Search results for: economic assessment

Authors: Danilsa Lorduy, Liliana Valle

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Assessment and evaluation are inextricable parts of the teaching learning process. Evaluation practices concerns are gaining popularity among curriculum developers an educational researchers, particularly in Colombian regions where English language is taught as a foreign language EFL. This study addressed one of those issues, which are the unbalanced in –services’ evaluation practices perceived in school classes. They present predominance on the written test among the procedures they use to evaluate; therefore, the purpose of this case study was to explore in-service teachers’ evaluation practices, their beliefs about evaluation and to establish an eventual connection between practices and beliefs. To this end, classroom observations, questionnaires, and a semi structured interview were applied to three in-service English teachers from different schools in a city in Colombia. The findings suggested that teachers’ beliefs indicate a formative inclination and they actually are using a variety of procedures different from test but they seem to have some issues regarding their appropriateness for application Moreover, it was found that teachers’ practices are being influenced by external factors such as school requirements and national policies. It could be concluded that the predominance in using tests is not only elicited by teachers’ beliefs but also by national test results 'Pruebas Saber' and law 115 demanding. It was also suggested that further quantitative research is needed to demonstrate connections between overuse of testing procedures and 'Pruebas Saber' national test.

Keywords: beliefs, evaluation, external factors, national test

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Authors: Pankaj Prashar, Bimlesh Kumar, Ankita Sood, Anamika Gautam

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Pharmacovigilance (PV) is a rapidly growing discipline in pharmaceutical industries as an integral part of clinical research and drug development over the past few decades. PV carries a breadth of scope from drug manufacturing to its regulation with safer utilization. The fundamental steps of PV not only includes data collection and verification, coding of drugs with adverse drug reactions, causality assessment and timely reporting to the authorities but also monitoring drug manufacturing, safety issues, product quality and conduction of due diligence. Standardization of adverse event information, collaboration of multiple departments in different companies, preparation of documents in accordance to both governmental as well as non-governmental organizations (FDA, EMA, GVP, ICH) are the advancements in discipline of PV. De-harmonization, lack of predictive drug safety models, improper funding by government, non-reporting, and non-acceptability of ADRs by developing countries and reports directly from patients to the monitoring centres respectively are the major road backs of PV. Mandatory pharmacovigilance reporting, frequent inspections, funding by government, educating and training medical students, pharmacists and nurses in this segment can bring about empowerment in PV. This area needs to be addressed with a sense of urgency for the safe utilization of pharmaceuticals.

Keywords: pharmacovigilance, regulatory, adverse event, drug safety

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Authors: Armando Cartenì, Ilaria Henke

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Recently, the Italian government has approved a new law for public contracts and has been laying the groundwork for restarting a planning phase. The government has adopted the indications given by the European Commission regarding the estimation of the external costs within the Cost-Benefit Analysis, and has been approved the ‘Guidelines for assessment of Investment Projects’. In compliance with the new Italian law, the aim of this research was to perform a feasibility study applying quantitative methods regarding the revamping of an Italian tourist railway line. A Cost-Benefit Analysis was performed starting from the quantification of the passengers’ demand potentially interested in using the revamped rail services. The benefits due to the external costs reduction were also estimated (quantified) in terms of variations (with respect to the not project scenario): climate change, air pollution, noises, congestion, and accidents. Estimations results have been proposed in terms of the Measure of Effectiveness underlying a positive Net Present Value equal to about 27 million of Euros, an Internal Rate of Return much greater the discount rate, a benefit/cost ratio equal to 2 and a PayBack Period of 15 years.

Keywords: cost-benefit analysis, evaluation analysis, demand management, external cost, transport planning, quality

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Authors: Hanli Joubert

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In South Africa, teaching large classes is a reality that lecturers face in most higher institutions. When teaching a large group, literature normally refers to groups of about 50 to 500 students. At the University of the Free State, the first-year accounting group comprises around 1300 students. Apart from extremely large classes, the problem is exacerbated by the diversity of students’ previous schooling in accounting as well as their socio-economic backgrounds. The university scenario is further complicated by a lack of venues, compressed timetables, as well as lack of resources. This study aims to investigate the challenges and effectiveness of teaching a large and diverse group of first-year accounting students by drawing from personal experience, a literature study, interviews with other lecturers as well as students registered for first year accounting. The results reveal that teaching first-year accounting students in a large group is not the ideal situation but that it can be effective if it is managed correctly.

Keywords: diverse backgrounds, large groups, limited resources, first-year accounting students

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Authors: Yulia Totskaya

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Nowadays, society is in a postindustrial/informational phase of its development. Certain changes have occurred in different parts of society life as a result of the social reality transformations due to the influence of changes in the productive forces. As a result, the personality has received autonomy and independence, as in her or his hands appeared new means of production–information, knowledge, creativity. In such a society, there is a new middle class, which is called meritocratic. It consists of personalities, who are engaged in highly intelligent, creative work; who independently pursue their own well-being and status; who are active in the economic and social spheres. At the forefront there are such qualities as independence, commitment and self-actualization. This modern, intellectual and sovereign personality is no longer in need of care. The role of management has transformed from a paternalistic to the "service", which is aimed at creating the conditions for citizens’ self-realization to meet their needs through the rendering of public services. Such society alterations motivate the need to change the key parameters of social management, which are identified in this article on the basis of the postindustrial society key features.

Keywords: informational society, postindustrial society, postindustrial sociality, public services, social management

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Authors: A. Nguyen, K. Nguyen, J. Jackson, E. Manlapig

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With the recent advancement in core imaging systems, a large volume of high resolution drill core images can now be collected rapidly. This paper presents a method for rapid prediction of ore-specific breakage parameters from high resolution mineral classified core images. The aim is to allow for a rapid assessment of the variability in ore hardness within a mineral deposit with reduced amount of physical breakage tests. This method sees its application primarily in project evaluation phase, where proper evaluation of the variability in ore hardness of the orebody normally requires prolong and costly metallurgical test work program. Applying this image-based texture analysis method on mineral classified core images, the ores are classified according to their textural characteristics. A small number of physical tests are performed to produce a dataset used for developing the relationship between texture classes and measured ore hardness. The paper also presents a case study in which this method has been applied on core samples from a copper porphyry deposit to predict the ore-specific breakage A*b parameter, obtained from JKRBT tests.

Keywords: geometallurgy, hyperspectral drill core imaging, process simulation, texture analysis

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Authors: Ju Yeon Lee, Seol Ah Oh, Hong il Kim, Hae Yong Do, Sung Won Choi

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The purpose of this study was to develop a Well-being and Moments Scale (WAMS) for evaluating the efficacy of ‘vacationing’ as a form of mental health recuperation. ‘Vacationing’ is defined as a going outside one’s usual environment to seek refreshment and relief from one’s daily life. To develop WAMS, we followed recommended procedures for scale development, including reviewing related studies, conducting focus group interviews to elucidate the need for this assessment area, and modifying items based on expert opinion. Through this process, we developed the WAMS. The psychometric properties of the WAMS were then tested in two separate samples. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted using 1.41 participants (mean age = 30.45 years; range: 20-50 years) to identify the underlying 3-factor structure of 'Positive Emotions', 'Life Satisfaction' and 'Self-Confidence.' The 26 items retained based on the EFA procedures were associated with excellent reliability (i.e., α = 0.93). Confirmatory factor analysis was then conducted using 200 different participants (mean age = 29.51 years; range: 20-50 years) and revealed good model fit for our hypothesized 3-factor model. Convergent validity tests also revealed correlations with other scales in the expected direction and range. Study limitations as well as the importance and utility of WMAS are also discussed.

Keywords: vacationing, positive affect, life satisfaction, self-confidence, WAMS

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Authors: Phil P. Wagner

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There is an overwhelming amount of athlete-centric information available for sport practitioners in this era of tech and big data, but protocols in athletic rehabilitation remain arbitrary. It is a common assumption that the rate at which tissue heals amongst individuals is the same; yielding protocols that are entirely time-based. Progressing athletes through rehab programs that lack individualization can potentially expose athletes to stimuli they are not prepared for or unnecessarily lengthen their recovery period. A 7-year aggregated and anonymous database was used to develop reliable and valid assessments to measure athletic resilience. Each assessment utilizes force plate technology with proprietary protocols and analysis to provide key thresholds for injury risk and recovery. Using a T score to analyze movement qualities, much like the Z score used for bone density from a Dexa scan, specific prescriptions are provided to mitigate the athlete’s inherent injury risk. In addition to obliging to surgical clearance, practitioners must put in place a clearance protocol guided by standardized assessments and achievement in strength thresholds. In order to truly hold individuals accountable (practitioners, athletic trainers, performance coaches, etc.), success in improving pre-defined key performance indicators must be frequently assessed and analyzed.

Keywords: analytics, athlete rehabilitation, athlete resilience, injury prediction, injury prevention

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Authors: Nithya Devi

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Poverty, hunger and water scarcity are threats to human rights and are assaults on human dignity. The very existence of man is questioned when his basic rights are violated. Addressing this social phenomenon should be a key objective of any human rights discourse. The origins of these problems have various root causes. For Asia, colonisation was an essential factor that caused great inequalities in the distribution of wealth. In the post-colonial era, the colonised states were developing nations grappling with these issues. Today, some of the developing states have progressed to developed nations. However, others remain as economically vulnerable countries. Within states, the widening income gap poses further threat to human rights. Hence ASEAN states have prioritised socio-economic rights, particularly basic needs, in the human rights discourse in this region. To date, poverty and development goals are given primary importance. This paper seeks to show how a human rights approach has dealt with poverty and development goals in this region and evaluates its effectiveness in addressing these concerns.

Keywords: ASEAN, development, human rights, poverty

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Authors: Jhansi Rani Boda, G. Sunitha

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Worldwide, the financial markets are influenced by several factors such as the changes in economic and political processes that occur in the country and the globe, information diffusion and approachability and so on. Yet, the foremost important factor is the investor’s reaction and perception. For an individual investor, decision-making process can be perceived as a continuous process that has significant impact of their psychology while making investment decisions. Behavioral finance relies on research of human and social recognition and emotional tolerance studies to identify and understand the investment decisions. This article aims to report the research of individual investor’s financial behavior in a historical perspective. This article uncovers the investor’s psychology in investment decision making focusing on the investor’s rationality with an explanation of psychological and emotional factors that affect investing. The results of the study are revealed by means of Graphical visualization.

Keywords: behavioral finance, psychology, investor’s behavior, psychological and emotional factors

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Authors: Vaclav Mentl, P. Zlabek, J. Volak

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New methods of mechanical testing were developed recently that are based on making use of miniature test specimens (e.g. Small Punch Test). The most important advantage of these method is the nearly non-destructive withdrawal of test material and small size of test specimen what is interesting in cases of remaining lifetime assessment when a sufficient volume of the representative material cannot be withdrawn of the component in question. In opposite, the most important disadvantage of such methods stems from the necessity to correlate test results with the results of standardised test procedures and to build up a database of material data in service. The correlations among the miniature test specimen data and the results of standardised tests are necessary. The paper describes the results of fatigue tests performed on miniature tests specimens in comparison with traditional fatigue tests for several steels applied in power producing industry. Special miniature test specimens fixtures were designed and manufactured for the purposes of fatigue testing at the Zwick/Roell 10HPF5100 testing machine. The miniature test specimens were produced of the traditional test specimens. Seven different steels were fatigue loaded (R = 0.1) at room temperature.

Keywords: mechanical properties, miniature test specimens, correlations, small punch test, micro-tensile test, mini-charpy impact test

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Authors: Oleg Oborin

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This paper is dedicated to the development of the model, which can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of long-term corporate strategies and identify the best strategies. The theoretical model of the relatively homogenous product market (such as iron and steel industry, mobile services or road transport) has been developed. In the model, the market consists of a large number of companies with different internal characteristics and objectives. The companies can perform mergers and acquisitions in order to increase their market share. The model allows the simulation of long-time dynamics of the market (for a period longer than 20 years). Therefore, a large number of simulations on random input data was conducted in the framework of the model. After that, the results of the model were compared with the dynamics of real markets, such as the US steel industry from the beginning of the XX century to the present day, and the market of mobile services in Germany for the period between 1990 and 2015.

Keywords: Economic Modelling, Long-Time Strategy, Mergers and Acquisitions, Simulation

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Authors: F. Gökgöz, M. E. Atmaca

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Electricity has an indispensable role in human daily life, technological development and economy. It is a special product or service that should be instantaneously generated and consumed. Sources of the world are limited so that effective and efficient use of them is very important not only for human life and environment but also for technological and economic development. Competitive electricity market is one of the important way that provides suitable platform for effective and efficient use of electricity. Besides benefits, it brings along some risks that should be carefully managed by a market player like Electricity Generation Company. Risk management is an essential part in market players’ decision making. In this paper, risk management through diversification is applied with the help of Value at Risk methods for case studies. Performance of optimal electricity sale solutions are measured and the portfolio performance has been evaluated via Sharpe-Ratio, and compared with conventional approach. Biennial historical electricity price data of Turkish Day Ahead Market are used to demonstrate the approach.

Keywords: electricity market, portfolio optimization, risk management, value at risk

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Authors: Seyed Ebrahim Hosseini, Shahbaz Pervez

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As people go through aging, maintenance and improvement of the quality of life become more important for them. To know the role of smartphone technology and communications applications on quality of life, a sample group of old people living in Dar-Iran was selected for a quasi-experimental study. The participants were registered senior inhabitants from public health centers in Dar, Iran in 2022. The number of participants was 39. Participants were randomly categorized into intervention and control groups. A validated Persian version of the Control, Autonomy, Self-realisation, Pleasure scale (CASP-19) scale questionnaire was provided for them which answers were used for the quality of life assessment. The paired t-test between pre-and post-test (t= -8.45, p<.00), post-and follow-up-test (t= -2.12, p=.01), and pre-test and the follow-up test (t= -8.27, p<.00) in the intervention group revealed a considerable mean difference. Based on the results of paired t-test for the control group, this was not significant between pre-test and post-test (t= 1.26, p=.15), post-test and follow-up test (t= .33, p=.67) and pre-test and follow-up test (t= 1.85, p=.08) for quality of life. Considering the educational training associated with it, this study aimed at helping families and aging field practitioners to understand the essentiality of modern communication technology teaching in promoting a greater life quality of the elderly’s community.

Keywords: Iranian elderly, quality of life, smartphone, social applications, CASP-19

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Authors: H. Saadi-Idouhar, A. Smai, S. Zenia, F. Haddadj, A. Saadi, M. Aissi, S. Doumandji

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In Algeria, the Partridge gambra is a highly sought-after game species and is appreciated for its meat. Game birds are of interest because they play an important role for hunting federations and for the economy of a country. The breeding of indigenous breeds is necessary because it is of great economic interest. However, gambra breeding in the hunting centre of Zeralda (northern west of Algiers) is not easy, several diseases affecting Perdreaux and reproducing adults have been noted. Most of the diseases observed are parasitic in origin. This study is conducted during the 2010 breeding season. It is based on the autopsy of cadavers collected at the hunting centre and parasitic coprology. Indeed, the flotation enrichment method has identified several parasites such as Eimeria spp., Capillaria spp., and Ascaridia spp. Autopsied corpses show the importance of two major diseases, syngamosis caused to Syngamus trachea and histomonosis caused to Histomonas meleagridis.

Keywords: partridge, livestock, eggs, affections pathology

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Authors: Mojtaba Heydarizad

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Khorasan Razavi is the second most important province in north-east of Iran, which faces a water shortage crisis due to recent droughts and huge water consummation. Kardeh and Torogh dam reservoirs in this province provide a notable part of Mashhad metropolitan (with more than 4.5 million inhabitants) potable water needs. Hydrochemical analyses on these dam reservoirs samples demonstrate that MgHCO₃ in Kardeh and CaHCO₃ and to lower extent MgHCO₃ water types in Torogh dam reservoir are dominant. On the other hand, Gibbs binary diagram demonstrates that rock weathering is the main factor controlling water quality in dam reservoirs. Plotting dam reservoir samples on Mg²⁺/Na⁺ and HCO₃^-/Na⁺ vs. Ca²⁺/ Na⁺ diagrams demonstrate evaporative and carbonate mineral dissolution is the dominant rock weathering ion sources in these dam reservoirs. Cluster Analyses (CA) also demonstrate intense role of rock weathering mainly (carbonate and evaporative minerals dissolution) in water quality of these dam reservoirs. Studying water quality by the U.S. National Sanitation Foundation (NSF) WQI index NSF-WQI, Oregon Water Quality Index (OWQI) and Canadian Water Quality Index DWQI index show moderate and good quality.

Keywords: hydrochemistry, water quality classification, water quality indexes, Torogh and Kardeh dam reservoir

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Authors: K. Biswas, U. H. Armin, S. M. J. Prodhan, J. A. Prithul, S. Sarker, F. Afrin

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Alzheimer’s disease (AD) (a progressive neurodegenerative disorder) is mostly predominant cause of dementia in the elderly. Prolonging the function of acetylcholine by inhibiting both acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase is most effective treatment therapy of AD. Traditionally Pterocarpus santalinus L. is widely known for its medicinal use. In this study, in vitro acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity was investigated and methanolic extract of the plant showed significant activity. To confirm this activity (in vivo), learning and memory enhancing effects were tested in mice. For the test, memory impairment was induced by scopolamine (cholinergic muscarinic receptor antagonist). Anti-amnesic effect of the extract was investigated by the passive avoidance task in mice. The study also includes brain acetylcholinesterase activity. Results proved that scopolamine induced cognitive dysfunction was significantly decreased by administration of the extract solution, in the passive avoidance task and inhibited brain acetylcholinesterase activity. These results suggest that bark extract of Pterocarpus santalinus can be better option for further studies on AD via their acetylcholinesterase inhibitory actions.

Keywords: Pterocarpus santalinus, cholinesterase inhibitor, passive avoidance, Alzheimer’s disease

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Authors: Ariful Islam, Showkat Ahmad Lone

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Statistical distributions have long been employed in the assessment of semiconductor devices and product reliability. The power function-distribution is one of the most important distributions in the modern reliability practice and can be frequently preferred over mathematically more complex distributions, such as the Weibull and the lognormal, because of its simplicity. Moreover, it may exhibit a better fit for failure data and provide more appropriate information about reliability and hazard rates in some circumstances. This study deals with estimating information about failure times of items under step-stress partially accelerated life tests for competing risk based on adoptive type-I progressive hybrid censoring criteria. The life data of the units under test is assumed to follow Mukherjee-Islam distribution. The point and interval maximum-likelihood estimations are obtained for distribution parameters and tampering coefficient. The performances of the resulting estimators of the developed model parameters are evaluated and investigated by using a simulation algorithm.

Keywords: adoptive progressive hybrid censoring, competing risk, mukherjee-islam distribution, partially accelerated life testing, simulation study

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Authors: Zohre Soleymani, Meisam Amirzadeh

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Many products are safety critical, so proactive analysis techniques are vital for them because these techniques try to identify potential failures before the products are produced. Failure Mode and Effective Analysis (FMEA) is an effective tool in identifying probable problems of product or process and prioritizing them and planning for its elimination. The paper shows the implementation of FMEA process to identify and remove potential troubles of aero fuel pumps manufacturing process and improve the reliability of subsystems. So the different possible causes of failure and its effects along with the recommended actions are discussed. FMEA uses Risk Priority Number (RPN) to determine the risk level. RPN value is depending on Severity(S), Occurrence (O) and Detection (D) parameters, so these parameters need to be determined. After calculating the RPN for identified potential failure modes, the corrective actions are defined to reduce risk level according to assessment strategy and determined acceptable risk level. Then FMEA process is performed again and RPN revised is calculated. The represented results are applied in the format of a case study. These results show the improvement in manufacturing process and considerable reduction in aero fuel pump production risk level.

Keywords: FMEA, risk priority number, aero pump, corrective action

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Authors: Narender Banwala

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The study critically evaluates that the politics of foreign aid and its effect on Afghanistan. The study argues that dynamics of foreign aid to Afghanistan are not driven solely by the Afghan political, social, and economic realities but much more by the ephemeral political goals of international donor countries. The objective of this paper is to find out the political reality of foreign aid given to Afghanistan in a post 9/11 era. The study analyses the gap between the donor countries' interests and the Afghan government's priorities in aid coordination and management. The aid given to Afghanistan has been accompanied by the political interests of the major powers and therefore violated the core principles of humanitarianism, i.e., humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence. This research attempts to explain the areas which are of high priority, extremely vulnerable, and have been a neglected part since 2001. The study focuses on how as a result of politicization, foreign aid could not yield the expected results even after prolong presence of international donors in Afghanistan. Methodologically, the study includes both qualitative and quantitative data, which are collected by interviews with government officials and other government documents.

Keywords: Afganistan, aid, politics, security

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Authors: Khaled Elbehiery, Hussam Elbehiery

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Smart cities are a framework of technologies along with sustainable infrastructure to provide their citizens an improved quality of life, safer environment, affordability, and more, which in turn helps with the society's economic growth. The proposed research will focus on the primary building block of the smart city; the infrastructure of the house itself. The traditional method of building houses has been, for a long time, nothing but a costly manufacturing process, and consequently, buying a house becomes not an option for everyone anymore. The smart cities' Modular Houses are not using traditional building construction materials; the design reduces the common lengthy construction times and associated high costs. The Modular Houses are technological homes, low-cost and customizable based on a family's requirements. In addition, the Modular Houses are environmentally friendly and healthy enough to assist with the pandemic situation.

Keywords: smart cities, modular houses, single-unit property, multi-unit property, mobility features, chain-supply, livable environment, carbon footprint

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Authors: Gladie Lui

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The global credit crisis of 2008 aroused renewed interest in the effectiveness of corporate governance mechanisms to safeguard investor interests. In this paper, we measure the effect of the crisis from 2008 to 2009 on the stock performance of 976 Hong Kong-listed companies and examine its link to corporate governance mechanisms. It is evident that the crisis and the economic downturn affected different industries. Empirical results show that firms with an independent board and a high concentration of ownership and management ownership had lower abnormal stock returns, but a lower price volatility during the global financial crisis. These results highlight that no single corporate governance mechanism is fit for all types of financial crises and time frames. To strengthen investors’ confidence in the ability of companies to deal with such swift financial catastrophes, companies should enhance the dynamism and responsiveness of their governance mechanisms in times of turbulence.

Keywords: board of directors, capital market, corporate governance, financial crisis

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Authors: Mohammad Reza Abidi, Zahra Nourouz Pour, Mehdi Moudi

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In this research, firstly critical success factors and deterrent factors in implementing projects and also the factors those cause information technology productivity (IT) paradox in Islamic Azad University, Zahedan branch examined. Research method of this paper is descriptive. In fact, the researcher by using survey, proposed useful solutions. In this research, subjects’ responders to questionnaires items were based on Likert scale. In the questionnaire, economic, technical, organizational and cultural factors in the university have been assessed in order to obtain the necessary validity. We used masters and technicians of IT department’s advices to realize reliability and consistency. For the reliability test we used Cronbach’s reliability test and validity has been obtained using SPSS software. Because of the research questions and objectives, t-student test is used for hypothesis testing. Finally we analyze the findings, we offer conclusions and suggestions.

Keywords: IT projects, Islamic Azad University, success factors, deterrent factors

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Authors: Raimi Abiodun Moronfolu, Anthonia Olusola Moronfolu

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The purpose of this study was to assess athlete’s preparation and quality of opponent as determinants of self-efficacy among university athletes in south-west Nigeria. The descriptive research method was employed in conducting the study. A total of 200 athletes, selected from 4 universities in South-West geopolitical zone of Nigeria through a stratified random sampling technique, were used in the study. The instrument used for data collection was a self-structured questionnaire named ‘Athletes Self-Efficacy Assessment Questionnaire (ASAQ)’. This was developed by the researchers and face validated by three experts in sports psychology. The test-retest method was used in establishing the reliability of the instrument (r=0.79). A total of 200 copies of the validated ASAQ were administered on selected respondents using the spot method. The data collected was used to develop a frequency distribution table for analysis. The descriptive statistics of percentage was used in presenting the data collected, while inferential statistics of linear regression was used in drawing inferences at a 0.05 level of significance. The findings indicated that athlete’s preparation and quality of opponent were significant determinants of self-efficacy among university athletes in South-West Nigeria.

Keywords: athletes, preparation, opponent, self-efficacy

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Authors: Oumayma Hilal

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The devastating earthquake in Marrakech-El Haouz in September 2023 underscores the critical need for sustainable tourism practices. This study proposes innovative approaches to territory tourism, prioritizing resilient and sustainable development to aid recovery and empower local communities. Using a mixed-methods approach, the research evaluates post-earthquake tourism impacts, gathers local perspectives, and benchmarks global models for disaster recovery through tourism. The paper aims to offer practical, community-centric tourism initiatives, integrated with strategic communication strategies, to enhance socio-economic welfare and ensure long-term resilience. The findings are expected to contribute significantly to sustainable tourism literature in post-disaster contexts and provide actionable strategies for the revitalization of the Marrakech-El Haouz region.

Keywords: sustainable tourism, community development, Marrakech El Haouz, communication strategies, territory tourism, sustainable tourism, community development

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Authors: Arun Karoriya, Mrinal Agrawal

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Health is one of the basic requirements of human being. And today India is facing a major degradation of health at every age group. As society evolves and flourishes, there are different types of rules, norms, standards which are required to control the conduct of the human being for its well-being and growth. Right to health is one of those aspects that can be counted, discovered and examined under the purview of constitutional provisions of India. The condition of health is at downfall despite the fact that there are several policies framed by the government. There is an urgent call for rigid public health laws to ensure safe and disease free society. The effectiveness of health law has to be examined by keeping in mind that it is hampering growth and economy and society establishment. Health in any society is a main social aspect as it plays a major role for economic development. The multidimensional approach to determine it is by discussing i) rational selection and use of medicines ii) sustainable adequate financing iii) affordable prices iv)reliable health and supply systems.

Keywords: degradation, flourish, multidimensional, policies

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Authors: Christoph Koester

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Supplier selection is one of the key issues in supply chain management with a growing emphasis on sustainability driven by increasing stakeholder expectations and proactivity. In addition, new regulations, such as the German Supply Chain Act, fostered the inclusion of sustainable incl. governance selection criteria in the selection process. In order to provide a systematic approach to select the most suitable sustainable suppliers, this study quantifies the importance and prioritizes the relevant selection criteria across 17 German industries using the Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process. Results show that economic criteria are still the most important in the selection decision averaging a global weight of 51%. However, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria are combined, on average, almost equally important, with global weights of 22%, 16%, and 11%, respectively. While the type of industry influences criteria weights, other factors, such as type of purchasing or demographic factors, appear to have little impact.

Keywords: ESG, fuzzy analytical hierarchy process, sustainable supplier selection, sustainability

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Authors: Arindam Roy

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Public policy is an intriguing terrain, which involves complex interplay of administrative, social political and economic components. There is hardly any fit-for all formulation of public policy as Lindbloom has aptly categorized it as a science of muddling through. In fact, policies are both temporally and contextually determined as one the proponents of policy sciences Harold D Lasswell has underscored it in his ‘contextual-configurative analysis’ as early as 1950s. Though, a lot of theoretical efforts have been made to make sense of this intricate dynamics of policy making, at the end of the day the applied area of public policy negates any such uniform, planned and systematic formulation. However, our policy makers seem to have learnt very little of that. Until recently, policy making was deemed as an absolutely specialized exercise to be conducted by a cadre of professionally trained seasoned mandarin. Attributes like homogeneity, impartiality, efficiency, and neutrality were considered as the watchwords of delivering common goods. Citizen or clientele was conceptualized as universal political or economic construct, to be taken care of uniformly. Moreover, policy makers usually have the proclivity to put anything into straightjacket, and to ignore the nuances therein. Hence, least attention has been given to the ground level reality, especially the socio-cultural milieu where the policy is supposed to be applied. Consequently, a substantial amount of public money goes in vain as the intended beneficiaries remain indifferent to the delivery of public policies. The present paper in the light of Reproductive Health Care policy in rural West Bengal has tried to underscore the criticality of socio-cultural factors in public health delivery. Indian health sector has traversed a long way. From a near non-existent at the time of independence, the Indian state has gradually built a country-wide network of health infrastructure. Yet it has to make a major breakthrough in terms of coverage and penetration of the health services in the rural areas. Several factors are held responsible for such state of things. These include lack of proper infrastructure, medicine, communication, ambulatory services, doctors, nursing services and trained birth attendants. Policy makers have underlined the importance of supply side in policy formulation and implementation. The successive policy documents concerning health delivery bear the testimony of it. The present paper seeks to interrogate the supply-side oriented explanations for the failure of the delivery of health services. Instead, it identified demand side to find out the answer. The state-led and bureaucratically engineered public health measures fail to engender demands as these measures mostly ignore socio-cultural nuances of health and well-being. Hence, the hiatus between supply side and demand side leads to huge wastage of revenue as health infrastructure, medicine and instruments remain unutilized in most cases. Therefore, taking proper cognizance of these factors could have streamlined the delivery of public health.

Keywords: context, policy, socio-cultural factor, uniformity

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Authors: Moses Oghenenyoreme Eyankware, Christian Ogubuchi Ede

Abstract:

Groundwater is the principal source for various uses in this study area. The quality and availability of groundwater depend on rock formation within the study area. To effectively study the quality of groundwater, 24 groundwater samples were collected. The study was aimed at investigating the hydrogeochemistry of groundwater, and additionally its suitability for drinking and irrigation purposes. The following parameters were analyzed using the American Public Health Association standard method: pH, turbidity, Ec, TDS, Mg2+, SO42-, NO3¯, Cl-, HCO3¯, K+, Na2+ and Ca2+. Results obtained from Water Quality Index revealed that the groundwater sample fell within good water quality that implies that groundwater is considered fit for drinking purposes. Deduced results obtained from irrigation indices revealed that Permeability Index (PI), Soluble Sodium Percentage (SSP), Sodium Percentage (Na %), Sodium Absorption Ratio (SAR), Kelly Ratio (KR), Magnesium Hazard (MH) ranges from 0.00 to 0.01, 4.04 to 412.9, 0.63 to 257.7, 0.15 to 2.34, 0.09 to 2.57 and 6.84 to 84.55 respectively. Findings from Total hardness revealed that groundwater fell within soft, moderately hard and hard categories. Estimated results obtained from CSMR, RI and LSI showed that groundwater showed corrosion tendency, salinization influenced groundwater at certain sampling points and chloride and sulfate unlikely to interfere with natural formation film.

Keywords: water, quality, suitability, anthropogenic, Nigeria

Procedia PDF Downloads 229

Authors: Rudolf L. Kanyane, Nicolaus Malatji, Patritia A. Popoola

Abstract:

Tribological failure of materials during application can lead to catastrophic events which also carry economic penalties. High entropy alloys (HEAs) have shown outstanding tribological properties in applications such as mechanical parts were moving parts under high friction are required. This work aims to investigate the effect of sintering temperature on microhardness properties and tribological properties of novel equiatomic TiAlMoSiW HEAs fabricated via spark plasma sintering. The effect of Spark plasma sintering temperature on morphological evolution and phase formation was also investigated. The microstructure and the phases formed for the developed HEAs were examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffractometry (XRD) respectively. The microhardness and tribological properties were studied using a diamond base microhardness tester Rtec tribometer. The developed HEAs showed improved mechanical properties as the sintering temperature increases.

Keywords: sintering, high entropy alloy, microhardness, tribology

Procedia PDF Downloads 140