Search results for: review of literature

Authors: Farzaneh Yazdani, Nastaran Yazdani, Laya Nobakht

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The aim of this study was to explore the changes that may happen in students attitudes regarding disability after attending the module ‘Disability: theories, nature and experiences’ designed around reflective self-awareness exercises. Literature indicates enhanced knowledge does not automatically lead to changes in attitude. Health care professionals are the most significant people to instil hope in their clients to pursue a happy life. As an advocate for people with disability, health care professionals need to believe themselves in people with disability being able to pursue a happy life as an abled body does. Researchers aimed to explore the impact of the ‘Disability’ module using discussion and reflective exercises, on students’ way of thinking and possible changes in attitude towards disability. Students were asked to write stories from the beginning and after completing the module. A thematic analysis was applied to identify the students’ way of communicating their thoughts and feelings about disable-bodied /disability before and after the module. Three major themes were identified to represent the differences before and after attending the module as: problem /solution oriented approach towards perceived problems, separating/ integrating disable/able-bodied, passive/ active role of disable-bodied and society.

Keywords: qualitative study, reflection, rehabilitation, thematic analysis

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Authors: Maher J. Tadros, Yaseen Ananbeh

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The study area is located in Ajluon Forest Reserve northern part of Jordan. It consists of Mediterranean hills dominated by open woodlands of oak and pistachio. The aims of the study were to investigate the positive and negative relationships between the locals and the protected area and how it can affect the long-term forest conservation. The main research objectives are to review the impact of establishing Ajloun Forest Reserve on nature conservation and on the livelihood level of local communities around the reserve. The Ajloun forest reserve plays a fundamental role in Ajloun area development. The existence of initiatives of nature conservation in the area supports various socio-economic activities around the reserve that contribute towards the development of local communities in Ajloun area. A part of this research was to conduct a survey to study the impact of Ajloun forest reserve on biodiversity composition. Also, studying the biodiversity content especially for vegetation to determine the economic impacts of Ajloun forest reserve on its surroundings was studied. In this study, several methods were used to fill the objectives including point-centered quarter method which involves selecting randomly 50 plots at the study site. The collected data from the field showed that the absolute density was (1031.24 plant per hectare). Density was recorded and found to be the highest for Quecus coccifera, and relative density of (73.7%), this was followed by Arbutus andrachne and relative density (7.1%), Pistacia palaestina and relative density (10.5%) and Crataegus azarulus (82.5 p/ha) and relative density (5.1%),

Keywords: composition, density, frequency, importance value, point-centered quarter, structure, tree cover

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Authors: Yue-Tzu Yang, Hsiang-Wen Tang, Jian-Zhang Yin, Chao-Han Wu

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Three-dimensional incompressible turbulent fluid flow and heat transfer of pin fin heat sinks using air as a cooling fluid are numerically studied in this study. Two different kinds of pin fins are compared in the thermal performance, including circular and square cross sections, both are in-line and staggered arrangements. The turbulent governing equations are solved using a control-volume- based finite-difference method. Subsequently, numerical computations are performed with the realizable k - ԑ turbulence for the parameters studied, the fin height H, fin diameter D, and Reynolds number (Re) in the range of 7 ≤ H ≤ 10, 0.75 ≤ D ≤ 2, 2000 ≤ Re ≤ 126000 respectively. The numerical results are validated with available experimental data in the literature and good agreement has been found. It indicates that circular pin fins are streamlined in comparing with the square pin fins, the pressure drop is small than that of square pin fins, and heat transfer is not as good as the square pin fins. The thermal performance of the staggered pin fins is better than that of in-line pin fins because the staggered arrangements produce large disturbance. Both in-line and staggered arrangements show the same behavior for thermal resistance, pressure drop, and the entropy generation.

Keywords: pin-fin, heat sinks, simulations, turbulent flow

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Authors: Emanuele Peggi

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The regulation of competitive takeover bids is one of the most problematic issues of any legislation on takeovers since it concerns a particular type of market, that of corporate control, whose peculiar characteristic is that companies represent "assets" unique of their kind, for each of which there will be a relevant market characterized by the presence of different subjects interested in acquiring control. Firstly, this work aims to analyze, from a comparative point of view, the regulation of takeover bids in competitive scenarios, characterized by the presence of multiple takeover bids for the same target company, and contribute to the debate on the impact that various solutions adopted in some legal systems examined (Italy, UK, and USA) have had on the efficiency of the market for corporate control. Secondly, the different auction models identified by the economic literature and their possible applications to corporate acquisitions in competitive scenarios will be examined, as well as the consequences that the application of each of them causes on the efficiency of the market for corporate control and the interests of the target shareholders. The scope is to study the possibility of attributing to the management of the target company the power to design the auction in order to better protect the interests of shareholders through the adoption of ad hoc models according to the specific context. and in particular on the ground of their assessment of the buyer's risk profile.

Keywords: takeovers, auction theory, shareholders, target company

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Authors: Iffat Batool

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An extensive body of literature produced by the contemporary Western academia is an indication of their grave interest in the field of Qur’ānic studies. What increases its significance is the writings of the western scholars that underscore the element of objectivity and impartiality in the recent western academic works on the Qur’ān. Moreover, the participation of some Muslim scholars in the western academia is also highlighted by western thinkers to ensure the objectivity of western Qur’ānic scholarship. More specifically, with the publication of ‘Encyclopaedia of the Qur’ān by Brill’ the western academia seems to assign these elements to this work vigorously. Being the foremost work of its nature, ‘Encyclopaedia of the Qur’ān’ has attracted the academicians from across the world yet, with multiple receptions. The present study aims at locating the status of this work in the recent Western scholarship and its contribution towards the subject of Qur’ānic Studies. Through a critical analysis of articles, various features of this work are highlighted. This work concludes that although Encyclopaedia of the Qur’ān presents wide-ranging and extensive study, yet, it lacks a perfect, rigorous and thorough scholarship of the Qur’ān. Besides, this work argues that because of the marginal contribution of Muslim researchers, the majority conclusions of this anthology are in contrast to the traditional Muslim standpoint

Keywords: academic, encyclopeadia, objectivity, quran

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Authors: Sevcan Ozturk

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The aim of this paper is to analyze the twentieth-century Muslim philosopher Muhammad Iqbal’s philosophy of action in the light of the main issues of contemporary philosophy of action. Iqbal is one of the most celebrated and eminent figures of modern Islamic thought. However, a review of the works on Iqbal shows that most of the central concepts of his philosophy have not received enough attention. His notion of ‘action’ in its philosophical context is one of these concepts. One of the main characteristics of Iqbal’s approach is that he develops his discussion around the main themes of contemporary philosophy of action, which includes ontological and conceptual questions regarding the nature of human actions. He also discusses that action is the only way to develop human personality, and that the human being can only achieve immortality promised by Islam through his actions. Therefore, while presenting an approach that can be read in the light of contemporary philosophy of action, which has become one of the significant parts of modern philosophical discussions in the west particularly since the nineteenth century, he, at the same time, develops his own philosophy of action in the light of Islamic resources. Consequently, these two main characteristics of his discussion of the notion of action make his philosophy of action an important contribution to contemporary philosophy of action, a field that ignores the discussions of Muslim philosophers on action. Therefore, this paper aims at highlighting Iqbal’s contribution to the modern debate of action by analysing Iqbal’s notion of action in the light of the contemporary issues of philosophy of action. This will, first of all, include an examination of contemporary action theory. Although the main discussions of contemporary philosophy of action will provide the methodology of this study, the main paradigms of Iqbal’s approach to the notion of action will also be considered during the examination of the discussions of philosophy of action. Then, Iqbal’s own philosophy of action will be established in the light of the contemporary philosophy of action. It is hoped that this paper will cultivate a dialogue between Iqbal scholars and those working in the field of philosophy of action, and that it will be a contribution to the fields of Iqbal studies, philosophy of action, and intercultural philosophy.

Keywords: action, development of personality, Muhammad Iqbal, philosophy of action

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Authors: T. Hopkin, S. Lu, P. Rogers, M. Sexton

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Housing Associations (HAs) contribute circa 20% of the UK’s housing supply. HAs are however under increasing pressure as a result of funding cuts and rent reductions. Due to the increased pressure, a number of processes are currently being reviewed by HAs, especially how they manage and learn from defects. Learning from defects is considered a useful approach to achieving defect reduction within the UK housebuilding industry. This paper contributes to our understanding of how HAs learn from defects by undertaking an initial round table discussion with key HA stakeholders as part of an ongoing collaborative research project with the National House Building Council (NHBC) to better understand how house builders and HAs learn from defects to reduce their prevalence. The initial discussion shows that defect information runs through a number of groups, both internal and external of a HA during both the defects management process and organizational learning (OL) process. Furthermore, HAs are reliant on capturing and recording defect data as the foundation for the OL process. During the OL process defect data analysis is the primary enabler to recognizing a need for a change to organizational routines. When a need for change has been recognized, new options are typically pursued to design out defects via updates to a HAs Employer’s Requirements. Proposed solutions are selected by a review board and committed to organizational routine. After implementing a change, both structured and unstructured feedback is sought to establish the change’s success. The findings from the HA discussion demonstrates that OL can achieve defect reduction within the house building sector in the UK. The paper concludes by outlining a potential ‘learning from defects model’ for the housebuilding industry as well as describing future work.

Keywords: defects, new homes, housing association, organizational learning

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Authors: Nazlı Üstünes Demirhan

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International norms are subject to pressures of change through contestation during the course of their lifetimes. The nature of the contestation is one of the factors that are likely to have a determinative role in the direction of this change towards a stronger or weaker norm. This paper aims to understand the relation between the legality of contestation and the direction of change in norm strength. Based on a multidimensional norm strength conceptualization, it is hypothesized that use of legal logic and rhetoric of argumentation would have a positive influence for norm strength, whereas non-legal nature of contestation would lack this and weaken the norm. In order to show this, the evolution of the human protection norm between 1999 and 2018 will be examined with reference to two major contestation periods; Kosovo intervention of 1999, which led to the development of R2P doctrine, and Libya intervention of 2011, which is followed by the demise of the norm. The comparative analysis will be conducted through process tracing method with a document analysis on the Security Council meeting minutes, resolutions, and press releases. This study aims to contribute to the norm contestation literature with the introduction of legal process analysis. It also relates to further questions in IR/IL nexus, relating to the value added of norm legality as well as the politics of legalization.

Keywords: humanitarian intervention, legality, norm contestation, norm dynamics, norm strength, responsibility to protect

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Authors: Yiğit Gürler, İbrahim Şimşek, Müge Savaştaer, Ayberk Karakuş, Alper Taşdemirci

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316L steel is frequently used in the industry due to its easy formability and accessibility in sheet metal forming processes. Numerical and experimental studies are frequently encountered in the literature to examine the mechanical behavior of 316L stainless steel during the forming process. 316L stainless steel is the most common material used in the production of plate heat exchangers and plate heat exchangers are produced by plastic deformation of the stainless steel. The motivation in this study is to determine the appropriate material model during the simulation of the sheet metal forming process. For this reason, two different material models were examined and Ls-Dyna material cards were created using material test data. These are MAT133_BARLAT_YLD2000 and MAT093_SIMPLIFIED_JOHNSON_COOK. In order to compare results of the tensile test & hydraulic bulge test performed both numerically and experimentally. The obtained results were evaluated comparatively and the most suitable material model was selected for the forming simulation. In future studies, this material model will be used in the numerical modeling of the sheet metal forming process.

Keywords: 316L, mechanical characterization, metal forming, Ls-Dyna

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Authors: Trevor G. Gates

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In global communities, volunteering is an important yet rapidly changing mechanism of civic engagement. However, the volunteer rate in the US significantly declined by as much as five percent during the last two decades, resulting in increased interest in what it takes to attract and recruit volunteers. Volunteers are utilized across a number of sectors, including working within the social welfare sector either with disadvantaged individuals and communities or indirectly through advocacy As with many mainstream community groups, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer+ (LGBTQ+) organizations actively rely on the contributions of volunteers. Consequently, community organizations must adopt strategies to attract and retain volunteers to continue to deliver their services and remain competitive. For LGBTQ+ organizations, this means an increased understanding of volunteers’ motivations and, in particular, LGBTQ+ volunteers, as they have historically been more involved due to ongoing stigmatization. In this paper, I reviewed existing literature in order to provide insights for non-profits who are managing volunteer resources for LGBTQ+ people by identifying important characteristics of LGBTQ+ volunteers and discussing what volunteering entails. Motivational factors are outlined, and the role of volunteerism in the LGBTQ+ community is explored. The benefits of volunteering and the needs of volunteers are discussed.

Keywords: volunteer, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender

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Authors: Manirath Wongsim

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Information technology management has become important for the achievement of organisations. An increase in the pace of technological change has revolutionised the way accountants perform their jobs. In response to this challenge, the identification of a new comprehensive set of information technology competencies combined with information technology skills and other skills (namely, soft skills) are necessary. Thus, this study aims to investigate IT competencies among professional accountants to enhance firm performance. This research was conducted with 42 respondents at ten organisations in Thailand. This research used qualitative, interpretive evidence.The results indicate that the factor IT competencies within the organizational issues defines19 factors. Specifically, these new factors, based on the research findings and the literature and unique to IT competences for professional accountants, include ERP software skills, BI software skills and accounting law and legal skills. The evidence in this study suggests that ERP software, spreadsheets, BI software and accounting software were ranked as much-needed skills to be acquired by accountants while communication skills were ranked as the most required skills, and delegation skills as the least required. The findings of the research’s empirical evidence suggest that organizations should understand appropriate into developing information technology related competencies for knowledge workers in general and professional accountants in particular and provide assistance in all processes of decision making.

Keywords: IT competencies, IT competencies for accountants, IT skills for accounting, soft skills for accountants

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Authors: Avinashkumar Karre

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Sulfur recovery unit, most commonly called as Claus process, is very significant gas desulfurization process unit in refinery and gas industries. Explorations of new natural gas fields, refining of high-sulfur crude oils, and recent crude expansion projects are needing capacity expansion of Claus unit for many companies around the world. In refineries, the sulphur recovery units take acid gas from amine regeneration units and sour water strippers, converting hydrogen sulfide to elemental sulfur using the Claus process. The Claus process is hydraulically limited by mass flow rate. Reducing the pressure drop across control valves, flow meters, lines, knock-out drums, and packing improves the capacity. Oxygen enrichment helps improve the capacity by removing nitrogen, this is more commonly done on all capacity expansion projects. Typical upgrades required due to oxygen enrichment are new burners, new refractory in thermal reactor, resizing of 1st condenser, instrumentation changes, and steam/condensate heat integration. Some other capacity expansion options typically considered are tail gas compressor, replacing air blower with higher head, hydrocarbon minimization in the feed, water removal, and ammonia removal. Increased capacity related upgrades in sulfur recovery unit also need changes in the tail gas treatment unit, typical changes include improvement to quench tower duty, packing area upgrades in quench and absorber towers and increased amine circulation flow rates.

Keywords: Claus process, oxygen enrichment, sulfur recovery unit, tail gas treatment unit

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Authors: Emin Avcı, Çiydem Çatak

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The recent economic crisis have shown that procyclicality, which could threaten the stability and growth of the economy, is a major problem of financial and real sector. The term procyclicality refers here the cyclical behavior of banks that lead them to follow the same patterns as the real economy. In this study, leverage which demonstrate how a bank manage its debt, is chosen as bank specific variable to see the effect of changes in it over the economic cycle. The procyclical behavior of Turkish banking sector (commercial, participation, development-investment banks) is tried to explain with analyzing the relationship between leverage and asset growth. On the basis of theoretical explanations, eight different leverage ratios are utilized in eight different panel data models to demonstrate the procyclicality effect of Turkish banks leverage using monthly data covering the 2005-2014 period. It is tested whether there is an increasing (decreasing) trend in the leverage ratio of Turkish banks when there is an enlargement (contraction) in their balance sheet. The major finding of the study indicates that asset growth has a significant effect on all eight leverage ratios. In other words, the leverage of Turkish banks follow a cyclical pattern, which is in line with those of earlier literature.

Keywords: banking, economic cycles, leverage, procyclicality

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Authors: I. Behroyan, P. Ganesan, S. He, S. Sivasankaran

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This study compares the predictions of five types of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) models, including two single-phase models (i.e. Newtonian and non-Newtonian) and three two-phase models (Eulerian-Eulerian, mixture and Eulerian-Lagrangian), to investigate turbulent forced convection of Cu-water nanofluid in a tube with a constant heat flux on the tube wall. The Reynolds (Re) number of the flow is between 10,000 and 25,000, while the volume fraction of Cu particles used is in the range of 0 to 2%. The commercial CFD package of ANSYS-Fluent is used. The results from the CFD models are compared with results from experimental investigations from literature. According to the results of this study, non-Newtonian single-phase model, in general, does not show a good agreement with Xuan and Li correlation in prediction of Nu number. Eulerian-Eulerian model gives inaccurate results expect for φ=0.5%. Mixture model gives a maximum error of 15%. Newtonian single-phase model and Eulerian-Lagrangian model, in overall, are the recommended models. This work can be used as a reference for selecting an appreciate model for future investigation. The study also gives a proper insight about the important factors such as Brownian motion, fluid behavior parameters and effective nanoparticle conductivity which should be considered or changed by the each model.

Keywords: heat transfer, nanofluid, single-phase models, two-phase models

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Authors: N. P. Tsephe, S. D. Eyono Obono

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Rural tourism is usually associated with rural development because it has strong linkages to rural resources; but it remains underdeveloped compared to urban tourism. This underdevelopment of rural tourism serves as a motivation for this study whose aim is to examine the factors affecting the perceived satisfaction of rural tourists. The objectives of this study are: to identify and design theories and models on rural tourism satisfaction, and to empirically validate these models and theories through a survey of tourists from the Malealea Lodge which is located in the Mafeteng District, in the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho. Data generated by the collection of questionnaires used by this survey was analyzed quantitatively using descriptive statistics and correlations in SPSS after checking the validity and the reliability of the questionnaire. The main hypothesis behind this study is the relationship between the demographics of rural tourists, the motivation, and their satisfaction of tourists, as supported by existing literature; except that motivation is measured in this study according to three dimensions: push factors, pull factors, and perceived usefulness of ICT's in the rural tourism experience. Findings from this study indicate that among the demographics factors, continent of origin and marital status influence the satisfaction of rural tourists; and their occupation affects their perceptions on the use of ICT's in rural tourism. Moreover, only pull factors were found to influence the satisfaction of rural tourists.

Keywords: digital world, motivation, rural tourism, satisfaction

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Authors: Xueyang Li

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This thesis investigates the impact of self-viewing on team creativity in virtual teamwork and examines the role of objective self-awareness and psychological safety in this context. The study uses a quantitative research approach and collects data from 304 participants working in virtual teams. We hypothesized that observing oneself in online meetings would lead to a heightened sense of objective self and thus lower team creativity and that psychological safety would moderate their relationship. We tested these hypotheses in a laboratory experiment manipulating whether participants were able to observe themselves during the completion of an online team creativity task and manipulating whether participants were subjected to a psychological safety intervention. The results indicate that self-observation has a negative effect on team creativity in virtual teamwork, while objective self-awareness mediates this relationship, and psychological safety plays a moderating role. We discuss several aspects of the theoretical explanation of the findings. This study contributes to the existing literature by highlighting the importance of self-observation in virtual teamwork and provides practical implications for managers and team leaders to promote creativity in virtual teams.

Keywords: objective self-awareness, psychological safety, self-viewing, team creativity, virtual teamwork

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Authors: Frederic Fovet

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Inclusive provisions have been statutorily mandated in North America for now over two decades. Despite a growing body of literature around inclusive practices, many in-service teachers continue to express difficulties when it comes to tangible implementation of inclusion in the everyday classroom. While there is debate around the various forms inclusion can take (UDL, differentiation, personalization, etc.), there appears to be a more significant hurdle in getting in-service teachers to fully embrace inclusion both as a goal and a practice. This paper investigates teachers’ degree of awareness around the Social Model of Disability. It argues that teachers often lack basic awareness of disability studies, more particularly of the Social Model of Disability, and that this has a direct impact on their capacity to conceptualize and embrace inclusion. The paper draws from the researcher’s experience as a graduate instructor with in-service teachers, as well as from his experience as a consultant working with schools and school boards. The methodology chosen here is phenomenology, and it draws on tools such as auto-ethnography. The paper opens a discussion around the reform and transformation of pre-service teacher training. It argues that disability studies should be integrated into teacher training as it plays a key role in having teachers develop a theoretical understanding of disability as a social construct.

Keywords: disability, K-12, inclusion, social model, in-service teachers

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Authors: Hardi Alunaza, Mauidhotu Rofiq

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This research is attempted to describe the role of KontraS as track-6 on multi track diplomacy for conflict resolution in Myanmar in 2015. The researcher took the specific interest on multi track diplomacy and transnational advocacy concepts to analyze the phenomena. Furthermore, this essay is using the descriptive method with a qualitative approach. The data collection technique is literature study consisting of books, journals, and including data from the reliable website in supporting the explanation of this research. The result of this research is divided into two important points in explaining the role of KontraS in cases of human rights crisis in Myanmar. First, KontraS as human rights NGO in Indonesia was able to advocate against human rights violence that occurred in other countries by encouraging Indonesian Government to take part in the resolution of human rights issues affecting the Rohingya people in Burma. Also, KontraS take advantages of transnational advocacy networks as a form of politics and accountabilities responsibility of Non-Governmental Organization against human rights crisis in other countries.

Keywords: conflict resolution, human rights crisis, multi track diplomacy, transnational advocacy

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Authors: Liu Fangxin, Zhao Jijun

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Nowadays, China and the world are facing the same problems of flooding, city waterlogging and other environment issues. Throughout history, China had many excellent experiences dealing with the flood, and can be used as a significant reference for contemporary urban construction. In view of this, the research used the method of literature analysis to find out the main water storage measures in ancient cities, including reservoir storage and pond water storage. And it used the case study method to introduce the historical evolution, engineering measures and landscape design of 4 typical ancient Chinese cities in details. Then we found the pond and the reservoir were the main infrastructures for the ancient Chinese city to avoid the waterlogging and flood. At last this paper summed up the historical experience of Chinese traditional water storage and made conclusions that the establishment of a reasonable green water storage facilities could be used to solve today's rain and flood problems, and hoped to give some enlightenment of stormwater management to our modern city.

Keywords: ancient Chinese cities, water storage project, Chinese classical gardening, stormwater management, green facilities

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Authors: Christian Nounkeu Tatchou

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The concept of mediatization of politics describes changes with regards to media and politics, as the political sphere is increasingly shaped by the media and conforms to its logic. The mediatization of politics in established democracies of the West has been the object of several researches. However, there is an overwhelming paucity of literature on this reconfiguration of the political life around the media in the emerging democracies of the Sub-Saharan Africa. A majority of Sub-Saharan countries have been progressively experiencing the modernization of their societies and significant developments with respect to political communication since the early 1990s. This has been facilitated by factors such as the adoption of democratic reforms, the development of mass media, the advent of social media and the rapid spread of new information and communication technologies. Thus, this paper investigates the extent to which political communication in Sub-Saharan Africa is mediatized, especially with regards to the social media. Through in-depths interviews with twenty political leaders and political observers in Cameroon and Ghana, this article argues that the social media has become the main arena of voters’ mobilization and political participation in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, a greater extent of freedom for political activism on social media is observed in the new democracy of Ghana, unlike in the enduring authoritarian political system of Cameroon where the government attempts to control the use and content of political discourse on social media.

Keywords: mediatization, political communication, social media, sub-saharan africa

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Authors: Savitri Siddanagoudra, Shantala Herlekar, Priya Arjunwadekar

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Background: The physiological response to water drinking in healthy subjects is an integrated response with an increase in sympathetic vasoconstrictor activity with induced bradycardia. Obesity is a modern pandemic, implicated in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease. In autonomic failure patients, water drinking has been shown the increased high blood pressure and bradycardia. Acute effects of ice water ingestion on blood pressure (BP) in relation to body mass index (BMI) is not addressed in literature. Objectives: Objective of this study is to evaluate BP before and after ingestion of cold water in all the three groups. Methods and Material: 60 healthy subjects between the age group of 18-24 yrs were selected and assigned into 3 groups based on BMI. BMI less than and equal to 25 kg/m2 is selected as Normal BMI group ,between 25- 29 kg/m2 as Overweight and BMI more than and equal to 30 kg/m2 as Obese. Procedure: Basal and after ingestion of 250 ml of cold water (7 0C ± 0.5 0C)BP was recorded in all the 3 groups. Results: Basal and after ice water ingestion BP increased statistically in all 3 groups. Conclusion: On acute ingestion of ice water overweight, obese may have more sympathoexcitaion compared to normal subjects.

Keywords: blood pressure, body mass index, ice water, symathoexcitation

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Authors: Daniela Evtimovska, Ivana Srbinovska, Padraig O’Rourke

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Kostal Macedonia has the challenge to mill a rigid-flex printed circuit board (PCB). The PCB elaborated in this paper is made of FR4 material covered with polyimide through the whole surface on the one side, including the tabs where PCBs need to be separated. After milling only 1.44 meters, the updraft routing tool isn’t effective and causes polyimide debris on all PCB cuts if it continues to mill with the same tool. Updraft routing tool is used for all another product in Kostal Macedonia, and it is changing after milling 60 meters. Changing the tool adds 80 seconds to the cycle time. One solution is using a laser-cut machine. Buying a laser-cut machine for cutting only one product doesn’t make financial sense. The focus is given to find an internal solution among the options under review to solve the issue with polyimide debris. In the paper, the design of the rigid-flex panel is described deeply. It is evaluated downdraft routing tool as a possible solution which could be used for the flex rigid panel as a specific product. It is done a comparison between updraft and down draft routing tools from a technical and financial aspect of view, taking into consideration the customer requirements for the rigid-flex PCB. The results show that using the downdraft routing tool is the best solution in this case. This tool is more expensive for 0.62 euros per piece than updraft. The downdraft routing tool needs to be changed after milling 43.44 meters in comparison with the updraft tool, which needs to be changed after milling only 1.44 meters. It is done analysis which actions should be taken in order further improvements and the possibility of maximum serving of downdraft routing tool.

Keywords: Kostal Macedonia, rigid flex PCB, polyimide, debris, milling process, up/down draft routing tool

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Authors: Jean Marie Ntaganda, Froduald Minani, Wellars Banzi, Lydie Mpinganzima, Japhet Niyobuhungiro, Jean Bosco Gahutu, Vincent Dusabejambo, Immaculate Kambutse

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In this paper, we present a nonlinear dynamic model for the interactive mechanism of the cardiovascular and respiratory system. The model is designed and analyzed for human during physical exercises. In order to verify the adequacy of the designed model, data collected in Rwanda are used for validation. We have simulated the impact of heart rate and alveolar ventilation as controls of cardiovascular and respiratory system respectively to steady state response of the main cardiovascular hemodynamic quantities i.e., systemic arterial and venous blood pressures, arterial oxygen partial pressure and arterial carbon dioxide partial pressure, to the stabilised values of controls. We used data collected in Rwanda for both male and female during physical activities. We obtained a good agreement with physiological data in the literature. The model may represent an important tool to improve the understanding of exercise physiology.

Keywords: exercise, cardiovascular/respiratory, hemodynamic quantities, numerical simulation, physical activity, sportsmen in Rwanda, system

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Authors: Broto Seno

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This study aims to describe and examine more in the implementation of educational partnerships for undergraduate students at Yogyakarta State University (YSU), which is more focused on educational partnerships abroad. This study used descriptive qualitative approach. The study subjects consisted of a vice-rector, two staff education partnerships, four vice-dean, nine undergraduate students and three foreign students. Techniques of data collection using interviews and document review. Validity test of the data source using triangulation. Data analysis using flow models Miles and Huberman, namely data reduction, data display, and conclusion. Results of this study showed that the implementation of educational partnerships abroad for undergraduate students at YSU meets six of the nine indicators of the success of strategic partnerships. Six indicators are long-term, strategic, mutual trust, sustainable competitive advantages, mutual benefit for all the partners, and the separate and positive impact. The indicator has not been achieved is cooperative development, successful, and world class / best practice. These results were obtained based on the discussion of the four formulation of the problem, namely: 1) Implementation and development of educational partnerships abroad has been running good enough, but not maximized. 2) Benefits of the implementation of educational partnerships abroad is providing learning experiences for students, institutions of experience in comparison to each faculty, and improving the network of educational partnerships for YSU toward World Class University. 3) The sustainability of educational partnerships abroad is pursuing a strategy of development through improved management of the partnership. 4) Supporting factors of educational partnerships abroad is the support of YSU, YSU’s partner and society. Inhibiting factors of educational partnerships abroad is not running optimally management.

Keywords: partnership, education, YSU, institutions and faculties

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Authors: Jeremiah L. Chukwuneke, Obiora E. Anisiji, Chinonso H. Achebe, Paul C. Okolie

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This paper developed a mathematical model of a commercial biogas plant for urban area clean energy requirement. It identified biodegradable waste materials like domestic/city refuse as economically viable alternative source of energy. The mathematical formulation of the proposed gas plant follows the fundamental principles of thermodynamics, and further analyses were accomplished to develop an algorithm for evaluating the plant performance preferably in terms of daily production capacity. In addition, the capacity of the plant is equally estimated for a given cycle of operation and presented in time histories. A nominal 1500 m3 power gas plant was studied characteristically and its performance efficiency evaluated. It was observed that the rate of bio gas production is essentially a function of the reactor temperature, pH, substrate concentration, rate of degradation of the biomass, and the accumulation of matter in the system due to bacteria growth. The results of this study conform to a very large extent with reported empirical data of some existing plant and further model validations were conducted in line with classical records found in literature.

Keywords: energy and mass conservation, specific growth rate, thermophilic bacteria, temperature, rate of bio gas production

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Authors: Logaiswari Indiran, Zainab Khalifah, Kamariah Ismail

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Business incubators have now been recognized as effective tools in providing business assistance to start-up firms. In both developed and developing countries, the number of incubators is growing tremendously. As the birth rate of incubators increases, so do its challenges. Malaysia, as one of the developing countries in the Asian continent, has also established a number of business incubators to breed and foster the growth and survival of start-up firms. Thus, this study discusses the incubation model applied in Malaysia and the challenges faced by these incubators using secondary data including policies, previous literature, and reports related to Malaysian incubators. The findings of this study call the government to rethink the key role of incubator managers and staffs, internal structure of the incubator concept and process, intellectual properties management, strategic alliances with universities-industries and funding supports in enhancing the support provided by the business incubators in Malaysia. The key challenges highlighted in this study signal important policy lessons for other developing countries that aim to create and map an effective business incubator ecosystem.

Keywords: business incubators, incubation challenges, funding support, incubator managers, internal structure, start-up firms

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Authors: Girma Y. Iyassu Menelik

Abstract:

“The world is now like a global village!” so goes the saying that shows that due to development and technology the countries of the world are now closely linked. In the field of Human rights there is a close relationship in the way that rights are recognised and enforced. This paper will show that human rights have evolved from ancient times through important landmarks such as the Magna Carta, the French Declaration of Rights of Man and of the Citizen and the American Bill of Rights. The formation of the United Nations after the Second World War resulted in the need to codify and protect human rights. There are some rights which are so fundamental that they are found in international and continental instruments, national constitutions and domestic legislation. In the civil and political sphere they include the right to vote, to freedom of association, speech and assembly, right to life, privacy and fair trial. In the economic and social sphere you have the right to work, protection of the family, social security and rights to education, health and shelter. In some instance some rights can be suspended in times of public emergency but such derogations shall be circumscribed by the law and in most constitutions such limitations are subject to judicial review. However, some rights are so crucial that they cannot be derogated from under any circumstances and these include the right to life, recognition before the law, freedom from torture and slavery and of thought, conscience and religion. International jurisprudence has been developed to protect fundamental rights and avoid discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, sex, language or social origin. The elaborate protection system go to show that these rights have become part of the international order and they have universal application. We have now got to a stage where UDHR, ICCPR and ICESCR and have come to be regarded as part of an international bill of rights with horizontal and vertical enforcement mechanisms involving state parties, NGO’s , international bodies and other organs.

Keywords: rights, international, constitutional, state, judiciary

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Authors: Thomas Yeboah

Abstract:

In recent times, micro-finance programmes targeting women have become the central means of donor poverty alleviation strategies. In view of the renewed focus on post-Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) poverty reduction strategies, there is the likelihood that funding might increase in the next coming decades to support different initiatives by donor agencies. In this paper, we critically examine the role of microfinance in shaping gender relations and empowerment outcomes of women. It is widely argued that providing and reaching out to women with credit methodologies serves as a means of increasing women’s bargaining power and challenging existing gender subordination thereby releasing them from power structures which dominate their lives. This paper cautions this view and instead show that the mainstream argument surrounding microfinance and gender empowerment is much complex than what the popular rhetoric preaches. Drawing on empirical cases on microfinance literature, we argue that lack of systematic strategy to incorporate men and the wider socio-cultural dynamics within which women’s lives are embedded radically constraints the empowerment potential of microcredit programmes and in some context may lead to unintended consequences for women.

Keywords: microfinance, empowerment, women, men, gender relations

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Authors: Belalia Douma Omar, Bakhta Boukhatem, Mohamed Ghrici

Abstract:

Self-compacting concrete (SCC) developed in Japan in the late 80s has enabled the construction industry to reduce demand on the resources, improve the work condition and also reduce the impact of environment by elimination of the need for compaction. Fuzzy logic (FL) approaches has recently been used to model some of the human activities in many areas of civil engineering applications. Especially from these systems in the model experimental studies, very good results have been obtained. In the present study, a model for predicting compressive strength of SCC containing various proportions of fly ash, as partial replacement of cement has been developed by using Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS). For the purpose of building this model, a database of experimental data were gathered from the literature and used for training and testing the model. The used data as the inputs of fuzzy logic models are arranged in a format of five parameters that cover the total binder content, fly ash replacement percentage, water content, super plasticizer and age of specimens. The training and testing results in the fuzzy logic model have shown a strong potential for predicting the compressive strength of SCC containing fly ash in the considered range.

Keywords: self-compacting concrete, fly ash, strength prediction, fuzzy logic

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Authors: Chia-Ching Tsai

Abstract:

In service delivery, interpersonal interaction is the key to customer satisfaction, and apparently, the factor of human is critical in service delivery. Besides, customers quite care about the consequences of co-recovery. Thus, this research focuses on service failure caused by other customers and uses a 2x2 factorial design to investigate the impact of consequence and level of service co-recovery on post-recovery satisfaction and repurchase intent. 150 undergraduates were recruited as participants, and assigned to one of the four cells randomly. Every participant was requested to read the scenario and then rated the post-recovery satisfaction and repurchase intent. The results show that under the condition of failed co-recovery, level of co-recovery has no effect on post-recovery satisfaction, while under the condition of successful co-recovery, high-level co-recovery causes significantly higher post-recovery satisfaction than low-level co-recovery. Moreover, post-recovery satisfaction has significantly positive impact on repurchase intent. In the system of service delivery, customers interact with other customers frequently. Therefore, comparing with the literature, this research focuses on the service failure caused by other customers. This research also supplies a better understanding of customers’ view on consequences of different levels of co-recovery, which is helpful for the practitioners to make use of co-recovery.

Keywords: service failure, service co-recovery, consequence of co-recovery, level of co-recovery, post-recovery satisfaction, repurchase intent

Procedia PDF Downloads 425