Search results for: consumers’ responses

Authors: Raveendranath Veeramani, Parkash Chand, H. Y. Suma, A. Umamageswari

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Background and Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate students’ perception of Integrated Learning Program[ILP]. Settings and Design: A questionnaire was used to survey and evaluate the perceptions of 1styear MBBS students at the Department of Anatomy at our medical college in India. Materials and Methods: The first MBBS Students of Anatomy were involved in the ILP on the Liver and extra hepatic biliary apparatus integrating the Departments of Anatomy, Biochemistry and Hepato-biliary Surgery. The evaluation of the ILP was done by two sets of short questionnaire that had ten items using the Likert five-point grading scale. The data involved both the students’ responses and their grading. Results: A majority of students felt that the ILP was better in as compared to the traditional lecture method of teaching.The integrated teaching method was better at fulfilling learning objectives (128 students, 83%), enabled better understanding (students, 94%), were more interesting (140 students, 90%), ensured that they could score better in exams (115 students, 77%) and involved greater interaction (100 students, 66%), as compared to traditional teaching methods. Most of the students (142 students, 95%) opined that more such sessions should be organized in the future. Conclusions: Responses from students show that the integrated learning session should be incorporated even at first phase of MBBS for selected topics so as to create interest in the medical sciences at the entry level and to make them understand the importance of basic science.

Keywords: integrated learning, students response, vertical integration, horizontal integration

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Authors: Victoria Masi Haruna Karatu, Nik Kamariah Nikmat

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In recent times awareness about the environment and green purchase has been on the increase across nations due to global warming. Previous researchers have attempted to determine what actually influences the purchase intention of consumers in this environmentally conscious epoch. The consumers too have become conscious of what to buy and who to buy from in their purchasing decisions as this action will reflect their concern about the environment and their personal well-being. This trend is a widespread phenomenon in most developed countries of the world. On the contrary evidence revealed that only 5% of the populations of Nigeria involve in green purchase activities thus making the country lag behind its counterparts in green practices. This is not a surprise as Nigeria is facing problems of inadequate green knowledge, non-enforcement of environmental regulations, sensitivity to the price of green products when compared with the conventional ones and distrust towards green products which has been deduced from prior studies of other regions. The main objectives of this study is to examine the direct antecedents of green purchase intention (green availability, government regulations, perceived green knowledge, perceived value and green price sensitivity) in Nigeria and secondly to establish the mediating role of perceived behavioral control on the relationship between these antecedents and green purchase intention. The study adopts quantitative method whereby 700 questionnaires were administered to lecturers in three Nigerian universities. 502 datasets were collected which represents 72 percent response rate. After screening the data only 440 were usable and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) and bootstrapping. From the findings, three antecedents have significant direct relationships with green purchase intention (perceived green knowledge, perceived behavioral control, and green availability) while two antecedents have positive and significant direct relationship with perceived behavioral control (perceived value and green price sensitivity). On the other hand, PBC does not mediate any of the paths from the predictors to criterion variable. This result is discussed in the Nigerian context.

Keywords: Green Availability, Green Price Sensitivity, Green Purchase Intention, Perceived Green Knowledge, Perceived Value

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Authors: Eduardo Rodrigues, Gisela Mendes, José M. Torres, José E. Sousa

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In the sequence of the liberalisation of the electricity sector a progressive engagement of consumers has been considered and targeted by sector regulatory policies. With the objective of promoting market competition while protecting consumers interests, by transferring some of the upstream benefits to the end users while reaching a fair distribution of system costs, different market models to value consumers’ demand flexibility at the energy community level are envisioned. Local Energy and Flexibility Markets (LEFM) involve stakeholders interested in providing or procure local flexibility for community, services and markets’ value. Under the scope of DOMINOES, a European research project supported by Horizon 2020, the local market concept developed is expected to: • Enable consumers/prosumers empowerment, by allowing them to value their demand flexibility and Distributed Energy Resources (DER); • Value local liquid flexibility to support innovative distribution grid management, e.g., local balancing and congestion management, voltage control and grid restoration; • Ease the wholesale market uptake of DER, namely small-scale flexible loads aggregation as Virtual Power Plants (VPPs), facilitating Demand Response (DR) service provision; • Optimise the management and local sharing of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) in Medium Voltage (MV) and Low Voltage (LV) grids, trough energy transactions within an energy community; • Enhance the development of energy markets through innovative business models, compatible with ongoing policy developments, that promote the easy access of retailers and other service providers to the local markets, allowing them to take advantage of communities’ flexibility to optimise their portfolio and subsequently their participation in external markets. The general concept proposed foresees a flow of market actions, technical validations, subsequent deliveries of energy and/or flexibility and balance settlements. Since the market operation should be dynamic and capable of addressing different requests, either prioritising balancing and prosumer services or system’s operation, direct procurement of flexibility within the local market must also be considered. This paper aims to highlight the research on the definition of suitable DR models to be used by the Distribution System Operator (DSO), in case of technical needs, and by the retailer, mainly for portfolio optimisation and solve unbalances. The models to be proposed and implemented within relevant smart distribution grid and microgrid validation environments, are focused on day-ahead and intraday operation scenarios, for predictive management and near-real-time control respectively under the DSO’s perspective. At local level, the DSO will be able to procure flexibility in advance to tackle different grid constrains (e.g., demand peaks, forecasted voltage and current problems and maintenance works), or during the operating day-to-day, to answer unpredictable constraints (e.g., outages, frequency deviations and voltage problems). Due to the inherent risks of their active market participation retailers may resort to DR models to manage their portfolio, by optimising their market actions and solve unbalances. The interaction among the market actors involved in the DR activation and in flexibility exchange is explained by a set of sequence diagrams for the DR modes of use from the DSO and the energy provider perspectives. • DR for DSO’s predictive management – before the operating day; • DR for DSO’s real-time control – during the operating day; • DR for retailer’s day-ahead operation; • DR for retailer’s intraday operation.

Keywords: demand response, energy communities, flexible demand, local energy and flexibility markets

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Authors: Camila Lee Park, Mauro Fracarolli Nunes

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Understood as the preference for products and services that do not involve moral dilemmas, ethical consumption has been increasingly discussed by scholars, practitioners, and consumers. Among its diverse trends, the defense of animal rights and welfare seems to have gained particular momentum in past decades. Not surprisingly, companies, governments, ideologues, and virtually any institution or group interested in (re)shaping society invest in the building of narratives oriented to influence consumption behavior. The animal rights movement, for example, is devoted to the elimination of the use of animals in science, as well as of commercial animal agriculture and hunting activities. Although advances in ethical consumption may be observed in practice, it still seems more popular as rhetoric. Diverse scholars have addressed the disparities between self-professed ethical consumers and their actual purchase patterns, with differences being attributed to factors such as price sensitivity, lack of information, quality, cynicism, and limited availability. The gap is also linked to the 'consumer sovereignty myth', according to which consumers are only able to choose from a pre-determined range of choices made before products reach them. On the other hand, academics also debate ethical consumption behavior as more likely to occur when it assumes compliance with social norms. As sustainability becomes a permanent issue, customers may tend to adhere to ethical consumption, either because of an individual value or due to a social one. Regardless of these efforts, the actual value attributed to ethical businesses remains unclear. Likewise, the power of stakeholders’ initiatives to influence corporate strategies is dubious. In search to offer new perspectives on these matters, the present study concentrates on the following research questions: Do customers value products/companies that respect animal rights? If so, does such enhanced value convert into actions from the part of the companies? Broadly, we aim to understand if customers’ perception holds performative traits (i.e., are capable of either trigger or contribute to changes in organizational behaviour around the respect for animal rights). In addressing these issues, two preliminary behavioral vignette-based experiments were conducted, with the perspectives of 307 participants being assessed. Building on a case of the cosmetics industry, social, emotional, and functional values were hypothesized as directly impacting positive word-of-mouth, which, in turn, would carry direct effects on purchase intention. A first structural equation model was analyzed with the combined samples of studies I and II. Results suggest that emotional value strongly impacts both positive word-of-mouth and purchase intention. Data confirms initial expectations on customers valuing products and companies that comply with ethical postures concerning animals, especially if social-oriented practices are also present.

Keywords: animal rights, business ethics, emotional value, ethical consumption

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Authors: Kiana Keshavarz, Carmen Jaca, María J. Álvarez

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The shift to a circular economy necessitates a substantial change in consumer behavior, a complex and unpredictable actor that proves challenging to guide toward sustainability. This systematic literature review addresses the pivotal role that consumers play in propelling a circular economy, emphasizing the critical gap between positive attitudes and responsible actions. In this review, we utilized two prominent databases, Scopus and Web of Science, during the months of July and August 2023. A comprehensive screening process considered 467 articles, ultimately including 115 in the study for detailed analysis. Recognizing the transformative potential of consumer behavior, the study examines three key phases of consumer interaction with products —pre-purchasing decision, careful usage, and post-use management—identifying consumer-centric strategies that boost sustainability in each phase. Contrary to the prevailing emphasis on post-management strategies in society, the synthesis highlights the profound impact of strategies enacted during the pre-purchasing decision phase. In the investigation of the persistent attitude-behavior gap, factors influencing this gap and impeding consumers from engaging in sustainable actions are identified based on behavioral theories. Subsequently, strategies aimed at diminishing barriers and boosting motivators, as outlined in the literature, are presented. Recognizing the transformative potential of consumer behavior, the study underscores the pivotal roles of policymakers, businesses, and governments in fostering a more sustainable future. Ultimately, there is a call for further research to enhance the depth of analysis. This could be achieved through a more focused approach, such as narrowing the scope to a specific industry or applying a specific behavioral theory.

Keywords: circular economy, consumer behavior, sustainability, attitude-behavior gap, systematic literature review

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Authors: Carolina Silva Ansélmo

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Airports are demand-generating poles that affect the flow of traffic around them. The airport access system must be fast, convenient, and adequately planned, considering its potential users. An airport with good ground access conditions can provide the user with a more satisfactory access experience. When several transport options are available, service providers must understand users' preferences and the expected quality of service. The present study focuses on airport access in a comparative scenario between bus, private vehicle, subway, taxi and urban mobility transport applications to São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport. The objectives are (i) to identify the factors that influence the choice, (ii) to measure Willingness to Pay (WTP), and (iii) to estimate the market share for each modal. The applied method was Adaptive Choice-based Conjoint Analysis (ACBC) technique using Sawtooth Software. Conjoint analysis, rooted in Utility Theory, is a survey technique that quantifies the customer's perceived utility when choosing alternatives. Assessing user preferences provides insights into their priorities for product or service attributes. An additional advantage of conjoint analysis is its requirement for a smaller sample size compared to other methods. Furthermore, ACBC provides valuable insights into consumers' preferences, willingness to pay, and market dynamics, aiding strategic decision-making to provide a better customer experience, pricing, and market segmentation. In the present research, the ACBC questionnaire had the following variables: (i) access time to the boarding point, (ii) comfort in the vehicle, (iii) number of travelers together, (iv) price, (v) supply power, and (vi) type of vehicle. The case study questionnaire reached 213 valid responses considering the scenario of access from the São Paulo city center to São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport. As a result, the price and the number of travelers are the most relevant attributes for the sample when choosing airport access. The market share of the selection is mainly urban mobility transport applications, followed by buses, private vehicles, taxis and subways.

Keywords: adaptive choice-based conjoint analysis, ground access to airport, market share, willingness to pay

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Authors: Jorge Rodriguez-Guerra, Carlos Calleja, Aron Pujana, Ana Maria Macarulla

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Hydraulic-press commissioning consumes a great amount of man-hours, due to the fact that it takes place several miles away from where it has been designed. This factor became exacerbated due to control designers’ lack of knowledge about which will be the final controller gains before they start working with it. Virtual commissioning has been postulated as an optimal solution to deal with this lack of knowledge. Here, a case study is presented in which a controller is set up against a real-time model based on a hydraulic-press. The press model is designed following manufacturer specifications and it is embedded in a real-time simulator. This methodology ensures that the model achieves similar responses as the real machine that would be placed on the industry. A deterministic communication protocol is in charge of the bidirectional information transmission between the real-time model and the controller. This platform allows the engineer to test and verify the final control responses with exactly the same hardware that is going to be installed in the hydraulic-press, in other words, realize a virtual commissioning of the electro-hydraulic actuator. The Hardware in the Loop (HiL) platform validates in laboratory conditions and harmless for the machine the control algorithms designed, which allows embedding them afterwards in the industrial environment without further modifications.

Keywords: deterministic communication protocol, electro-hydraulic actuator, hardware in the loop, real-time, virtual commissioning

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Authors: Y. J. Zhou, G. Lu

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In this paper, an analytical study is made for the dynamic behavior of human brain tissue under transient loading. In this analytical model the Mooney-Rivlin constitutive law is coupled with visco-elastic constitutive equations to take into account both the nonlinear and time-dependent mechanical behavior of brain tissue. Five ordinary differential equations representing the relationships of five main parameters (radial stress, circumferential stress, radial strain, circumferential strain, and particle velocity) are obtained by using the characteristic method to transform five partial differential equations (two continuity equations, one motion equation, and two constitutive equations). Analytical expressions of the attenuation properties for spherical wave in brain tissue are analytically derived. Numerical results are obtained based on the five ordinary differential equations. The mechanical responses (particle velocity and stress) of brain are compared at different radii including 5, 6, 10, 15 and 25 mm under four different input conditions. The results illustrate that loading curves types of the particle velocity significantly influences the stress in brain tissue. The understanding of the influence by the input loading cures can be used to reduce the potentially injury to brain under head impact by designing protective structures to control the loading curves types.

Keywords: analytical method, mechanical responses, spherical wave propagation, traumatic brain injury

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Authors: Fernanda T. Orsati, Julie Causton

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Discursive practices enacted by educators in kindergarten create a blueprint for how the educational trajectories of students with disabilities are constructed. This two-year ethnographic case study critically examine educators’ relationships with students considered to present challenging behaviors in one kindergarten classroom located in a predominantly White middle-class school district in the Northeast of the United States. Focusing on the language and practices used by one special education teacher and three teaching assistants, this paper analyzes how teacher responses to students’ behaviors constructs and positions students over one year of kindergarten education. Using a critical discourse analysis, it shows that educators understand students’ behaviors as a deficit and needing consequences. This study highlights how educators’ responses reflect students' individual characteristics including family background, socioeconomics and ability status. This paper offers in-depth analysis of two students’ stories, which evidenced that the language used by educators amplifies the social positioning of students within the classroom and creates a foundation for who they are constructed to be. Through exploring routine language and practices, this paper demonstrates that educators outlined a blueprint of kindergartners, which positioned students as learners in ways that became the ground for either a limited or a promising educational pathway for them.

Keywords: behavior, early education, special education, critical discourse analysis

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Authors: Victor Birikorang Danquah

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Ghana's primary energy supply is heavily reliant on petroleum, biomass, and hydropower. Currently, Ghana gets its energy from hydropower (Akosombo and Bui), thermal power plants powered by crude oil, natural gas, and diesel, solar power, and imports from La Cote d'Ivoire. Until the early 2000s, large hydroelectric dams dominated Ghana's electricity generation. Due to unreliable weather patterns, Ghana increased its reliance on thermal power. However, thermal power contributes the highest percentage in terms of electricity generation in Ghana and is predominantly supplied by Independent Power Producers (IPPs). Ghana's electricity industry operates the corporate utility model as its business model. This model is typically' vertically integrated,' with a single corporation selling the majority of power generated by its generation assets to its retail business, which then sells the electricity to retail market consumers. The corporate utility model has a straightforward value proposition that is based on increasing the number of energy units sold. The unit volume business model drives the entire energy value chain to increase throughput, locking system users into unsustainable practices. This report uses the qualitative research approach to explore the electricity industry in Ghana. There is a need for increasing renewable energy, such as wind and solar, in electricity generation. The research recommends two critical business models for the penetration of renewable energy in Ghana's power sector. The first model is the peer-to-peer electricity trading model, which relies on a software platform to connect consumers and generators in order for them to trade energy directly with one another. The second model is about encouraging local energy generation, incentivizing optimal time-of-use behaviour, and allowing any financial gains to be shared among the community members.

Keywords: business model innovation, electricity generation, renewable energy, solar energy, sustainability, wind energy

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Authors: Ping-Lun Jiang, Hung-Jun Lin, Shen-Fu Lin, Mei-Yin Chien, Ting-Wei Li, Chun-Han Lin, Der-Zen Liu

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Mucosal vaccine induces both mucosal (secretory IgA) and systemic immune responses and it is considered an ideal vaccination strategy for prevention of infectious diseases. One important point to be considered in mucosal vaccination is effective antigen delivery system which can manage effective delivery of antigen to antigen-presenting cells (APCs) of mucosal. In the present study, cationic gelatin nanoparticles were prepared as ideal carriers for more efficient antigen delivery. The average diameter of cationic gelatin nanoparticle was approximate 190 nm, and the zeta potential was about +45 mV, then ovalbumin (OVA) was physically absorbed onto cationic gelatin nanoparticle. The OVA absorption rate was near 95% the zeta potential was about +20 mV. We show that cationic gelatin nanoparticle effectively facilitated antigen uptake by mice bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (mBMDCs) and RAW264.7 cells and induced higher levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines. C57BL/6 mice twice immunized intranasally with OVA-absorbed cationic gelatin nanoparticle induced high levels of OVA-specific IgG in the serum and IgA in their in the nasal and lung wash fluid. These results indicate that nasal administration of cationic gelatin nanoparticles induced both mucosal and systemic immune responses and cationic gelatin nanoparticles might be a potential antigen delivery carrier for further clinical applications.

Keywords: antigen delivery, antigen-presenting cells, gelatin nanoparticle, mucosal vaccine

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Authors: Anthony Nyamekeh-Armah Adjei, Toshiaki Aoki

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The unreliable and poor efficiency of electricity distribution leading to frequent power outages and high losses are the major challenge facing the power distribution sector in Ghana. Distribution system routes electricity from the power generating station at a higher voltage through the transmission grid and steps it down through the low voltage lines to end users. Approximately all electricity problems and disturbances that have increased the call for renewable and sustainable energy in recent years have their roots in the distribution system. Therefore, sustaining electricity distribution efficiency can potentially contribute to the reserve of natural energy resources use in power generation, reducing greenhouse gas emission (GHG), decreasing tariffs for consumers and effective human security. Human Security is a people-centered approach where individual human being is the principal object of concern, focuses on protecting the vital core of all human lives in ways for meeting basic needs that enhance the safety and protection of individuals and communities. The vulnerability is the diminished capacity of an individual or group to anticipate, resist and recover from the effect of natural, human-induced disaster. The research objectives are to explore the causes of frequent power outages to consumers, high losses in the distribution network and the effect of poor electricity distribution efficiency on the vulnerable (poor and ordinary) people that mostly depend on electricity for their daily activities or life to survive. The importance of the study is that in a developing country like Ghana where raising a capital for new infrastructure project is difficult, it would be beneficial to enhance the efficiency that will significantly minimize the high energy losses, reduce power outage, to ensure safe and reliable delivery of electric power to consumers to secure the security of people’s livelihood. The methodology used in this study is both interview and questionnaire survey to analyze the response from the respondents on causes of power outages and high losses facing the electricity company of Ghana (ECG) and its effect on the livelihood on the vulnerable people. Among the outcome of both administered questionnaire and the interview survey from the field were; poor maintenance of existing sub-stations, use of aging equipment, use of poor distribution infrastructure and poor metering and billing system. The main observation of this paper is that the poor network efficiency (high losses and power outages) affects the livelihood of the vulnerable people. Therefore, the paper recommends that policymakers should insist on all regulation guiding electricity distribution to improve system efficiency. In conclusion, there should be decentralization of off-grid solar PV technologies to provide a sustainable and cost-effective, which can increase daily productivity and improve the quality of life of the vulnerable people in the rural communities.

Keywords: electricity efficiency, high losses, human security, power outage

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Authors: D. Berg, N. Hartley, L. Nasr

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This paper presents a conceptual model of human-robot interaction within service encounters and the effect on the well-being of both consumers and service providers. In this paper, service providers are those employees who work alongside frontline service robots. The significance of this paper lies in the knowledge created which outlines how frontline service robots can be effectively utilized in service encounters for the benefit of organizations and society as a whole. As this paper is conceptual in nature, the main methodologies employed are theoretical, namely problematization and theory building. The significance of this paper is underpinned by the shift of service robots from manufacturing plants and factory floors to consumer-facing service environments. This service environment places robots in direct contact with frontline employees and consumers creating a hybrid workplace where humans work alongside service robots. This change from back-end to front-end roles may have implications not only on the physical environment, servicescape, design, and strategy of service offerings and encounters but also on the human parties of the service encounter itself. Questions such as ‘how are frontline service robots impacting and changing the service encounter?’ and ‘what effect are such changes having on the well-being of the human actors in a service encounter?’ spring to mind. These questions form the research question of this paper. To truly understand social service robots, an interdisciplinary perspective is required. Besides understanding the function, system, design or mechanics of a service robot, it is also necessary to understand human-robot interaction. However not simply human-robot interaction, but particularly what happens when such robots are placed in commercial settings and when human-robot interaction becomes consumer-robot interaction and employee-robot interaction? A service robot in this paper is characterized by two main factors; its social characteristics and the consumer-facing environment within which it operates. The conceptual framework presented in this paper contributes to interdisciplinary discussions surrounding social robotics, service, and technology’s impact on consumer and service provider well-being, and hopes that such knowledge will help improve services, as well as the prosperity and well-being of society.

Keywords: frontline service robots, human-robot interaction, service encounters, well-being

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Authors: Saleh Mohamed, Mohamed El-Shal, Taha Kumosani, Ahmad Mal, Youssri Ahmed, Yasser Almulaiky

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The marine environment of the Jeddah southern red sea shore is subjected to increasing anthropogenic activities as sewage sludge draining and desalting processes. The objective of this study is to compare the quantitative responses of enzymatic biomarkers in fish from polluted area with the responses of organism from reference area. Enzymatic biomarkers as neurotoxic, antioxidant and detoxifying enzymes were evaluated in the brain and liver from Variola louti as a sentinel species sampled from both polluted and reference sites in the Jeddah southern red sea shore during four months January, April, July and October in 2014 and 2015. In brain of V. louti, the activity of acetylcholinestease (AChE) collected from reference area significantly increased 8.8 and 10.5 folds than that from polluted area in 2014 and 2015, respectively. The activities of catalase (CAT), glutathione reductase (GR) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) from liver of V. louti in polluted area significantly increased 1.4, 1.27 and 3, 4.5 and 4.37, 2 and 5, 4.5 folds than that from reference area in 2014 and 2015, respectively. The levels of examined enzymes are approximately similar in the four seasons detected in 2014 and 2015 indicating that the similar components of sewage were draining in red sea. In conclusion, these findings suggest the important of enzymatic biomarkers in monitoring the pollution in Jeddah red sea shore.

Keywords: Variola louti, enzymatic biomarkers, pollution, Red sea

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Authors: Anjali Bansal

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Reproductive preferences mainly deal with two questions: when a couple wants children and how many they want. Questions related to these desires are often included in the fertility surveys as they can provide relevant information on the subsequent behavior. The aim of the study is to observe whether respondent’s response to these questions changed over time or not. We also tried to identify socio- economic and demographic factors associated with the stability (or instability) of fertility preferences. For this purpose, we used IHDS1 (2004-05) and follow up survey IHDS2 (2011-12) data and applied bivariate, multivariate and multilevel repeated measure analysis to it to find the consistency between responses. From the analysis, we found that preferences of women changes over the course of time as from the bivariate analysis we have found that 52% of women are not consistent in their desired family size and huge inconsistency are found in desire to continue childbearing. To get a better overlook of these inconsistencies, we have computed Intra Class Correlation (ICC) which tries to explain the consistency between individuals on their fertility responses at two time periods. We also explored that husband’s desire for additional child specifically male offspring contribute to these variations. Our findings lead us to a cessation that in India, individuals fertility preferences changed over a seven-year time period as the Intra Class correlation comes out to be very small which explains the variations among individuals. Concerted efforts should be made, therefore, to educate people, and conduct motivational programs to promote family planning for family welfare.

Keywords: change, consistency, preferences, over time

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Authors: Fabianna Bacil, Zenathan Hasannundin, Clovis Freire

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The green transition opens green windows of opportunity – temporary moments in which there are lower barriers and shorter learning periods for developing countries to enter emerging technologies and catch-up. However, taking advantage of these windows requires capabilities in national sectoral systems to adopt and develop technologies linked to green sectors as well as strong responses to build the required knowledge, skills, and infrastructure and foster the growth of targeted sectors. This paper uses UNCTAD’s frontier technology readiness index to analyse the current position of Latin America and the Caribbean to use, adopt, and adapt frontier technologies, examining the preconditions in the region to take up windows of opportunity that arise with the green transition. The index highlights the inequality across countries in the region, as well as gaps in capabilities dimensions, especially in terms of R&D. Moving to responses, it highlights industrial policies implemented to foster the growth of green technologies, emphasising the essential role played by the state to build and strengthen capabilities and provide infant industry protection that enables the growth of these sectors. Overall, while there are exceptions, especially in the Brazilian case, countries in Latin America and the Caribbean should focus on strengthening their capabilities to be better positioned, especially in terms of knowledge creation, infrastructure, and financing availability.

Keywords: Green technologies, Industrial policy, Latin America, windows of opportunity

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Authors: Kyu Jin Kim, Byung Kwan Oh, Hyo Seon Park

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The seismic responses-based structural health monitoring system has been performed to reduce seismic damage. The inter-story drift ratio which is the major index of the seismic capacity assessment is employed for estimating the seismic damage of buildings. Meanwhile, seismic response analysis to estimate the structural responses of building demands significantly high computational cost due to increasing number of high-rise and large buildings. To estimate the inter-story drift ratio of buildings from the earthquake efficiently, this paper suggests the estimation method of inter-story drift for buildings using an artificial neural network (ANN). In the method, the radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) is integrated with optimization algorithm to optimize the variable through evolutionary learning that refers to evolutionary radial basis function neural network (ERBFNN). The estimation method estimates the inter-story drift without seismic response analysis when the new earthquakes are subjected to buildings. The effectiveness of the estimation method is verified through a simulation using multi-degree of freedom system.

Keywords: structural health monitoring, inter-story drift ratio, artificial neural network, radial basis function neural network, genetic algorithm

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Authors: Noora Al Muftah, Reda Rawi, Richard Thompson, Halima Bensmail

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Clinical responses to anticancer therapies are often restricted to a subset of patients. In some cases, mutated cancer genes are potent biomarkers of response to targeted agents. There is an urgent need to identify biomarkers that predict which patients with are most likely to respond to treatment. Systematic efforts to correlate tumor mutational data with biologic dependencies may facilitate the translation of somatic mutation catalogs into meaningful biomarkers for patient stratification. To identify genomic features associated with drug sensitivity and uncover new biomarkers of sensitivity and resistance to cancer therapeutics, we have screened and integrated a panel of several hundred cancer cell lines from different databases, mutation, DNA copy number, and gene expression data for hundreds of cell lines with their responses to targeted and cytotoxic therapies with drugs under clinical and preclinical investigation. We found mutated cancer genes were associated with cellular response to most currently available Glioma cancer drugs and some frequently mutated genes were associated with sensitivity to a broad range of therapeutic agents. By linking drug activity to the functional complexity of cancer genomes, systematic pharmacogenomic profiling in cancer cell lines provides a powerful biomarker discovery platform to guide rational cancer therapeutic strategies.

Keywords: cancer, gene network, Lasso, penalized regression, P-values, unbiased estimator

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Authors: Chao Sima, Shanaz Ghandhi, Sally A. Amundson, Michael L. Bittner, David J. Brenner

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In a large-scale radiologic emergency, potentially affected population need to be triaged efficiently using various biomarkers where personal dosimeters are not likely worn by the individuals. It has long been established that radiation injury can be estimated effectively using panels of genetic biomarkers. Furthermore, the rate of radiation, in addition to dose of radiation, plays a major role in determining biological responses. Therefore, a better and more accurate triage involves estimating both the dose level of the exposure and the length of time of that exposure. To that end, a large in vivo study was carried out on mice with internal emitter caesium-137 (¹³⁷Cs). Four different injection doses of ¹³⁷Cs were used: 157.5 μCi, 191 μCi, 214.5μCi, and 259 μCi. Cohorts of 6~7 mice from the control arm and each of the dose levels were sacrificed, and blood was collected 2, 3, 5, 7 and 14 days after injection for microarray RNA gene expression analysis. Using a generalized linear model with penalized maximum likelihood, a panel of 244 genes was established and both the doses of injection and the number of days after injection were accurately predicted for all 155 subjects using this panel. This has proven that microarray gene expression can be used effectively in radiation biodosimetry in predicting both the dose levels and the length of exposure time, which provides a more holistic view on radiation exposure and helps improving radiation damage assessment and treatment.

Keywords: caesium-137, gene expression microarray, multivariate responses prediction, radiation biodosimetry

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Authors: Ofelia Loani Elvir Lazo, Roya Yumul, Sevan Komshian, Ruby Wang, Jun Tang

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Background: Monitoring the anti-nociceptive drug effect is useful because a sudden and strong nociceptive stimulus may result in untoward autonomic responses and muscular reflex movements. Monitoring the anti-nociceptive effects of perioperative medications has long been desiredas a way to provide anesthesiologists information regarding a patient’s level of antinociception and preclude any untoward autonomic responses and reflexive muscular movements from painful stimuli intraoperatively.To this end, electroencephalogram (EEG) based tools includingBIS and qCON were designed to provide information about the depth of sedation whileqNOXwas produced to informon the degree of antinociception.The goal of this study was to compare the reliability of qCON/qNOX to BIS asspecific indicators of response to nociceptive stimulation. Methods: Sixty-two patients undergoing general anesthesia with LMA were included in this study. Institutional Review Board(IRB) approval was obtained, and informed consent was acquired prior to patient enrollment. Inclusion criteria included American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) class I-III, 18 to 80 years of age, and either gender. Exclusion criteria included the inability to consent. Withdrawal criteria included conversion to endotracheal tube and EEG malfunction. BIS and qCON/qNOX electrodes were simultaneously placed o62n all patientsprior to induction of anesthesia and were monitored throughout the case, along with other perioperative data, including patient response to noxious stimuli. All intraoperative decisions were made by the primary anesthesiologist without influence from qCON/qNOX. Student’s t-distribution, prediction probability (PK), and ANOVA were used to statistically compare the relative ability to detect nociceptive stimuli for each index. Twenty patients were included for the preliminary analysis. Results: A comparison of overall intraoperative BIS, qCON and qNOX indices demonstrated no significant difference between the three measures (N=62, p> 0.05). Meanwhile, index values for qNOX (62±18) were significantly higher than those for BIS (46±14) and qCON (54±19) immediately preceding patient responses to nociceptive stimulation in a preliminary analysis (N=20, * p= 0.0408). Notably, certain hemodynamic measurements demonstrated a significant increase in response to painful stimuli (MAP increased from74±13 mm Hg at baseline to 84± 18 mm Hg during noxious stimuli [p= 0.032] and HR from 76±12 BPM at baseline to 80±13BPM during noxious stimuli[p=0.078] respectively). Conclusion: In this observational study, BIS and qCON/qNOX provided comparable information on patients’ level of sedation throughout the course of an anesthetic. Meanwhile, increases in qNOX values demonstrated a superior correlation to an imminent response to stimulation relative to all other indices.

Keywords: antinociception, bispectral index (BIS), general anesthesia, laryngeal mask airway, qCON/qNOX

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Authors: Lindsey Carruthers, Alexandra Willis, Rory MacLean

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Introduction: It has been proposed that distractibility, a key diagnostic criterion of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), may be associated with higher creativity levels in some individuals. Anecdotal and empirical evidence has shown that ADHD is therefore beneficial to creative problem-solving, and the generation of new ideas and products. Previous studies have only used one or two measures of attention, which is insufficient given that it is a complex cognitive process. The current study aimed to determine in which ways performance on creative problem-solving tasks and a range of attention tests may be related, and if performance differs between adults with and without ADHD. Methods: 150 adults, 47 males and 103 females (mean age=28.81 years, S.D.=12.05 years), were tested at Edinburgh Napier University. Of this set, 50 participants had ADHD, and 100 did not, forming the control group. Each participant completed seven attention tasks, assessing focussed, sustained, selective, and divided attention. Creative problem-solving was measured using divergent thinking tasks, which require multiple original solutions for one given problem. Two types of divergent thinking task were used: verbal (requires written responses) and figural (requires drawn responses). Each task is scored for idea originality, with higher scores indicating more creative responses. Correlational analyses were used to explore relationships between attention and creative problem-solving, and t-tests were used to study the between group differences. Results: The control group scored higher on originality for figural divergent thinking (t(148)= 3.187, p< .01), whereas the ADHD group had more original ideas for the verbal divergent thinking task (t(148)= -2.490, p < .05). Within the control group, figural divergent thinking scores were significantly related to both selective (r= -.295 to -.285, p < .01) and divided attention (r= .206 to .290, p < .05). Alternatively, within the ADHD group, both selective (r= -.390 to -.356, p < .05) and divided (r= .328 to .347, p < .05) attention are related to verbal divergent thinking. Conclusions: Selective and divided attention are both related to divergent thinking, however the performance patterns are different between each group, which may point to cognitive variance in the processing of these problems and how they are managed. The creative differences previously found between those with and without ADHD may be dependent on task type, which to the author’s knowledge, has not been distinguished previously. It appears that ADHD does not specifically lead to higher creativity, but may provide explanation for creative differences when compared to those without the disorder.

Keywords: ADHD, attention, creativity, problem-solving

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Authors: Jay Neil Garciso Verano, Peter Rosales Bobiles

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This study tried to integrate RA 9262 in literature through the use of film. It identified RA 9262 provisions reflected in the students’ concepts in their oral participation and written outputs and pointed out different attitudes toward violence against women and respect to women as shaped by the film through their responses. Four Literature 121 (World Literature) classes with more or less similar characteristics participated in this study. The discussion of Paulette Kelly’s I Got Flowers Today took place during the first session while the viewing of the film Enough and discussion of the film followed to enrich and bolster students’ concepts and awareness on violence against women and to introduce RA 9262 provisions. The students’ attitudes toward violence against women and respect to women were lifted from the students’ oral and written responses. The film Enough presented eight provisions from RA 9262 reflected in students’ concepts which centered on the acts of violence against women tarnishing women’s rights and dignity. There were 25 attitudes toward violence against women and respect to women which surfaced, 11 of which are what initiate the acts, seven tell about the results from or effects of violence against women, and another seven exemplify respect to women. With the findings, it can be viewed that RA 9262 can be integrated in a literature course to awaken students’ minds on the prevalent issues on violating women’s rights and dignity. The discussion of Paulette Kelly’s I Got Flowers Today reinforced by the viewing of Enough deduced issues on the violation of women’s rights and dignity, attitudes toward violence against women, and students’ perception with regard respect to women.

Keywords: anti-violence against women, literature, film, enough, feminism

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Authors: Matt Stichter

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Moral development requires learning from one’s failures, but that turnsout to be especially challenging when dealing with moral failures. The distress prompted by moral failure can cause responses ofdefensiveness or disengagement rather than attempts to make amends and work on self-change. The most potentially distressing response to moral failure is a shame. However, there appears to be two different senses of “shame” that are conflated in the literature, depending on whether the failure is appraised as the result of a global and unalterable self-defect, or a local and alterable self-defect. One of these forms of shame does prompt self-improvement in response to moral failure. This occurs if one views the failure as indicating only a specific (local) defect in one’s identity, where that’s something repairable, rather than asanoverall(orglobal)defectinyouridentity that can’t be fixed. So, if the whole of one’s identity as a morally good person isn’t being called into question, but only a part, then that is something one could work on to improve. Shame, in this sense, provides motivation for self-improvement to fix this part oftheselfinthe long run, and this would be important for moral development. One factor that looks to affect these different self-attributions in the wake of moral failure can be found in mindset theory, as reactions to moral failure in these two forms of shame are similar to how those with a fixed or growth mindset of their own abilities, such as intelligence, react to failure. People fall along a continuum with respect to how they view abilities – it is more of a fixed entity that you cannot do much to change, or it is malleable such that you can train to improve it. These two mindsets, ‘fixed’ versus ‘growth’, have different consequences for how we react to failure – a fixed mindset leads to maladaptive responses because of feelings of helplessness to do better; whereas a growth mindset leads to adaptive responses where a person puts forth effort to learn how to act better the next time. Here we can see the parallels between a fixed mindset of one’s own (im)morality, as the way people respond to shame when viewed as indicating a global and unalterable self-defect parallels the reactions people have to failure when they have a fixed mindset. In addition, it looks like there may be a similar structure to pride. Pride is, like shame, a self-conscious emotion that arises from internal attributions about the self as being the cause of some event. There are also paradoxical results from research on pride, where pride was found to motivate pro-social behavior in some cases but aggression in other cases. Research suggests that there may be two forms of pride, authentic and hubristic, that are also connected to different self-attributions, depending on whether one is feeling proud about a particular (local) aspect of the self versus feeling proud about the whole of oneself (global).

Keywords: emotion, mindset, moral development, moral psychology, pride, shame, self-regulation

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Authors: Jayanti De

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Users of any urban road infrastructure may be classified into various categories. The current paper intends to see whether the opinions on different environmental and transportation criteria vary significantly among different types of road users or not. The paper addresses this issue by using a unique survey data that has been collected from Kolkata, a highly populated city in India. Multiple criteria should be taken into account while planning on infrastructure development programs. Given limited resources, a welfare maximizing government typically resorts to public opinion by designing surveys for prioritization of one project over another. Designing such surveys can be challenging and costly. Deciding upon whom to include in a survey and how to represent each group of consumers/road-users depend crucially on how opinion for different criteria vary across consumer groups. A unique dataset has been collected from various parts of Kolkata to statistically test (using Kolmogorov-Smirnov test) whether assigning of weights to rank the transportation criteria like congestion, air pollution, noise pollution, and morning/evening delay vary significantly across the various groups of users of such infrastructure. The different consumer/user groups in the dataset include pedestrian, private car owner, para-transit (taxi /auto rickshaw) user, public transport (bus) user and freight transporter among others. Very little evidence has been found that ranking of different criteria among these groups vary significantly. This also supports the hypothesis that road- users/consumers form their opinion by using their long-run rather than immediate experience. As a policy prescription, this implies that under-representation or over-representation of a specific consumer group in a survey may not necessarily distort the overall opinion, since opinions across different consumer groups are highly correlated as evident from this particular case study.

Keywords: multi criteria analysis, project-prioritization, road- users, survey designing

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Authors: Dhea Kothari

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There is an extensive amount of research that has examined the positive relationship between creativity and hypomania in terms of creative accomplishments, eminence, behaviors, occupations. Previous research had recruited participants based on creative occupations or stages of hypomania or bipolar disorder. This thesis focused on the relationship between hypomania and creative cognitive potential, such as divergent thinking and insight problem-solving. This was examined at an undergraduate educational level by recruiting students majoring in art, majoring in natural sciences (NSCI) and those double majoring in arts and NSCI. Participants were given a modified Alternate Uses Task (AUT) to measure divergent thinking and a set of rebus puzzles to measure insight problem-solving. Both tasks involved a level of overcoming functional fixedness. A negative association was observed between hypomania and originality of responses on the AUT when an object with low functional fixedness was given to all participants. On the other hand, a positive association was found between hypomania and originality of responses on the AUT when an object with high functional fixedness was given to the participants majoring in NSCI. Therefore, the research suggests that an increased ability to overcome functional fixedness might be central to individuals with hypomania and individuals with higher creative cognitive potential.

Keywords: creative cognition, convergent thinking, creativity, divergent thinking, insight, major type, problem-solving

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Authors: Manganyi Patricia Siphiwe

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Work environments are characterised by performance pressure and mechanisation, which lead to job stress and the dehumanisation of work spaces. The personnel’s competence to accomplish job responsibilities and high job demands lead to a substantial load of health. Therefore, providing employees with conducive working environments is essential. In order to attain it, the employer should ensure that responsive and institutional safe systems are in place. The employer’s responses to employees’ needs are of significance to a healthy and developmental work environment. Denying employees a developmental and flourishing workplace is to deprive a workplace of being humane. Stressors coming from various aspects in the workplace can yield undue pressure and undesired responses for the workforces. Against the profiled background, this paper examines the causes and consequences of workplace stress within the Emergency Medical sector. The paper utilised a qualitative methodology and in-depth interviews for data collection with the purposively sampled emergency medical personnel. The findings showed that workplace stress has been associated with high demands and lack of support which has an adverse effect on biopsychosocial wellbeing of employees. This paper, therefore, recommends an engaged involvement of social workers through work organisational initiatives, such as Employee Assistance Programmes (EAP) and related labour relations policy activities to promote positive and developmental working environments.

Keywords: stress, employee, workplace, wellbeing

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Authors: Kiran Abdullah, Yanli Chen

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An amphiphilic mixed (phthalocyaninato) (porphyrinato) europium triple-decker complex Eu₂(Pc)₂(TPyP) has been synthesized and characterized. Introducing electron-withdrawing pyridyl substituents onto the meso-position of porphyrin ring in the triple-decker to ensure the sufficient hydrophilicity and suitable HOMO and LUMO energy levels and thus successfully realize amphiphilic ambipolar organic semiconductor. Importantly, high sensitive, reproducible p-type and n-type responses towards NH₃ andNO₂ respectively, based on the self-assembled film of the Eu₂(Pc)₂(TPyP) fabricated by a simple solution-based Quasi–Langmuir–Shäfer (QLS) method, have been first revealed. The good conductivity and crystallinity for the QLS film of Eu₂(Pc)₂(TPyP) render it excellent sensing property. This complex is sensitive to both electron-donating NH₃ gas in 5–30 ppm range and electron-accepting NO₂ gas 400–900 ppb range. Due to uniform nano particles there exist effective intermolecular interaction between triple decker molecules. This is the best result of Phthalocyanine–based chemical sensors at room temperature. Furthermore, the responses of the QLS film are all linearly correlated to both NH₃ and NO₂ with excellent sensitivity of 0.04% ppm⁻¹ and 31.9 % ppm⁻¹, respectively, indicating the great potential of semiconducting tetrapyrrole rare earth triple-decker compounds in the field of chemical sensors.

Keywords: ambipolar semiconductor, gas sensing, mixed (phthalocyaninato) (porphyrinato) rare earth complex, Self-assemblies

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Authors: Irene Buj-Corral, Ali Bagheri, Alejandro Dominguez-Fernandez

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In recent years, use of ceramic prostheses as an implant in some parts of body has become common. In the present study, research has focused on replacement of the acetabulum bone, which is a part of the pelvis bone. Metallic prostheses have shown some problems such as release of metal ions into patient's blood. In addition, fracture of liners and squeezing between surface of femoral head and inner surface of acetabulum have been reported. Ceramic prostheses have the advantage of low debris and high strength, although they are more difficult to be manufactured than metallic ones. Specifically, new designs try to attempt an acetabulum in which the outer surface will be porous for proliferation of cells and fixation of the prostheses by means of osteointegration, while inner surface must be smooth enough to assure that the movement between femoral head and inner surface will be carried out with on feasibility. In the present study, 3D printing technologies are used for manufacturing ceramic prostheses. In Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) process, 3D printed plastic prostheses are obtained by means of melting of a plastic filament and subsequent deposition on a glass surface. A similar process is applied to ceramics in which ceramic powders need to be mixed with a liquid polymer before depositing them. After 3D printing, parts are subjected to a sintering process in an oven so that they can achieve final strength. In the present paper, influence of printing parameters on surface roughness 3D printed ceramic parts are presented. Three parameter full factorial design of experiments was used. Selected variables were layer height, infill and nozzle diameter. Responses were average roughness Ra and mean roughness depth Rz. Regression analysis was applied to responses in order to obtain mathematical models for responses. Results showed that surface roughness depends mainly on layer height and nozzle diameter employed, while infill was found not to be significant. In order to get low surface roughness, low layer height and low infill should be selected. As a conclusion, layer height and infill are important parameters for obtaining good surface finish in ceramic 3D printed prostheses. However, use of too low infill could lead to prostheses with low mechanical strength. Such prostheses could not be able to bear the static and dynamic charges to which they are subjected once they are implanted in the body. This issue will be addressed in further research.

Keywords: ceramic, hip prostheses, surface roughness, 3D printing

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Authors: Eva Tolmeijer, Emmanuelle Peters, Veena Kumari, Liam Mason

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Cognitive behavioral therapy for psychosis (CBTp) is effective in many but not all patients, making it important to better understand the factors that determine treatment outcomes. To date, no studies have examined whether neuroimaging can make clinically useful predictions about who will respond to CBTp. To this end, we used machine learning methods that make predictions about symptom improvement at the individual patient level. Prior to receiving CBTp, 22 patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia completed a social-affective processing task during functional MRI. Multivariate pattern analysis assessed whether treatment response could be predicted by brain activation responses to facial affect that was either socially threatening or prosocial. The resulting models did significantly predict symptom improvement, with distinct multivariate signatures predicting psychotic (r=0.54, p=0.01) and affective (r=0.32, p=0.05) symptoms. Psychotic symptom improvement was accurately predicted from relatively focal threat-related activation across hippocampal, occipital, and temporal regions; affective symptom improvement was predicted by a more dispersed profile of responses to prosocial affect. These findings enrich our understanding of the neurobiological underpinning of treatment response. This study provides a foundation that will hopefully lead to greater precision and tailoring of the interventions offered to patients.

Keywords: cognitive behavioral therapy, machine learning, psychosis, schizophrenia

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Authors: Panpan Fan, Bo Ming, Niels Anten, Jochem Evers, Yaoyao Li, Shaokun Li, Ruizhi xie

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Nitrogen (N) utilization for crop production under N deficiency conditions is subject to a trade-off between maintaining specific leaf N content (SLN), important for radiation-use efficiency (RUE), versus maintaining leaf area (LA) development, important for light capture. This paper aims to explore how maize deals with this trade-off through responses in SLN, LA and their underlying traits during the vegetative and reproductive growth stages. In a ten-year N fertilization trial in Jilin province, Northeast China, three N fertilizer levels have been maintained: N-deficiency (N0), low N supply (N1), and high N supply (N2). We analyzed data from years 8 and 10 of this experiment for two common hybrids. Under N deficiency, maize plants maintained LA and decreased SLN during vegetative stages, while both LA and SLN decreased comparably during reproductive stages. Canopy-average specific leaf area (SLA) decreased sharply during vegetative stages and slightly during reproductive stages, mainly because senesced leaves in the lower canopy had a higher SLA. In the vegetative stage, maize maintained leaf area at low N by maintaining leaf biomass (albeit hence having N content/mass) and slightly increasing SLA. These responses to N deficiency were stronger in maize hybrid XY335 than in ZD958. We conclude the main strategy of maize to cope with low N is to maintain plant growth, mainly by increasing SLA throughout the plant during early growth. N was too limiting for either strategy to be followed during later growth stages.

Keywords: leaf N content per unit leaf area, N deficiency, specific leaf area, maize strateg

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