Search results for: normative values

Authors: David W. Taylor, Fernando Lourenço, Carolyn Branston, Paul Tucker

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There are an increasing number of students at Universities in the United Kingdom engaging in entrepreneurship role-play to explore business start-up as a career alternative to employment. These role-play activities have been shown to have a positive influence on students’ entrepreneurial intentions. Universities also play a role in developing graduates’ awareness of social responsibility. However, social responsibility is often missing from these entrepreneurship role-plays. It is important that these role-play activities include the development of values that support social responsibility, in-line with those running hybrid, humane and sustainable enterprises, and not simply focus on profit. The Young Enterprise (YE) Start-Up programme is an example of a role-play activity that is gaining in popularity amongst United Kingdom Universities seeking ways to give students insight into a business start-up. A Post-92 University in the North-West of England has adapted the traditional YE Directorship roles (e.g., Marketing Director, Sales Director) by including a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Director in all of the team-based YE Start-Up businesses. The aim for introducing this Directorship was to observe if such a role would help create a more socially responsible value-system within each company and in turn shape business decisions. This paper investigates role-play as a tool to help enterprise educators develop socially responsible attitudes and values in nascent entrepreneurs. A mixed qualitative methodology approach has been used, which includes interviews, role-play, and reflection, to help students develop positive value characteristics through the exploration of unethical and selfish behaviors. The initial findings indicate that role-play helped CSR Directors learn and gain insights into the importance of corporate social responsibility, influenced the values and actions of their YE Start-Ups, and increased the likelihood that if the participants were to launch a business post-graduation, that the intent would be for the business to be socially responsible. These findings help inform educators on how to develop socially responsible nascent entrepreneurs within a traditionally profit orientated business model.

Keywords: student entrepreneurship, young enterprise, social responsibility, role-play, values

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Authors: Ana Claudia Muniz Rennó, Karina Nogueira

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This study aimed to investigate the in vivo tissue response of the introduction of the bioactive mesh (BM) scaffolds using a model of tibial bone defect implants in rats. Although a previous in vivo study demonstrated a highly positive response of particulate bioactive materials in the morphological and biomechanical properties of the bone callus, the effects of material with superior bioactivity, present in form of meshes have not been studied yet. Eighty male Wistar rats with 3 mm tibial defects were used. Animals were divided into four groups: intact group (IG) – tibia without any injury; bone defect day zero (0dD) – bone defects, sacrificed immediately after injury; bone defect control group (CG) – bone defects without any filler and bone defect filled with BM scaffold. The animals of BM and CG groups were sacrificed 15, 30 and 45 days post-injury to compare the temporal-special effects of the scaffolds on bone healing. The histological analysis revealed an organized newly formed bone at 30 and 45 days post-surgery in the BM. Also, this group presented an increased COX-2 expression on days 15 and 30 post-surgery. Furthermore, the immunohistochemistry analysis revealed that, BM presented a positive immunoexpression of RUNX-2 during all periods evaluated. The biomechanical analysis revealed that at 15 day after surgery, no significant statistically difference was observed between BM and CG and both groups had significantly higher values of maximal load compared to 0dG and significantly lower values than IG. On days 30 and 45 post-surgery, BM presented statistically lower values of maximal load compared to the CG. Nevertheless, at the same periods, BM did not show statistically significant difference compared to the IG maximal load values (p > 0, 05). Our results revealed that the implantation of the BM scaffolds was effective in stimulating newly bone formation.

Keywords: bone, biomaterials, scaffolds, cartilage

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Authors: Mefleh Hamideen

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In this investigation, the activity concentrations of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, and ⁴⁰K, of some ceramic tile materials used in the local market of Jordan for interior decoration were determined by making use of High Purity Germanium (HPGe) detector. Twenty samples of the different countries of origin and sizes used in Jordan were analyzed. The concentration values of the last-mentioned radionuclides ranged from 30 Bq.kg⁻¹ (Sample from Jordan) to 98 Bq.kg⁻¹ (Sample from China) for ²²⁶Ra, 31 Bq.kg⁻¹ (Sample from Italy) to 98 Bq.kg⁻¹ (Sample from China) for ²³²Th, and 129 Bq.kg⁻¹ (Sample from Spain) to 679 Bq.kg⁻¹ (Sample from Italy) for ⁴⁰K. Based on the calculated activity concentrations, some radiological parameters have been calculated to test the radiation hazards in the ceramic tiles. In this work, the following parameters: Total absorbed dose rate (DR), Annual effective dose rate (HR), Radium equivalent activity (Raeq), Radon emanation coefficient F (%) and Radon mass exhalation rate (Em) were calculated for all ceramic tiles and listed in the body of the work. Fortunately, the average calculated values of all parameters are less than the recommended values for each parameter. Consequently, almost all the examined ceramic materials appear to have low radon emanation coefficients. As a result of that investigation, no problems on people can appear by using those ceramic tiles in Jordan.

Keywords: radon emanation coefficient, radon mass exhalation rate, total annual effective dose, radon level

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Authors: Leonie Jooste

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The main purpose of this article is to explore the ethical values of accounting students at Universities and Business Managers. Financial fraud (earnings management) is continuing to exist and published in literature and social media. However, irrespective of extensive publication, and academic research, financial fraud is still happening or still being committed. The student of today may be the manager in the future. In a study by Bruns and Merchant, the authors found that the morality of short-term earnings management was of little concern to researchers and accounting practitioners. However, in the light of increased financial frauds and failures, new and increased emphasis has been placed on the importance of the concepts of earnings quality, earnings management practices, and the inclusion of business ethics in accounting syllabi. This study uses a quantitative analysis related to the Bruns and Merchant survey of accounting students. 59 accounting students in the MENA area were surveyed in 2022 to measure their ethical values regarding earning management practices in organisations. The results of this survey were compared the surveys in 2013 to determine if courses in business ethics offered at the university influenced the perceptions of students on unethical behaviour in business practices. For the data analysis, the mean values and significant differences were calculated and compared. Overall, the results showed that there was hardly any significant difference between the two surveys.

Keywords: ethics, earnings management, corporate social responsibility, business courses.

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Authors: Siti Nurhidayah Naqiah Abdull Rani, Herlina Abdul Rahim

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Near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy has always been of great interest in the food and agriculture industries. The development of predictive models has facilitated the estimation process in recent years. In this research, 176 crude palm oil (CPO) samples acquired from Felda Johor Bulker Sdn Bhd were studied. A FOSS NIRSystem was used to tak e absorbance measurements from the sample. The wavelength range for the spectral measurement is taken at 1600nm to 1900nm. Partial Least Square Regression (PLSR) prediction model with 50 optimal number of principal components was implemented to study the relationship between the measured Free Fatty Acid (FFA) values and the measured spectral absorption. PLSR showed predictive ability of FFA values with correlative coefficient (R) of 0.9808 for the training set and 0.9684 for the testing set.

Keywords: palm oil, fatty acid, NIRS, PLSR

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Authors: Mustafa M. Donma, Orkide Donma, Murat Aydin, Muhammet Demirkol, Burcin Nalbantoglu, Aysin Nalbantoglu, Birol Topcu

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Childhood obesity is an ever increasing global health problem, affecting both developed and developing countries. Accurate evaluation of obesity in children requires difficult and detailed investigation. In our study, obesity in children was evaluated using new body fat ratios and indices. Assessment of anthropometric measurements, as well as some ratios, is important because of the evaluation of gender differences particularly during the late periods of obesity. A total of 239 children; 168 morbid obese (MO) (81 girls and 87 boys) and 71 normal weight (NW) (40 girls and 31 boys) children, participated in the study. Informed consent forms signed by the parents were obtained. Ethics Committee approved the study protocol. Mean ages (years)±SD calculated for MO group were 10.8±2.9 years in girls and 10.1±2.4 years in boys. The corresponding values for NW group were 9.0±2.0 years in girls and 9.2±2.1 years in boys. Mean body mass index (BMI)±SD values for MO group were 29.1±5.4 kg/m² and 27.2±3.9 kg/m² in girls and boys, respectively. These values for NW group were calculated as 15.5±1.0 kg/m² in girls and 15.9±1.1 kg/m² in boys. Groups were constituted based upon BMI percentiles for age-and-sex values recommended by WHO. Children with percentiles >99 were grouped as MO and children with percentiles between 85 and 15 were considered NW. The anthropometric measurements were recorded and evaluated along with the new ratios such as trunk-to-appendicular fat ratio, as well as indices such as Index-I and Index-II. The body fat percent values were obtained by bio-electrical impedance analysis. Data were entered into a database for analysis using SPSS/PASW 18 Statistics for Windows statistical software. Increased waist-to-hip circumference (C) ratios, decreased head-to-neck C, height ‘to’ ‘two’-‘to’-waist C and height ‘to’ ‘two’-‘to’-hip C ratios were observed in parallel with the development of obesity (p≤0.001). Reference value for height ‘to’ ‘two’-‘to’-hip ratio was detected as approximately 1.0. Index-II, based upon total body fat mass, showed much more significant differences between the groups than Index-I based upon weight. There was not any difference between trunk-to-appendicular fat ratios of NW girls and NW boys (p≥0.05). However, significantly increased values for MO girls in comparison with MO boys were observed (p≤0.05). This parameter showed no difference between NW and MO states in boys (p≥0.05). However, statistically significant increase was noted in MO girls compared to their NW states (p≤0.001). Trunk-to-appendicular fat ratio was the only fat-based parameter, which showed gender difference between NW and MO groups. This study has revealed that body ratios and formula based upon body fat tissue are more valuable parameters than those based on weight and height values for the evaluation of morbid obesity in children.

Keywords: anthropometry, childhood obesity, gender, morbid obesity

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Authors: Oindrila Nath, S. Sridharan

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Long-term (2002-2012) temperature and ozone measurements by Sounding of Atmosphere by Broadband Emission Radiometry (SABER) instrument onboard Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) satellite zonally averaged over 10°N-15°N are used to study their long-term changes and their responses to solar cycle, quasi-biennial oscillation and El Nino Southern Oscillation. The region is selected to provide more accurate long-term trends and variabilities, which were not possible earlier with lidar measurements over Gadanki (13.5°N, 79.2°E), which are limited to cloud-free nights, whereas continuous data sets of SABER temperature and ozone are available. Regression analysis of temperature shows a cooling trend of 0.5K/decade in the stratosphere and that of 3K/decade in the mesosphere. Ozone shows a statistically significant decreasing trend of 1.3 ppmv per decade in the mesosphere although there is a small positive trend in stratosphere at 25 km. Other than this no significant ozone trend is observed in stratosphere. Negative ozone-QBO response (0.02ppmv/QBO), positive ozone-solar cycle (0.91ppmv/100SFU) and negative response to ENSO (0.51ppmv/SOI) have been found more in mesosphere whereas positive ozone response to ENSO (0.23ppmv/SOI) is pronounced in stratosphere (20-30 km). The temperature response to solar cycle is more positive (3.74K/100SFU) in the upper mesosphere and its response to ENSO is negative around 80 km and positive around 90-100 km and its response to QBO is insignificant at most of the heights. Composite monthly mean of ozone volume mixing ratio shows maximum values during pre-monsoon and post-monsoon season in middle stratosphere (25-30 km) and in upper mesosphere (85-95 km) around 10 ppmv. Composite monthly mean of temperature shows semi-annual variation with large values (~250-260 K) in equinox months and less values in solstice months in upper stratosphere and lower mesosphere (40-55 km) whereas the SAO becomes weaker above 55 km. The semi-annual variation again appears at 80-90 km, with large values in spring equinox and winter months. In the upper mesosphere (90-100 km), less temperature (~170-190 K) prevails in all the months except during September, when the temperature is slightly more. The height profiles of amplitudes of semi-annual and annual oscillations in ozone show maximum values of 6 ppmv and 2.5 ppmv respectively in upper mesosphere (80-100 km), whereas SAO and AO in temperature show maximum values of 5.8 K and 4.6 K in lower and middle mesosphere around 60-85 km. The phase profiles of both SAO and AO show downward progressions. These results are being compared with long-term lidar temperature measurements over Gadanki (13.5°N, 79.2°E) and the results obtained will be presented during the meeting.

Keywords: trends, QBO, solar cycle, ENSO, ozone, temperature

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Authors: Francisco José Plácido da Cunha, Tassio Ferenzini Martins Sirqueira, Marx Leles Viana, Carlos José Pereira de Lucena

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Open Multiagent Systems (MASs) are societies in which heterogeneous and independently designed entities (agents) work towards similar, or different ends. Software agents are autonomous and the diversity of interests among different members living in the same society is a fact. In order to deal with this autonomy, these open systems use mechanisms of social control (norms) to ensure a desirable social order. This paper considers the following types of norms: (i) obligation — agents must accomplish a specific outcome; (ii) permission — agents may act in a particular way, and (iii) prohibition — agents must not act in a specific way. All of these characteristics mean to encourage the fulfillment of norms through rewards and to discourage norm violation by pointing out the punishments. Once the software agent decides that its priority is the satisfaction of its own desires and goals, each agent must evaluate the effects associated to the fulfillment of one or more norms before choosing which one should be fulfilled. The same applies when agents decide to violate a norm. This paper also introduces a framework for the development of MASs that provide support mechanisms to the agent’s decision-making, using norm-based reasoning. The applicability and validation of this approach is demonstrated applying a traffic intersection scenario.

Keywords: BDI agent, BDI4JADE framework, multiagent systems, normative agents

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Authors: Farej Ahmed Emhmmed

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Fracture of duplex stainless steels (DSS) was investigated in air and in 3.5 wt % NaCl solution. Tow sets of fatigued specimens were heat treated at 475ºC for different times and pulled to failure either in air or after kept in 3.5% NaCl with polarization of -900 mV/ SCE. Fracture took place in general by ferrite cleavage and austenite ductile fracture in transgranular mode. Specimens measured stiffness (Ms) was affected by the aging time, with higher values measured for specimens aged for longer times. Microstructural features played a role in "blocking" the crack propagation process leading to lower the CTOD values specially for specimens aged for short times. Unbroken ligaments/ austenite were observed at the crack wake. These features may exerted a bridging stress, blocking effect, at the crack tip giving resistance to the crack propagation process i.e the crack mouth opening was reduced. Higher stress intensity factor Kıc values were observed with increased amounts of crack growth suggesting longer zone of unbroken ligaments in the crack wake. The bridging zone was typically several mm in length. Attempt to model the bridge stress was suggested to understand the role of ligaments/unbroken austenite in increasing the fracture toughness factor.

Keywords: stainless steels, fracture toughness, crack keying effect, ligaments

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Authors: Slimane Ouhmad, Abdellah Halimi

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In this work, we have applied neural networks method MLP type to a database from an array of six sensors for the detection of three toxic gases. As the choice of the number of hidden layers and the weight values has a great influence on the convergence of the learning algorithm, we proposed, in this article, a mathematical formulation to determine the optimal number of hidden layers and good weight values based on the method of back propagation of errors. The results of this modeling have improved discrimination of these gases on the one hand, and optimize the computation time on the other hand, the comparison to other results achieved in this case.

Keywords: MLP Neural Network, back-propagation, number of neurons in the hidden layer, identification, computing time

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Authors: Rahmayanti, Theresia Simatupang, Ronald H. Sianturi

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Corruption criminal act develops rapidly since in the transition era there is weakness in law. Consequently, there is an opportunity for a few people to do fraud and illegal acts and to misuse their positions and formal functions in order to make them rich, and the criminal acts are done systematically and sophisticatedly. Some people believe that legal provisions which specifically regulate the corruption criminal act; namely, Law No. 31/1999 in conjunction with Law No. 20/2001 on the Eradication of Corruption Criminal Act are not effective any more, especially in onus probandi (the burden of proof) on corruptors. The research was a descriptive analysis, a research method which is used to obtain description on a certain situation or condition by explaining the data, and the conclusion is drawn through some analyses. The research used judicial normative approach since it used secondary data as the main data by conducting library research. The system of the burden of proof, which follows the principles of reversal of the burden of proof stipulated in Article 12B, paragraph 1 a and b, Article 37A, and Article 38B of Law No. 20/2001 on the Amendment of Law No. 31/1999, is used only as supporting evidence when the principal case is proved. Meanwhile, how to maximize the implementation of the burden of proof on the perpetrators of corruption criminal act in which the public prosecutor brings a corruption case to Court, depends upon the nature of the case and the type of indictment. The system of burden of proof can be used to eradicate corruption in the Court if some policies and general principles of justice such as independency, impartiality, and legal certainty, are applied.

Keywords: burden of proof, perpetrator, corruption criminal act

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Authors: Jung-Ho Moon, Myung-Gon Yoon, Tae Kwon Ha

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This paper presents a wireless sensor network protocol for a car parking monitoring system. A wireless sensor network for the purpose is composed of multiple sensor nodes, a sink node, a gateway, and a server. Each of the sensor nodes is equipped with a 3-axis AMR sensor and deployed in the center of a parking space. The sensor node reads its sensor values periodically and transmits the data to the sink node if the current and immediate past sensor values show a difference exceeding a threshold value. The operations of the sink and sensor nodes are described in detail along with flow diagrams. The protocol allows a low-duty cycle operation of the sensor nodes and a flexible adjustment of the threshold value used by the sensor nodes.

Keywords: car parking monitoring, sensor node, wireless sensor network, network protocol

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Authors: K. Bengango, H. Mesahsah, F. Haseb-Reho, J. M. Tafrate

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This present work was conducted to explore the micro-morphology and phytochemical characterization of the endemic medicinal plant Tekchebilium arvensis Linn (Asteraceae). Macroscopy, microscopy, physicochemical analysis and WHO recommended parameters for standardizations were performed. Microscopic evaluation revealed the presence of abaxial epidermis with paracytic stomata. Petiole showed epidermis, vascular strands, ground tissue and secretary cavities. Physico-chemical tests like ash values, loss on drying, extractive values were determined. Preliminary phytochemical screening showed the presence of sterols, tannins, flavonoids, glycosides, volatile oil, terpenoids, saponin and alkaloids.

Keywords: Tekchebilium arvensis Linn, Asteraceae, microscopical evaluation, phytochemical, powder microscopy, standardization

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Authors: J. P. Gorninski, J. M. L. Reis

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This present work was aimed to develop polymeric mortars having as binder two polyester resins namely isophtalic and orthophtalic polyester. The inorganic phase was composed by medium-size river sand and fly ash fíller, a by-product of the burning of coal in power plants. The compositions in this study are high performance mortars and were assessed by mechanical properties, through compressive strength and flexural strength, by durability strength when exposed to the cyclical variation of temperature from -400C to +300C and by the chemical aggression test. The composites displayed good performance when exposed to cyclical temperature variations and chemical solutions. The mechanical strength values reached the 100 MPa, the flexural strength yielded values of about twenty percent of mechanical strength.

Keywords: polymer mortar, mechanical strength, cyclical temperatures, chemical strength, sustainability

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Authors: Yanhua Zhao, Yu Gou, Shu Feng, Dongdong Li, Chuanmin Tao

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The natural history of HBV infection could experience immune tolerant (IT), immune clearance (IC), HBeAg-negative inactive/quienscent carrier (ENQ), and HBeAg-negative hepatitis (ENH). As current biomarkers for discriminating these four phases have some weaknesses, additional serological indicators are needed. Hepatits B core-related antigen (HBcrAg) encoded with precore/core gene contains denatured HBeAg, HBV core antigen (HBcAg) and a 22KDa precore protein (p22cr), which was demonstrated to have a close association with natural history of hepatitis B infection, but no specific cutoff values and diagnostic parameters to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy. This study aimed to clarify the distribution of HBcrAg levels and evaluate its diagnostic performance during the natural history of infection from a Western Chinese perspective. 294 samples collected from treatment-naïve chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients in different phases (IT=64; IC=72; ENQ=100, and ENH=58). We detected the HBcrAg values and analyzed the relationship between HBcrAg and HBV DNA. HBsAg and other clinical parameters were quantitatively tested. HBcrAg levels of four phases were 9.30 log U/mL, 8.80 log U/mL, 3.00 log U/mL, and 5.10 logU/mL, respectively (p < 0.0001). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis demonstrated that the area under curves (AUCs) of HBcrAg and quantitative HBsAg at cutoff values of 9.25 log U/mL and 4.355 log IU/mL for distinguishing IT from IC phases were 0.704 and 0.694, with sensitivity 76.39% and 59.72%, specificity 53.13% and 79.69%, respectively. AUCs of HBcrAg and quantitative HBsAg at cutoff values of 4.15 log U/mlmL and 2.395 log IU/mlmL for discriminating between ENQ and ENH phases were 0.931 and 0.653, with sensitivity 87.93% and 84%, specificity 91.38% and 39%, respectively. Therefore, HBcrAg levels varied significantly among four natural phases of HBV infection. It had higher predictive performance than quantitative HBsAg for distinguishing between ENQ-patients and ENH-patients and similar performance with HBsAg for the discrimination between IT and IC phases, which indicated that HBcrAg could be a potential serological marker for CHB.

Keywords: chronic hepatitis B, hepatitis B core-related antigen, hepatitis B surface antigens, hepatitis B virus

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Authors: Seyed Habib A. Rahmati, Parsa Fallah Sheikhlari, Morteza Musakhani

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This paper studies the structure of financial investment and efficiency on the subway would be created between Hashtgerd and Qazvin in Iran. Regarding ascending rate of transportation between Tehran and Qazvin which directly air pollution, it clearly implies to public transportation requirement between these two cities near Tehran. The railway transportation like subway can help each country to terminate traffic jam which has some advantages such as speed, security, non-pollution, low cost of public transport, etc. This type of transportation needs national infrastructures which require enormous investment. It couldn’t implement without leading and managing funds and investments properly. In order to response 'needs', clear norms or normative targets have to be agreed and obviously it is important to distinguish costs from investment requirements critically. Implementation phase affects investment requirements and financing needs. So recognizing barrier related to investment and the quality of investment (what technologies and services are invested in) is as important as the amounts of investment. Different investment methods have mentioned as follows loan, leasing, equity participation, Line of financing, finance, usance, bay back. Alternatives survey before initiation and analyzing of risk management is one of the most important parts in this project. Observation of similar project cities each country has the own specification to choose investment method.

Keywords: subway project, project investment, project contract, project management

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Authors: Patsorn Worawattananutai, Srisopa Ruangnoo, Arunporn Itharat

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Hibiscus sabdariffa (HS) leaves are vegetables which are extensively used as blood tonic and laxatives in Thai traditional medicine. They are popularly used as healthy sour soup for prevention of chronic diseases such as cancer. Therefore, the cytotoxic activity of different extracts of fresh and dried Hibiscus sabdariffa leaves were investigated via the sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay against three types of women’s cancer cell lines, namely the human cervical adenocarcinoma cell line (HeLa), the human ovarian adenocarcinoma cell line (SKOV-3), and the human breast adenocarcinoma cell line (MCF-7). Extraction methods were squeezing, boiling with water and maceration with 95% or 50% ethanol. The 95% ethanolic extracts of Hibiscus sabdariffa dry leaves (HSDE95) showed the highest cytotoxicity against all types of women’s cancer cell lines with the IC50 values in range 7.51±0.33 to 12.13±1.85 µg/ml. Its IC50 values against SKOV-3, HeLa and MCF-7 were 7.51±0.33, 9.44±1.41 and 12.13±1.85 µg/ml, respectively. In these results, this extract can be classified as “active” according to the NCI guideline which indicated that IC50 values of the active cytotoxic plant extracts have to be beneath 20 µg/ml. Thus, HSDE95 was concluded to be a potent cytotoxic drug for all women’s cancer cells. This extract should be further investigated to isolate active compounds against women’s cancer cells.

Keywords: breast adenocarcinoma, cervical adenocarcinoma, cytotoxic activity, Hibiscus sabdariffa, ovarian adenocarcinoma

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Authors: Badri Gechbaia, Levan Gvarishvili

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Despite the fact that a lot of Georgian scientists have worked on the issue of the business competitiveness, it think that it is necessary to deepen the works in this sphere, it is necessary also to perfect the methodology in the estimation of the business competitiveness, we have to display the main factors which define the competitive advantages in the business sphere, we have also to establish the interconnections between the business competitiveness level and the quality of states economical involvement in the international economic processes, we have to define the ways to rise the business competitiveness and its role in the upgrading of countries economic development. The introduction part justifies the actuality of the studied topic and the thesis; It defines the survey subject, the object, and the goals with relevant objectives; theoretical-methodological and informational-statistical base for the survey; what is new in the survey and what the value for its theoretical and practical application is. The aforementioned study is an effort to raise public awareness on this issue. Analysis of the fundamental conditions for the efficient functioning of business in Georgia, identification of reserves for increasing its efficiency based on the assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the business sector. Methods of system analysis, abstract-logic, induction and deduction, synthesis and generalization, and positive, normative, and comparative analysis are used in the research process. Specific regularities of the impact of the globalization process on the determinants of business competitiveness are established. The reasons for business competitiveness in Georgia have been identified

Keywords: competitiveness, methodology, georgian, economic

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Authors: Arun Goel

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The present paper attempts to investigate the prediction of air entrainment rate and aeration efficiency of a free over-fall jets issuing from a triangular sharp crested weir by using regression based modelling. The empirical equations, support vector machine (polynomial and radial basis function) models and the linear regression techniques were applied on the triangular sharp crested weirs relating the air entrainment rate and the aeration efficiency to the input parameters namely drop height, discharge, and vertex angle. It was observed that there exists a good agreement between the measured values and the values obtained using empirical equations, support vector machine (Polynomial and rbf) models, and the linear regression techniques. The test results demonstrated that the SVM based (Poly & rbf) model also provided acceptable prediction of the measured values with reasonable accuracy along with empirical equations and linear regression techniques in modelling the air entrainment rate and the aeration efficiency of a free over-fall jets issuing from triangular sharp crested weir. Further sensitivity analysis has also been performed to study the impact of input parameter on the output in terms of air entrainment rate and aeration efficiency.

Keywords: air entrainment rate, dissolved oxygen, weir, SVM, regression

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Authors: John Gichimu Mbaka, Jan Helmrich Martin von Baumbach, Celia Somlai, Denis Köpfer, Andreas Maeck, Andreas Lorke, Ralf Schäfer

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Leaf litter decomposition is an important process providing energy to biotic communities. Additionally, methane gas (CH4) has been identified as an important alternative source of carbon and energy in some freshwater food webs.Flow regulation and dams can strongly alter freshwater ecosystems, but little is known about the effect of small impoundments on leaf litter decomposition and methane derived carbon in streams. In this study, we tested the effect of small water storage impoundments on leaf litter decomposition rates and methane derived carbon. Leaf litter decomposition rates were assessed by comparing treatment sites located close to nine impoundments (Rheinland Pfalz state, Germany) and reference sites located far away from the impoundments.CH4 concentrations were measured in eleven impoundments and correlated with the δ13C values of two subfamilies of chironomid larvae (i.e. Chironomini and Tanypodinae). Leaf litter break down rates were significantly lower in study sites located immediately above the impoundments, especially associated with a reduction in the abundance of shredders. Chironomini larvae had the lower mean δ13C values (‒29.2 to ‒25.5 ‰), than Tanypodinae larvae (‒26.9 to ‒25.3 ‰).No significant relationships were established between CH4 concentrations and δ13C values of chironomids (p> 0.05).Mean δ13C values of chironomid larvae (mean: ‒26.8‰, range: ‒ 29.2‰ to ‒ 25.3‰) were similar to those of sedimentary organic matter (SOM) (mean: ‒28.4‰, range: ‒ 29.3‰ to ‒ 27.1‰) and tree leaf litter (mean: ‒29.8 ‰, range: ‒ 30.5‰ to ‒ 29.1‰). In conclusion, this study demonstrates that small impoundments may have a negative effect on leaf litter decomposition in forest streams and that CH4 has limited influence on the benthic food web in stream impoundments.

Keywords: river functioning, chironomids, Alder tree, stable isotopes, methane oxidation, shredder

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Authors: Selami Şahin

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In this paper, in order to achieve sufficient bit error rate (BER) according to zenith angle of the satellite to ground station, SNR requirement is investigated utilizing pulse position modulation (PPM). To realize explicit results, all parameters such as link distance, Rytov variance, scintillation index, wavelength, aperture diameter of the receiver, Fried's parameter and zenith angle have been taken into account. Results indicate that after some parameters are determined since the constraints of the system, to achieve desired BER, required SNR values are in wide range while zenith angle changes from small to large values. Therefore, in order not to utilize high link margin, either SNR should adjust according to zenith angle or link should establish with predetermined intervals of the zenith angle.

Keywords: Free-space optical communication, optical downlink channel, atmospheric turbulence, wireless optical communication

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Authors: W. Ait Ahmed, M. Aggour, M. Naciri

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Extracting energy from biomass is an important alternative to produce different types of energy (heat, electricity, or both) assuring low pollution and better efficiency. It is a new yet reliable approach to reduce green gas emission by extracting methane from industry effluents and use it to power machinery. We focused in our project on using paper and mill effluents, treated in a UASB reactor. The methane produced is used in the factory’s power supply. The aim of this work is to develop an electronic system using Arduino platform connected to a gas sensor, to measure and display the curve of daily methane production on processing. The sensor will send the gas values in ppm to the Arduino board so that the later sends the RS232 hardware protocol. The code developed with processing will transform the values into a curve and display it on the computer screen.

Keywords: biogas, Arduino, processing, code, methane, gas sensor, program

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Authors: Monika Paleczna, Barbara Szmigielska

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Adolescence is a developmental period, covering the period from 10 to 20 years of age, in which young people face many challenges. One of the most important tasks of the adolescence period is getting a structured identity. The development of identity is possible by undertaking various activities. Nowadays, virtual activities are very common among young people. One of the main adolescents’ activities in the online environment is playing computer games. The main aim of this work is to answer the question about the relationship between the identity style of adolescents and immersion, -a phenomenon often observed while playing computer games. The concept of identity created by Berzonsky is considered as one of the best-defined concepts of identity. He defines identity as both a structure and a process and distinguishes three styles of identity: informational, normative, and diffuse/avoidant. Immersion is a concept that can be applied in a broad context, but in the game environment, it is a specific psychological experience of being involved in a computer game. It refers to the relocation of the attention resources to the game world, with a limited or impossible perception of stimuli from reality. Considering how much time adolescents spend playing computer games, the question about the relationship between their identity and the immersion in the game seems to be extremely interesting. Fifty adolescents aged 15-17 participated in the study. They played a computer game and completed the Identity Style Inventory and the Immersion Questionaire.

Keywords: identity, immersion, computer games, adolescence

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Authors: Zubair Ahmad

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Specific activities of the natural radionuclides 238U, 232Th and 40K were measured by using γ - ray spectrometric technique in soil samples collected from the city of Dhanbad, which is located near coal mines. Mean activity values for 238U, 232Th and 40K were found to be 60.29 Bq/kg, 64.50 Bq/kg and 481.0 Bq/kg, respectively. Mean radium equivalent activity, absorbed dose rate, outdoor dose, external hazard index, internal hazard index, for the area under study were determined as 189.53 Bq/kg, 87.21 nGy/h, 0.37 mSv/y, 0.52 and 0.64, respectively. The annual effective dose to the general public was found 0.44 mSv/y. This value lies well below the limit of 1 mSv/y as recommended by International Commission on Radiological Protection. Measured values were found safe for environment and public health.

Keywords: coal city Dhanbad, gamma-ray spectroscopy, natural radioactivity, soil samples

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Authors: Ajit Brindhaban

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Background and Purpose: Computed Tomography (CT) scans have become the largest source of radiation in radiological imaging. The purpose of this study was to compare the quality of pediatric Computed Tomography (CT) images reconstructed using Filtered Back Projection (FBP) with images reconstructed using different strengths of Iterative Reconstruction (IR) technique, and to perform a feasibility study to assess the use of IR techniques as a dose reduction tool. Materials and Methods: An anthropomorphic phantom representing a 5-year old child was scanned, in two stages, using a Siemens Somatom CT unit. In stage one, scans of the head, chest and abdomen were performed using standard protocols recommended by the scanner manufacturer. Images were reconstructed using FBP and 5 different strengths of IR. Contrast-to-Noise Ratios (CNR) were calculated from average CT number and its standard deviation measured in regions of interest created in the lungs, bone, and soft tissues regions of the phantom. Paired t-test and the one-way ANOVA were used to compare the CNR from FBP images with IR images, at p = 0.05 level. The lowest strength value of IR that produced the highest CNR was identified. In the second stage, scans of the head was performed with decreased mA(s) values relative to the increase in CNR compared to the standard FBP protocol. CNR values were compared in this stage using Paired t-test at p = 0.05 level. Results: Images reconstructed using IR technique had higher CNR values (p < 0.01.) in all regions compared to the FBP images, at all strengths of IR. The CNR increased with increasing IR strength of up to 3, in the head and chest images. Increases beyond this strength were insignificant. In abdomen images, CNR continued to increase up to strength 5. The results also indicated that, IR techniques improve CNR by a up to factor of 1.5. Based on the CNR values at strength 3 of IR images and CNR values of FBP images, a reduction in mA(s) of about 20% was identified. The images of the head acquired at 20% reduced mA(s) and reconstructed using IR at strength 3, had similar CNR as FBP images at standard mA(s). In the head scans of the phantom used in this study, it was demonstrated that similar CNR can be achieved even when the mA(s) is reduced by about 20% if IR technique with strength of 3 is used for reconstruction. Conclusions: The IR technique produced better image quality at all strengths of IR in comparison to FBP. IR technique can provide approximately 20% dose reduction in pediatric head CT while maintaining the same image quality as FBP technique.

Keywords: filtered back projection, image quality, iterative reconstruction, pediatric computed tomography imaging

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Authors: Mounir Azzam, Valerie Graw, Andreas Rienow

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The Syrian war, which commenced in 2011, has resulted in significant changes in the real estate market in the Damascus metropolitan area, with rising levels of insecurity and disputes over tenure rights. The quest for spatial justice is, therefore, imperative, and this study performs a spatiotemporal analysis to investigate the impact of the war on real estate differentiation. Using the hedonic price models including 2,411 housing transactions over the period 2010-2022, this study aims to understand the spatial dynamics of the real estate market in wartime. Our findings indicate that war variables have had a significant impact on the differentiation and depreciation of property prices. Notably, property attributes have a more substantial impact on real estate values than district location, with severely damaged buildings in Damascus city resulting in an 89% decline in prices, while prices in Rural Damascus districts have decreased by 50%. Additionally, this study examines the urban texture of Damascus using correlation and homogeneity statistics derived from the gray-level co-occurrence matrix obtained from Google Earth Engine. We monitored 250 samples from hedonic datasets within three different years of the Syrian war (2015, 2019, and 2022). Our findings show that correlation values were highly differentiated, particularly among Rural Damascus districts, with a total decline of 87.2%. While homogeneity values decreased overall between 2015 and 2019, they improved slightly after 2019. The findings have valuable implications, not only for investment prospects in setting up a successful reconstruction strategy but also for spatial justice of property rights in strongly encouraging sustainable real estate development.

Keywords: hedonic price, real estate differentiation, reconstruction strategy, spatial justice, urban texture analysis

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Authors: Hesham Abdin, Mohamed Zakaria, Talaat Abd-Elmonaem, Alaa El-Din Sayed Hafez

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Kalman filter algorithm is an estimator known as the workhorse of estimation. It has an important application in missile guidance, especially in lack of accurate data of the target due to noise or uncertainty. In this paper, a Kalman filter is used as a tracking filter in a simulated target-interceptor scenario with noise. It estimates the position, velocity, and acceleration of the target in the presence of noise. These estimations are needed for both proportional navigation and differential geometry guidance laws. A Kalman filter has a good performance at low noise, but a large noise causes considerable errors leads to performance degradation. Therefore, a new technique is required to overcome this defect using tuning factors to tune a Kalman filter to adapt increasing of noise. The values of the tuning factors are between 0.8 and 1.2, they have a specific value for the first half of range and a different value for the second half. they are multiplied by the estimated values. These factors have its optimum values and are altered with the change of the target heading. A genetic algorithm updates these selections to increase the maximum effective range which was previously reduced by noise. The results show that the selected factors have other benefits such as decreasing the minimum effective range that was increased earlier due to noise. In addition to, the selected factors decrease the miss distance for all ranges of this direction of the target, and expand the effective range which leads to increase probability of kill.

Keywords: proportional navigation, differential geometry, Kalman filter, genetic algorithm

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Authors: Sharon Li, Zhonghang Xia

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Post-database search is an essential phase in peptide identification using tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) to refine peptide-spectrum matches (PSMs) produced by database search engines. These engines frequently face difficulty differentiating between correct and incorrect peptide assignments. Despite advances in statistical and machine learning methods aimed at improving the accuracy of peptide identification, challenges remain in selecting critical features for these models. In this study, two machine learning models—a random forest tree and a support vector machine—were applied to three datasets to enhance PSMs. SHAP values were utilized to determine the significance of each feature within the models. The experimental results indicate that the random forest model consistently outperformed the SVM across all datasets. Further analysis of SHAP values revealed that the importance of features varies depending on the dataset, indicating that a feature's role in model predictions can differ significantly. This variability in feature selection can lead to substantial differences in model performance, with false discovery rate (FDR) differences exceeding 50% between different feature combinations. Through SHAP value analysis, the most effective feature combinations were identified, significantly enhancing model performance.

Keywords: peptide identification, SHAP value, feature selection, random forest tree, support vector machine

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Authors: Aleksandr Nagay, Gulnoz Khamidullayeva

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It is known that an unbalanced intake of salt (NaCI), lifestyle and genetic predisposition to pathology is a key component of the risk and the development of essential hypertension (EH). Purpose: To study the relationship between salt-sensitivity and blood pressure (BP) on systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure, depending on the C825T polymorphism of GNB3 in individuals of Uzbek nationality with EH. Method: studied 148 healthy and 148 patients with EH with I-II degree (WHO/ISH, 2003) with disease duration 6,5±1,3 years. Investigation of the gene GNB3 was produced by PCR-RFLP method. Determination of salt-sensitivity was performed by the method of R. Henkin. Results: For a comparative analysis of BP, the groups with carriage of CТ and TT genotypes were combined. The analysis showed that carriers of CC genotype and low salt-sensitivity were determined by higher levels of SBP compared with carriers of CT and TT genotypes, and low salt-sensitivity of SBP: 166,2±4,3 against 158,2±9,1 mm Hg (p=0,000). A similar analysis on the values of DBP also showed significantly higher values of blood pressure in carriers of CC genotype DBP: 105,8±10,6 vs. 100,5±7,2 mm Hg, respectively (p=0,001). The average values of SBP and DBP in groups with carriers of CC genotype at medium or high salt-sensitivity in comparison with carriers of CT or TT genotype did not differ statistically SBP: 165,0±0,1 vs. 160,0±8,6 mm Hg (p=0,275) and DBP: 100,1±0,1 vs. 101,6±7,6 mm Hg (p=0,687), respectively. Conclusion: It is revealed that in patients with EH CC genotype of the gene GNB3 given salt-sensitivity has a negative effect on blood pressure profile. Since patients with EH with the CC genotype of GNB3 gene with low-salt taste sensitivity is determined by a higher level of blood pressure, both on SBP and DBP.

Keywords: salt sensitivity, essential hypertension EH, blood pressure BP, genetic predisposition

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Authors: Fatima Bellali, Mariem Kharroubi

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Fish scale wastes are one of the main sources of production of value-added products such as collagen. The main aim of this study is to investigate the optimization conditions of the sardine scale deproteinization using response surface methodology (RSM) on a pilot scale. In order to look for the optimal conditions, a Box–Behnken-based design of experiment (DOE) method was carried out. The model predicted values of product coal ash content were in good agreement with the experiment values (R2 = 0.9813). Finally, model-based optimization was carried out to identify the operating parameters (reaction time=4h and the solid-liquid ratio= 1/10) and to obtain the lowest collagen content.

Keywords: pilot scale, Plackett and Burman design, fish waste, deproteinization

Procedia PDF Downloads 159