Search results for: dynamic capabilities view

Authors: Mariam Matiashvili

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Argumentation is an integral part of our daily communications - formal or informal. Argumentative reasoning, techniques, and language tools are used both in personal conversations and in the business environment. Verbalization of the opinions requires the use of extraordinary syntactic-pragmatic structural quantities - arguments that add credibility to the statement. The study of argumentative structures allows us to identify the linguistic features that make the text argumentative. Knowing what elements make up an argumentative text in a particular language helps the users of that language improve their skills. Also, natural language processing (NLP) has become especially relevant recently. In this context, one of the main emphases is on the computational processing of argumentative texts, which will enable the automatic recognition and analysis of large volumes of textual data. The research deals with the linguistic analysis of the argumentative structures of Georgian political speeches - particularly the linguistic structure, characteristics, and functions of the parts of the argumentative text - claims, support, and attack statements. The research aims to describe the linguistic cues that give the sentence a judgmental/controversial character and helps to identify reasoning parts of the argumentative text. The empirical data comes from the Georgian Political Corpus, particularly TV debates. Consequently, the texts are of a dialogical nature, representing a discussion between two or more people (most often between a journalist and a politician). The research uses the following approaches to identify and analyze the argumentative structures Lexical Classification & Analysis - Identify lexical items that are relevant in argumentative texts creating process - Creating the lexicon of argumentation (presents groups of words gathered from a semantic point of view); Grammatical Analysis and Classification - means grammatical analysis of the words and phrases identified based on the arguing lexicon. Argumentation Schemas - Describe and identify the Argumentation Schemes that are most likely used in Georgian Political Speeches. As a final step, we analyzed the relations between the above mentioned components. For example, If an identified argument scheme is “Argument from Analogy”, identified lexical items semantically express analogy too, and they are most likely adverbs in Georgian. As a result, we created the lexicon with the words that play a significant role in creating Georgian argumentative structures. Linguistic analysis has shown that verbs play a crucial role in creating argumentative structures.

Keywords: georgian, argumentation schemas, argumentation structures, argumentation lexicon

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Authors: Sutapa Som Chaudhury, Chitrangada Das Mukhopadhyay

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Alzheimer’s disease is a well-known form of dementia since its discovery in 1906. Current Food and Drug Administration approved medications e.g. cholinesterase inhibitors, memantine offer modest symptomatic relief but do not play any role in disease modification or recovery. In last three decades many small molecules, chaperons, synthetic peptides, partial β-secretase enzyme blocker have been tested for the development of a drug against Alzheimer though did not pass the 3rd clinical phase trials. Here in this study, we designed a PEGylated, aminogenic, tripeptidic polymer with two different molecular weights based on the aggregation prone amino acid sequence 17-20 in amyloid beta (Aβ) 1-42. Being conjugated with poly-ethylene glycol (PEG) which self-assembles into hydrophilic nanoparticles, these PEGylated tripeptides constitute a very good drug delivery system crossing the blood brain barrier while the peptide remains protected from proteolytic degradation and non-specific protein interactions. Moreover, being completely aminogenic they would not raise any side effects. These peptide inhibitors were evaluated for their effectiveness against Aβ42 fibrillation at an early stage of oligomer to fibril formation as well as preformed fibril clearance via Thioflavin T (ThT) assay, dynamic light scattering analyses, atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The inhibitors were proved to be safe at a higher concentration of 20µM by the reduction assay of 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) dye. Moreover, SHSY5Y neuroblastoma cells have shown a greater survivability when treated with the inhibitors following Aβ42 fibril and oligomer treatment as compared with the control Aβ42 fibril and/or oligomer treated neuroblastoma cells. These make the peptidic inhibitors a promising compound in the aspect of the discovery of alternative medication for Alzheimer’s disease.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, alternative medication, amyloid beta, PEGylated peptide

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Authors: Sunho Seo, Younghwan Shin, Jong-Hong Park, Sooeun Song, Junsung Kim, Jusik Yun, Yongkyun Kim, Jong-Moon Chung

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In order to effectively cope with large and complex disasters, disaster response training is needed. Recently, disaster response training led by the ROK (Republic of Korea) government is being implemented through a 4 year R&D project, which has several similar functions as the HSEEP (Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program) of the United States, but also has several different features as well. Due to the unpredictiveness and diversity of disasters, existing training methods have many limitations in providing experience in the efficient use of disaster incident response and recovery resources. Always, the challenge is to be as efficient and effective as possible using the limited human and material/physical resources available based on the given time and environmental circumstances. To enable repeated training under diverse scenarios, an AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality) combined simulator is under development. Unlike existing disaster response training, simulator based training (that allows remote login simultaneous multi-user training) enables freedom from limitations in time and space constraints, and can be repeatedly trained with different combinations of functions and disaster situations. There are related systems such as ADMS (Advanced Disaster Management Simulator) developed by ETC simulation and HLS2 (Homeland Security Simulation System) developed by ELBIT system. However, the ROK government needs a simulator custom made to the country's environment and disaster types, and also combines the latest information and communication technologies, which include AR, VR, and MPEG-DASH (Moving Picture Experts Group - Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP) technology. In this paper, a new disaster response training simulator is proposed to overcome the limitation of existing training systems, and adapted to actual disaster situations in the ROK, where several technical features are described.

Keywords: augmented reality, emergency response training simulator, MPEG-DASH, virtual reality

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Authors: Daria Druzhinenko- Silhan, Patrick Schmoll

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Childhood obesity is one of the important problem in domain of health care. During two recent decades we are observing a real epidemic of this noninfectious illness. Its consequences are hard: cardio-vascular disease; diabetes; arthrosis etc. (OMS, 2012) Keep Healthy Kids  » study aims to create a new system of accompanying of childhood obesity based on new technologies as mobile applications or serious video-games. We realize a support-study which aims to understand motivations, psychological dynamite and family's impact on weight-loss process in childhood. Sample: 65 children from 7 to 10 years old accompanied by special Care Center in France. Methodology: we proceed by an innovative approach that bases on quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection. We focus our proposal on data collected from medical files. We are also realizing individual assessment (still ongoing) that aims to understand psychological profiles of obese children and their family dynamic. Results: Only 16,9% of children asked for medical accompanying of obesity. We noted that the most important reason to come to the care Center was the fact of mates' scoffs (46,2%°), the second one was the appearance or look (40 %). We found out that the self-image of these children in self-evaluation questionnaire was described mostly as rather good (46,2) or good (28,2%); the most part of children evaluated their well-being as rather good (29,7%) or good (51,4%). In interviews children had tendency to not recall why they came to the Care Center. Discussion : These results permit us to make a hypothesis that children suffering of overweight or obesity are not clearly aware why they must loose weight. It was rather the peer environment that pointed out the problem of overweight for them. So the motivation to loose weight is mostly supported by environment. We suppose that it is a « weak-point » of their motivation and it can be over-come using serious video-games supporting physical activity that can make deviate the motivation from « to loose weight for be looked better by the others » into « have fun and feeling me better ».

Keywords: childhood obesity, motivation, weight-loss, serious video-game

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Authors: Kurt Maxwell Kusterer, Sylvain Mignot, Annick Vignes

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To our best knowledge YouTube is the largest video hosting platform in the world. A high number of creators, viewers, subscribers and commentators act in this specific eco-system which generates huge sums of money. Views, subscribers, and comments help to increase the popularity of content creators. The most popular creators are sponsored by brands and participate in marketing campaigns. For a few of them, this becomes a financially rewarding profession. This is made possible through the YouTube Partner Program, which shares revenue among creators based on their popularity. We believe that the role of comments in increasing the popularity is to be emphasized. In what follows, YouTube is considered as a bilateral network between the videos and the commentators. Analyzing a detailed data set focused on French YouTubers, we consider each comment as a link between a commentator and a video. Our research question asks what are the predominant features of a video which give it the highest probability to be commented on. Following on from this question, how can we use these features to predict the action of the agent in commenting one video instead of another, considering the characteristics of the commentators, videos, topics, channels, and recommendations. We expect to see that the videos of more popular channels generate higher viewer engagement and thus are more frequently commented. The interest lies in discovering features which have not classically been considered as markers for popularity on the platform. A quick view of our data set shows that 96% of the commentators comment only once on a certain video. Thus, we study a non-weighted bipartite network between commentators and videos built on the sub-sample of 96% of unique comments. A link exists between two nodes when a commentator makes a comment on a video. We run an Exponential Random Graph Model (ERGM) approach to evaluate which characteristics influence the probability of commenting a video. The creation of a link will be explained in terms of common video features, such as duration, quality, number of likes, number of views, etc. Our data is relevant for the period of 2020-2021 and focuses on the French YouTube environment. From this set of 391 588 videos, we extract the channels which can be monetized according to YouTube regulations (channels with at least 1000 subscribers and more than 4000 hours of viewing time during the last twelve months).In the end, we have a data set of 128 462 videos which consist of 4093 channels. Based on these videos, we have a data set of 1 032 771 unique commentators, with a mean of 2 comments per a commentator, a minimum of 1 comment each, and a maximum of 584 comments.

Keywords: YouTube, social networks, economics, consumer behaviour

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Authors: Omneya N. Mekhaimer, Elkhayam M. Dorra, A. Samer Ezeldin

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Over the recent decades, studies on organizational culture have gained global attention in the business management literature, where it has been established that the cultural factors embedded in the organization have an implicit yet significant influence on the organization’s success. Unlike other industries, the construction industry is widely known to be operating in a dynamic and adversarial nature; considering the unique characteristics it denotes, thereby the level of disputes has propagated in the construction industry throughout the years. In the late 1990s, the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB) created a Task Group (TG-23), which later evolved in 2006 into a Working Commission W112, with a strategic objective to promote research in investigating the role and impact of culture in the construction industry worldwide. To that end, this paper aims to study the influence of organizational culture in the contractor’s organization on the frequency of disputes caused between the owner and the contractor that occur in commercial projects based in Egypt. This objective is achieved by using a quantitative approach through a survey questionnaire to explore the dominant cultural attributes that exist in the contractor’s organization based on the Competing Value Framework (CVF) theory, which classifies organizational culture into four main cultural types: (1) clan, (2) adhocracy, (3) market, and (4) hierarchy. Accordingly, the collected data are statistically analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 28) software, whereby a correlation analysis using Pearson Correlation is carried out to assess the relationship between these variables and their statistical significance using the p-value. The results show that there is an influence of organizational culture attributes on the frequency of disputes whereby market culture is identified to be the most dominant organizational culture that is currently practiced in contractor’s organization, which consequently contributes to increasing the frequency of disputes in commercial projects. These findings suggest that alternative management practices should be adopted rather than the existing ones with an aim to minimize dispute occurrence.

Keywords: construction projects, correlation analysis, disputes, Egypt, organizational culture

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Authors: P. Caimmi, E. Bele, A. Abolfathi

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Lattice materials are cellular structures composed of a periodic network of beams. They offer high weight-specific mechanical properties and lend themselves to numerous weight-sensitive applications. The periodic internal structure responds to external vibrations through characteristic frequency bandgaps, making these materials suitable for the reduction of noise and vibration. However, the deviation from architectural homogeneity, due to, e.g., manufacturing imperfections, has a strong influence on the mechanical properties and vibration response of these materials. In this work, we present results on the influence of geometric imperfections on the vibration response of hexagonal lattices. Three classes of geometrical variables are used: the characteristics of the architecture (relative density, ligament length/cell size ratio), imperfection type (degree of non-periodicity, cracks, hard inclusions) and defect morphology (size, distribution). Test specimens with controlled size and distribution of imperfections are manufactured through selective laser sintering. The Frequency Response Functions (FRFs) in the form of accelerance are measured, and the modal shapes are captured through a high-speed camera. The finite element method is used to provide insights on the extension of these results to semi-infinite lattices. An updating procedure is conducted to increase the reliability of numerical simulation results compared to experimental measurements. This is achieved by updating the boundary conditions and material stiffness. Variations in FRFs of periodic structures due to changes in the relative density of the constituent unit cell are analysed. The effects of geometric imperfections on the dynamic response of periodic structures are investigated. The findings can be used to open up the opportunity for tailoring these lattice materials to achieve optimal amplitude attenuations at specific frequency ranges.

Keywords: lattice architectures, geometric imperfections, vibration attenuation, experimental modal analysis

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Authors: Cunyu Zhang

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Through literature review about studies related to tense, it is found that there exist disagreements on the definition and existence of Chinese tense. Influenced by some researches on English language which regard tense as a grammatical category based on the verbal inflections of English, some Chinese researchers claim that there is no tense in Chinese language as there are no verbal inflections involved. Meanwhile, other Chinese researchers hold that Chinese still has tense although its verbs are non-inflectional based on the fact that Chinese lexical expressions can imply temporal meaning. We assume that the reasons for the above disagreements in terms of Chinese tense lie in the fact that all the previous studies prefer to view language “from the below” which means expressions of tense are the core part of these studies. However, there are about 6,000 languages with distinct expressions all over the world. Hence, if the language studies only concentrate on expressions, it must become more difficult to understand the nature of language. By contrast, functions of languages are similar; otherwise, the human beings could not communicate with each other. Therefore, we believe that it is necessary for us to have a theoretical study on Chinese tense within the framework of SFL which holds that language is a system where meaning is the core part while form is just the realization of meaning. In addition, SFL is a general linguistic providing a universal framework for languages all over the world. Therefore, based on Systemic Functional Linguistics, the paper firstly redefines tense as a deictic semantic category for describing the speaker’s temporal location of processes and relevant temporal relations. With reference to this definition, this study explores the meaning system of tense. It is proposed that tense expresses four kinds of meaning, namely interpersonal, experiential, logical and textual meanings. From the interpersonal angle, tense helps to exchange temporal information between the speaker and the listener, and the temporal information refers to the anchoring of a concerned process in the past, present or future by the speaker. From the experiential angle, tense plays a role in the temporal locating of material, mental, relational, existential, behavioral and verbal processes by the speaker. From the logical angle, tense denotes the temporal relations at the two levels of clause and clause complex, and such relations fall into simultaneity, anteriority and posteriority. From the textual angle, tense refers to the temporal relations at the level of text, and the temporal relations in question concern linear serial relations and synchronous serial relations.

Keywords: Chinese, meaning system, Systemic Functional Linguistics, tense

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Authors: Vladimir Hovhannisyan, Chen Yuan Dong

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Recently nanoparticles (NPs) have been introduced in biomedicine as effective agents for cancer-targeted drug delivery and noninvasive tissue imaging. The most important requirements to these agents are their non-toxicity, biocompatibility and stability. In view of these criteria, the zeolite (ZL) nanoparticles (NPs) may be considered as perfect candidates for biomedical applications. ZLs are crystalline aluminosilicates consisting of oxygen-sharing SiO4 and AlO4 tetrahedral groups united by common vertices in three-dimensional framework and containing pores with diameters from 0.3 to 1.2 nm. Generally, the behavior and physical properties of ZLs are studied by SEM, X-ray spectroscopy, and AFM, whereas optical spectroscopic and microscopic approaches are not effective enough, because of strong scattering in common ZL bulk materials and powders. The light scattering can be reduced by using of ZL NPs. ZL NPs have large external surface area, high dispersibility in both aqueous and organic solutions, high photo- and thermal stability, and exceptional ability to adsorb various molecules and atoms in their nanopores. In this report, using multiphoton microscopy and nonlinear spectroscopy, we investigate nonlinear optical properties of clinoptilolite type of ZL micro- and nanoparticles with average diameters of 2200 nm and 240 nm, correspondingly. Multiphoton imaging is achieved using a laser scanning microscope system (LSM 510 META, Zeiss, Germany) coupled to a femtosecond titanium:sapphire laser (repetition rate- 80 MHz, pulse duration-120 fs, radiation wavelength- 720-820 nm) (Tsunami, Spectra-Physics, CA). Two Zeiss, Plan-Neofluar objectives (air immersion 20×∕NA 0.5 and water immersion 40×∕NA 1.2) are used for imaging. For the detection of the nonlinear response, we use two detection channels with 380-400 nm and 435-700 nm spectral bandwidths. We demonstrate that ZL micro- and nanoparticles can produce nonlinear optical response under the near-infrared femtosecond laser excitation. The interaction of hypericine, chlorin e6 and other dyes with ZL NPs and their photodynamic activity is investigated. Particularly, multiphoton imaging shows that individual ZL NPs particles adsorb Zn-tetraporphyrin molecules, but do not adsorb fluorescein molecules. In addition, nonlinear spectral properties of ZL NPs in native biotissues are studied. Nonlinear microscopy and spectroscopy may open new perspectives in the research and application of ZL NP in biomedicine, and the results may help to introduce novel approaches into the clinical environment.

Keywords: multiphoton microscopy, nanoparticles, nonlinear optics, zeolite

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Authors: Sylvie Michel, François Cocula

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Digital agriculture is an approach that exploits information and communication technologies. These encompass data acquisition tools like mobile applications, satellites, sensors, connected devices, and smartphones. Additionally, it involves transfer and storage technologies such as 3G/4G coverage, low-bandwidth terrestrial or satellite networks, and cloud-based systems. Furthermore, embedded or remote processing technologies, including drones and robots for process automation, along with high-speed communication networks accessible through supercomputers, are integral components of this approach. While farm-level adoption studies regarding digital agricultural technologies have emerged in recent years, they remain relatively limited in comparison to other agricultural practices. To bridge this gap, this study delves into understanding farmers' intention to adopt digital tools, employing the technology, organization, environment framework. A qualitative research design encompassed semi-structured interviews, totaling fifteen in number, conducted with key stakeholders both prior to and following the 2020-2021 COVID-19 lockdowns in France. Subsequently, the interview transcripts underwent thorough thematic content analysis, and the data and verbatim were triangulated for validation. A coding process aimed to systematically organize the data, ensuring an orderly and structured classification. Our research extends its contribution by delineating sub-dimensions within each primary dimension. A total of nine sub-dimensions were identified, categorized as follows: perceived usefulness for communication, perceived usefulness for productivity, and perceived ease of use constitute the first dimension; technological resources, financial resources, and human capabilities constitute the second dimension, while market pressure, institutional pressure, and the COVID-19 situation constitute the third dimension. Furthermore, this analysis enriches the TOE framework by incorporating entrepreneurial orientation as a moderating variable. Managerial orientation emerges as a pivotal factor influencing adoption intention, with producers acknowledging the significance of utilizing digital sales support tools to combat "greenwashing" and elevate their overall brand image. Specifically, it illustrates that producers recognize the potential of digital tools in time-saving and streamlining sales processes, leading to heightened productivity. Moreover, it highlights that the intent to adopt digital sales support tools is influenced by a market mimicry effect. Additionally, it demonstrates a negative association between the intent to adopt these tools and the pressure exerted by institutional partners. Finally, this research establishes a positive link between the intent to adopt digital sales support tools and economic fluctuations, notably during the COVID-19 pandemic. The adoption of sales support tools in agriculture is a multifaceted challenge encompassing three dimensions and nine sub-dimensions. The research delves into the adoption of digital farming technologies at the farm level through the TOE framework. This analysis provides significant insights beneficial for policymakers, stakeholders, and farmers. These insights are instrumental in making informed decisions to facilitate a successful digital transition in agriculture, effectively addressing sector-specific challenges.

Keywords: adoption, digital agriculture, e-commerce, TOE framework

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Authors: Mikhail V. Khachaturyan, Inga A. Koryagina, Eugenia V. Klicheva

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In modern conditions, scientific judgment of problems in developing mechanisms of value creation and risk management acquires special relevance. Formation of economic knowledge has resulted in the constant analysis of consumer behavior for all players from national and world markets. Effective mechanisms development of the demand analysis, crucial for consumer's characteristics of future production, and the risks connected with the development of this production are the main objectives of control systems in modern conditions. The modern period of economic development is characterized by a high level of globalization of business and rigidity of competition. At the same time, the considerable share of new products and services costs has a non-material intellectual nature. The most successful in Russia is the contemporary development of small innovative firms. Such firms, through their unique technologies and new approaches to process management, which form the basis of their intellectual capital, can show flexibility and succeed in the market. As a rule, such enterprises should have very variable structure excluding the tough scheme of submission and demanding essentially new incentives for inclusion of personnel in innovative activity. Realization of similar structures, as well as a new approach to management, can be constructed based on value-oriented management which is directed to gradual change of consciousness of personnel and formation from groups of adherents included in the solution of the general innovative tasks. At the same time, valuable changes can gradually capture not only innovative firm staff, but also the structure of its corporate partners. Introduction of new technologies is the significant factor contributing to the development of new valuable imperatives and acceleration of the changing values systems of the organization. It relates to the fact that new technologies change the internal environment of the organization in a way that the old system of values becomes inefficient in new conditions. Introduction of new technologies often demands change in the structure of employee’s interaction and training in their new principles of work. During the introduction of new technologies and the accompanying change in the value system, the structure of the management of the values of the organization is changing. This is due to the need to attract more staff to justify and consolidate the new value system and bring their view into the motivational potential of the new value system of the organization.

Keywords: value, risk, creation, problems, organization

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Authors: Hyejin Song, Jin Baek

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Based on the idea of bricolage that a new meaning beyond that of each of objects can be created through combination and juxtaposition of various objets, this study finds a way of morphological-recomposing of urban space through combination and juxtaposition of existing urban fabric and new fabric and suggests this idea as new direction of urban regeneration. This study sets concept of bricolage as a philosophical ground of interpreting contemporary urban situation. In this concept, urban objects such as buildings from various zeitgeists are positively considered as potential textures which can construct meaningful context. Seoul, as the city having long history and experiencing colonization and development, appears dynamic urban structure full of various objects from various periods. However, in contrast with successful plazas and streets in Europe, objects in Seoul do not make a meaningful context as public space due to thoughtless development. This study defines this situation as ‘disorgnized-fabric’. Following the concept of bricolage, to find the way for those existing scattered objects to be organized as a context of meaningful public space, this study firstly researches the case of successful public space by morphological analysis. Secondly, this study carefully explores urban space in Seoul, and draws figure-ground diagram to grasp the form of current urban fabric by various urban-objects. As a result of exploration, a lot of urban spaces from Myeong-dong, one of vibrant commercial district in Seoul, to declining residential area are judged as having potential fabric which can become meaningful context by just small adjustment of relationship between existing objects. This study also confirmed that by inserting a new object with consideration of form of existing fabric, it is possible to accord a new context as plaza to existing void which have broken as several parts. This study defines it as form-based urban reconstruction through the idea of bricolage, and suggests that it could be one of philosophical ground of successful urban regeneration.

Keywords: adjustment of relationship between existing objets, bricolage, morphological analysis of urban fabric, urban regeneration, urban reconstruction

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Authors: Yskak Nabi, Onolkan Umankulova, Ilyas Seitov

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Tempus project about “Central Asian network for quality assurance – CANQA” had been implemented in 2009-2012. As the result of the project, two accreditation agencies were established: the agency for quality assurance in the field of education, “EdNet” in Kyrgyzstan, center of progressive technologies in Tajikistan. The importance of the research studies of the project is supported by the idea that the creation of Central-Asian network for quality assurance in education is still relevant, and results of the International forum “Global in regional: Kazakhstan in Bologna process and EU projects,” that was held in Nur-Sultan in October 2020, proves this. At the same time, the previous experience of the partnership between accreditation agencies of Central Asia shows that recommendations elaborated within the CANQA project were not theoretically justified. But there are a number of facts and arguments that prove the practical appliance of these recommendations. In this respect, joint activities of accreditation agencies of Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan are representative. For example, independent Kazakh agency of accreditation and rating successfully conducts accreditation of Kyrgyz universities; based on the memorandum about joint activity between the agency for quality assurance in the field of education “EdNet” (Kyrgyzstan) and Astana accreditation agency (Kazakhstan), the last one provides its experts for accreditation procedures in EdNet. Exchange of experience among the agencies shows an effective approach towards adaptation of European standards to the reality of education systems of Central Asia with consideration of not only a legal framework but also from the point of European practices view. Therefore, the relevance of the research is identified as there is a practical partnership between accreditation agencies of Central Asian countries, but the absence of theoretical justification of integrational processes in the accreditation field. As a result, the following hypothesis was put forward: “if to develop theoretical aspects for harmonization of accreditation standards, then integrational processes would be improved since the implementation of Bologna process principles would be supported with wider possibilities, and particularly, students and academic mobility would be improved.” Indeed, for example, in Kazakhstan, the total share of foreign students was 5,04% in 2020, and most of them are coming from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, and if integrational processes will be improved, then this share can increase.

Keywords: accreditation standards in education, Central Asian countries, pedagogical theory, model

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Authors: Margaret Boone Rappaport, Christopher J. Corbally

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The ancient ape ancestral population from which living great ape and human species evolved had demographic features affecting their evolution. The population was large, had great genetic variability, and natural selection was effective at honing adaptations. The emerging populations of chimpanzees and humans were affected more by founder effects and genetic drift because they were smaller. Natural selection did not disappear, but it was not as strong. Consequences of the 'population crash' and the human effective population size are introduced briefly. The history of the ancient apes is written in the genomes of living humans and great apes. The expansion of the brain began before the human line emerged. Coalescence times for some genes are very old – up to several million years, long before Homo sapiens. The mismatch between gene trees and species trees highlights the anthropoid speciation processes, and gives the human genome history a fuzzy, probabilistic quality. However, it suggests traits that might form a foundation for capacities emerging later. A theoretical model is presented in which the genomes of early ape populations provide the substructure for the emergence of religious capacity later on the human line. The model does not search for religion, but its foundations. It suggests a course by which an evolutionary line that began with prosimians eventually produced a human species with biologically based religious capacity. The model of the sequential emergence of religious capacity relies on cognitive science, neuroscience, paleoneurology, primate field studies, cognitive archaeology, genomics, and population genetics. And, it emphasizes five trait types: (1) Documented, positive selection of sensory capabilities on the human line may have favored survival, but also eventually enriched human religious experience. (2) The bonobo model suggests a possible down-regulation of aggression and increase in tolerance while feeding, as well as paedomorphism – but, in a human species that remains cognitively sharp (unlike the bonobo). The two species emerged from the same ancient ape population, so it is logical to search for shared traits. (3) An up-regulation of emotional sensitivity and compassion seems to have occurred on the human line. This finds support in modern genetic studies. (4) The authors’ published model of morality's emergence in Homo erectus encompasses a cognitively based, decision-making capacity that was hypothetically overtaken, in part, by religious capacity. Together, they produced a strong, variable, biocultural capability to support human sociability. (5) The full flowering of human religious capacity came with the parietal expansion and smaller face (klinorhynchy) found only in Homo sapiens. Details from paleoneurology suggest the stage was set for human theologies. Larger parietal lobes allowed humans to imagine inner spaces, processes, and beings, and, with the frontal lobe, led to the first theologies composed of structured and integrated theories of the relationships between humans and the supernatural. The model leads to the evolution of a small population of African hominins that was ready to emerge with religious capacity when the species Homo sapiens evolved two hundred thousand years ago. By 50-60,000 years ago, when human ancestors left Africa, they were fully enabled.

Keywords: genetic drift, genomics, parietal expansion, religious capacity

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Authors: Elissavet Feloni, Ioannis Kourtis, Konstantinos Kotsifakis, Evangelos Baltas

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Water inadequacy in small dry islands scattered in the Aegean Sea (Greece) is a major problem regarding Water Resources Management (WRM), especially during the summer period due to tourism. In the present work, various WRM schemes are designed and presented. The WRM schemes take into account current infrastructure and include Rainwater Harvesting tanks and Reverse Osmosis Desalination Units. The energy requirements are covered mainly by wind turbines and/or a seawater pumped storage system. Sizing is based on the available data for population and tourism per island, after taking into account a slight increase in the population (up to 1.5% per year), and it guarantees at least 80% reliability for the energy supply and 99.9% for potable water. Evaluation of scenarios is carried out from a financial perspective, after calculating the Life Cycle Cost (LCC) of each investment for a lifespan of 30 years. The wind-powered desalination plant was found to be the most cost-effective practice, from an economic point of view. Finally, in order to estimate the Climate Change (CC) impact, six different CC scenarios were investigated. The corresponding rate of on-grid versus off-grid energy required for ensuring the targeted reliability for the zero and each climatic scenario was investigated per island. The results revealed that under CC the grid-on energy required would increase and as a result, the reduction in wind turbines and seawater pumped storage systems’ reliability will be in the range of 4 to 44%. However, the range of this percentage change does not exceed 22% per island for all examined CC scenarios. Overall, CC is proposed to be incorporated into the design process for WRM-related projects. Acknowledgements: This research is co-financed by Greece and the European Union (European Social Fund - ESF) through the Operational Program «Human Resources Development, Education and Lifelong Learning 2014-2020» in the context of the project “Development of a combined rain harvesting and renewable energy-based system for covering domestic and agricultural water requirements in small dry Greek Islands” (MIS 5004775).

Keywords: small dry islands, water resources management, climate change, desalination, RES, seawater pumped storage system, rainwater harvesting

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Authors: M. V. Shivaani, P. K. Jain, Surendra S. Yadav

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Worldwide regulators, practitioners and researchers view risk-disclosure as one of the most important steps that will promote corporate accountability and transparency. Recognizing this growing significance of risk disclosures, the paper first develops a risk disclosure index. Covering 69 risk items/themes, this index is developed by employing thematic content analysis and encompasses three attributes of disclosure: namely, nature (qualitative or quantitative), time horizon (backward-looking or forward-looking) and tone (no impact, positive impact or negative impact). As the focus of study is on substantive rather than symbolic disclosure, content analysis has been carried out manually. The study is based on non-financial companies of Nifty500 index and covers a ten year period from April 1, 2005 to March 31, 2015, thus yielding 3,872 annual reports for analysis. The analysis reveals that (on an average) only about 14% of risk items (i.e. about 10 out 69 risk items studied) are being disclosed by Indian companies. Risk items that are frequently disclosed are mostly macroeconomic in nature and their disclosures tend to be qualitative, forward-looking and conveying both positive and negative aspects of the concerned risk. The second objective of the paper is to gauge the factors that affect the level of disclosures in annual reports. Given the panel nature of data, and possible endogeneity amongst variables, Diff-GMM regression has been applied. The results indicate that age and size of firms have a significant positive impact on disclosure quality, whereas growth rate does not have a significant impact. Further, post-recession period (2009-2015) has witnessed significant improvement in quality of disclosures. In terms of corporate governance variables, board size, board independence, CEO duality, presence of CRO and constitution of risk management committee appear to be significant factors in determining the quality of risk disclosures. It is noteworthy that the study contributes to literature by putting forth a variant to existing disclosure indices that not only captures the quantity but also the quality of disclosures (in terms of semantic attributes). Also, the study is a first of its kind attempt in a prominent emerging market i.e. India. Therefore, this study is expected to facilitate regulators in mandating and regulating risk disclosures and companies in their endeavor to reduce information asymmetry.

Keywords: risk disclosure, voluntary disclosures, corporate governance, Diff-GMM

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Authors: Salim Al Harthy, Alexandre A. Bachkirov

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This study delves into the complexities of competitive aggressiveness in the oil and gas industry, focusing on the characteristics of the identified competitive actions. The current quantitative research on competitive aggressiveness lacks agreement on the connection between antecedents and outcomes, prompting a qualitative investigation. To address this gap, the research utilizes qualitative interviews with CEOs from Oman's oil and gas service industry to explore the dynamics of competitive aggressiveness. Using Noklenain's typology, the study categorizes and analyzes identified actions, shedding light on the spectrum of competitive behaviors within the industry. Notably, actions predominantly fall under the "Bring about" and "Preserve" elements, with a notable absence in the "Forebear" and "Destroy" categories, possibly linked to the study's focus on service-oriented businesses. The study also explores the detectability of actions, revealing that "Bring about" actions are detectable, while those in "Preserve" and "Suppress" are not. This challenges conventional definitions of competitive aggressiveness, suggesting that not all actions are readily detectable despite being considered competitive. The presence of non-detectable actions introduces complexity to measurement methods reliant on visible empirical data. Moreover, the study contends that companies can adopt an aggressive competitive approach without directly challenging rivals. This challenges traditional views and emphasizes the innovative and entrepreneurial aspects of actions not explicitly aimed at competitors. By not revealing strategic intentions, such actions put rivals at a disadvantage, underscoring the need for a nuanced understanding of competitive aggressiveness. In summary, the lack of consensus in existing literature regarding the relationship between antecedents and outcomes in competitive aggressiveness is addressed. The study reveals a spectrum of detectable and undetectable actions, posing challenges in measurement and emphasizing the need for alternative methods to assess undetectable actions in competitive behavior. This research contributes to a more nuanced understanding of competitive aggressiveness, acknowledging the diverse actions shaping a company's strategic positioning in dynamic business environments.

Keywords: competitive aggressiveness, qualitative exploration, noklenain's typology, oil and gas industry

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Authors: Mohammad H. Yarmohammadian, Fatemeh Rezaei

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Introduction: Improving patient safety in health systems is one of the main priorities in healthcare systems, so clinical risk management in organizations has become increasingly significant. Although several tools have been developed for clinical risk management, each has its own limitations. Aims: This study aims to develop a comprehensive tool that can complete the limitations of each risk assessment and management tools with the advantage of other tools. Methods: Procedure was determined in two main stages included development of an initial model during meetings with the professors and literature review, then implementation and verification of final model. Subjects and Methods: This study is a quantitative − qualitative research. In terms of qualitative dimension, method of focus groups with inductive approach is used. To evaluate the results of the qualitative study, quantitative assessment of the two parts of the fourth phase and seven phases of the research was conducted. Purposive and stratification sampling of various responsible teams for the selected process was conducted in the operating room. Final model verified in eight phases through application of activity breakdown structure, failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA), healthcare risk priority number (RPN), root cause analysis (RCA), FT, and Eindhoven Classification model (ECM) tools. This model has been conducted typically on patients admitted in a day-clinic ward of a public hospital for surgery in October 2012 to June. Statistical Analysis Used: Qualitative data analysis was done through content analysis and quantitative analysis done through checklist and edited RPN tables. Results: After verification the final model in eight-step, patient's admission process for surgery was developed by focus discussion group (FDG) members in five main phases. Then with adopted methodology of FMEA, 85 failure modes along with its causes, effects, and preventive capabilities was set in the tables. Developed tables to calculate RPN index contain three criteria for severity, two criteria for probability, and two criteria for preventability. Tree failure modes were above determined significant risk limitation (RPN > 250). After a 3-month period, patient's misidentification incidents were the most frequent reported events. Each RPN criterion of misidentification events compared and found that various RPN number for tree misidentification reported events could be determine against predicted score in previous phase. Identified root causes through fault tree categorized with ECM. Wrong side surgery event was selected by focus discussion group to purpose improvement action. The most important causes were lack of planning for number and priority of surgical procedures. After prioritization of the suggested interventions, computerized registration system in health information system (HIS) was adopted to prepare the action plan in the final phase. Conclusion: Complexity of health care industry requires risk managers to have a multifaceted vision. Therefore, applying only one of retrospective or prospective tools for risk management does not work and each organization must provide conditions for potential application of these methods in its organization. The results of this study showed that the integrated clinical risk management model can be used in hospitals as an efficient tool in order to improve clinical governance.

Keywords: failure modes and effective analysis, risk management, root cause analysis, model

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Authors: Kenza Benali

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Over the past decade, a number of remarkable projects in urban brownfield reconversion emerged across Canada, including the reconversion of former military bases owned by the Canada Lands Company (CLC) into sustainable communities. However, unlike other developments, the regeneration project of the former Canadian Forces Base Rockcliffe in Ottawa – which was announced as one of the most ambitious Smart growth projects in Canada – faced serious obstacles in terms of social acceptance by the local community, particularly urban minorities composed of Francophones, Indigenous and vulnerable groups who live near or on the Base. This turn of events led to the project being postponed and even reconsidered. Through an analysis of its press coverage, this research aims to understand the causes of this urban conflict which lasted for nearly ten years. The findings reveal that the conflict is not limited to the “standard” issues common to most conflicts related to urban mega-projects in the world – e.g., proximity issues (threads to the quality of the surrounding neighbourhoods; noise, traffic, pollution, New-build gentrification) often associated with NIMBY phenomena. In this case, the local actors questioned the purpose of the project (for whom and for what types of uses is it conceived?), its local implementation (to what extent are the local history and existing environment taken into account?), and the degree of implication of the local population in the decision-making process (with whom is the project built?). Moreover, the interests of the local actors have “jumped scales” and transcend the micro-territorial level of their daily life to take on a national and even international dimension. They defined an alternative view of how this project, considered strategic by his location in the nation’s capital, should be a reference as well as an international showcase of Canadian ambition and achievement in terms of urban sustainability. This vision promoted, actually, a territorial and national identity approach - in which some cultural values are highly significant (respect of social justice, inclusivity, ethnical diversity, cultural heritage, etc.)- as a counterweight to planners’ vision which is criticized as a normative/ universalist logic that ignore the territorial peculiarities.

Keywords: smart growth, brownfield reconversion, sustainable neighborhoods, Canada Lands Company, Canadian Forces Base Rockcliffe, urban conflicts

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Authors: Sara Nosari

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In the research field on adult education, the learning development project followed different itineraries: recently it has promoted adult transformation by practices focused on the reflexive oriented interaction. This perspective, that connects life stories and life-based methods, characterizes a transformative space between formal and informal education. Within this framework, in the Nursing Degree Courses of Turin University, it has been discussed and realized a formal reflexive path on the care work professional identity through group practices. This path compared the future care professionals with possible experiences staged by texts used with the function of a pre-tests: these texts, setting up real or believable professional situations, had the task to start a reflection on the different 'elements' of care work professional life (relationship, educational character of relationship, relationship between different care roles; or even human identity, aims and ultimate aim of care, …). The learning transformative aspect of this kind of experience-test is that it is impossible to anticipate the process or the conclusion of reflexion because they depend on two main conditions: the personal sensitivity and the specific situation. The narrated experience is not a device, it does not include any tricks to understand the answering advance; the text is not aimed at deepening the knowledge, but at being an active and creative force which takes the group to compare with problematic figures. In fact, the experience-text does not have the purpose to explain but to problematize: it creates a space of suspension to live for questioning, for discussing, for researching, for deciding. It creates a space 'open' and 'in connection' where each one, in comparing with others, has the possibility to build his/her position. In this space, everyone has to possibility to expose his/her own argumentations and to be aware of the others emerged points of view, aiming to research and find the own personal position. However, to define his/her position, it is necessary to learn to exercise character skills (conscientiousness, motivation, creativity, critical thinking, …): if these not-cognitive skills have an undisputed evidence, less evident is how to value them. The paper will reflect on the epistemological limits and possibility to 'measure' character skills, suggesting some evaluation criteria.

Keywords: transformative learning, educational role, formal/informal education, character-skills

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Authors: Kaushik Sathupadi, Sandesh Achar

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Pervasive computing is a growing research field that aims to acknowledge human physical life routines (HPLR) based on body-worn sensors such as MEMS sensors-based technologies. The use of these technologies for human activity recognition is progressively increasing. On the other hand, personalizing human life routines using numerous machine-learning techniques has always been an intriguing topic. In contrast, various methods have demonstrated the ability to recognize basic movement patterns. However, it still needs to be improved to anticipate the dynamics of human living patterns. This study introduces state-of-the-art techniques for recognizing static and dy-namic patterns and forecasting those challenging activities from multi-fused sensors. Further-more, numerous MEMS signals are extracted from one self-annotated IM-WSHA dataset and two benchmarked datasets. First, we acquired raw data is filtered with z-normalization and denoiser methods. Then, we adopted statistical, local binary pattern, auto-regressive model, and intrinsic time scale decomposition major features for feature extraction from different domains. Next, the acquired features are optimized using maximum relevance and minimum redundancy (mRMR). Finally, the artificial neural network is applied to analyze the whole system's performance. As a result, we attained a 90.27% recognition rate for the self-annotated dataset, while the HARTH and KU-HAR achieved 83% on nine living activities and 90.94% on 18 static and dynamic routines. Thus, the proposed HPLR system outperformed other state-of-the-art systems when evaluated with other methods in the literature.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, machine learning, gait analysis, local binary pattern (LBP), statistical features, micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), maximum relevance and minimum re-dundancy (MRMR)

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Authors: Young Ik Suh, Taewook Chung, Glaucio Scremin, Tywan Martin

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In May of 2016, the Philadelphia 76ers announced that StubHub, the ticket resale company, will have advertising on the team’s jerseys beginning in the 2017-18 season. The 76ers and National Basketball Association (NBA) became the first team and league which embraced jersey sponsorships in the four major U.S. professional sports. Even though many professional teams and leagues in Europe, Asia, Africa, and South America have adopted jersey sponsorship actively, this phenomenon is relatively new in America. While the jersey sponsorship provides economic gains for the professional leagues and franchises, sport fans can have different points of view for the phenomenon of jersey sponsorship. For instance, since many sport fans in U.S. are not familiar with ads on jerseys, this movement can possibly cause negative reaction such as the decrease in ticket and merchandise sales. They also concern the small size of ads on jersey become bigger ads, like in the English Premier League (EPL). However, some sport fans seem they do not mind too much about jersey sponsorship because the ads on jersey will not affect their loyalty and fanship. Therefore, the assumption of this study was that the sport fans’ reaction about jersey sponsorship can be possibly different, especially based on different levels of the sport fans’ team identification and various sizes of ads on jersey. Unlike general sponsorship in sport industry, jersey sponsorship has received little attention regarding its potential impact on sport fans attitudes and buying intentions. Thus, the current study sought to identify how the various levels of team identification influence brand attitude and buying intention in terms of jersey sponsorship. In particular, this study examined the effect of team identification on brand attitude and buying intention when there are no ads, small size ads, and large size ads on jersey. 3 (large, small, and no ads) X 3 (Team Identification: high, moderate, low) between subject factorial design was conducted on attitude toward the brand and buying intention of jersey sponsorship. The ads on Philadelphia 76ers jersey were used. The sample of this study was selected from message board users provided by different sports websites (i.e., forums.realgm.com and phillysportscentral.com). A total of 275 respondents participated in this study by responding to an online survey questionnaire. The results showed that there were significant differences between fans with high identification and fans with low identification. The findings of this study are expected to have many theoretical and practical contributions and implications by extending the research and literature pertaining to the relationship between team identification and brand strategy based upon different levels of team identification.

Keywords: brand attitude, buying intention, Jersey sponsorship, team identification

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Authors: Sabika Khalid, Endale Fantahun Tadesse

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Unlike other professional sectors, a great deal of studies has addressed the overwhelming gender disparity phenomena in the early childhood education (ECE) workforce, which is acknowledged for the dominance of women over men teachers. The irony of ECE being a gendered working environment is not only observed in societies that are ruled by gender roles but also in Western countries that claim to margin the gender gap in several professions. The participation of male teachers in ECE across most countries ranged from 1% to 3% of the total preschool or kindergarten teachers. When it comes to a dynamic Chinese society tempered with a deep-rooted tradition and cultural ideology, the ECE has no less place for males, and males have a low place for ECE. According to the Ministry of Education of China (2020), there are over 5 million kindergarten teachers and staff members, while only 2.3% are accounted for male teachers. The traditional gender-based discourse asserts that giving care and guidance for young children related to nurturing ‘mothering’ labels the profession in ECE as women’s work derived from originated from their ‘naturality.’ Although a large volume of evidence sheds light on the cause for low male teachers, the perception of parents, female teachers working with male teachers, and the experience of male teachers working in ECE, less is known and understood before being a teacher. Hence, this study argues that the promotion of the involvement of male teachers in light of their masculinity identity asset in the children's learning environment is comprehended to understand the construction of male student teachers' (preservice) professional identity during early childhood teacher training that allows obtaining substantial evidence that provides a feasible and robust implication in the preparation of competent and professional male preschool teachers that understand, cherish, and bring harmony in Chinese ECE through professionalism socialization with the stakeholders. This study intended to reveal male ECE preservice teachers’ knowledge of their professional identity, i.e., how they perceive themselves as a teacher and what factors agents these perceptions towards their professional identity.

Keywords: male teachers, Early Childhood Education (ECE), self-identity, perception of stakeholders

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Authors: Vistorina Amputu, Katja Tielboerger, Nichola Knox

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Primary productivity in dry savannahs is constraint by moisture availability and under increasing anthropogenic pressure. Thus, considering climate change and the unprecedented pace and scale of rangeland deterioration, methods for assessing the status of such rangelands should be easy to apply, yield reliable and repeatable results that can be applied over large spatial scales. Global and local scale monitoring of rangelands through satellite data and labor-intensive field measurements respectively, are limited in accurately assessing the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of vegetation dynamics to provide crucial information that detects degradation in its early stages. Fortunately, newly emerging techniques such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), associated miniaturized sensors and improving digital photogrammetric software provide an opportunity to transcend these limitations. Yet, they have not been extensively calibrated in natural systems to encompass their complexities if they are to be integrated for long-term monitoring. Limited research using drone technology has been conducted in arid savannas, for example to assess the health status of this dynamic two-layer vegetation ecosystem. In our study, we fill this gap by testing the relationship between UAV-estimated cover of rangeland functional attributes and field data collected in discrete sample plots in a Namibian dryland savannah along a degradation gradient. The first results are based on a supervised classification performed on the ultra-high resolution multispectral imagery to distinguish between rangeland functional attributes (bare, non-woody, and woody), with a relatively good match to the field observations. Integrating UAV-based observations to improve rangeland monitoring could greatly assist in climate-adapted rangeland management.

Keywords: arid savannah, degradation gradient, field observations, narrow-band sensor, supervised classification

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Authors: Yusuf Ersoy Yildirim, Ismail Tas, Ceren Gorgusen, Tugba Yeter, Aysegul Boyacioglu, K. Mehmet Tugrul, Murat Tugrul, Ayten Namli, H. Sabri Ozturk, M. Onur Akca

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In recent years, a lot of research has been done for the sustainable use of scarce resources in the world. Especially, effective and sustainable use of water resources has been researched for many years. Sub-surface drip irrigation (SDI) is one of the most effective irrigation methods in which efficient and sustainable use of irrigation water can be achieved. When the literature is taken into consideration, it is often emphasized that, besides its numerous advantages, it also allows the application of irrigation water to the plant root zone along with air. It is stated in different studies that the air applied to the plant root zone with irrigation water has a positive effect on the root zone. Plants need sufficient oxygen for root respiration as well as for the metabolic functions of the roots. Decreased root respiration due to low oxygen content reduces transpiration, disrupts the flow of ions, and increases the ingress of salt reaching toxic levels, seriously affecting plant growth. Lack of oxygen (Hypoxia) can affect the survival of plants. The lack of oxygen in the soil is related to the exchange of gases in the soil with the gases in the atmosphere. Soil aeration is an important physical parameter of a soil. It is highly dynamic and is closely related to the amount of water in the soil and its bulk weight. Subsurface drip irrigation; It has higher water use efficiency compared to irrigation methods such as furrow irrigation and sprinkler irrigation. However, in heavy clay soils, subsurface drip irrigation creates continuous wetting fronts that predispose the rhizosphere region to hypoxia or anoxia. With subsurface drip irrigation, the oxygen is limited for root microbial respiration and root development, with the continuous spreading of water to a certain region of the root zone. In this study, the change in sugar beet yield caused by air application in the SDI system will be explained.

Keywords: sugar beet, subsurface drip irrigation, air application, irrigation efficiency

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Authors: Naoko Ono, Junko Kato

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According to the Ministry of Justice, 9,044,000 foreigners visited Japan in 2010. The number of foreign residents in Japan was over 2,134,000 at the end of 2010. Further, medical tourism has emerged as a new area of business. Against this background, language barriers put the health of foreigners in Japan at risk, because they have difficulty in accessing health care and communicating with medical professionals. Medical interpreting training is urgently needed in response to language problems resulting from the rapid increase in the number of foreign workers in Japan over recent decades. Especially, there is a growing need in medical settings in Japan to speak international languages for communication, with Tokyo selected as the host city of the 2020 Summer Olympics. Due to the limited number of practical activities on medical interpreting, it is difficult for learners to acquire the interpreting skills. In order to eliminate the shortcoming, a web-based English-Japanese medical interpreting training system was developed. We conducted a literature review to identify learning contents, core competencies for medical interpreters by using Pubmed, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar. Selected papers were investigated to find core competencies in medical interpreting. Eleven papers were selected through literature review indicating core competencies for medical interpreters. Core competencies in medical interpreting abstracted from the literature review, showed consistency in previous research whilst the content of the programs varied in domestic and international training programs for medical interpreters. Results of the systematic review indicated five core competencies: (a) maintaining accuracy and completeness; (b) medical terminology and understanding the human body; (c) behaving ethically and making ethical decisions; (d) nonverbal communication skills; and (e) cross-cultural communication skills. We developed an e-leaning program for training medical interpreters. A Web-based Medical Interpreter Training Program which cover these competencies was developed. The program included the following : online word list (Quizlet), allowing student to study online and on their smartphones; self-study tool (Quizlet) for help with dictation and spelling; word quiz (Quizlet); test-generating system (Quizlet); Interactive body game (BBC);Online resource for understanding code of ethics in medical interpreting; Webinar about non-verbal communication; and Webinar about incompetent vs. competent cultural care. The design of a virtual environment allows the execution of complementary experimental exercises for learners of medical interpreting and introduction to theoretical background of medical interpreting. Since this system adopts a self-learning style, it might improve the time and lack of teaching material restrictions of the classroom method. In addition, as a teaching aid, virtual medical interpreting is a powerful resource for the understanding how actual medical interpreting can be carried out. The developed e-learning system allows remote access, enabling students to perform experiments at their own place, without being physically in the actual laboratory. The web-based virtual environment empowers students by granting them access to laboratories during their free time. A practical example will be presented in order to show capabilities of the system. The developed web-based training program for medical interpreters could bridge the gap between medical professionals and patients with limited English proficiency.

Keywords: e-learning, language education, moodle, medical interpreting

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Authors: Isabel Schestak, Jan Spriet, David Styles, Prysor Williams

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Breweries and distilleries are well-known for their high water usage. The water consumption in a UK brewery to produce one litre of beer reportedly ranges from 3-9 L and in a distillery from 7-45 L to produce a litre of spirit. This includes product water such as mashing water, but also water for wort and distillate cooling and for cleaning of tanks, casks, and kegs. When cooling towers are used, cooling water can be the dominating water consumption in a brewery or distillery. Interlinked to the high water use is a substantial heating requirement for mashing, wort boiling, or distillation, typically met by fossil fuel combustion such as gasoil. Many water and waste water streams are leaving the processes hot, such as the returning cooling water or the pot ales. Therefore, several options exist to optimise water and energy efficiency of spirit production through heat recovery. Although these options are known in the sector, they are often not applied in practice due to planning efforts or financial obstacles. In this study, different possibilities and design options for heat recovery systems are explored in four breweries/distilleries in the UK and assessed from an economic but also environmental point of view. The eco-efficiency methodology, according to ISO 14045, is applied to combine both assessment criteria to determine the optimum solution for heat recovery application in practice. The economic evaluation is based on the total value added (TVA) while the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology is applied to account for the environmental impacts through the installations required for heat recovery. The four case study businesses differ in a) production scale with mashing volumes ranging from 2500 to 40,000 L, in b) terms of heating and cooling technology used, and in c) the extent to which heat recovery is/is not applied. This enables the evaluation of different cases for heat recovery based on empirical data. The analysis provides guidelines for practitioners in the brewing and distilling sector in and outside the UK for the realisation of heat recovery measures. Financial and environmental payback times are showcased for heat recovery systems in the four distilleries which are operating at different production scales. The results are expected to encourage the application of heat recovery where environmentally and economically beneficial and ultimately contribute to a reduction of the water and energy footprint in brewing and distilling businesses.

Keywords: brewery, distillery, eco-efficiency, heat recovery from process and waste water, life cycle assessment

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Authors: Mehrdad Abkenari, Orod Zarrinkafsh, Mohsen Ramezan Shirazi

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Construction projects initiate in complicated dynamic environments and, due to the close relationships between project parameters and the unknown outer environment, they are faced with several uncertainties and risks. Success in time, cost and quality in large scale construction projects is uncertain in consequence of technological constraints, large number of stakeholders, too much time required, great capital requirements and poor definition of the extent and scope of the project. Projects that are faced with such environments and uncertainties can be well managed through utilization of the concept of risk management in project’s life cycle. Although the concept of risk is dependent on the opinion and idea of management, it suggests the risks of not achieving the project objectives as well. Furthermore, project’s risk analysis discusses the risks of development of inappropriate reactions. Since evaluation and prioritization of construction projects has been a difficult task, the network structure is considered to be an appropriate approach to analyze complex systems; therefore, we have used this structure for analyzing and modeling the issue. On the other hand, we face inadequacy of data in deterministic circumstances, and additionally the expert’s opinions are usually mathematically vague and are introduced in the form of linguistic variables instead of numerical expression. Owing to the fact that fuzzy logic is used for expressing the vagueness and uncertainty, formulation of expert’s opinion in the form of fuzzy numbers can be an appropriate approach. In other words, the evaluation and prioritization of construction projects on the basis of risk factors in real world is a complicated issue with lots of ambiguous qualitative characteristics. In this study, evaluated and prioritization the risk parameters and factors with fuzzy logy method by combination of three method DEMATEL (Decision Making Trial and Evaluation), ANP (Analytic Network Process) and TOPSIS (Technique for Order-Preference by Similarity Ideal Solution) on Construction Management.

Keywords: fuzzy logy, risk, prioritization, assessment

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Authors: Shreyas Kumar, Mili Shangari

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Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) in the cyber insurance sector represents a significant advancement, offering the potential to revolutionize risk assessment, fraud detection, and claims processing. However, this integration introduces a range of regulatory and economic challenges that must be addressed to ensure responsible and effective deployment of AI technologies. This paper examines the multifaceted regulatory landscape governing AI in cyber insurance and explores the economic implications of compliance, innovation, and market dynamics. AI's capabilities in processing vast amounts of data and identifying patterns make it an invaluable tool for insurers in managing cyber risks. Yet, the application of AI in this domain is subject to stringent regulatory scrutiny aimed at safeguarding data privacy, ensuring algorithmic transparency, and preventing biases. Regulatory bodies, such as the European Union with its General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), mandate strict compliance requirements that can significantly impact the deployment of AI systems. These regulations necessitate robust data protection measures, ethical AI practices, and clear accountability frameworks, all of which entail substantial compliance costs for insurers. The economic implications of these regulatory requirements are profound. Insurers must invest heavily in upgrading their IT infrastructure, implementing robust data governance frameworks, and training personnel to handle AI systems ethically and effectively. These investments, while essential for regulatory compliance, can strain financial resources, particularly for smaller insurers, potentially leading to market consolidation. Furthermore, the cost of regulatory compliance can translate into higher premiums for policyholders, affecting the overall affordability and accessibility of cyber insurance. Despite these challenges, the potential economic benefits of AI integration in cyber insurance are significant. AI-enhanced risk assessment models can provide more accurate pricing, reduce the incidence of fraudulent claims, and expedite claims processing, leading to overall cost savings and increased efficiency. These efficiencies can improve the competitiveness of insurers and drive innovation in product offerings. However, balancing these benefits with regulatory compliance is crucial to avoid legal penalties and reputational damage. The paper also explores the potential risks associated with AI integration, such as algorithmic biases that could lead to unfair discrimination in policy underwriting and claims adjudication. Regulatory frameworks need to evolve to address these issues, promoting fairness and transparency in AI applications. Policymakers play a critical role in creating a balanced regulatory environment that fosters innovation while protecting consumer rights and ensuring market stability. In conclusion, the integration of AI in cyber insurance presents both regulatory and economic challenges that require a coordinated approach involving regulators, insurers, and other stakeholders. By navigating these challenges effectively, the industry can harness the transformative potential of AI, driving advancements in risk management and enhancing the resilience of the cyber insurance market. This paper provides insights and recommendations for policymakers and industry leaders to achieve a balanced and sustainable integration of AI technologies in cyber insurance.

Keywords: artificial intelligence (AI), cyber insurance, regulatory compliance, economic impact, risk assessment, fraud detection, cyber liability insurance, risk management, ransomware

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Authors: Waraporn Boonchieng, Ekkarat Boonchieng, Wilawan Senaratana, Jaras Singkaew

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Geographical information system (GIS) is a designated system widely used for collecting and analyzing geographical data. Since the introduction of ultra-mobile, 'smart' devices, investigators, clinicians, and even the general public have had powerful new tools for collecting, uploading and accessing information in the field. Epidemiology paired with GIS will increase the efficacy of preventive health care services. The objective of this study is to apply GPS location services that are available on the common mobile device with district health systems, storing data on our private cloud system. The mobile application has been developed for use on iOS, Android, and web-based platforms. The system consists of two parts of district health information, including recorded resident data forms and individual health recorded data forms, which were developed and approved by opinion sharing and public hearing. The application's graphical user interface was developed using HTML5 and PHP with MySQL as a database management system (DBMS). The reporting module of the developed software displays data in a variety of views, from traditional tables to various types of high-resolution, layered graphics, incorporating map location information with street views from Google Maps. Multi-extension exporting is also supported, utilizing standard platforms such as PDF, PNG, JPG, and XLS. The data were collected in the database beginning in March 2013, by district health volunteers and district youth volunteers who had completed the application training program. District health information consisted of patients’ household coordinates, individual health data, social and economic information. This was combined with Google Street View data, collected in March 2014. Studied groups consisted of 16,085 (67.87%) and 47,811 (59.87%) of the total 23,701 households and 79,855 people were collected by the system respectively, in Saraphi district, Chiang Mai Province. The report generated from the system has had a major benefit directly to the Saraphi District Hospital. Healthcare providers are able to use the basic health data to provide a specific home health care service and also to create health promotion activities according to medical needs of the people in the community.

Keywords: health, public health, GIS, geographic information system

Procedia PDF Downloads 337