climate teleconnections refer to the climatic relationships between geographically distant regions, where changes in one location can influence weather patterns in another. These connections can occur through atmospheric and oceanic processes, leading to variations in temperature, precipitation, and other climatic elements. Studying teleconnections is crucial for better understanding the mechanisms that govern global climate and the potential consequences of climate change. A notable example of a teleconnection is the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), which involves the interaction between the Equatorial Pacific Ocean and the atmosphere. During El Niño episodes, there is anomalous warming of the surface waters in the Equatorial Pacific, resulting in significant changes in global climate patterns. These changes can affect rainfall distribution, wind patterns, and temperatures in different parts of the world. The cold phase of ENSO, known as La Niña, is often associated with reduced precipitation and below-average temperatures in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Therefore, the objective of this research is to identify patterns between El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events in their different phases and dengue transmission. Meteorological data and dengue case records for the city of Porto Alegre, in the southern region of Brazil, were used for the development of this research. The study highlighted that the highest incidence of dengue cases occurred during the cold phase of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO).

Keywords: climate patterns, climate teleconnections, climate variability, dengue, El Niño-Southern oscillation

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Authors: Pangihutan Panjaitan, Helda Risman, Devindra Oktaviano

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This research is departed from the security issues generated from China’s unilateral claims in the South China Sea conflict. The diplomacy challenges come from Indonesia’s relations with China as well as with ASEAN-member countries involved in the conflict. It is estimated that the conflict in the South China Sea region will become an endless conflict. Comprehensively, Indonesia is implementing a gradual shift in diplomatic approach in creating positive and constructive ties among Indonesia, China, and ASEAN. In line with the rapid-changing world order, the conventional military approach becomes less significant in today’s modern inter-state interactions. This research is conducted in a qualitative literature review to explain how Indonesia’s recent soft diplomacy approach applied in the South China Sea conflict. This type of diplomacy theoretically assumed as one of the most preferred ways to establish mutual trust and confidence among conflicting parties. Maritime issues found its significance in contemporary foreign policy since the world’s most dynamic region has moved to the archipelagic Asia-Pacific. As mentioned by rationalists, every country, including Indonesia, has surely formulated its own prominent national interest, such as the defense aspect. Finally, this research will provide a deep analysis on Indonesia’s centrality in ASEAN as an effective way to ensure Indonesia’s strategic policy in the region well accommodated.

Keywords: soft diplomacy, south China sea, national defense, China

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Authors: Ya Lv

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This article presents the application of the semi-analytic method (SAM) in the thermal management solution (TMS) of the energy storage system (ESS). The TMS studied in this work is fluid cooling. In fluid cooling, both effective heat conduction and heat convection are indispensable due to the heat transfer from solid to fluid. Correspondingly, an efficient TMS requires a design investigation of the following parameters: fluid inlet temperature, ESS initial temperature, fluid flow rate, working c rate, continuous working time, and materials properties. Their variation induces a change of thermal performance in the battery module, which is usually evaluated by numerical simulation. Compared to complicated computation resources and long computation time in simulation, the SAM is developed in this article to predict the thermal influence within a few seconds. In SAM, a fast prediction model is reckoned by combining numerical simulation with theoretical/empirical equations. The SAM can explore the thermal effect of boundary parameters in both steady-state and transient heat transfer scenarios within a short time. Therefore, the SAM developed in this work can simplify the design cycle of TMS and inspire more possibilities in TMS design.

Keywords: semi-analytic method, fast prediction model, thermal influence of boundary parameters, energy storage system

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Authors: Shanujah Mathuranayagam, William Fuentes, Samanthika Liyanapathirana

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This paper introduces an enhanced version of the coupled hydro-mechanical hypoplastic model. The model is able to simulate volumetric collapse upon wetting and incorporates suction effects on stiffness and strength. Its mechanical constitutive equation links Bishop’s effective stress with strain and suction, featuring a normal consolidation line (NCL) with a compression index (λ) presenting a non-linear dependency with the degree of saturation. The Bulk modulus has been modified to ensure that under rapid volumetric collapse, the stress state remains at the NCL. The coupled model comprises eighteen parameters, with nine for the hydraulic component and nine for the mechanical component. Hydraulic parameters are calibrated with the use of water retention curves (IWRC) across varied soil densities, while mechanical parameters undergo calibration using isotropic and triaxial tests on both unsaturated and saturated samples. The model's performance is analyzed through the back-calculation of two experimental studies: (i) wetting under different vertical stresses for Lower Cromer Till and (ii) isotropic loading and triaxial loading for undisturbed loess. The results confirm that the proposed model is able to predict the hydro-mechanical behavior of unsaturated soils.

Keywords: hypoplastic model, volumetric collapse, normal consolidation line, compression index (λ), degree of saturation, soil suction

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Authors: Chien-kuo Chang, Bo-wei Wu, Yi-yun Tang, Min-chiu Wu

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This paper proposes a power equipment diagnosis system based on partial discharge (PD), which is characterized by increasing the readability of experimental data and the convenience of operation. This system integrates a variety of analysis programs of different data formats and different programming languages and then establishes a set of interfaces that can follow and expand the structure, which is also helpful for subsequent maintenance and innovation. This study shows a case of using the developed Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) to integrate with this system, using the designed model architecture to simplify the complex training process. It is expected that the simplified training process can be used to establish an adaptive deep learning experimental structure. By selecting different test data for repeated training, the accuracy of the identification system can be enhanced. On this platform, the measurement status and partial discharge pattern of each equipment can be checked in real time, and the function of real-time identification can be set, and various training models can be used to carry out real-time partial discharge insulation defect identification and insulation state diagnosis. When the electric power equipment entering the dangerous period, replace equipment early to avoid unexpected electrical accidents.

Keywords: partial discharge, convolutional neural network, partial discharge analysis platform, adaptive deep learning

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Authors: Benjamin J. Kuo, Silvia D. Vaca, Joao Ricardo Nickenig Vissoci, Catherine A. Staton, Linda Xu, Michael Muhumuza, Hussein Ssenyonjo, John Mukasa, Joel Kiryabwire, Lydia Nanjula, Christine Muhumuza, Henry E. Rice, Gerald A. Grant, Michael M. Haglund

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Background: Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is disproportionally concentrated in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), with the odds of dying from TBI in Uganda more than 4 times higher than in high income countries (HICs). The disparities in the injury incidence and outcome between LMICs and resource-rich settings have led to increased health outcomes research for TBIs and their associated risk factors in LMICs. While there have been increasing TBI studies in LMICs over the last decade, there is still a need for more robust prospective registries. In Uganda, a trauma registry implemented in 2004 at the Mulago National Referral Hospital (MNRH) showed that RTI is the major contributor (60%) of overall mortality in the casualty department. While the prior registry provides information on injury incidence and burden, it’s limited in scope and doesn’t follow patients longitudinally throughout their hospital stay nor does it focus specifically on TBIs. And although these retrospective analyses are helpful for benchmarking TBI outcomes, they make it hard to identify specific quality improvement initiatives. The relationship among epidemiology, patient risk factors, clinical care, and TBI outcomes are still relatively unknown at MNRH. Objective: The objectives of this study are to describe the processes of care and determine risk factors predictive of poor outcomes for TBI patients presenting to a single tertiary hospital in Uganda. Methods: Prospective data were collected for 563 TBI patients presenting to a tertiary hospital in Kampala from 1 June – 30 November 2016. Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) was used to systematically collect variables spanning 8 categories. Univariate and multivariate analysis were conducted to determine significant predictors of mortality. Results: 563 TBI patients were enrolled from 1 June – 30 November 2016. 102 patients (18%) received surgery, 29 patients (5.1%) intended for surgery failed to receive it, and 251 patients (45%) received non-operative management. Overall mortality was 9.6%, which ranged from 4.7% for mild and moderate TBI to 55% for severe TBI patients with GCS 3-5. Within each TBI severity category, mortality differed by management pathway. Variables predictive of mortality were TBI severity, more than one intracranial bleed, failure to receive surgery, high dependency unit admission, ventilator support outside of surgery, and hospital arrival delayed by more than 4 hours. Conclusions: The overall mortality rate of 9.6% in Uganda for TBI is high, and likely underestimates the true TBI mortality. Furthermore, the wide-ranging mortality (3-82%), high ICU fatality, and negative impact of care delays suggest shortcomings with the current triaging practices. Lack of surgical intervention when needed was highly predictive of mortality in TBI patients. Further research into the determinants of surgical interventions, quality of step-up care, and prolonged care delays are needed to better understand the complex interplay of variables that affect patient outcome. These insights guide the development of future interventions and resource allocation to improve patient outcomes.

Keywords: care continuum, global neurosurgery, Kampala Uganda, LMIC, Mulago, prospective registry, traumatic brain injury

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Authors: Bincy Mathew, B. William Dharma Raja

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Successful decision making in a social setting depends on the ability to understand the intentions, emotions and beliefs of others. Children live and grow in the social world. Individuals think to satisfy their curiosity and mush of their social thought is practical, to attain their goal. Children’s thought about their social world influences how they behave towards it. The main purpose of this paper is to review the influence of decision making on adjustment behaviour of visually challenged adolescents. The sample was purposively selected to study the cases of two of the visually challenged adolescents from a Special School, in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India. The authors appraised the observed behaviour of adjustment in these children. It may be concluded that the social cognitive ability of decision making is at least, to certain extent, influences adjustment behaviour of visually challenged adolescents. Adjustment behaviour attempts to maintain a child’s level of physiological and psychological equilibrium and it is directed towards tension reduction. It involves a state of harmonious relationship existing between the individual and one’s environment so that adjustment is a matter of interaction between the capacities of the individual and the demands of the environment. The study also found that music induces a receptive mood that generally enhances cognitive processing and every decision that the child makes has its brunt on the behaviour. It is solely based on the case study carried out by the authors.

Keywords: social cognition, decision making, adjustment behaviour, adolescents

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Authors: Nima Mahmoudi, Hamzeh Khazaei

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Serving machine learning inference workloads on the cloud is still a challenging task at the production level. The optimal configuration of the inference workload to meet SLA requirements while optimizing the infrastructure costs is highly complicated due to the complex interaction between batch configuration, resource configurations, and variable arrival process. Serverless computing has emerged in recent years to automate most infrastructure management tasks. Workload batching has revealed the potential to improve the response time and cost-effectiveness of machine learning serving workloads. However, it has not yet been supported out of the box by serverless computing platforms. Our experiments have shown that for various machine learning workloads, batching can hugely improve the system’s efficiency by reducing the processing overhead per request. In this work, we present MLProxy, an adaptive reverse proxy to support efficient machine learning serving workloads on serverless computing systems. MLProxy supports adaptive batching to ensure SLA compliance while optimizing serverless costs. We performed rigorous experiments on Knative to demonstrate the effectiveness of MLProxy. We showed that MLProxy could reduce the cost of serverless deployment by up to 92% while reducing SLA violations by up to 99% that can be generalized across state-of-the-art model serving frameworks.

Keywords: serverless computing, machine learning, inference serving, Knative, google cloud run, optimization

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Authors: Nguyen Thi Kim Thoa

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Vietnam currently has about two million five hundred deaf/hard of hearing people. Although the issue of Vietnamese Sign Language (VSL) education has received attention from the State, there are still many issues that need to be resolved, such as policies, teacher training in both knowledge and teaching methods, education programs, and textbook compilation. Furthermore, the issue of research on VSL has not yet attracted the attention of linguists. Using the quantitative description method, the article will analyze, synthesize, and compare to find methods to create signed words in VSL, such as based on external shape characteristics, operational characteristics, operating methods, and basic meanings, from which we can see the special nature of signed words, the division of word types and the morphological meaning of creating new words through sign methods. From the results of this research, the aspect of ‘visual culture’ will be clarified in Vietnamese Deaf Culture. Through that, we also develop a number of vocabulary teaching methods (such as teaching vocabulary through a group of methods of forming signed words, teaching vocabulary using mind maps, and teaching vocabulary through culture...), with the aim of further improving the effectiveness of teaching and learning VSL in Vietnam. The research results also provide deaf people in Vietnam with a scientific and effective method of learning vocabulary, helping them quickly integrate into the community. The article will be a useful reference for linguists who want to research VSL.

Keywords: Vietnamese sign language (VSL), signed word, teaching, method

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Authors: Rafiu O. Sanni, Abayomi O. Olajuyigbe, Nelson R. Osungbemiro, Rotimi F. Olaniyan

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The Owena River lies within the drainage basins of the Oni, Siluko, and Ogbesse rivers. The river’s immediate surroundings are covered by dense forests, interspersed by plantations of cocoa, oil palm, kolanut, bananas, and other crops. The objectives were to identify the aquatic plants community, comprising the algae and aquatic macrophytes, observe their population dynamics in relation to the two seasons and identify their economic importance, especially to the neighbouring community. The study sites were determined using a stratified sampling method. Three strata were marked out for sampling namely strata I (upstream)–5 stations, strata II (reservoir) –2 stations, and strata III (outflow) 2 stations. These nine stations were tagged st1, st2, st3…st9. The aquatic macrophytes were collected using standard methods and identified at the University of Ibadan herbarium while the algal samples were collected using standard methods for microalgae. The periphytonic species were scraped from surfaces of rocks (perilithic), sucked with large syringe from mud (epipellic), scraped from suspended logs, washed from roots of aquatic angiosperms (epiphytic), as well as shaken from other particles such as suspended plant parts. Some were collected physically by scooping floating thallus of non-microscopic multicellular forms. The specimens were taken to the laboratory and observed under a microscope with mounted digital camera for photomicrography. Identification was done using Prescott.

Keywords: aquatic plants, aquatic macrophytes, algae, Owena river

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Authors: Elena Tkachenko, Vladimir Kokh, Alina Osipenko, Vladislav Surkov

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The modern period of development of Russian economy is fraught with a number of problems related to limitations in the use of traditional planning and financial management tools. Restrictions in the use of foreign software when performing an order of the Russian Government, on the one hand, and sanctions limiting the support of the major ERP and MRP II systems in the Russian Federation, on the other hand, entail the necessity to appeal to the basics of developing budgeting and analysis systems for industrial enterprises. Thus, cost calculation theory becomes the theoretical foundation for the development of industrial cost management systems. Based on the foregoing, it would be fair to make an assumption that the development of a working managerial accounting model on an industrial enterprise using an automated enterprise resource management system should rest upon the concept of the inevitability of alterations of business processes. On the other hand, optimized business processes make the architecture of financial analytics more transparent and permit the use of all the benefits of data cubes. The metrics and indicator slices provide online assessment of the state of key business processes at a given moment of time, which improves the quality of managerial decisions considerably. Therefore, the bilateral sanctions situation boosted the development of corporate business analytics and took industrial companies to the next level of understanding of business processes.

Keywords: cost culculation, ERP, OLAP, modern Russian economy

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Authors: Md Nur Uddin

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The Rohingya people are one of the world's most oppressed and persecuted refugee populations, having been stateless for over six generations and still are. In recent years, more than half-million Rohingya Muslims have fled Myanmar (Burma) for neighboring nations. This article discusses the Status and Rights of Rohingya Migrants in Bangladesh, with a focus on the living conditions of this vulnerable population. A lot of information has been studied about Rohingya refugees states that violence in Rakhine state has sent an estimated 615,500 Rohingya across the border into Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar since August 25, 2017. In Cox's Bazar, a total of 33,131 Rohingya refugees are housed in two registered camps, with an additional 854,024 living in informal settlements nearby. The living conditions of Rohingya refugees in overcrowded camps remain dismal. Mental health is bad, cleanliness is poor, malnutrition is common, and physical and sexual abuse is endemic. A coordinated diplomatic effort involving Bangladesh and Myanmar, as well as international mediators such as the Organization of Islamic Countries and the United Nations, is essential to adequately resolve this complex matter. Bangladeshi officials must ensure the safety of the Rohingyas in the camps and use available humanitarian aid to give the refugees basic amenities such as food, shelter, sanitation, and medical treatment. UNHCR officials should keep an eye on the actual repatriation process to ensure that refugees who have expressed a desire to stay in Bangladesh are not deported against their choice.

Keywords: international refugee laws, united nations, Rohingya, stateless, humanitarian

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Authors: M. Kosacka, I. Kudelska

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Vehicle is one of the most influential and complex product worldwide, which affects people’s life, state of the environment and condition of the economy (all aspects of sustainable development concept) during each stage of lifecycle. With the increase of vehicles’ number, there is growing potential for management of End of Life Vehicle (ELV), which is hazardous waste. From one point of view, the ELV should be managed to ensure risk elimination, but from another point, it should be treated as a source of valuable materials and spare parts. In order to obtain materials and spare parts, there are established recycling networks, which are an example of sustainable policy realization at the national level. The basic object in the polish recycling network is dismantling facility. The output material streams in dismantling stations include waste, which very often generate costs and spare parts, that have the biggest potential for revenues creation. Both outputs are stored into warehouses, according to the law. In accordance to the revenue creation and sustainability potential, it has been placed a strong emphasis on storage process. We present the concept of storage method, which takes into account the specific of the dismantling facility in order to support decision-making process with regard to the principles of sustainable development. The method was developed on the basis of case study of one of the greatest dismantling facility in Poland.

Keywords: dismantling, end of life vehicles, sustainability, storage

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Authors: Segun Jacob Ogunkunle

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The study examined the moderating effects of future career interest in science and gender on achievement in basic science of students taught in a simulated laboratory and enriched laboratory guide material environments. It adopted the pretest-posttest control group quasi experimental design with a 3x2x2 factorial matrix. A total of 277 (130 males, 147 females; ± 17 years) junior secondary three students randomly selected from six purposively selected secondary schools based on availability of functional computer and physics laboratories participated in the study. Data were collected using achievement test in basic science (r=0.87) and future career interest in science (r=0.99) while analysis of covariance and estimated marginal means were used to test three hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study show that future career interest in science had significant effect on students’ achievement in basic science whereas gender did not. The interaction effect of future career interest in science and gender on students’ achievement in basic science was not significant. It is therefore recommended that prior knowledge of students’ future career interest in science could be used to improve participation in basic science practical in order to enhance achievement in biology, chemistry, and physics at the post-basic education level in Nigeria.

Keywords: future career interest in science, basic science, simulated laboratory, enriched laboratory guide materials, achievement in science

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Authors: Mary I. Marire

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This seminar examined globalization and civil society organization of Nigeria: The business community. The study examined the effect of globalization on the growth of civil society organizations in Nigeria. It equally evaluated the effect of globalization on the development of Nigerian business environment. The population consists of 562 members of Ohanaeze Ndigbo civil society organisation in Enugu State. The study used the survey approach. The primary sources used were used to administer 290 copies of questionnaire to the sampled members of the group, 282 were returned and accurately filled. The validity of the instrument was tested using content analysis and the result was good. The reliability was tested using the Pearson correlation coefficient (r). It gave a reliability co-efficient of 0.79 which was also good. The hypotheses were analyzed using f-statistics (ANOVA) tool. The findings indicated that that globalization has significant effect on the growth of civil society organizations in Nigeria and development of Nigerian business environment. Based on the findings, the study recommends that efforts should be directed at service delivery and the reduction of corruption to bring about a sustainable socio economic development in Nigeria. This will enable civil society groups to stand the test of time by organizing itself in a manner that will not make them apron or dependent on the government. There is the dire need for government at all levels to show and indeed demonstrate the political will and zeal to cope and meet with the current global realities in its totality.

Keywords: globalization, business environment, civil society, business growth

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Authors: Kurotimi M. Fems, Francis D. W. Poazi, Helen Opigo

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Entrepreneurship education and graduate entrepreneurship have taken centre stage in many countries as a 21st century strategy for economic growth and development. Entrepreneurship education has been viewed as a pre-requisite tool for a more effective and successful business operation. The purpose of this study is to ascertain if entrepreneurship education is a foundational requirement for graduate entrepreneurial engagement or, if other factors such as personality trait, need for achievement, situational circumstances or experience and competence played a more vital role in stimulating graduate entrepreneurial engagement. The scope of the research study is entrepreneurs within Yenagoa metropolis in Bayelsa state, Nigeria. The sample target is graduates engaged in entrepreneurship activities (graduates who own and run businesses). Stratified sampling technique was used and 101 responses were gotten from a total of 300 questionnaires issued. Bar chart, tables, and percentages were used to analyze the data collected. Findings: The findings revealed that personality traits, situational circumstance, need for achievement and experience/competence were the foundational factors stimulating graduate entrepreneurs to engage in entrepreneurial pursuits. Of all, personality trait showed the highest score with 73 (73%) out of 101 entrepreneurs agreeing. Experience/Competence and situational circumstances followed behind with 66 (65%) and 63 (62.4%) respectively. Entrepreneurship education revealed the least score with 33 (32.3%) out of 101 participating entrepreneurs. All hope, however, is not lost, as this shows that something can be done to increase the impact of entrepreneurship education on graduate entrepreneurship.

Keywords: creative destruction, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship education, graduate entrepreneurship, pre-requisite

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Authors: Himer Khalid, Alami Ilyass, Kharchoufa Loubna, Elachouri Mostafa

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It has been estimated by the World Health Organization that 80% of the world's population relies on traditional medicine to meet their daily health requirements. In Morocco reliance on such medicine is partly owing to the high cost of conventional medicine and the inaccessibility of modern health care facilities. There was high agreement in the use of plants as medicine in Oriental Morocco. Our objective is to evaluate the informant’s knowledge on medicinal plants by the local population and to document the uses of medicinal plants by this community, for the treatment of different illnesses. Using an ethnopharmacological approach, we collected information concerning the traditional medicinal knowledge and the medicinal plants used, by interviewing successfully 458 informants living in oriental Morocco (from Debdou, Taourirt, Guersif a,d Laayoune districts). The data were analyzed by statistical methods (Component Analysis “CA”, Factorial Analysis “FA”) and other methods such as through Informant’s Consensus Factor (ICF) and Use Value (UV). Our results indicate that, more than 60% of the population in these regions relies on medicinal plants for the treatment of different ailments with predominance of women consumers. 135 plant species belonging to 61 families were documented. These plants were used by the population for the treatment of a group of illness (about 14 principal ailments). We conclude that, in oriental Morocco, till now, the population has some traditional knowledge commonly used as medical tradition. These wealthy heritage needs conservation and evaluation.

Keywords: Morocco, medicinal plants, traditional knowledge, wealthy heritage

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Authors: Andreea Campu, Ilinica Muresan, Simona Cainap, Simion Astilean, Monica Focsan

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Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is the most severe cardiovascular disease, which has threatened human lives for decades, thus a continuous interest is directed towards the detection of cardiac biomarkers such as cardiac troponin I (cTnI) in order to predict risk and, implicitly, fulfill the early diagnosis requirements in AMI settings. Microfluidics is a major technology involved in the development of efficient sensing devices with real-time fast responses and on-site applicability. Microfluidic devices have gathered a lot of attention recently due to their advantageous features such as high sensitivity and specificity, miniaturization and portability, ease-of-use, low-cost, facile fabrication, and reduced sample manipulation. The integration of gold nanoparticles into the structure of microfluidic sensors has led to the development of highly effective detection systems, considering the unique properties of the metallic nanostructures, specifically the Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR), which makes them highly sensitive to their microenvironment. In this scientific context, herein, we propose the implementation of a novel detection device, which successfully combines the efficiency of gold bipyramids (AuBPs) as signal transducers and thermal generators with the sample-driven advantages of the microfluidic channels into a miniaturized, portable, low-cost, specific, and sensitive test for the dual LSPR-thermographic cTnI detection. Specifically, AuBPs with longitudinal LSPR response at 830 nm were chemically synthesized using the seed-mediated growth approach and characterized in terms of optical and morphological properties. Further, the colloidal AuBPs were deposited onto pre-treated silanized glass substrates thus, a uniform nanoparticle coverage of the substrate was obtained and confirmed by extinction measurements showing a 43 nm blue-shift of the LSPR response as a consequence of the refractive index change. The as-obtained plasmonic substrate was then integrated into a microfluidic “Y”-shaped polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) channel, fabricated using a Laser Cutter system. Both plasmonic and microfluidic elements were plasma treated in order to achieve a permanent bond. The as-developed microfluidic plasmonic chip was further coupled to an automated syringe pump system. The proposed biosensing protocol implicates the successive injection inside the microfluidic channel as follows: p-aminothiophenol and glutaraldehyde, to achieve a covalent bond between the metallic surface and cTnI antibody, anti-cTnI, as a recognition element, and target cTnI biomarker. The successful functionalization and capture of cTnI was monitored by LSPR detection thus, after each step, a red-shift of the optical response was recorded. Furthermore, as an innovative detection technique, thermal determinations were made after each injection by exposing the microfluidic plasmonic chip to 785 nm laser excitation, considering that the AuBPs exhibit high light-to-heat conversion performances. By the analysis of the thermographic images, thermal curves were obtained, showing a decrease in the thermal efficiency after the anti-cTnI-cTnI reaction was realized. Thus, we developed a microfluidic plasmonic chip able to operate as both LSPR and thermal sensor for the detection of the cardiac troponin I biomarker, leading thus to the progress of diagnostic devices.

Keywords: gold nanobipyramids, microfluidic device, localized surface plasmon resonance detection, thermographic detection

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Authors: Robert van Ling, Alexander Schwahn, Shanhua Lin, Ken Cook, Frank Steiner, Rowan Moore, Mauro de Pra

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Purpose: Demonstration of fast high resolution charge variant analysis for monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapeutics within 5 minutes. Methods: Three commercially available mAbs were used for all experiments. The charge variants of therapeutic mAbs (Bevacizumab, Cetuximab, Infliximab, and Trastuzumab) are analyzed on a strong cation exchange column with a linear pH gradient separation method. The linear gradient from pH 5.6 to pH 10.2 is generated over time by running a linear pump gradient from 100% Thermo Scientific™ CX-1 pH Gradient Buffer A (pH 5.6) to 100% CX-1 pH Gradient Buffer B (pH 10.2), using the Thermo Scientific™ Vanquish™ UHPLC system. Results: The pH gradient method is generally applicable to monoclonal antibody charge variant analysis. In conjunction with state-of-the-art column and UHPLC technology, ultra fast high-resolution separations are consistently achieved in under 5 minutes for all mAbs analyzed. Conclusion: The linear pH gradient method is a platform method for mAb charge variant analysis. The linear pH gradient method can be easily optimized to improve separations and shorten cycle times. Ultra-fast charge variant separation is facilitated with UHPLC that complements, and in some instances outperforms CE approaches in terms of both resolution and throughput.

Keywords: charge variants, ion exchange chromatography, monoclonal antibody, UHPLC

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Authors: Kusuma Urs M. B., Navakant Bhat, Vinayak B. Kamble

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Metal oxide semiconductors (MOS) are known to be excellent candidates for solid-state gas sensor devices. However, in spite of high sensitivities, their high operating temperatures and lack of selectivity is a big concern limiting their practical applications. A lot of research has been devoted so far to enhance their sensitivity and selectivity, often empirically. Some of the promising routes to achieve the same are reducing dimensionality and formation of heterostructures. These heterostructures offer improved sensitivity, selectivity even at relatively low operating temperatures compared to bare metal oxides. Thus, a combination of n-type and p-type metal oxides leads to the formation of p-n junction at the interface resulting in the diffusion of the carriers across the barrier along with the surface adsorption. In order to achieve this and to study their sensing mechanism, we have designed and lithographically fabricated a suspended nanobeam of NiO, which is a p-type semiconductor. The response of the same has been studied for various gases and is found to exhibit selective response towards hydrogen gas at room temperature. Further, the same has been radially coated with TiO₂ shell of varying thicknesses, in order to study the effect of radial p-n junction thus formed. Subsequently, efforts have been made to study the effect of shell thickness on the space charge region and to shed some light on the basic mechanism involved in gas sensing of MOS sensors.

Keywords: gas sensing, heterostructure, metal oxide semiconductor, space charge region

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Authors: Arowosafe Folusade Catherine, Arowosafe Olubunmi, Aina Samson

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In many countries, tourism has been portrayed as a contributor to small-scale enterprises, contributing to improved standards of living, a catalyst for community development, and poverty alleviation. This study assessed the willingness of the host communities to provide homestay accommodation and also identified the homestay facilities available to host visitors to the community. A random sampling method was used to administer 150 copies of the questionnaire to the residents in Idanre. Data collected were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistical analysis, and results were presented using frequency and percentage tables. Results: Findings revealed that the majority of the residents were above 60 years (47.3%), with 33% of them aware of the concept of homestay accommodation, and 32% had primary education. The majority were self-employed (43.3%), earning less than ₦30,000 per month; it also revealed that 80.7% of the residents owned at least one house and had adequate water supply facility (100%) and electricity (99.3%). Some constraints observed revealed that safety for the host family (mean 4.81) was ranked high as a possible deterrent to providing homestay accommodation to strangers. Results revealed a correlation between the resident’s awareness and willingness to provide homestay accommodation services (r.0.05, p<0.05). This study recommends that sensitization programs to create awareness of the potential benefits of homestay accommodation in the host communities of Idanre Hills should be carried out by the relevant stakeholders.

Keywords: accommodation, benefits, homestay, Idanre Hills

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Authors: Christina Kirsch, Adam Hatzigiannis

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Rail operators and maintainers worldwide are increasingly replacing walking patrols in the rail corridor with mechanized track patrols -essentially data capture on trains- and on-screen reviews of track infrastructure in centralized review facilities. The benefit is that infrastructure workers are less exposed to the dangers of the rail corridor. The impact is a significant change in work design from walking track sections and direct observation in the real world to sedentary jobs in the review facility reviewing captured data on screens. Defects in rail infrastructure can have catastrophic consequences. Reviewer performance regarding accuracy and efficiency of reviews within the available time frame is essential to ensure safety and operational performance. Rail operators must optimize workload and resource loading to transition to on-screen reviews successfully. Therefore, they need to know what workload assessment methodologies will provide reliable and valid data to optimize resourcing for on-screen reviews. This paper compares objective workload measures, including track difficulty ratings and review distance covered per hour, and subjective workload assessments (NASA TLX) and analyses the link between workload and reviewer performance, including sensitivity, precision, and overall accuracy. An experimental study was completed with eight on-screen reviewers, including infrastructure workers and engineers, reviewing track sections with different levels of track difficulty over nine days. Each day the reviewers completed four 90-minute sessions of on-screen inspection of the track infrastructure. Data regarding the speed of review (km/ hour), detected defects, false negatives, and false positives were collected. Additionally, all reviewers completed a subjective workload assessment (NASA TLX) after each 90-minute session and a short employee engagement survey at the end of the study period that captured impacts on job satisfaction and motivation. The results showed that objective measures for tracking difficulty align with subjective mental demand, temporal demand, effort, and frustration in the NASA TLX. Interestingly, review speed correlated with subjective assessments of physical and temporal demand, but to mental demand. Subjective performance ratings correlated with all accuracy measures and review speed. The results showed that subjective NASA TLX workload assessments accurately reflect objective workload. The analysis of the impact of workload on performance showed that subjective mental demand correlated with high precision -accurately detected defects, not false positives. Conversely, high temporal demand was negatively correlated with sensitivity and the percentage of detected existing defects. Review speed was significantly correlated with false negatives. With an increase in review speed, accuracy declined. On the other hand, review speed correlated with subjective performance assessments. Reviewers thought their performance was higher when they reviewed the track sections faster, despite the decline in accuracy. The study results were used to optimize resourcing and ensure that reviewers had enough time to review the allocated track sections to improve defect detection rates in accordance with the efficiency-thoroughness trade-off. Overall, the study showed the importance of a multi-method approach to workload assessment and optimization, combining subjective workload assessments with objective workload and performance measures to ensure that recommendations for work system optimization are evidence-based and reliable.

Keywords: automation, efficiency-thoroughness trade-off, human factors, job design, NASA TLX, performance optimization, subjective workload assessment, workload analysis

Procedia PDF Downloads 102

Authors: M. Abou-Amouna, A. Radwan, L. Al-kuwari, A. Hammuda, K. Al-Khalifa

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There is growing concern over increasing incidences of road accidents and consequent loss of human life in Qatar. In light to the future planned event in Qatar, World Cup 2022; Qatar should put into consideration the future deaths caused by road accidents, and past trends should be considered to give a reasonable picture of what may happen in the future. Qatar roads should be arranged and paved in a way that accommodate high capacity of the population in that time, since then there will be a huge number of visitors from the world. Qatar should also consider the risk issues of road accidents raised in that period, and plan to maintain high level to safety strategies. According to the increase in the number of road accidents in Qatar from 1995 until 2012, an analysis of elements affecting and causing road accidents will be effectively studied. This paper aims to identify and criticize the factors that have high effect on causing road accidents in the state of Qatar, and predict the total number of road accidents in Qatar 2022. Alternative methods are discussed and the most applicable ones according to the previous researches are selected for further studies. The methods that satisfy the existing case in Qatar were the multiple linear regression model (MLR) and artificial neutral network (ANN). Those methods are analyzed and their findings are compared. We conclude that by using MLR the number of accidents in 2022 will become 355,226 accidents, and by using ANN 216,264 accidents. We conclude that MLR gave better results than ANN because the artificial neutral network doesn’t fit data with large range varieties.

Keywords: road safety, prediction, accident, model, Qatar

Procedia PDF Downloads 241

Authors: Amin Jabbari

Abstract:

The state of the art in major 3D printing technologies, such as powder-based and slurry based, has led researchers to investigate the ability to fabricate bone scaffolds for bone tissue engineering using biomaterials. In addition, 3D printing technology can simulate mechanical and biological surface properties and print with high precision complex internal and external structures that match their functional properties. Polymer matrix composites reinforced with particulate bioceramics, hydrogels reinforced with particulate bioceramics, polymers coated with bioceramics, and non-porous bioceramics are among the materials that can be investigated for bone scaffold printing. Furthermore, it was shown that the introduction of high-density micropores into the sparingly dissolvable CSiMg10 and dissolvable CSiMg4 shell layer inevitably leads to a nearly 30% reduction in compressive strength, but such micropores can easily influence the ion release behavior of the scaffolds. Also, biocompatibility tests such as cytotoxicity, hemocompatibility and genotoxicity were tested on printed parts. The printed part was tested in vitro, and after 24-26 h for cytotoxicity, and 4h for hemocompatibility test, the CSiMg4@CSiMg10-p scaffolds were found to have significantly higher osteogenic capability than the other scaffolds of implantation. Overall, these experimental studies demonstrate that 3D printed, additively-manufactured bioceramic calcium (Ca)-silicate scaffolds with appropriate pore dimensions are promising to guide new bone ingrowth.

Keywords: AM, 3D printed implants, bioceramic, tissue engineering

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Authors: Salah Hassab Elnaby, Omnia Hamdy, Aziza Ahmed Hassan, Salwa Abdelkawi, Ibrahim Abdelhalim

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Laser corneal reshaping has been proposed as a successful treatment of many refraction disorders. However, some physical and chemical demonstrations of the laser effect upon interaction with the corneal tissue are still not fully explained. Therefore, different computational and mathematical models have been implemented to predict the depth of the ablated channel and calculate the ablation threshold and the local temperature rise. In the current paper, we present a modified model that aims to answer some of the open questions about the ablation threshold, the ablation rate, and the physical and chemical mechanisms of that action. The proposed model consists of three parts. The first part deals with possible photochemical reactions between the incident photons and various components of the cornea (collagen, water, etc.). Such photochemical reactions may end by photo-ablation or just the electronic excitation of molecules. Then a chemical reaction is responsible for the ablation threshold. Finally, another chemical reaction produces fragments that can be cleared out. The model takes into account all processes at the same time with different probabilities. Moreover, the effect of applying different laser wavelengths that have been studied before, namely the common excimer laser (193-nm) and the solid state lasers (213-nm & 266-nm), has been investigated. Despite the success and ubiquity of the ArF laser, the presented results reveal that a carefully designed 213-nm laser gives the same results with lower operational drawbacks. Moreover, the use of mode locked laser could also decrease the risk of heat generation and diffusion.

Keywords: UV lasers, mathematical model, corneal ablation, photochemical ablation

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Authors: A. O. David, A. A. Akaho, M. A. Abah, J. O. Ogunjimi

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This study focuses on the growing concerns about the quality of groundwater found around cement factories, which have caused several health issues for residents located within two (2) kilometer radius. The qualities of groundwater were determined by an investigative study that involved the determination of some heavy metals and physicochemical properties in drinking water samples. Eight (8) samples of groundwater were collected from the eight sampling sites. The samples were analysed for the following parameters; iron, copper, manganese, zinc, lead, color, dissolved solids, electrical conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), temperature, turbidity and total hardness using standard methods. The test results showed the variation of the investigated parameters in the samples as follows: temperature 26-31oC, pH 5.9-7.2, electrical conductivity (EC) 0.37 – 0.78 µS/cm, total hardness 181.8 – 333.0 mg/l, turbidity 0.00-0.05 FTU, colour 5-10 TCU, dissolved oxygen 4.31-5.01 mg/l, BOD 0.2-1.0 mg/l, COD 2.0 -4.0 mg/l, Cu 0.04 – 0.09 mg/l, Fe 0.006-0.122 mg/l, Zn 0.016-0.306 mg/l, Mn 0.01-0.05 mg/l and Pb < 0.001 mg/l. The World Health Organization's standard for drinking water quality guidelines was exceeded in several of the analyzed parameters' amounts in the drinking water samples from the study area. The dissolved oxygen was found to exceed 5.0 mg/l, which is the WHO permissible limit; also, Limestone was found to exceed the WHO maximum limit of 170 mg/l. All the above results confirmed the high pollution of the groundwater sources, and hence, they are not suitable for consumption without any prior treatment.

Keywords: groundwater, quality, heavy metals, parameters

Procedia PDF Downloads 46

Authors: Elona Saliaj

Abstract:

The registration of real estate in Albania after the 90's has been a long process in time and with high cost for the country. Passing the registration system from a centralized system to a free market private system, it’s accompanied by legal uncertainties that have led to economic instability. The reforms that have been undertaken in terms of property rights have been numerous and continuous throughout the years. But despite the reforms, the system of registration of real estate, has failed to be standards requirements established by the European Union. The completion of initial registration of real estate, legal treatment of previous owners or legalization of illegal constructions remain among the main problems that prevent the development of the country in its economic sector. The performance of the registration of real estate system and dealing with issues that have appeared in the Court of First Instance, the civil section of the Albanian constitute the core of handling this analysis. This paper presents a detailed analysis on the registration system that is chosen to be applied in our country for real estate. In its content it is also determined the institution that administrates these properties, the management technique and the law that determinate its functionality. The strategy is determined for creating a modern and functional registration system and for the country remains a challenge to achieve. Identifying practical problems and providing their solutions are also the focus of reference in order to improve and modernize this important system to a state law that aims to become a member of the European Union.

Keywords: real estates registration system, comparative aspects, cadastral area, property certificate, legal reform

Procedia PDF Downloads 480