Search results for: community resource groups
7027 Nation Building versus Self Determination: Thai State’s Response to Insurgency in South
Authors: Sunaina Sunaina
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The emergence of Thailand as a modern nation was amalgamation of several minority groups. Eventually, the nation tried to mitigate these diversities in the name of nationalism in the backdrop of colonial powers presence in neighboring nations. However, the continued imposition of modern nation building processes (which is a western concept) in the post-colonial era deepen the feelings of alienation among the minority groups and leads to separatist conflicts. It is significant that whatever form these conflicts take, will impact the security of nation as well as the region of Southeast Asia. This paper tries to explore the possible factors behind the state policies adopted by the government of Thailand to manage the insurgency in Southern provinces in the south. The protracted insurgency in the South has historical roots as Pattani kingdom had glorious period whether it was trade or commerce or education and its assimilation was never accepted by the leaders of these areas. But after assimilation of southern provinces in the state, it has been the state policy as an important factor in promoting or mitigating the insurgency. Initial protests from the elite class of southern provinces inflated into a more organized and violent uprising after Second World War. It was only the decade of 1990s that a relative peace could prevail for some time. The violence reemerged in 2004 with more intensity and till today this area is suffering with violence. Period of different Prime Ministers dealt this insurgency in different ways sometimes very hard line approach had been adopted especially under Primeminstership of Thaksin Shinawatra. Recently, the peace talks which were started during the period of Yinglunck Shinawatra and were carried forward by Junta government also halted. And again, the region stays in a very volatile state. Violence in these provinces not only questions the capability of government to provide political solution to the problem, but also emerges as a major threat to the internal security of the state. The current era where global terrorism is spreading fast, such vulnerable areas may work as a new ground for its proliferation in Southeast Asia. The paper attempts to understand how Thailand’s historical experience of security determines a different approach to national unity which limits the prospects for autonomy in the South. In conjunction with this experience it is nature of national politics and leadership that influences the nature of policies on the ground in Southern Thailand. The paper also tries to bring out conflict between state sovereignty and self-determination as demanded by many in the southern provinces.Keywords: insurgency, southern Thailand, security, nation building
Procedia PDF Downloads 1307026 Research on the Internal Mechanism of Overseas Market Opportunity Construction of the Emerging-Market Multinational Enterprises
Authors: Jie Zhang, Chaomin Zhang
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Based on the network theory, this paper selects three Emerging-Market Multinationals Enterprises (EMNEs) as the research object and takes the typical overseas market opportunities constructed by them as the analysis unit to research the internal mechanism of overseas market opportunity construction of the EMNEs. The results show that: (1) EMNEs overseas market opportunity construction is a complex process, through the continuous interaction between enterprises and entities in the internal and external networks to achieve opportunity prototype, opportunity creation, and opportunity optimization in overseas markets. (2) Governments, foreign institutions and industry associations in the institutional network and competitors, partners, and customers in the commercial networks are the important entities in the construction of overseas market opportunities. Through the interaction of entity perception, relationship construction, and utilization, enterprises can obtain the necessary information, resources, and political asylum in the process of opportunity construction. (3) Organizations, project teams, and organizational sub-units within the enterprise are important internal entities for the construction of overseas market opportunities. Through the connection between different entities, they can achieve the circulation of resources within the organization and promote the opportunity construction of overseas markets. The research conclusions expand the relevant research on international opportunities and have inspiring and guiding significance for the expansion of EMNEs overseas markets.Keywords: international (overseas) opportunities, opportunity construction, network entities, interaction, resource circulation
Procedia PDF Downloads 257025 Irrigation Scheduling for Wheat in Bangladesh under Water Stress Conditions Using Water Productivity Model
Authors: S. M. T. Mustafa, D. Raes, M. Huysmans
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Proper utilization of water resource is very important in agro-based Bangladesh. Irrigation schedule based on local environmental conditions, soil type and water availability will allow a sustainable use of water resources in agriculture. In this study, the FAO crop water model (AquaCrop) was used to simulate the different water and fertilizer management strategies in different location of Bangladesh to obtain a management guideline for the farmer. Model was calibrated and validated for wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). The statistical indices between the observed and simulated grain yields obtained were very good with R2, RMSE, and EF values of 0.92, 0.33, and 0.83, respectively for model calibration and 0.92, 0.68 and 0.77, respectively for model validations. Stem elongation (jointing) to booting and flowering stage were identified as most water sensitive for wheat. Deficit irrigation on water sensitive stage could increase the grain yield for increasing soil fertility levels both for loamy and sandy type soils. Deficit irrigation strategies provides higher water productivity than full irrigation strategies and increase the yield stability (reduce the standard deviation). The practical deficit irrigation schedule for wheat for four different stations and two different soils were designed. Farmer can produce more crops by using deficit irrigation schedule under water stress condition. Practical application and validation of proposed strategies will make them more credible.Keywords: crop-water model, deficit irrigation, irrigation scheduling, wheat
Procedia PDF Downloads 4357024 Effect of Tillage Techniques on the Performance of Kharif Rice Varieties
Authors: Mahua Banerjee, Debtanu Maiti
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Zero-tillage cultivation is a farming practice that reduces costs while maintaining harvests and protecting the environment. Innovative partnerships among researchers, farmers, and other actors in the agricultural value chain have enabled the adoption of zero-tillage to sow rice in the Indo-Gangetic Plains, increasing farmers' incomes, fostering more sustainable use of soil and water, and providing a platform for cropping diversification and the introduction of other resource-conserving practices. A field experiment was conducted in the farmer’s field of Ausgram I Block, Burdwan, West Bengal, India under sandy loam soil with soil pH of 5.2, which is low in Nitrogen, medium in Phosphorus and Potassium. There were three techniques of tillage-T1: Zero tillage in Rice, T2: conventional tillage in Rice, T3: Rice grown with Drum seeder and three varieties namely V1: MTU 7029 V2-MTU 1010, V3: Pratikha thus making nine treatment combinations which were replicated thrice and the experiment was laid out in Factorial Randomised Block Design. Among the three varieties, rice variety MTU 7029 gave higher yield in all the tillage techniques. The highest yield was obtained under Zero tillage followed by conventional tillage. From economic analysis it was revealed that the benefit:cost ratio was higher in Zero tillage and rice cultivation by drum seeder. Zero-till is increasingly being adopted because it gives more yield at less cost, saves labour and farmer time. Farmers will be interested in this technology once they overcome their tillage biases.Keywords: economics, Indo-Gangetic plain, rice, zero tillage, yield
Procedia PDF Downloads 3827023 Phytochemical Study and Bioinsecticidal Effect of the Crude Extract from the Plant Artemisia Judaica
Authors: Fatma Acheuk, Idir Bitam, Leila Bendifallah, Malika Ramdani, Fethia Barika
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Phytochemical study of the plant Artemisia judaica showed the presence of various groups of natural products: saponins, tannins, coumarins, flavonoids, carbohydrates, and reducer compounds. However alkaloids are present as traces. The crude ethanol extract of the test plant presented significant insecticidal activity on mosquito larvae in stage I, II, and III. The LD50 highlighted the excellent insecticidal effect of the tested extract. Similarly, the LT50 are achieved early with high doses. The results obtained are encouraging and suggest the possibility of using the secondary metabolites of this plant such as bio-insecticide.Keywords: Atamisia judaica, crud extract, mosquito, insecticidal activity
Procedia PDF Downloads 5987022 Behavioral Patterns of Adopting Digitalized Services (E-Sport versus Sports Spectating) Using Agent-Based Modeling
Authors: Justyna P. Majewska, Szymon M. Truskolaski
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The growing importance of digitalized services in the so-called new economy, including the e-sports industry, can be observed recently. Various demographic or technological changes lead consumers to modify their needs, not regarding the services themselves but the method of their application (attracting customers, forms of payment, new content, etc.). In the case of leisure-related to competitive spectating activities, there is a growing need to participate in events whose content is not sports competitions but computer games challenge – e-sport. The literature in this area so far focuses on determining the number of e-sport fans with elements of a simple statistical description (mainly concerning demographic characteristics such as age, gender, place of residence). Meanwhile, the development of the industry is influenced by a combination of many different, intertwined demographic, personality and psychosocial characteristics of customers, as well as the characteristics of their environment. Therefore, there is a need for a deeper recognition of the determinants of the behavioral patterns upon selecting digitalized services by customers, which, in the absence of available large data sets, can be achieved by using econometric simulations – multi-agent modeling. The cognitive aim of the study is to reveal internal and external determinants of behavioral patterns of customers taking into account various variants of economic development (the pace of digitization and technological development, socio-demographic changes, etc.). In the paper, an agent-based model with heterogeneous agents (characteristics of customers themselves and their environment) was developed, which allowed identifying a three-stage development scenario: i) initial interest, ii) standardization, and iii) full professionalization. The probabilities regarding the transition process were estimated using the Method of Simulated Moments. The estimation of the agent-based model parameters and sensitivity analysis reveals crucial factors that have driven a rising trend in e-sport spectating and, in a wider perspective, the development of digitalized services. Among the psychosocial characteristics of customers, they are the level of familiarization with the rules of games as well as sports disciplines, active and passive participation history and individual perception of challenging activities. Environmental factors include general reception of games, number and level of recognition of community builders and the level of technological development of streaming as well as community building platforms. However, the crucial factor underlying the good predictive power of the model is the level of professionalization. While in the initial interest phase, the entry barriers for new customers are high. They decrease during the phase of standardization and increase again in the phase of full professionalization when new customers perceive participation history inaccessible. In this case, they are prone to switch to new methods of service application – in the case of e-sport vs. sports to new content and more modern methods of its delivery. In a wider context, the findings in the paper support the idea of a life cycle of services regarding methods of their application from “traditional” to digitalized.Keywords: agent-based modeling, digitalized services, e-sport, spectators motives
Procedia PDF Downloads 1757021 Study on the Effect of Vitamin C on the Biochemical Parameters in Barbus grypus
Authors: Mojdeh Chelemal Dezfoul Nejad, Masomeh Moradi, Mehrzad Mesbah, Mehran Javaheri Babouli
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This study was conducted in order to characterize the different levels of dietary vitamin C on some of biochemical parameters of Barbuas grypus. For this purpose 300 Barbuas grypus were divided into 15 groups. five levels of vitamin C (0, 200 ,400,800,1600 mg kg-1 diet) and their combination were used to prepare five experimental diets. The fish were fed 3% of their wet b.wt. per day for a 60 days period. Blood samples were obtained from six fish of each tank at the end of experiment. The results reveal that fish fed diets containing 1600 mg kg^-1 vitamin C had the significant decreased in the mean amount of cholesterol, glucose and triglyceride (p<0.05). Also, there was no significant difference in the mean amount of total protein with the different diets designed for this experiment (p>0.05).Keywords: Barbuas, grypus, vitamin C, biochemical parameters
Procedia PDF Downloads 5197020 Information Sharing with Potential Users of Traditional Knowledge under Provisions of Nagoya Protocol: Issues of Participation of Indigenous People and Local Communities
Authors: Hasrat Arjjumend, Sabiha Alam
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The Nagoya Protocol is landmark international legislation governing access to genetic resources and benefit sharing from utilization of genetic resource and traditional knowledge. The field implications of the international law have been assessed by surveying academic/ research institutions, civil society organizations (CSOs) and concerned individuals, who gave their opinions on whether the provider parties (usually developing countries) would ensure effective participation of Indigenous people and local communities (ILCs) in establishing the mechanisms to inform the potential users of traditional knowledge (TK) about their obligations under art. 12.2 of Nagoya Protocol. First of all, involvement and participation of ILCs in suggested clearing-house mechanisms of the Parties are seldom witnessed. Secondly, as respondents expressed, it is doubtful that developing countries would ensure effective participation of ILCs in establishing the mechanisms to inform the potential users of TK about their obligations. Yet, as most of ILCs speak and understand local or indigenous languages, whether the Nagoya Protocol provides or not, it is a felt need that the Parties should disclose information in a language understandable to ILCs. Alternative opinions indicate that if TK held by ILCs is disclosed, the value is gone. Therefore, it should be protected by the domestic law first and should be disclosed then.Keywords: genetic resources, indigenous people, language, Nagoya protocol, participation, traditional knowledge
Procedia PDF Downloads 1557019 Using India’s Traditional Knowledge Digital Library on Traditional Tibetan Medicine
Authors: Chimey Lhamo, Ngawang Tsering
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Traditional Tibetan medicine, known as Sowa Rigpa (Science of healing), originated more than 2500 years ago with an insightful background, and it has been growing significant attention in many Asian countries like China, India, Bhutan, and Nepal. Particularly, the Indian government has targeted Traditional Tibetan medicine as its major Indian medical system, including Ayurveda. Although Traditional Tibetan medicine has been growing interest and has a long history, it is not easily recognized worldwide because it exists only in the Tibetan language and it is neither accessible nor understood by patent examiners at the international patent office, data about Traditional Tibetan medicine is not yet broadly exist in the Internet. There has also been the exploitation of traditional Tibetan medicine increasing. The Traditional Knowledge Digital Library is a database aiming to prevent the patenting and misappropriation of India’s traditional medicine knowledge by using India’s Traditional knowledge Digital Library on Sowa Rigpa in order to prevent its exploitation at international patent with the help of information technology tools and an innovative classification systems-traditional knowledge resource classification (TKRC). As of date, more than 3000 Sowa Rigpa formulations have been transcribed into a Traditional Knowledge Digital Library database. In this paper, we are presenting India's Traditional Knowledge Digital Library for Traditional Tibetan medicine, and this database system helps to preserve and prevent the exploitation of Sowa Rigpa. Gradually it will be approved and accepted globally.Keywords: traditional Tibetan medicine, India's traditional knowledge digital library, traditional knowledge resources classification, international patent classification
Procedia PDF Downloads 1327018 Police and Community Crime Prevention in Sweden
Authors: Peter Lindstrom, Caroline Gyberg, Scott Goodwin
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The Swedish police organisation was fundamentally reorganized in 2015 when 21 regional police forces were combined into one national police authority divided in 7 larger police regions, 35 police areas, and some 100 local police districts. A central theme for the reform was that local crime prevention policing should be more unified in the country. In this paper, we review crime prevention strategies in Sweden from a criminological and policing perspective focusing, among other things, on differences between urban and rural areas. In the crime prevention field, words such as 'knowledge- and evidence-based', 'collaboration', and 'strategies' are common. Our objective is to investigate the relationship between theoretical and practical knowledge in local crime prevention work. Our research indicate that an elaborated and strategic connection between theoretical and practical perspectives is important for successful local crime prevention work. Universities may provide a platform such knowledge exchange.Keywords: crime prevention, police reform, urban and rural areas, criminological and policing perspectives
Procedia PDF Downloads 1887017 VCloud: A Security Framework for VANET
Authors: Wiseborn Manfe Danquah, D. Turgay Altilar
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Vehicular Ad-hoc Network (VANET) is an integral component of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) that has enjoyed a lot of attention from the research community and the automotive industry. This is mainly due to the opportunities and challenges it presents. Vehicular Ad-hoc Network being a class of Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANET) has all the security concerns existing in traditional MANET as well as new security and privacy concerns introduced by the unique vehicular communication environment. This paper provides a survey of the possible attacks in vehicular environment, as well as security and privacy concerns in VANET. It also provides an insight into the development of a comprehensive cloud framework to provide a more robust and secured communication among vehicular nodes and road side units. Our proposal, a Metropolitan Based Public Interconnected Vehicular Cloud (MIVC) infrastructure seeks to provide a more reliable and secured vehicular communication network.Keywords: mobile Ad-hoc networks, vehicular ad hoc network, cloud, ITS, road side units (RSU), metropolitan interconnected vehicular cloud (MIVC)
Procedia PDF Downloads 3597016 Functioning of Public Distribution System and Calories Intake in the State of Maharashtra
Authors: Balasaheb Bansode, L. Ladusingh
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The public distribution system is an important component of food security. It is a massive welfare program undertaken by Government of India and implemented by state government since India being a federal state; for achieving multiple objectives like eliminating hunger, reduction in malnutrition and making food consumption affordable. This program reaches at the community level through the various agencies of the government. The paper focuses on the accessibility of PDS at household level and how the present policy framework results in exclusion and inclusion errors. It tries to explore the sanctioned food grain quantity received by differentiated ration cards according to income criterion at household level, and also it has highlighted on the type of corruption in food distribution that is generated by the PDS system. The data used is of secondary nature from NSSO 68 round conducted in 2012. Bivariate and multivariate techniques have been used to understand the working and consumption of food for this paper.Keywords: calories intake, entitle food quantity, poverty aliviation through PDS, target error
Procedia PDF Downloads 3417015 Interactions within the School Setting and Their Potential Impact on the Wellbeing or Educational Success of High Ability Students: A Literature Review
Authors: Susan Burkett-McKee, Bruce Knight, Michelle Vanderburg
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The wellbeing and educational success of high ability students are interrelated concepts with each potentially hindering or enhancing the other. A student’s well-being and educational success are also influenced by intrapersonal and interpersonal factors. This presentation begins with an exploration of the literature pertinent to the wellbeing and educational success of this cohort before an ecological perspective is taken to discuss research into the impact of interactions within the school context. While the literature consistently states that interactions exchanged between high ability students and school community members impact the students’ wellbeing or educational success, no consensus has been reached about whether the impact is positive or negative. Findings from the review shared in this presentation inform an interpretative phenomenological study involving senior secondary students enrolled in inclusive Australian schools to highlight, from the students’ perspective, the ways school-based interactions impact their wellbeing or educational success.Keywords: educational success, interactions, literature review, wellbeing
Procedia PDF Downloads 3047014 The Nursing Experience in a Stroke Patient after Lumbar Surgery at Surgical Intensive Care Unit
Authors: Yu-Chieh Chen, Kuei-Feng Shen, Chia-Ling Chao
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The purpose of this report was to present the nursing experience and case of an unexpected cerebellar hemorrhagic stroke with acute hydrocephalus patient after lumbar spine surgery. The patient had been suffering from an emergent external ventricular drainage and stayed in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit from July 8, 2016, to July 22, 2016. During the period of the case, the data were collected for attendance, evaluation, observation, interview, searching medical record, etc. An integral evaluation of the patient's physiological 'psychological' social and spiritual states was also noted. The author noticed the following major nursing problems including ineffective cerebral perfusion 'physical activity dysfunction' family resource preparation for disability. The author provided nursing care to maintain normal intracranial pressure, along with a well-therapeutic relationship and applied interdisciplinary medical/nursing team to draft an individualized and appropriate nursing plan for them to face the psychosocial impact of the patient disabilities. We also actively participated in the rehabilitation treatments to improve daily activity and confidence. This was deemed necessary to empower them to a more positive attitude in the future.Keywords: family resourace preparation inability, hemorrhagic sroke, ineffective tissue cerebral perfusion, lumbar spine surgery
Procedia PDF Downloads 1237013 Chronic Pesticides Exposure and Certain Endocrine Functions Among Farmers in East Almnaif District, Ismailia, Egypt
Authors: Amani Waheed, Mostafa Kofi, Shaymaa Attia, Soha Younis, Basma Abdel Hadi
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Background: Exposure to pesticides is one of the most important occupational risks among farmers in developing countries. Along with the wide use of pesticides in the world, the concerns over their health impacts are rapidly growing. Objective: To investigate thyroid and reproductive hormones and fasting blood glucose levels among farmers chronically exposed to pesticide from East Almnaif district, Ismailia governorate. Methods: An analytical cross-sectional study was conducted on 43 farmers with active involvement pesticides handling and 43 participants not occupationally exposed to pesticides as the control group. A structured interview questionnaire measuring the sociodemographic characteristics, pesticides exposure characteristics, and safety measures was used. General examination including measurements of height, weight, and blood pressure was done. Moreover, levels of plasma cholinesterase enzyme (PChE), glucose, as well as reproductive and thyroid hormones (TSH, T4, and testosterone) were determined. Results: There were no statistically significant differences between both groups regarding their age, educational level, smoking status, and body mass index. The mean duration of exposure was 20.60 11.06 years. Majority of farmers (76.7%) did not use any personal protective equipment (PPE) during pesticides handling. The mean systolic blood pressure among exposed farmers was greater (134.88 17.18 mm Hg) compared to control group (125 14.69 mm Hg) with statistically significant difference (p = 0.003). The mean diastolic blood pressure was higher (84.02 8.69 mm Hg) compared to control group (78.79 8.98 mm Hg) with statistically significant difference (p = 0.006). The pesticide exposed farmers had statistically significant lower level of PChE (3969.93 1841U/L) than control group (4879.29 1950.08 U/L). Additionally, TSH level was significantly higher in exposed farmers (median =1.39µIU/ml) compared to controls (median = 0.91 µIU/ml) (p=0.032). While, the exposed group had a lower T4 level (6.91 1.91 µg/dl) compared to the control group (7.79 2.10µg/dl), with the statistically significant difference between the two groups (p = 0.045). The exposed group had significantly lower level of testosterone hormone (median=3.37 ng/ml) compared to the control group (median= 6.22 ng/ml) (p=0.003). While, the exposed farmers had statistically insignificant higher level of fasting blood glucose (median =89 mg/dl) than the controls (median=88 mg/dl). Furthermore, farmers who did not use PPE had statistically significant lower level of T4 (6.57 1.81µg/dl) than farmers who used PPE during handling of pesticides (8.01 1.89 µg/dl). Conclusion: Chronic exposure to pesticides exerts disturbing action on reproductive function and thyroid function of the male farmers.Keywords: chronic occupational pesticide exposure, Diabetes mellitus, male reproductive hormones, thyroid function
Procedia PDF Downloads 1387012 Comparison of an Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket and an Anaerobic Filter for Treating Wheat Straw Washwater
Authors: Syazwani Idrus, S. Charles J. Banks, Sonia Heaven
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The study compared the performance of upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors and anaerobic filters (AF) for the treatment of wheat straw washwater (WSW) which has a high concentration of Potassium ions. The trial was conducted at mesophilic temperatures (37 °C). The digesters were started up over a 48-day period using a synthetic wastewater feed and reached an organic loading rate (OLR) of 6 g COD L^-1 day^-1 with a specific methane production (SMP) of 0.333 L CH4 g^-1 COD. When the feed was switched to WSW it was not possible to maintain the same loading rate as the SMP in all reactors fell sharply to less than 0.1 L CH4 g^-1 COD, with the AF affected more than the UASB. On reducing the OLR to 3 g COD L^-1 day^-1 the reactors recovered to produce 0.21 L CH4 g^-1 CODadded and gave 82% COD removal. A discrepancy between the COD consumed and the methane produced could be accounted for through increased maintenance energy requirement of the microbial community for osmo-regulation as K+ was found to accumulate in the sludge and in the UASB reached a concentration of 4.5 mg K g^-1 wet weight of granules.Keywords: anaerobic digestion, osmotic stress, chemical oxygen demand, specific methane production
Procedia PDF Downloads 6587011 Fe-Doped Graphene Nanoparticles for Gas Sensing Applications
Authors: Shivani A. Singh, Pravin S. More
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In the present inspection, we indicate the falsification of Fe-doped graphene nanoparticles by modified Hummers method. Structural and physiochemical properties of the resulting pallets were explored with the help of ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) for graphene sample exhibits absorption peaks ~248nm. Pure graphene shows PL peak at 348 nm. After doping of Fe with graphene the PL peak shifted from 348 nm to 332 nm. The oxidation degree, i.e. the relative amount of oxygen functional groups was estimated from the relative intensities of the oxygen related bands (ORB) in the FTIR measurements. These analyses show that this modified material can be useful for gas sensing applications and to be used in diverse areas.Keywords: chemical doping, graphene, gas sensing, sensing
Procedia PDF Downloads 2207010 A Network-Theorical Perspective on Music Analysis
Authors: Alberto Alcalá-Alvarez, Pablo Padilla-Longoria
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The present paper describes a framework for constructing mathematical networks encoding relevant musical information from a music score for structural analysis. These graphs englobe statistical information about music elements such as notes, chords, rhythms, intervals, etc., and the relations among them, and so become helpful in visualizing and understanding important stylistic features of a music fragment. In order to build such networks, musical data is parsed out of a digital symbolic music file. This data undergoes different analytical procedures from Graph Theory, such as measuring the centrality of nodes, community detection, and entropy calculation. The resulting networks reflect important structural characteristics of the fragment in question: predominant elements, connectivity between them, and complexity of the information contained in it. Music pieces in different styles are analyzed, and the results are contrasted with the traditional analysis outcome in order to show the consistency and potential utility of this method for music analysis.Keywords: computational musicology, mathematical music modelling, music analysis, style classification
Procedia PDF Downloads 1097009 Role of Non-Renewable and Renewable Energy for Sustainable Electricity Generation in Malaysia
Authors: Hussain Ali Bekhet, Nor Hamisham Harun
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The main objective of this paper is to give a comprehensive review of non-renewable energy and renewable energy utilization in Malaysia, including hydropower, solar photovoltaic, biomass and biogas technologies. Malaysia mainly depends on non-renewable energy (natural gas, coal and crude oil) for electricity generation. Therefore, this paper provides a comprehensive review of the energy sector and discusses diversification of electricity generation as a strategy for providing sustainable energy in Malaysia. Energy policies and strategies to protect the non-renewable energy utilization also are highlighted, focusing in the different sources of energy available for high and sustained economic growth. Emphasis is also placed on a discussion of the role of renewable energy as an alternative source for the increase of electricity supply security. It is now evident that to achieve sustainable development through renewable energy, energy policies and strategies have to be well designed and supported by the government, industries (firms), and individual or community participation. The hope is to create a positive impact on sustainable development through renewable sources for current and future generations.Keywords: Malaysia, non-renewable energy, renewable energy, sustainable energy
Procedia PDF Downloads 4097008 Application of Distributed Value Property Zones Approach on the Hydraulic Conductivity for Real Site Located in Al-Najaf Region, Iraq to Investigate the Groundwater Resources
Authors: Hayder H. Kareem, Ayad K. Hussein, Aseel A. Alkatib
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Groundwater accumulated at geological formations constitutes a worldwide vital water resource component which can be used to supply agriculture, industry, and domestic uses. The subsurface environment is affected by human activities; consequently, planning and sustainable management of aquifers require serious attention, especially as the world is exposed to the problem of global warming. Establishing accurate and efficient groundwater models will provide confident results for the behavior of the aquifer's system. The new approach, 'Distributed Value Property Zones,' available in Visual MODFLOW, is used to reconstruct the subsurface zones of the Al-Najaf region aquifer, and then its effect is compared with those manual and automated (PEST) approaches. Results show that the model has become more accurate with the use of the new approach, as the calibration and results analyses revealed. The assessment of the Al-Najaf region groundwater aquifer has revealed a degree of insufficiency of the required pumping demand, which reflects dry areas in both of the aquifer's layers. In addition, with pumping, the Euphrates River loses water of 7458 m³/day to the aquifer, while without pumping, it gains 28837 m³/day from the rainfall's recharge. The distributed value property zones approach achieves a precise groundwater model to assess the state of the Al-Najaf region aquifer.Keywords: Al-Najaf region, distributed value property zones approach, hydraulic conductivity, groundwater modelling using visual MODFLOW
Procedia PDF Downloads 1757007 Competition in Petroleum Extraction and the Challenges of Climate Change
Authors: Saeid Rabiei Majd, Motahareh Alvandi, Bahareh Asefi
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Extraction of maximum natural resources is one of the common policies of governments, especially petroleum resources that have high economic and strategic value. The incentive to access and maintain profitable oil markets for governments or international oil companies, causing neglects them to pay attention to environmental principles and sustainable development, which in turn drives up environmental and climate change. Significant damage to the environment can cause severe damage to citizens and indigenous people, such as the compulsory evacuation of their zone due to contamination of water and air resources, destruction of animals and plants. Hawizeh Marshes is a common aquatic and environmental ecosystem along the Iran-Iraq border that also has oil resources. This marsh has been very rich in animal, vegetative, and oil resources. Since 1990, the political motives, the strategic importance of oil extraction, and the disregard for the environmental rights of the Iraqi and Iranian governments in the region have caused 90% of the marshes and forced migration of indigenous people. In this paper, we examine the environmental degradation factors resulting from the adoption of policies and practices of governments in this region based on the principles of environmental rights and sustainable development. Revision of the implementation of the government’s policies and natural resource utilization systems can prevent the spread of climate change, which is a serious international challenge today.Keywords: climate change, indigenous rights, petroleum operation, sustainable development principles, sovereignty on resources
Procedia PDF Downloads 1167006 Using Convergent and Divergent Thinking in Creative Problem Solving in Mathematics
Authors: Keng Keh Lim, Zaleha Ismail, Yudariah Mohammad Yusof
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This paper aims to find out how students using convergent and divergent thinking in creative problem solving to solve mathematical problems creatively. Eight engineering undergraduates in a local university took part in this study. They were divided into two groups. They solved the mathematical problems with the use of creative problem solving skills. Their solutions were collected and analyzed to reveal all the processes of problem solving, namely: problem definition, ideas generation, ideas evaluation, ideas judgment, and solution implementation. The result showed that the students were able to solve the mathematical problem with the use of creative problem solving skills.Keywords: convergent thinking, divergent thinking, creative problem solving, creativity
Procedia PDF Downloads 3527005 Creating an Impact through Environmental Law and Policy with a Focus on Environmental Science Restoration with Social Impacts
Authors: Lauren Beth Birney
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BOP-CCERS is a consortium of scientists, K-16 New York City students, faculty, academicians, teachers, stakeholders, STEM Industry professionals, CBO’s, NPO’s, citizen scientists, and local businesses working in partnership to restore New York Harbor’s oyster populations while at the same time providing clean water in New York Harbor. BOP-CCERS gives students an opportunity to learn hands-on about environmental stewardship as well as environmental law and policy by giving students real responsibility. The purpose of this REU will allow for the BOP CCERS Project to further broaden its parameters into the focus of environmental law and policy where further change can be affected. Creating opportunities for undergraduates to work collaboratively with graduate students in law and policy and envision themselves in STEM careers in the field of law continues to be of importance in this project. More importantly, creating opportunities for underrepresented students to pursue careers in STEM Education has been a goal of the project over the last ten years. By raising the level of student interest in community-based citizen science integrated into environmental law and policy, a more diversified workforce will be fostered through the momentum of this dynamic program. The continuing climate crisis facing our planet calls for 21st-century skill development that includes learning and innovation skills derived from critical thinking, which will help REU students address the issues of climate change facing our planet. The demand for a climate-friendly workforce will continue to be met through this community-based citizen science effort. Environmental laws and policies play a crucial role in protecting humans, animals, resources, and habitats. Without these laws, there would be no regulations concerning pollution or contamination of our waterways. Environmental law serves as a mechanism to protect the land, air, water, and soil of our planet. To protect the environment, it is crucial that future policymakers and legal experts both understand and value the importance of environmental protection. The Environmental Law and Policy REU provides students with the opportunity to learn, through hands-on work, the skills, and knowledge needed to help foster a legal workforce centered around environmental protection while participating alongside the BOP CCERS researchers in order to gain research experience. Broadening this area to law and policy will further increase these opportunities and permit students to ultimately affect and influence larger-scale change on a global level while further diversifying the STEM workforce. Students’ findings will be shared at the annual STEM Institute at Pace University in August 2022. Basic research methodologies include qualitative and quantitative analysis performed by the research team. Early findings indicate that providing students with an opportunity to experience, explore and participate in environmental science programs such as these enhances their interests in pursuing STEM careers in Law and Policy, with the focus being on providing opportunities for underserved, marginalized, and underrepresented populations.Keywords: environmental restoration science, citizen science, environmental law and policy, STEM education
Procedia PDF Downloads 1067004 Automatic Differentiation of Ultrasonic Images of Cystic and Solid Breast Lesions
Authors: Dmitry V. Pasynkov, Ivan A. Egoshin, Alexey A. Kolchev, Ivan V. Kliouchkin
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In most cases, typical cysts are easily recognized at ultrasonography. The specificity of this method for typical cysts reaches 98%, and it is usually considered as gold standard for typical cyst diagnosis. However, it is necessary to have all the following features to conclude the typical cyst: clear margin, the absence of internal echoes and dorsal acoustic enhancement. At the same time, not every breast cyst is typical. It is especially characteristic for protein-contained cysts that may have significant internal echoes. On the other hand, some solid lesions (predominantly malignant) may have cystic appearance and may be falsely accepted as cysts. Therefore we tried to develop the automatic method of cystic and solid breast lesions differentiation. Materials and methods. The input data were the ultrasonography digital images with the 256-gradations of gray color (Medison SA8000SE, Siemens X150, Esaote MyLab C). Identification of the lesion on these images was performed in two steps. On the first one, the region of interest (or contour of lesion) was searched and selected. Selection of such region is carried out using the sigmoid filter where the threshold is calculated according to the empirical distribution function of the image brightness and, if necessary, it was corrected according to the average brightness of the image points which have the highest gradient of brightness. At the second step, the identification of the selected region to one of lesion groups by its statistical characteristics of brightness distribution was made. The following characteristics were used: entropy, coefficients of the linear and polynomial regression, quantiles of different orders, an average gradient of brightness, etc. For determination of decisive criterion of belonging to one of lesion groups (cystic or solid) the training set of these characteristics of brightness distribution separately for benign and malignant lesions were received. To test our approach we used a set of 217 ultrasonic images of 107 cystic (including 53 atypical, difficult for bare eye differentiation) and 110 solid lesions. All lesions were cytologically and/or histologically confirmed. Visual identification was performed by trained specialist in breast ultrasonography. Results. Our system correctly distinguished all (107, 100%) typical cysts, 107 of 110 (97.3%) solid lesions and 50 of 53 (94.3%) atypical cysts. On the contrary, with the bare eye it was possible to identify correctly all (107, 100%) typical cysts, 96 of 110 (87.3%) solid lesions and 32 of 53 (60.4%) atypical cysts. Conclusion. Automatic approach significantly surpasses the visual assessment performed by trained specialist. The difference is especially large for atypical cysts and hypoechoic solid lesions with the clear margin. This data may have a clinical significance.Keywords: breast cyst, breast solid lesion, differentiation, ultrasonography
Procedia PDF Downloads 2737003 Regenerative Agriculture: A Green Economy Tool for a Sustainable Crop Production
Authors: Meisam Zargar, Yurii Pleskachov, Mostafa Abdelkader, Aldaibe Ahmed, Maryam Bayat, Malek H. Walli, Shimendi Okbagabir
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The increased need of humankind for foodstuffs highlights the intensification of agricultural production. It is necessary either to increase the size of the sown area or to look for new approaches to improve agricultural land productivity. Developing new areas for cultivation is possible due to the intensification of soil cultivation. Nevertheless, this will decrease the effectiveness of de-carbonization programs since this approach will inevitably increase greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, searching for new solutions to conserve natural resources while obtaining stable predicted crop yields is a vital scientific and technical task. For a long time, destructive land use methods have been used in crop production. The present stage of civilization's development and implementation of new techniques and methods of tillage and crops require the solution of technological, economic, and environmental problems simultaneously with the possibility of creating conditions for the regeneration of soil resources. Implementing these approaches became possible due to the development of new technology for the cultivation of crops based on the exact selective impact on the object of processing. This technology of particular effects of TIV combines the positive accumulated experience of traditional farming systems and resource-saving approaches. Particularly high-quality indicators and cost savings with introducing TIV can be achieved when used on row crops, including vegetables and melons.Keywords: agricultural machinery, vegetable, irrigation, strip system
Procedia PDF Downloads 367002 NK Cells Expansion Model from PBMC Led to a Decrease of CD4+ and an Increase of CD8+ and CD25+CD127- T-Reg Lymphocytes in Patients with Ovarian Neoplasia
Authors: Rodrigo Fernandes da Silva, Daniela Maira Cardozo, Paulo Cesar Martins Alves, Sophie Françoise Derchain, Fernando Guimarães
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T-reg lymphocytes are important for the control of peripheral tolerance. They control the adaptive immune system and prevent autoimmunity through its suppressive action on CD4+ and CD8+ lymphocytes. The suppressive action also includes B lymphocytes, dendritic cells, monocytes/macrophages and recently, studies have shown that T-reg are also able to inhibit NK cells, therefore they exert their control of the immune response from innate to adaptive response. Most tumors express self-ligands, therefore it is believed that T-reg cells induce tolerance of the immune system, hindering the development of successful immunotherapies. T-reg cells have been linked to the suppression mechanisms of the immune response against tumors, including ovarian cancer. The goal of this study was to disclose the sub-population of the expanded CD3+ lymphocytes reported by previous studies, using the long-term culture model designed by Carlens et al 2001, to generate effector cell suspensions enriched with cytotoxic CD3-CD56+ NK cells, from PBMC of ovarian neoplasia patients. Methods and Results: Blood was collected from 12 patients with ovarian neoplasia after signed consent: 7 benign (Bng) and 5 malignant (Mlg). Mononuclear cells were separated by Ficoll-Paque gradient. Long-term culture was conducted by a 21 day culturing process with SCGM CellGro medium supplemented with anti-CD3 (10ng/ml, first 5 days), IL-2 (1000UI/ml) and FBS (10%). After 21 days of expansion, there was an increase in the population of CD3+ lymphocytes in the benign and malignant group. Within CD3+ population, there was a significant decrease in the population of CD4+ lymphocytes in the benign (median Bgn D-0=73.68%, D-21=21.05%) (p<0.05) and malignant (median Mlg D-0=64.00%, D-21=11.97%) (p < 0.01) group. Inversely, after 21 days of expansion, there was an increase in the population of CD8+ lymphocytes within the CD3+ population in the benign (median Bgn D-0=16.80%, D-21=38.56%) and malignant (median Mlg D-0=27.12%, D-21=72.58%) group. However, this increase was only significant on the malignant group (p<0.01). Within the CD3+CD4+ population, there was a significant increase (p < 0.05) in the population of T-reg lymphocytes in the benign (median Bgn D-0=9.84%, D-21=39.47%) and malignant (median Mlg D-0=3.56%, D-21=16.18%) group. Statistical analysis inter groups was performed by Kruskal-Wallis test and intra groups by Mann Whitney test. Conclusion: The CD4+ and CD8+ sub-population of CD3+ lymphocytes shifts with the culturing process. This might be due to the process of the immune system to produce a cytotoxic response. At the same time, T-reg lymphocytes increased within the CD4+ population, suggesting a modulation of the immune response towards cells of the immune system. The expansion of the T-reg population can hinder an immune response against cancer. Therefore, an immunotherapy using this expansion procedure should aim to halt the expansion of T-reg or its immunosuppresion capability.Keywords: regulatory T cells, CD8+ T cells, CD4+ T cells, NK cell expansion
Procedia PDF Downloads 4567001 A Network Approach to Analyzing Financial Markets
Authors: Yusuf Seedat
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The necessity to understand global financial markets has increased following the unfortunate spread of the recent financial crisis around the world. Financial markets are considered to be complex systems consisting of highly volatile move-ments whose indexes fluctuate without any clear pattern. Analytic methods of stock prices have been proposed in which financial markets are modeled using common network analysis tools and methods. It has been found that two key components of social network analysis are relevant to modeling financial markets, allowing us to forecast accurate predictions of stock prices within the financial market. Financial markets have a number of interacting components, leading to complex behavioral patterns. This paper describes a social network approach to analyzing financial markets as a viable approach to studying the way complex stock markets function. We also look at how social network analysis techniques and metrics are used to gauge an understanding of the evolution of financial markets as well as how community detection can be used to qualify and quantify in-fluence within a network.Keywords: network analysis, social networks, financial markets, stocks, nodes, edges, complex networks
Procedia PDF Downloads 1977000 Jordan, Towards Eliminating Preventable Maternal Deaths
Authors: Abdelmanie Suleimat, Nagham Abu Shaqra, Sawsan Majali, Issam Adawi, Heba Abo Shindi, Anas Al Mohtaseb
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The Government of Jordan recognizes that maternal mortality constitutes a grave public health problem. Over the past two decades, there has been significant progress in improving the quality of maternal health services, resulting in improved maternal and child health outcomes. Despite these efforts, measurement and analysis of maternal mortality remained a challenge, with significant discrepancies from previous national surveys that inhibited accuracy. In response with support from USAID, the Jordan Maternal Mortality Surveillance Response (JMMSR) System was established to collect, analyze, and equip policymakers with data for decision-making guided by interdisciplinary multi-levelled advisory groups aiming to eliminate preventable maternal deaths, A 2016 Public Health Bylaw required the notification of deaths among women of reproductive age. The JMMSR system was launched in 2018 and continues annually, analyzing data received from health facilities, to guide policy to prevent avoidable deaths. To date, there have been four annual national maternal mortality reports (2018-2021). Data is collected, reviewed by advisory groups, and then consolidated in an annual report to inform and guide the Ministry of Health (MOH); JMMSR collects the necessary information to calculate an accurate maternal mortality ratio and assists in identifying leading causes and contributing factors for each maternal death. Based on this data, national response plans are created. A monitoring and evaluation plan was designed to define, track, and improve implementation through indicators. Over the past four years, one of these indicators, ‘percent of facilities notifying respective health directorates of all deaths of women of reproductive age,’ increased annually from 82.16%, 92.95%, and 92.50% to 97.02%, respectively. The Government of Jordan demonstrated commitment to the JMMSR system by designating the MOH to primarily host the system and lead the development and dissemination of policies and procedures to standardize implementation. The data was translated into practical and evidence-based recommendations. The successful impact of results deepened the understanding of maternal mortality in Jordan, which convinced the MOH to amend the Bylaw now mandating electronic reporting of all births and neonatal deaths from health facilities to empower the JMMSR system, by developing a stillbirths and neonatal mortality surveillance and response system.Keywords: maternal health, maternal mortality, preventable maternal deaths, maternal morbidity
Procedia PDF Downloads 446999 The Degree Project-Course in Swedish Teacher Education – Deliberative and Transformative Perspectives on the Formative Assessment Practice
Authors: Per Blomqvist
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The overall aim of this study is to highlight how the degree project-course in teacher education has developed over time at Swedish universities, above all regarding changes in the formative assessment practices in relation to student's opportunities to take part in writing processes that can develop both their independent critical thinking, subject knowledge, and academic writing skills. Theoretically, the study is based on deliberative and transformative perspectives of teaching academic writing in higher education. The deliberative perspective is motivated by the fact that it is the universities and their departments' responsibility to give the students opportunities to develop their academic writing skills, while there is little guidance on how this can be implemented. The transformative perspective is motivated by the fact that education needs to be adapted to the student's prior knowledge and developed in relation to the student group. Given the academisation of education and the new student groups, this is a necessity. The empirical data consists of video recordings of teacher groups' conversations at three Swedish universities. The conversations were conducted as so-called collective remembering interviews, a method to stimulate the participants' memory through social interaction, and focused on addressing issues on how the degree project-course in teacher education has changed over time. Topic analysis was used to analyze the conversations in order to identify common descriptions and expressions among the teachers. The result highlights great similarities in how the degree project-course has changed over time, both from a deliberative and a transformative perspective. The course is characterized by a “strong framing,” where the teachers have great control over the work through detailed instructions for the writing process and detailed templates for the text. This is justified by the fact that the education has been adapted based on the student teachers' lack of prior subject knowledge. The strong framing places high demands on continuous discussions between teachers about, for example, which tools the students have with them and which linguistic and textual tools are offered in the education. The teachers describe that such governance often leads to conflicts between teachers from different departments because reading and writing are always part of cultural contexts and are linked to different knowledge, traditions, and values. The problem that is made visible in this study raises questions about how students' opportunities to develop independence and make critical judgments in academic writing are affected if the writing becomes too controlled and if passing students becomes the main goal of education.Keywords: formative assessment, academic writing, degree project, higher education, deliberative perspective, transformative perspective
Procedia PDF Downloads 686998 Bringing German History to Tourists
Authors: Gudrun Görlitz, Christian Schölzel, Alexander Vollmar
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Sites of Jewish Life in Berlin 1933-1945. Between Persecution and Self-assertion” was realized in a project funded by the European Regional Development Fund. A smartphone app, and a associated web site enable tourists and other participants of this educational offer to learn in a serious way more about the life of Jews in the German capital during the Nazi era. Texts, photos, video and audio recordings communicate the historical content. Interactive maps (both current and historical) make it possible to use predefined or self combined routes. One of the manifold challenges was to create a broad ranged guide, in which all detailed information are well linked with each other. This enables heterogeneous groups of potential users to find a wide range of specific information, corresponding with their particular wishes and interests. The multitude of potential ways to navigate through the diversified information causes (hopefully) the users to utilize app and web site for a second or third time and with a continued interest. Therefore 90 locations, a lot of them situated in Berlin’s city centre, have been chosen. For all of them text-, picture and/or audio/video material gives extensive information. Suggested combinations of several of these “site stories” are leading to the offer of detailed excursion routes. Events and biographies are also presented. A few of the implemented biographies are especially enriched with source material concerning the aspect of (forced) migration of these persons during the Nazi time. All this was done in a close and fruitful interdisciplinary cooperation of computer scientists and historians. The suggested conference paper aims to show the challenges shaping complex source material for practical use by different user-groups in a proper technical and didactic way. Based on the historical research in archives, museums, libraries and digital resources the quantitative dimension of the project can be sized as follows: The paper focuses on the following historiographical and technical aspects: - Shaping the text material didactically for the use in new media, especially a Smartphone-App running on differing platforms; - Geo-referencing of the sites on historical and current map material; - Overlay of old and new maps to present and find the sites; - Using Augmented Reality technologies to re-visualize destroyed buildings; - Visualization of black-/white-picture-material; - Presentation of historical footage and the resulting problems to need too much storage space; - Financial and juridical aspects in gaining copyrights to present archival material.Keywords: smartphone app, history, tourists, German
Procedia PDF Downloads 378