Search results for: knowledge management into organizations

Authors: Sahar Tabarroki, Ahad Nazari

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The design process is one of the most key project processes in the construction industry. Although architects have the responsibility to produce complete, accurate, and coordinated documents, architectural design is accompanied by many errors. A design error occurs when the constraints and requirements of the design are not satisfied. Errors are potentially costly and time-consuming to correct if not caught early during the design phase, and they become expensive in either construction documents or in the construction phase. The aim of this research is to identify the risk factors of architectural design errors, so identification of risks is necessary. First, a literature review in the design process was conducted and then a questionnaire was designed to identify the risks and risk factors. The questions in the form of the questionnaire were based on the “similar service description of study and supervision of architectural works” published by “Vice Presidency of Strategic Planning & Supervision of I.R. Iran” as the base of architects’ tasks. Second, the top 10 risks of architectural activities were identified. To determine the positions of possible causes of risks with respect to architectural activities, these activities were located in a design process modeled by the IDEF0 technique. The research was carried out by choosing a case study, checking the design drawings, interviewing its architect and client, and providing a checklist in order to identify the concrete examples of architectural design errors. The results revealed that activities such as “defining the current and future requirements of the project”, “studies and space planning,” and “time and cost estimation of suggested solution” has a higher error risk than others. Moreover, the most important causes include “unclear goals of a client”, “time force by a client”, and “lack of knowledge of architects about the requirements of end-users”. For error detecting in the case study, lack of criteria, standards and design criteria, and lack of coordination among them, was a barrier, anyway, “lack of coordination between architectural design and electrical and mechanical facility”, “violation of the standard dimensions and sizes in space designing”, “design omissions” were identified as the most important design errors.

Keywords: architectural design, design error, risk management, risk factor

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Authors: Tigabu Dagne Akal

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While advances in computer and communications technology have made the network ubiquitous, they have also rendered networked systems vulnerable to malicious attacks devised from a distance. These attacks or intrusions start with attackers infiltrating a network through a vulnerable host and then launching further attacks on the local network or Intranet. Nowadays, system administrators and network professionals can attempt to prevent such attacks by developing intrusion detection tools and systems using data mining technology. In this study, the experiments were conducted following the Knowledge Discovery in Database Process Model. The Knowledge Discovery in Database Process Model starts from selection of the datasets. The dataset used in this study has been taken from Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory. After taking the data, it has been pre-processed. The major pre-processing activities include fill in missed values, remove outliers; resolve inconsistencies, integration of data that contains both labelled and unlabelled datasets, dimensionality reduction, size reduction and data transformation activity like discretization tasks were done for this study. A total of 21,533 intrusion records are used for training the models. For validating the performance of the selected model a separate 3,397 records are used as a testing set. For building a predictive model for intrusion detection J48 decision tree and the Naïve Bayes algorithms have been tested as a classification approach for both with and without feature selection approaches. The model that was created using 10-fold cross validation using the J48 decision tree algorithm with the default parameter values showed the best classification accuracy. The model has a prediction accuracy of 96.11% on the training datasets and 93.2% on the test dataset to classify the new instances as normal, DOS, U2R, R2L and probe classes. The findings of this study have shown that the data mining methods generates interesting rules that are crucial for intrusion detection and prevention in the networking industry. Future research directions are forwarded to come up an applicable system in the area of the study.

Keywords: intrusion detection, data mining, computer science, data mining

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Authors: Sarah Werner, Michael J. Pritchard

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From pilots to engineers, the skills development within the aerospace industry is exceptionally broad. Employers often struggle with finding the right mixture of qualified skills to fill their organizational demands. This effort to find qualified talent is further complicated by the industrial delineation between two key areas: aviation and aerospace. In a broad sense, the aerospace industry overlaps with the aviation industry. In turn, the aviation industry is a smaller sector segment within the context of the broader definition of the aerospace industry. Furthermore, it could be conceptually argued that -in practice- there is little distinction between these two sectors (i.e., aviation and aerospace). However, through our unstructured text analysis of over 6,000 job listings captured, our team found a clear delineation between aviation-related jobs and aerospace-related jobs. Using techniques in natural language processing, our research identifies an integrated workforce skill pattern that clearly breaks between these two sectors. While the aviation sector has largely maintained its need for pilots, mechanics, and associated support personnel, the staffing needs of the aerospace industry are being progressively driven by integrative engineering needs. Increasingly, this is leading many aerospace-based organizations towards the acquisition of 'system level' staffing requirements. This research helps to better align higher educational institutions with the current industrial staffing complexities within the broader aerospace sector.

Keywords: aerospace industry, job demand, text mining, workforce development

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Authors: Israel Ropo Orimoloye, Johanes A. Belle, Olusola Adeyemi, Olusola O. Ololade

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With more than 100,000 orbits during the past 20 years, Terra has significantly improved our knowledge of the Earth's climate and its implications on societies and ecosystems of human activity and natural disasters, including drought events. With Terra instrument's performance and the free distribution of its products, this study utilised Terra MOD13Q1 satellite data to assess drought disaster events and its spatiotemporal patterns over the Free State Province of South Africa between 2001 and 2019 for summer, autumn, winter, and spring seasons. The study also used high-resolution downscaled climate change projections under three representative concentration pathways (RCP). Three future periods comprising the short (the 2030s), medium (2040s), and long term (2050s) compared to the current period are analysed to understand the potential magnitude of projected climate change-related drought. The study revealed that the year 2001 and 2016 witnessed extreme drought conditions where the drought index is between 0 and 20% across the entire province during summer, while the year 2003, 2004, 2007, and 2015 observed severe drought conditions across the region with variation from one part to the another. The result shows that from -24.5 to -25.5 latitude, the area witnessed a decrease in precipitation (80 to 120mm) across the time slice and an increase in the latitude -26° to -28° S for summer seasons, which is more prominent in the year 2041 to 2050. This study emphasizes the strong spatio-environmental impacts within the province and highlights the associated factors that characterise high drought stress risk, especially on the environment and ecosystems. This study contributes to a disaster risk framework to identify areas for specific research and adaptation activities on drought disaster risk and for environmental planning in the study area, which is characterised by both rural and urban contexts, to address climate change-related drought impacts.

Keywords: remote sensing, drought disaster, climate scenario, assessment

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Authors: Amit Verma, Pardeep Kaur

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In software development organizations, Component based Software engineering (CBSE) is emerging paradigm for software development and gained wide acceptance as it often results in increase quality of software product within development time and budget. In component reusability, main challenges are the right component identification from large repositories at right time. The major objective of this work is to provide efficient algorithm for storage and effective retrieval of components using neural network and parameters based on user choice through clustering. This research paper aims to propose an algorithm that provides error free and automatic process (for retrieval of the components) while reuse of the component. In this algorithm, keywords (or components) are extracted from software document, after by applying k mean clustering algorithm. Then weights assigned to those keywords based on their frequency and after assigning weights, ANN predicts whether correct weight is assigned to keywords (or components) or not, otherwise it back propagates in to initial step (re-assign the weights). In last, store those all keywords into repositories for effective retrieval. Proposed algorithm is very effective in the error correction and detection with user base choice while choice of component for reusability for efficient retrieval is there.

Keywords: component based development, clustering, back propagation algorithm, keyword based retrieval

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Authors: Jared Abuga, Wesley Too

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Medical error is the third leading cause of death in US, with approximately 98,000 deaths occurring every year as a result of medical errors. The world financial burden of medication errors is roughly USD 42 billion. Medication errors may lead to at least one death daily and injure roughly 1.3 million people every year. Medical error reporting is essential in creating a culture of accountability in our healthcare system. Studies have shown that attitudes and practice of healthcare workers in reporting medical errors showed that the major factors in under-reporting of errors included work stress and fear of medico-legal consequences due to the disclosure of error. Further, the majority believed that increase in reporting medical errors would contribute to a better system. Most hospitals depend on nurses to discover medication errors because they are considered to be the sources of these errors, as contributors or mere observers, consequently, the nurse’s perception of medication errors and what needs to be done is a vital feature to reducing incidences of medication errors. We sought to explore knowledge among nurses on medical errors and factors affecting or hindering reporting of medical errors among nurses working at the emergency unit, KNH. Critical care nurses are faced with many barriers to completing incident reports on medication errors. One of these barriers which contribute to underreporting is a lack of education and/or knowledge regarding medication errors and the reporting process. This study, therefore, sought to determine the availability and the use of reporting systems for medical errors in critical care unity. It also sought to establish nurses’ perception regarding medical errors and reporting and document factors facilitating timely identification and reporting of medical errors in critical care settings. Methods: The study used cross-section study design to collect data from 76 critical care nurses from Kenyatta Teaching & Research National Referral Hospital, Kenya. Data analysis and results is ongoing. By October 2022, we will have analysis, results, discussions, and recommendations of the study for purposes of the conference in 2023

Keywords: errors, medical, kenya, nurses, safety

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Authors: M. Rodionov, Z. Dedovets

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This article discusses ways to implement a differentiated approach to developing academic motivation for mathematical studies which relies on defining the primary structural characteristics of motivation. The following characteristics are considered: features of realization of cognitive activity, meaning-making characteristics, level of generalization and consistency of knowledge acquired by personal experience. The assessment of the present level of individual student understanding of each component of academic motivation is the basis for defining the relevant educational strategy for its further development.

Keywords: learning activity, mathematics, motivation, student

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Authors: Yulia Stukalina

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This paper explores the main issues related to implementing a cross-disciplinary research project (LEARNIT) based on collaboration between universities from three European countries. The paper discusses the importance of using the holistic approach to managing scientific projects with due account for the complicated nature of the educational environment of a modern university. To illustrate this approach, the author describes some actions to be taken for supporting different focus areas of LEARNIT project, in the process using integrated tangible, non-tangible, and semi-tangible resources of the partner university. The methodology of the paper is based on the academic literature and research papers analysis within management discipline. The analysis reported in the paper is also based on the author’s professional experience in the area of managing international research projects in a university.

Keywords: LEARNIT, focus area, project management, resources

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Authors: N. Gopalakrishna Kini, Ranjana Paleppady, Akshata K. Naik

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Password authentication is one of the widely used methods to achieve authentication for legal users of computers and defense against attackers. There are many different ways to authenticate users of a system and there are many password cracking methods also developed. This paper is mainly to propose how best password cracking can be performed on a CPU-GPGPU based system. The main objective of this work is to project how quickly a password can be cracked with some knowledge about the computer security and password cracking if sufficient security is not incorporated to the system.

Keywords: GPGPU, password cracking, secret key, user authentication

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Authors: Silvia Baralla, Raffaella Zucaro, Romina Lorenzetti

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Water management needs to cope with economic, societal, and environmental changes. This could be guaranteed through 'shifting from government to governance'. In the last decades, it was applied in Europe through and within important legislative pillars (Water Framework Directive and Common Agricultural Policy) and their measures focused on resilience and adaptation to climate change, with particular attention to the creation of synergies among policies and all the actors involved at different levels. Within the climate change context, the agricultural sector can play, through sustainable water management, a leading role for climate-resilient growth and environmental integrity. A recent analysis on the water management governance of different countries identified some common gaps dealing with administrative, policy, information, capacity building, funding, objective, and accountability. The ability of a country to fill these gaps is an essential requirement to make some of the changes requested by Europe, in particular the improvement of the agro-ecosystem resilience to the effect of climatic change, supporting green and digital transitions, and sustainable water use. This research aims to contribute in sharing examples of water governances and related advantages useful to fill the highlighted gaps. Italy has developed a strong and exhaustive model of water governance in order to react with strategic and synergic actions since it is one of the European countries most threatened by climate change and its extreme events (drought, floods). In particular, the Italian water governance model was able to overcome several gaps, specifically as concerns the water use in agriculture, adopting strategies as a systemic/integrated approach, the stakeholder engagement, capacity building, the improvement of planning and monitoring ability, and an adaptive/resilient strategy for funding activities. They were carried out, putting in place regulatory, structural, and management actions. Regulatory actions include both the institution of technical committees grouping together water decision-makers and the elaboration of operative manuals and guidelines by means of a participative and cross-cutting approach. Structural actions deal with the funding of interventions within European and national funds according to the principles of coherence and complementarity. Finally, management actions regard the introduction of operational tools to support decision-makers in order to improve planning and monitoring ability. In particular, two cross-functional and interoperable web databases were introduced: SIGRIAN (National Information System for Water Resources Management in Agriculture) and DANIA (National Database of Investments for Irrigation and the Environment). Their interconnection allows to support sustainable investments, taking into account the compliance about irrigation volumes quantified in SIGRIAN, ensuring a high level of attention on water saving, and monitoring the efficiency of funding. Main positive results from the Italian water governance model deal with a synergic and coordinated work at the national, regional, and local level among institutions, the transparency on water use in agriculture, a deeper understanding from the stakeholder side of the importance of their roles and of their own potential benefits and the capacity to guarantee continuity to this model, through a sensitization process and the combined use of management operational tools.

Keywords: agricultural sustainability, governance model, water management, water policies

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Authors: Z. Giagkazoglou, D. Loukovitis, C. Gubili, A. Imsiridou

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Along with the increase in human population, demand for seafood has increased. Despite the strict labeling regulations that exist for most marketed species in the European Union, seafood substitution remains a persistent global issue. Food fraud occurs when food products are traded in a false or misleading way. Mislabeling occurs when one species is substituted and traded under the name of another, and it can be intentional or unintentional. Crustaceans are one of the most regularly consumed seafood in Greece. Shrimps, prawns, lobsters, crayfish, and crabs are considered a delicacy and can be encountered in a variety of market presentations (fresh, frozen, pre-cooked, peeled, etc.). With most of the external traits removed, products as such are susceptible to species substitution. DNA barcoding has proven to be the most accurate method for the detection of fraudulent seafood products. To our best knowledge, the DNA barcoding methodology is used for the first time in Greece, in order to investigate the labeling practices for crustacean products available in the market. A total of 100 tissue samples were collected from various retailers and markets across four Greek cities. In an effort to cover the highest range of products possible, different market presentations were targeted (fresh, frozen and cooked). Genomic DNA was extracted using the DNeasy Blood & Tissue Kit, according to the manufacturer's instructions. The mitochondrial gene selected as the target region of the analysis was the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI). PCR products were purified and sequenced using an ABI 3500 Genetic Analyzer. Sequences were manually checked and edited using BioEdit software and compared against the ones available in GenBank and BOLD databases. Statistical analyses were conducted in R and PAST software. For most samples, COI amplification was successful, and species-level identification was possible. The preliminary results estimate moderate mislabeling rates (25%) in the identified samples. Mislabeling was most commonly detected in fresh products, with 50% of the samples in this category labeled incorrectly. Overall, the mislabeling rates detected by our study probably relate to some degree of unintentional misidentification, and lack of knowledge surrounding the legal designations by both retailers and consumers. For some species of crustaceans (i.e. Squila mantis) the mislabeling appears to be also affected by the local labeling practices. Across Greece, S. mantis is sold in the market under two common names, but only one is recognized by the country's legislation, and therefore any mislabeling is probably not profit-motivated. However, the substitution of the speckled shrimp (Metapenaus monoceros) for the distinct, giant river prawn (Macrobranchium rosenbergii), is a clear example of deliberate fraudulent substitution, aiming for profit. To our best knowledge, no scientific study investigating substitution and mislabeling rates in crustaceans has been conducted in Greece. For a better understanding of Greece's seafood market, similar DNA barcoding studies in other regions with increased touristic importance (e.g., the Greek islands) should be conducted. Regardless, the expansion of the list of species-specific designations for crustaceans in the country is advised.

Keywords: COI gene, food fraud, labelling control, molecular identification

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Authors: Dalila Lino, Maria Joao Hortas, Carla Rocha, Clarisse Nunes, Natalia Vieira, Marina Fuertes, Kátia Sa

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The value of play is recognized worldwide and is considered a fundamental right of all children, as defined in Article 31 of the United Nations Children’s Rights. It is consensual among the scientific community that play, and toys are of vital importance for children’s learning and development. Play promotes the acquisition of language, enhances creativity and improves social, affective, emotional, cognitive and motor development of young children. Young children ages 0 to 6 who have had many opportunities to get involved in play show greater competence to adapt to new and unexpected situations and more easily overcome the pain and suffering caused by traumatic situations. The PlayTrain Project aims to understand the places/spaces of play in the education of children from 0 to 6 years and promoting the training of preschool teachers to become capable of developing practices that enhance children’s agency, experimentation in the physical and social world and the development of imagination and creativity. This project follows the Design-Based-Research (DBR) and has two dimensions: research and intervention. The participants are 120 students from the Master in Pre-school Education of the Higher School of Education, Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon enrolled in the academic year 2018/2019. The development of workshops focused on the role of play and toys for young children’s learning promotes the participants reflection and the development of skills and knowledge to construct developmentally appropriated practices in early childhood education. Data was collected through an online questionnaire and focal groups. Results show that the PlayTrain Project contribute to the development of a body of knowledge about the role of play for early childhood education. It was possible to identify the needs of preschool teacher education and to enhance the discussion among the scientific and academic community about the importance of deepening the role of play and toys in the study plans of the masters in pre-school education.

Keywords: children's learning, early childhood education, play, teacher education, toys

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Authors: Khaldoon G. Albitar, Hassan Y. Kikhia, Jin P. Zhang

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Since 2007, all companies listed on both Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange are required to prepare their consolidated financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). This study investigates the impact of adopting IFRS on accounting quality for a sample of listed on Chinese companies during the period 2003-2013 with sample of 10846 observations over a four-year period before and a five-year period after the adoption of IFRS. This study tests whether the level of earnings management is significantly lower after the adoption of IFRS, and reported earnings is more value relevant during the IFRS period by using the Ohlson model and Jones model, as modified by Dechow. The empirical results show that accounting quality improved with lower earnings management and higher value relevant after the adoption of IFRS in China. The current study contributes to the literature on IFRS adoption and earning quality in two ways. First, As most of the existing studies on earnings quality and IFRS have been conducted on data from the U.S and European countries, this study fills a gap in the existing literature by studying the effect of adoption of IFRS on earnings quality in an emerging market. Second, the findings of our study have important implications for policymakers, auditors, multinational firms, and users of financial reports. As the rapid growth of China's economy gains global recognition, the Chinese stock market is capturing the attention of international investor.

Keywords: international financial reporting standards (ifrs), accounting quality, earnings management, value relevance, china

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Authors: Y. K. Park, B. K. Kim, J. W. Lee, S. J. Lee

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To assess the risk of the underground structures and surrounding ground, we collect basic data by the engineering method of measurement, exploration and surveys and, derive the risk through proper analysis and each assessment for urban railroad underground structures and surrounding ground including station inflow. Basic data are obtained by the fiber-optic sensors, MEMS sensors, water quantity/quality sensors, tunnel scanner, ground penetrating radar, light weight deflectometer, and are evaluated if they are more than the proper value or not. Based on these data, we analyze the risk level of urban railroad underground structures and surrounding ground. And we develop the risk management system to manage efficiently these data and to support a convenient interface environment at input/output of data.

Keywords: urban railroad, underground structures, ground subsidence, station inflow, risk

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Authors: A. Rahaf, S. Liyakathunsia

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In today’s world, unprecedented operational pressure is faced by banks that test the efficiency, effectiveness, and agility of their business processes. In a typical banking process, a person’s authorization is usually based on his signature on most all of the transactions. Signature verification is considered as one of the highly significant information needed for any bank document processing. Banks usually use Signature Verification to authenticate the identity of individuals. In this paper, a business process model has been proposed in order to increase the quality of the verification process and to reduce time and needed resources. In order to understand the current process, a survey has been conducted and distributed among bank employees. After analyzing the survey, a process model has been created using Bizagi modeler which helps in simulating the process after assigning time and cost of it. The outcomes show that the automation of signature verification process is highly recommended for a banking business process.

Keywords: business process management, process modeling, quality, Signature Verification

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Authors: Feyi Olorunshola

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Over the last few years, the senior travel market has been noted for its potential in the wider tourism industry. The tourism sector includes the hotel and hospitality, travel, transportation, and several other subdivisions to make it economically viable. In particular, the hotel attracts a substantial part of the expenditure in tourism activities as when people plan to travel, suitable accommodation for relaxation, dining, entertainment and so on is paramount to their decision-making. The global retail value of the hotel as of 2018 was significant for tourism. But, despite indications of the hotel to the tourism industry at large, very few empirical studies are available to establish how this sector can leverage on the senior demographic to achieve competitive advantage. Predominantly, studies on the mature market have focused on destination tourism, with a limited investigation on the hotel which makes a significant contribution to tourism. Also, several scholarly studies have demonstrated the importance of the senior travel market to the hotel, yet there is very little empirical research in the field which has explored the driving factors that will become the accepted new normal for this niche segment post-pandemic. Giving that the hotel already operates in a highly saturated business environment, and on top of this pre-existing challenge, the ongoing global health outbreak has further put the sector in a vulnerable position. Therefore, the hotel especially the full-service luxury category must evolve rapidly for it to survive in the current business environment. The hotel can no longer rely on corporate travelers to generate higher revenue since the unprecedented wake of the pandemic in 2020 many organizations have invented a different approach of conducting their businesses online, therefore, the hotel needs to anticipate a significant drop in business travellers. However, the rooms and the rest of the facilities must be occupied to keep their business operating. The way forward for the hotel lies in the leisure sector, but the question now is to focus on the potential demographics of travelers, in this case, the seniors who have been repeatedly recognized as the lucrative market because of increase discretionary income, availability of time and the global population trends. To achieve the study objectives, a mixed-method approach will be utilized drawing on both qualitative (netnography) and quantitative (survey) methods, cognitive and decision-making theories (means-end chain) and competitive theories to identify the salient drivers explaining senior hotel choice and its influence on their decision-making. The target population are repeated seniors’ age 65 years and over who are UK resident, and from the top tourist market to the UK (USA, Germany, and France). Structural equation modelling will be employed to analyze the datasets. The theoretical implication is the development of new concepts using a robust research design, and as well as advancing existing framework to hotel study. Practically, it will provide the hotel management with the latest information to design a competitive marketing strategy and activities to target the mature market post-pandemic and over a long period.

Keywords: competitive advantage, covid-19, full-service hotel, five-star, luxury hotels

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Authors: Marzena Tomaszewska, Beata Bilska, Danuta Kolozyn-Krajewska

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Food loss and food waste are a global problem of the modern economy. The research undertaken aimed to analyze how food is handled in catering establishments when it comes to food waste and to demonstrate main ways of management with foods/dishes not served to consumers. A survey study was conducted from January to June 2019. The selection of catering establishments participating in the study was deliberate. The study included establishments located only in Mazowieckie Voivodeship (Poland). 42 completed questionnaires were collected. In some questions, answers were based on a 5-point scale of 1 to 5 (from 'always'/'every day' to 'never'). The survey also included closed questions with a suggested cafeteria of answers. The respondents stated that in their workplaces, dishes served cold and hot ready meals are discarded every day or almost every day (23.7% and 20.5% of answers respectively). A procedure most frequently used for dealing with dishes not served to consumers on a given day is their storage at a cool temperature until the following day. In the research, 1/5 of respondents admitted that consumers 'always' or 'usually' leave uneaten meals on their plates, and over 41% 'sometimes' do so. It was found additionally that food not used in food service sector is most often thrown into a public container for rubbish. Most often thrown into the public container (with communal trash) were: expired products (80.0%), plate waste (80.0%), and inedible products (fruit and vegetable peels, egg shells) (77.5%). Most frequently into the container dedicated only for food waste were thrown out used deep-frying oil (62.5%). 10% of respondents indicated that inedible products in their workplaces is allocate for animal feeds. Food waste in the food service sector still remains an insufficiently studied issue, as owners of these objects are often unwilling to disclose data pertaining to the subject. Incorrect ways of management with foods not served to consumers were observed. There is the need to develop the educational activities for employees and management in the context of food waste management in the food service sector. This publication has been developed under the contract with the National Center for Research and Development No Gospostrateg1/385753/1/NCBR/2018 for carrying out and funding of a project implemented as part of the 'The social and economic development of Poland in the conditions of globalizing markets - GOSPOSTRATEG' program entitled 'Developing a system for monitoring wasted food and an effective program to rationalize losses and reduce food wastage' (acronym PROM).

Keywords: food waste, inedible products, plate waste, used deep-frying oil

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Authors: Naci Büyükkaraciğan, Yildirim Akyol

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Large plants that covering the back and accumulate water of a river valley for energy production, drinking, irrigation water supply, economic benefits that serve many purposes, such as regulation of flood protection, are called dams. Place, in which unites in order to achieve an optimum balance between manpower for Lowest cost and economic as belonging to that structure to create machines, materials and construction of the project, is called as the site. Dam construction sites are combined sites in together in many businesses. Therefore, there can be found in the many workers and machines are many accidents in this type of construction sites. The necessity of systematic and scientific studies due to various reasons arises in order to be protected from conditions that could damage the health, During the execution of the work on construction sites. Occupational health and safety of the study, called the case, also in the European Union has begun to be addressed by weight since the 1980s. In particular, issued in 1989 89/391/EEC on occupational health and safety directive, occupational health and adopted the Directive within the framework of the security field, and then exposed to a large number of individual directive within this framework on the basis of the directive. Turkey's Law No. 6331 entered into force in June 2012 on the subject. In this study, measures related to the construction site of the dam should be taken with occupational safety and health have been examined and tried to put forward recommendations on the subject.

Keywords: civil engineering, dam, occupational safety and health, site organizations

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Authors: Silvia Riva, Ezekiel Chinyio

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Introduction: Workers in different sectors are prone to stress at varying levels. They also respond to stress in different ways. An inspiration was to study stress development amongst workers in a work dangerous setting (Construction Industry) as well as how they cope with specific stress incidences. Objective: The overarching objective of the study was to study and correlate between stress and coping strategies. The research was conducted in an organizational industrial setting, and its findings on the coping actions of construction workers are reported in this article. Methods: An online cross-sectional survey was conducted with 80 participants aged 18-62. These were working for three different construction organizations in the West Midland region of the UK. Their coping actions were assessed using the COPE Inventory (Carver, 2013) instrument while the level of stress was assessed by the Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen, 1994). Results: Out of 80 workers (20 female, 25%, mean age 40.66), positive reinterpretation (M=4.15, SD=2.60) and active coping (M=4.18, SD=2.55) were the two most adaptive strategies reported by the workers while the most frequent maladaptive behavior was mental disengagement (M=3.62, SD=2.25). Among the maladaptive tactics, alcohol and drug abuse was a significant moderator in stress reactions (t=6.12, p=.000). Conclusion: Some maladaptive strategies are adopted by construction workers to cope with stress. So, it could be argued that programs of stress prevention and control in the construction industry have a basis to develop solutions that can improve and strengthen effective interventions when workers are stressed or getting stressed.

Keywords: coping, organization, strategies, stress

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Authors: Sung Hyun Yoo, In Hwan Choi, Jun Ho Jung, Choon Ki Ahn, Myo Taeg Lim

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Home energy management system (HEMS) has been issued to reduce the power consumption. The HEMS performs electric power control for the indoor electric device. However, HEMS commonly treats the smart devices. In this paper, we suggest the output estimation of home legacy device using the artificial neural fuzzy inference system (ANFIS). This paper discusses the overview and the architecture of the system. In addition, accurate performance of the output estimation using the ANFIS inference system is shown via a numerical example.

Keywords: artificial neural fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), home energy management system (HEMS), smart device, legacy device

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Authors: Sanjeev Kumar Appicharla

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This paper presents the results of the modelling and analysis of the European Railway Traffic Management (ERTMS) safety-critical incident to raise awareness of biases in the systems engineering process on the Cambrian Railway in the UK using the RAIB 17/2019 as a primary input. The RAIB, the UK independent accident investigator, published the Report- RAIB 17/2019 giving the details of their investigation of the focal event in the form of immediate cause, causal factors, and underlying factors and recommendations to prevent a repeat of the safety-critical incident on the Cambrian Line. The Systems for Investigation of Railway Interfaces (SIRI) is the methodology used to model and analyze the safety-critical incident. The SIRI methodology uses the Swiss Cheese Model to model the incident and identify latent failure conditions (potentially less than adequate conditions) by means of the management oversight and risk tree technique. The benefits of the systems for investigation of railway interfaces methodology (SIRI) are threefold: first is that it incorporates the “Heuristics and Biases” approach advanced by 2002 Nobel laureate in Economic Sciences, Prof Daniel Kahneman, in the management oversight and risk tree technique to identify systematic errors. Civil engineering and programme management railway professionals are aware of the role “optimism bias” plays in programme cost overruns and are aware of bow tie (fault and event tree) model-based safety risk modelling techniques. However, the role of systematic errors due to “Heuristics and Biases” is not appreciated as yet. This overcomes the problems of omission of human and organizational factors from accident analysis. Second, the scope of the investigation includes all levels of the socio-technical system, including government, regulatory, railway safety bodies, duty holders, signaling firms and transport planners, and front-line staff such that lessons are learned at the decision making and implementation level as well. Third, the author’s past accident case studies are supplemented with research pieces of evidence drawn from the practitioner's and academic researchers’ publications as well. This is to discuss the role of system thinking to improve the decision-making and risk management processes and practices in the IEC 15288 systems engineering standard and in the industrial context such as the GB railways and artificial intelligence (AI) contexts as well.

Keywords: accident analysis, AI algorithm internal audit, bounded rationality, Byzantine failures, heuristics and biases approach

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Authors: Farizy Yunaz, Catur Sasongko

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This research aims to provide the empirical evidence regarding cost stickiness behavior and its determinants on listed manufacturing companies. Hypothesis testing is performed using pooled least square method. The result concludes that there is cost stickiness behavior in selling, general and administrative costs. In term of determinants, firm-specific adjustment costs measured by asset intensity and employee intensity have significant positive impact on the level of cost stickiness. Meanwhile, earnings target and leverage have significant negative impact on the level of cost stickiness. However, the management empire building incentives measured by free cash flow has no significant positive impact.

Keywords: adjustment cost, cost behavior, cost stickiness, earnings target, leverage, management empire building incentive

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Authors: Nahed Al-Hajeri

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Time and cost is an integral part of every construction plan and can affect each party’s contractual obligations. The performance of both time and cost are usually important to the client and contractor during the project. Almost all construction projects are experiencing time overrun. These time overruns always contributed as expensive to both client and contractor. Construction of any project inside the gathering centers involves complex management skills related to work force, materials, plant, machineries, new technologies etc. It also involves many agencies interdependent on each other like the vendors, structural and functional designers including various types of specialized engineers and it includes support of contractors and specialized contractors. This paper mainly highlights the types of construction delays due to which project suffer time and cost overrun. This paper also speaks about the delay causes and factors that contribute to the construction sequence delay for the oil and gas projects. Construction delay is supposed to be one of the repeated problems in the construction projects and it has an opposing effect on project success in terms of time, cost and quality. Some effective methods are identified to minimize delays in construction projects such as: 1. Site management and supervision, 2. Effective strategic planning, 3. Clear information and communication channel. Our research paper studies the types of delay with some real examples with statistic results and suggests solutions to overcome this problem.

Keywords: non-compensable delay, delays caused by force majeure, compensable delay, delays caused by the owner or the owner’s representative, non-excusable delay, delay caused by the contractor or the contractor’s representative, concurrent delay, delays resulting from two separate causes at the same time

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Authors: Lorryn Williams

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This study will explore how the introduction of the for-profit social enterprise model affects the real lives of the individuals and communities that this model aims to help in South Africa. The congruence between organisational need construction and the real needs of beneficiaries, and whether the adoption of a profit driven model, such as social entrepreneurship, supports or discards these needs is key to answering the former question. By making use of qualitative methods, the study aims to collect empirical evidence that either supports the social entrepreneurship approach when compared to other programs such as vocational training programs or rejects it as less beneficial. It is the objective of this research to provide an answer to the question of whether the social enterprise model of conducting charity leaves the beneficiaries of non-profit organisations in a generally better or worse off position. The study will specifically explore the underlying assumptions the social entrepreneurship model makes, since the assumptions made concerning the uplifting effects it has on its beneficiaries may produce either real or assumed change for beneficiaries. The meaning of social cohesion and social capital for these organisations, the construction of beneficiary dependence and independence, the consideration of formal and informal economies beneficiaries engage in, and the extent to which sustainability is used as a brand, will be investigated. Through engaging the relevant literature, experts in the field of non-profit donorship and need implementation, organisations who have both adopted social enterprise programs and not, and most importantly, the beneficiaries themselves, it will be possible to provide answers to questions this study aims to answer.

Keywords: social enterprise, beneficiaries, profit driven model, non-profit organizations

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Authors: Joshefina Bengoechea Fernandez, Alex Bell

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In its 2021 guidance for policy makers, the UNESCO has proposed 4 areas where AI can be applied in educational settings: These are: 1) Education management and delivery; 2) Learning and assessment; 3) Empowering teachers and facilitating teaching, and 4) Providing lifelong learning possibilities (UNESCO, 2021). Like with wblockchain technologies, AI will automate the management of educational institutions. These include, but are not limited to admissions, timetables, attendance, and homework monitoring. Furthermore, AI will be used to select relevant learning content across learning platforms for each student, based on his or her personalized needs. A problem educators face is the “one-size-fits-all” approach that does not work with a diverse student population. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate if the implementation of Technology is the solution to the Problems faced in Higher Education. The paper builds upon a constructivist approach, combining a literature review and research on key publications and academic reports.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, learning platforms, students personalised needs, life- long learning, privacy, ethics

Procedia PDF Downloads 88

Authors: Leen Al Kassab, Sarah Johns, Helen Noble, Nawal Nour, Elizabeth Janiak, Sarrah Shahawy

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Introduction: Immigrant and refugee women experience disparities in sexual and reproductive health (SRH) outcomes, partially as a result of barriers to SRH literacy and to regular healthcare access and engagement. Despite the existing data highlighting growing needs for culturally relevant and structurally competent care, interventions are scarce and not well-documented. Methods: In this IRB-approved study, we used a community-based participatory research approach, with the assistance of a community advisory board, to conduct a qualitative needs assessment of SRH knowledge and service engagement with immigrant and refugee women from Africa or the Middle East and currently residing in Boston. We conducted a total of nine focus group discussions (FGDs) in partnership with medical, community, and religious centers, in six languages: Arabic, English, French, Somali, Pashtu, and Dari. A total of 44 individuals participated. We explored migrant and refugee women’s current and evolving SRH care needs and gaps, specifically related to the development of interventions and clinical best practices targeting SRH literacy, healthcare engagement, and informed decision-making. Recordings of the FGDs were transcribed verbatim and translated by interpreter services. We used open coding with multiple coders who resolved discrepancies through consensus and iteratively refined our codebook while coding data in batches using Dedoose software. Results: Participants reported immigrant adaptation experiences, discrimination, and feelings of trust, autonomy, privacy, and connectedness to family, community, and the healthcare system as factors surrounding SRH knowledge and needs. The context of previously learned SRH knowledge was commonly noted to be in schools, at menstruation, before marriage, from family members, partners, friends, and online search engines. Common themes included empowering strength drawn from religious and cultural communities, difficulties bridging educational gaps with their US- born daughters, and a desire for more SRH education from multiple sources, including family, health care providers, and religious experts & communities. Regarding further SRH education, participants’ preferences varied regarding ideal platform (virtual vs. in-person), location (in religious and community centers or not), smaller group sizes, and the involvement of men. Conclusions: Based on these results, empowering SRH initiatives should include both community and religious center-based, as well as clinic-based, interventions. Interventions should be composed of frequent educational workshops in small groups involving age-grouped women, daughters, and (sometimes) men, tailored SRH messaging, and the promotion of culturally, religiously, and linguistically competent care.

Keywords: community, immigrant, religion, sexual & reproductive health, women's health

Procedia PDF Downloads 111

Authors: Njoroge Margaret W., Johnson Deborah

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Gender-specific risk factors for common mental disorders that disproportionately affect women include but are not limited to gender-based violence, socioeconomic disadvantage, sociocultural factors and unrelenting responsibility for the care of others. The overall objective of this study was to assess mental health conditions and their risk factors among women in Garissa County, Kenya. The study adopted both quantitative and qualitative research designs. The study participants were 100 adult women and 20 key informants from different sectors in the region. Data was collected using DSM-5 (PCL-5) and Kessler Psychological Distress, interviews schedule and focus group discussions. Analysis of quantitative data was done using univariate analysis, while qualitative data was analyzed using thematic analysis. The results revealed that about 60% of women presented with moderate to severe psychological distress (PD), while 53% presented with PTSD. Additionally, women who have undergone female genital mutilation had higher PTSD and PD scores. They also presented with low self-esteem, depressive symptoms, sex anxiety, avoidance of reminders and intrusive memories of the event, especially those who developed fistula. The risk factors for poor mental health outcomes include lack of awareness/knowledge of mental health, retrogressive cultural practices (child marriage and female genital mutilation), as well as beliefs about the causes of mental disorders. The study also established that people with mental illness are neglected, abused and stigmatized. Preferred treatment approaches include prayers and the use of witch doctors and traditional healers. The study recommends gendered and culturally responsive interventions geared towards increasing community awareness and knowledge on mental health, reducing stigma and improving mental-health-seeking behaviors for women and girls in the region. Supported by the Ministry of Health, the approach should be spearheaded by trained community lay counselors.

Keywords: women, mental health conditions, cultural beliefs/practices, stigma, poverty, psychological distress, PTSD

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Authors: Rachid El Khoury

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Chronic pain is perhaps the most burdensome health issue facing the planet. Our understanding of the pathophysiology of chronic pain has increased substantially over the past 25 years, including but not limited to changes in the brain. However, we still do not know why chronic pain develops in some people and not in others. Most of the recent developments in pain science, that have direct relevance to clinical management, relate to our understanding of the role of the brain, the role of the immune system, or the role of cognitive and behavioral factors. Although the Biopsychosocial model of pain management was presented decades ago, the Bio-reductionist model remains, unfortunately, at the heart of many practices across professional and geographic boundaries. A large body of evidence shows that nociception is neither sufficient nor necessary for pain. Pain is a conscious experience that can certainly be, and often is, associated with nociception, however, always modulated by countless neurobiological, environmental, and cognitive factors. This study will clarify the current misconceptions of chronic pain concepts, and their misperceptions by clinicians. It will also attempt to bridge the considerable gap between what we already know on pain but somehow disregarded, the development in pain science, and clinical practice.

Keywords: chronic pain, nociception, biopsychosocial, neuroplasticity

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Authors: Elham Sharifineyestani, Mohammad Farshchin

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Tropical cyclones are one of the most expensive and deadliest natural disasters. They cause heavy rainfall and serious flash flooding that result in billions of dollars of damage and considerable mortality each year in the United States. Prediction of the frequency of tropical cyclone-induced rainfall events can be helpful in emergency planning and flood risk management. In this study, we have developed a machine-learning model to predict the exceedance frequencies of tropical cyclone-induced rainfall events in the United States. Model results show a satisfactory agreement with available observations. To examine the effectiveness of our approach, we also have compared the result of our predictions with the exceedance frequencies predicted using a physics-based rainfall model by Feldmann.

Keywords: flash flooding, tropical cyclones, frequencies, machine learning, risk management

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Authors: Adzongo Philomena Ibuh, Aloga O. Austin

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The purpose of the study was to examine lifelong education for teachers as a tool for achieving effective teaching and learning. Lifelong education enhances social inclusion, personal development, citizenship, employability, teaching and learning, community and the nation, and the challenges of lifelong education were also discussed. Descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 80 teachers as sample from a population of 105 senior secondary school teachers in Makurdi local government area of Benue state. A 20-item self designed questionnaire subjected to expert validation and reliability was used to collect data. The reliability Alpha coefficient of 0.87 was established using Crombach Alpha technique, mean scores and standard deviation were used to answer the 2 research questions while chi-square was used to analyze data for the 2 hypotheses. The findings of the study revealed that, lifelong education for teachers can be used to achieve as a tool for achieving effective teaching and learning, and the study recommended among others that government, organizations and individuals should in collaboration put lifelong education programmes for teachers on the priority list. The paper concluded that the strategic position of lifelong education for teachers towards enhanced teaching and learning makes it imperative for all hands to be on deck to support the programme financially and otherwise.

Keywords: effective teaching and learning, lifelong education, teachers, tool

Procedia PDF Downloads 463