Search results for: applied cognition
7970 Analysis of Total Acid in Arabica Coffee Beans after Fermentation with Ohmic Technology
Authors: Reta
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Coffee is widely consumed not only because of its typical taste, but coffee has antioxidant properties because of its polyphenols, and it stimulates brain's performance. The main problem with the consumption of coffee is its content of caffeine. Caffeine, when consumed in excess, can increase muscle tension, stimulate the heart, and increase the secretion of gastric acid. In this research, we applied ohmic-based fermentation technology, which is specially designed to mimic the stomach. We used Arabica coffee, which although cheaper than Luwak coffee, has high acidity, which needs to be reduced. Hence, we applied the ohmic technology, varied the time and temperature of the process and measured the total acidity of the coffee to determine optimum fermentation conditions. Results revealed total acidity of the coffee varied with fermentation conditions; 0.32% at 400C and 12 hr, and 0.52% at 400C and 6 hr. The longer the fermentation, the lower was the acidity. The acidity of the mongoose-fermented (natural fermentation) beans was 2.34%, which is substantially higher than the acidity of the ohmic samples. Ohmic-based fermentation technology, therefore, offers improvements in coffee quality, and this is discussed to highlight the potential of ohmic technology in coffee processing.Keywords: ohmic technology, fermentation, coffee quality, Arabica coffee
Procedia PDF Downloads 3297969 Self-denigration in Doctoral Defense Sessions: Scale Development and Validation
Authors: Alireza Jalilifar, Nadia Mayahi
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The dissertation defense as a complicated conflict-prone context entails the adoption of elegant interactional strategies, one of which is self-denigration. This study aimed to develop and validate a self-denigration model that fits the context of doctoral defense sessions in applied linguistics. Two focus group discussions provided the basis for developing this conceptual model, which assumed 10 functions for self-denigration, namely good manners, modesty, affability, altruism, assertiveness, diffidence, coercive self-deprecation, evasion, diplomacy, and flamboyance. These functions were used to design a 40-item questionnaire on the attitudes of applied linguists concerning self-denigration in defense sessions. The confirmatory factor analysis of the questionnaire indicated the predictive ability of the measurement model. The findings of this study suggest that self-denigration in doctoral defense sessions is the social representation of the participants’ values, ideas and practices adopted as a negotiation strategy and a conflict management policy for the purpose of establishing harmony and maintaining resilience. This study has implications for doctoral students and academics and illuminates further research on self-denigration in other contexts.Keywords: academic discourse, politeness, self-denigration, grounded theory, dissertation defense
Procedia PDF Downloads 1267968 R Data Science for Technology Management
Authors: Sunghae Jun
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Technology management (TM) is important issue in a company improving the competitiveness. Among many activities of TM, technology analysis (TA) is important factor, because most decisions for management of technology are decided by the results of TA. TA is to analyze the developed results of target technology using statistics or Delphi. TA based on Delphi is depended on the experts’ domain knowledge, in comparison, TA by statistics and machine learning algorithms use objective data such as patent or paper instead of the experts’ knowledge. Many quantitative TA methods based on statistics and machine learning have been studied, and these have been used for technology forecasting, technological innovation, and management of technology. They applied diverse computing tools and many analytical methods case by case. It is not easy to select the suitable software and statistical method for given TA work. So, in this paper, we propose a methodology for quantitative TA using statistical computing software called R and data science to construct a general framework of TA. From the result of case study, we also show how our methodology is applied to real field. This research contributes to R&D planning and technology valuation in TM areas.Keywords: technology management, R system, R data science, statistics, machine learning
Procedia PDF Downloads 4497967 Applying Massively Parallel Sequencing to Forensic Soil Bacterial Profiling
Authors: Hui Li, Xueying Zhao, Ke Ma, Yu Cao, Fan Yang, Qingwen Xu, Wenbin Liu
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Soil can often link a person or item to a crime scene, which makes it a valuable evidence in forensic casework. Several techniques have been utilized in forensic soil discrimination in previous studies. Because soil contains a vast number of microbiomes, the analyse of soil microbiomes is expected to be a potential way to characterise soil evidence. In this study, we applied massively parallel sequencing (MPS) to soil bacterial profiling on the Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine (PGM). Soils from different regions were collected repeatedly. V-region 3 and 4 of Bacterial 16S rRNA gene were detected by MPS. Operational taxonomic units (OTU, 97%) were used to analyse soil bacteria. Several bioinformatics methods (PCoA, NMDS, Metastats, LEfse, and Heatmap) were applied in bacterial profiles. Our results demonstrate that MPS can provide a more detailed picture of the soil microbiomes and the composition of soil bacterial components from different region was individualistic. In conclusion, the utility of soil bacterial profiling via MPS of the 16S rRNA gene has potential value in characterising soil evidences and associating them with their place of origin, which can play an important role in forensic science in the future.Keywords: bacterial profiling, forensic, massively parallel sequencing, soil evidence
Procedia PDF Downloads 5527966 Investigation of Compliance of the Prevailing Import Murabah'a to Sharia
Authors: Aqeel Akhtar
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One of prevailing modes of finance in emerging Islamic banking system is Murabah’a; a financial transaction in which cost and profit both must be recognized by buyer. Otherwise the transaction would become invalid. In this mainstream, import Murabah’a transaction is divergent in such a way that the cost is not recognized and identified due to execution of import transaction in foreign currency i.e. US Dollar and the next transaction of Murabaha’a with the client is executed in local currency. Since this transaction is executed in dual currency i.e. bank pays supplier in foreign currency and executes Murabah’a with its client in local currency and it is not allowed in according to Islamic Injunctions as mentioned in hadith narrated by Hazrat Ibn-e-Umar (May Allah be pleased with them) used to sell his camels with Dirhams and take dinars instead and vice versa. Upon revealing before the Prophet (SAW), he was advised that it must not be contingent in the agreement and the ready rate would be applied and possession of one of the consideration is compulsory. The solution in this regard is that the import Murabah’a transaction should be in single currency, however, other currency can be paid in payment at the time of payment in a very indispensable situation provided that ready rate would be applied. Moreover, some of other solutions have also been given in this regard.Keywords: shariah compliance, import murabaha, islamic banking, product development
Procedia PDF Downloads 2277965 The Book of Lies: The Christian Bible's Colonialism over and Appropriation of Occultism
Authors: Samantha Huff
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This research seeks to examine the relationship between occultism and the traditional religion of Christianity. The focus of this particular project is to deconstruct occultism and occult religion: how it develops, where it is applied, how and when it is applied. The next step is to make connections between the structure of occultism and the structure of Christianity. Do Christianity and the Occult appear, textually, the same way? What does that mean culturally? This project seeks to examine the historical similarities of occultism and Christianity practices and tradition, and how, as a whole, Christianity appropriates and colonializes occultism through examination into the Christian Bible and popular occult texts: The Book of the Law by Aleister Crowley and The Secret Doctrine: The Synthesis of Science, Religion, and Philosophy by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. Through examining occultism and Christianity and applying it to popular cultural theories (Ritual Space by Nick Couldry, Muted Group Theory by Shirley Ardener, and Mythologies by Roland Barethes), it is entirely possible to see how Christianity appropriates occultism and uses their stronghold on society as a means to colonialize occult traditions and practices.Keywords: appropriation, Christianity, colonialism, cultural theory, muted group theory, mythologies, occultism, ritual space
Procedia PDF Downloads 1487964 The Processing of Implicit Stereotypes in Everyday Scene Perception
Authors: Magali Mari, Fabrice Clement
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The present study investigated the influence of implicit stereotypes on adults’ visual information processing, using an eye-tracking device. Implicit stereotyping is an automatic and implicit process; it happens relatively quickly, outside of awareness. In the presence of a member of a social group, a set of expectations about the characteristics of this social group appears automatically in people’s minds. The study aimed to shed light on the cognitive processes involved in stereotyping and to further investigate the use of eye movements to measure implicit stereotypes. With an eye-tracking device, the eye movements of participants were analyzed, while they viewed everyday scenes depicting women and men in congruent or incongruent gender role activities (e.g., a woman ironing or a man ironing). The settings of these scenes had to be analyzed to infer the character’s role. Also, participants completed an implicit association test that combined the concept of gender with attributes of occupation (home/work), while measuring reaction times to assess participants’ implicit stereotypes about gender. The results showed that implicit stereotypes do influence people’s visual attention; within a fraction of a second, the number of returns, between stereotypical and counter-stereotypical scenes, differed significantly, meaning that participants interpreted the scene itself as a whole before identifying the character. They predicted that, in such a situation, the character was supposed to be a woman or a man. Also, the study showed that eye movements could be used as a fast and reliable supplement for traditional implicit association tests to measure implicit stereotypes. Altogether, this research provides further understanding of implicit stereotypes processing as well as a natural method to study implicit stereotypes.Keywords: eye-tracking, implicit stereotypes, social cognition, visual attention
Procedia PDF Downloads 1497963 Assessment of Kinetic Trajectory of the Median Nerve from Wrist Ultrasound Images Using Two Dimensional Baysian Speckle Tracking Technique
Authors: Li-Kai Kuo, Shyh-Hau Wang
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The kinetic trajectory of the median nerve (MN) in the wrist has shown to be capable of being applied to assess the carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), and was found able to be detected by high-frequency ultrasound image via motion tracking technique. Yet, previous study may not quickly perform the measurement due to the use of a single element transducer for ultrasound image scanning. Therefore, previous system is not appropriate for being applied to clinical application. In the present study, B-mode ultrasound images of the wrist corresponding to movements of fingers from flexion to extension were acquired by clinical applicable real-time scanner. The kinetic trajectories of MN were off-line estimated utilizing two dimensional Baysian speckle tracking (TDBST) technique. The experiments were carried out from ten volunteers by ultrasound scanner at 12 MHz frequency. Results verified from phantom experiments have demonstrated that TDBST technique is able to detect the movement of MN based on signals of the past and present information and then to reduce the computational complications associated with the effect of such image quality as the resolution and contrast variations. Moreover, TDBST technique tended to be more accurate than that of the normalized cross correlation tracking (NCCT) technique used in previous study to detect movements of the MN in the wrist. In response to fingers’ flexion movement, the kinetic trajectory of the MN moved toward the ulnar-palmar direction, and then toward the radial-dorsal direction corresponding to the extensional movement. TDBST technique and the employed ultrasound image scanner have verified to be feasible to sensitively detect the kinetic trajectory and displacement of the MN. It thus could be further applied to diagnose CTS clinically and to improve the measurements to assess 3D trajectory of the MN.Keywords: baysian speckle tracking, carpal tunnel syndrome, median nerve, motion tracking
Procedia PDF Downloads 4857962 High-Quality Flavor of Black Belly Pork under Lightning Corona Discharge Using Tesla Coil for High Voltage Education
Authors: Kyung-Hoon Jang, Jae-Hyo Park, Kwang-Yeop Jang, Dongjin Kim
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The Tesla coil is an electrical resonant transformer circuit designed by inventor Nikola Tesla in 1891. It is used to produce high voltage, low current and high frequency alternating current electricity. Tesla experimented with a number of different configurations consisting of two or sometimes three coupled resonant electric circuits. This paper focuses on development and high voltage education to apply a Tesla coil to cuisine for high quality flavor and taste conditioning as well as high voltage education under 50 kV corona discharge. The result revealed that the velocity of roasted black belly pork by Tesla coil is faster than that of conventional methods such as hot grill and steel plate etc. depending on applied voltage level and applied voltage time. Besides, carbohydrate and crude protein increased, whereas natrium and saccharides significantly decreased after lightning surge by Tesla coil. This idea will be useful in high voltage education and high voltage application.Keywords: corona discharge, Tesla coil, high voltage application, high voltage education
Procedia PDF Downloads 3217961 Five-Phase Induction Motor Drive System Driven by Five-Phase Packed U Cell Inverter: Its Modeling and Performance Evaluation
Authors: Mohd Tariq
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The three phase system drives produce the problem of more torque pulsations and harmonics. This issue prevents the smooth operation of the drives and it also induces the amount of heat generated thus resulting in an increase in power loss. Higher phase system offers smooth operation of the machines with greater power capacity. Five phase variable-speed induction motor drives are commonly used in various industrial and commercial applications like tractions, electrical vehicles, ship propulsions and conveyor belt drive system. In this work, a comparative analysis of the different modulation schemes applied on the five-level five-phase Packed U Cell (PUC) inverter fed induction motor drives is presented. The performance of the inverter is greatly affected with the modulation schemes applied. The system is modeled, designed, and implemented in MATLAB®/Simulink environment. Experimental validation is done for the prototype of single phase, whereas five phase experimental validation is proposed in the future works.Keywords: Packed U-Cell (PUC) inverter, five-phase system, pulse width modulation (PWM), induction motor (IM)
Procedia PDF Downloads 1747960 New Techniques to Decrease the Interfacial Stress in Steel Beams Strengthened With FRP Laminates
Authors: A. S. Bouchikhi, A. Megueni, S. Habibi
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One major problem when using bonded Fiber Reinforced Polymer is the presence of high inter facial stresses near the end of the composite laminate which might govern the failure of the strengthening schedule. It is known that the decrease of FRP plate thickness and the fitness of adhesive reduce the stress concentration at plate ends. Another way is to use a plate with a non uniform section or tapered ends and softer adhesive at the edges. In this paper, a comprehensive finite element (FE) study has been conducted to investigate the effect of mixed adhesive joints (MAJ) and tapering plate on the inter facial stress distribution in the adhesive layer, this paper presents the results of a study of application of two adhesives with different stiffnesses (bi-adhesive) along the joint strength length between the CFRP-strengthened steel beam for tapered and untapered plate on the distribution of inter facial stresses. A stiff adhesive was applied in the middle portion of the joint strength, while a low modulus adhesive was applied towards the edges prone to stress concentrations.Keywords: FRP, mixed adhesive joints, stresses, tapered plate, retrofitted beams bonded
Procedia PDF Downloads 4887959 Fracture Energy Corresponding to the Puncture/Cutting of Nitrile Rubber by Pointed Blades
Authors: Ennouri Triki, Toan Vu-Khanh
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Resistance to combined puncture/cutting by pointed blades is an important property of gloves materials. The purpose of this study is to propose an approach derived from the fracture mechanics theory to calculate the fracture energy associated to the puncture/cutting of nitrile rubber. The proposed approach is also based on the application of a sample pre-strained during the puncture/cutting test in order to remove the contribution of friction. It was validated with two different pointed blade angles of 22.5° and 35°. Results show that the applied total fracture energy corresponding to puncture/cutting is controlled by three energies, one is the fracture energy or the intrinsic strength of the material, the other reflects the friction energy between a pointed blade and the material. For an applied pre-strain energy (or tearing energy) of high value, the friction energy is completely removed. Without friction, the total fracture energy is constant. In that case, the fracture contribution of the tearing energy is marginal. Growth of the crack is thus completely caused by the puncture/cutting by a pointed blade. Finally, results suggest that the value of the fracture energy corresponding to puncture/cutting by pointed blades is obtained at a frictional contribution of zero.Keywords: elastomer, energy, fracture, friction, pointed blades
Procedia PDF Downloads 2917958 Fuzzy Inference System for Risk Assessment Evaluation of Wheat Flour Product Manufacturing Systems
Authors: Yas Barzegaar, Atrin Barzegar
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The aim of this research is to develop an intelligent system to analyze the risk level of wheat flour product manufacturing system. The model consists of five Fuzzy Inference Systems in two different layers to analyse the risk of a wheat flour product manufacturing system. The first layer of the model consists of four Fuzzy Inference Systems with three criteria. The output of each one of the Physical, Chemical, Biological and Environmental Failures will be the input of the final manufacturing systems. The proposed model based on Mamdani Fuzzy Inference Systems gives a performance ranking of wheat flour products manufacturing systems. The first step is obtaining data to identify the failure modes from expert’s opinions. The second step is the fuzzification process to convert crisp input to a fuzzy set., then the IF-then fuzzy rule applied through inference engine, and in the final step, the defuzzification process is applied to convert the fuzzy output into real numbers.Keywords: failure modes, fuzzy rules, fuzzy inference system, risk assessment
Procedia PDF Downloads 877957 Development of Fake News Model Using Machine Learning through Natural Language Processing
Authors: Sajjad Ahmed, Knut Hinkelmann, Flavio Corradini
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Fake news detection research is still in the early stage as this is a relatively new phenomenon in the interest raised by society. Machine learning helps to solve complex problems and to build AI systems nowadays and especially in those cases where we have tacit knowledge or the knowledge that is not known. We used machine learning algorithms and for identification of fake news; we applied three classifiers; Passive Aggressive, Naïve Bayes, and Support Vector Machine. Simple classification is not completely correct in fake news detection because classification methods are not specialized for fake news. With the integration of machine learning and text-based processing, we can detect fake news and build classifiers that can classify the news data. Text classification mainly focuses on extracting various features of text and after that incorporating those features into classification. The big challenge in this area is the lack of an efficient way to differentiate between fake and non-fake due to the unavailability of corpora. We applied three different machine learning classifiers on two publicly available datasets. Experimental analysis based on the existing dataset indicates a very encouraging and improved performance.Keywords: fake news detection, natural language processing, machine learning, classification techniques.
Procedia PDF Downloads 1577956 Metabolic Profiling in Breast Cancer Applying Micro-Sampling of Biological Fluids and Analysis by Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry
Authors: Mónica P. Cala, Juan S. Carreño, Roland J.W. Meesters
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Recently, collection of biological fluids on special filter papers has become a popular micro-sampling technique. Especially, the dried blood spot (DBS) micro-sampling technique has gained much attention and is momently applied in various life sciences reserach areas. As a result of this popularity, DBS are not only intensively competing with the venous blood sampling method but are at this moment widely applied in numerous bioanalytical assays. In particular, in the screening of inherited metabolic diseases, pharmacokinetic modeling and in therapeutic drug monitoring. Recently, microsampling techniques were also introduced in “omics” areas, whereunder metabolomics. For a metabolic profiling study we applied micro-sampling of biological fluids (blood and plasma) from healthy controls and from women with breast cancer. From blood samples, dried blood and plasma samples were prepared by spotting 8uL sample onto pre-cutted 5-mm paper disks followed by drying of the disks for 100 minutes. Dried disks were then extracted by 100 uL of methanol. From liquid blood and plasma samples 40 uL were deproteinized with methanol followed by centrifugation and collection of supernatants. Supernatants and extracts were evaporated until dryness by nitrogen gas and residues derivated by O-methyxyamine and MSTFA. As internal standard C17:0-methylester in heptane (10 ppm) was used. Deconvolution and alignment of and full scan (m/z 50-500) MS data were done by AMDIS and SpectConnect (http://spectconnect.mit.edu) software, respectively. Statistical Data analysis was done by Principal Component Analysis (PCA) using R software. The results obtained from our preliminary study indicate that the use of dried blood/plasma on paper disks could be a powerful new tool in metabolic profiling. Many of the metabolites observed in plasma (liquid/dried) were also positively identified in whole blood samples (liquid/dried). Whole blood could be a potential substitute matrix for plasma in Metabolomic profiling studies as well also micro-sampling techniques for the collection of samples in clinical studies. It was concluded that the separation of the different sample methodologies (liquid vs. dried) as observed by PCA was due to different sample treatment protocols applied. More experiments need to be done to confirm obtained observations as well also a more rigorous validation .of these micro-sampling techniques is needed. The novelty of our approach can be found in the application of different biological fluid micro-sampling techniques for metabolic profiling.Keywords: biofluids, breast cancer, metabolic profiling, micro-sampling
Procedia PDF Downloads 4047955 Enhancing Anode Performance in Li-S Batteries via Coating with Waste Battery-Derived Materials
Authors: Mohsen Hajian Foroushani, Samane Maroufi, Rasoul Khayyam Nekouei, Veena Sahajwalla
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Lithium (Li) metal possesses outstanding characteristics, with the highest specific capacity (3860 mAh g-1) and the lowest electrochemical potential (-3.04 V vs. SHE) among available metal anodes. The collaborative impact of Li and sulfur, featuring a specific capacity of 1670 mAh g-1, positions Li–S batteries (LSBs) as highly promising contenders for the next generation of high-energy-density batteries. However, the comprehensive commercialization of LSBs relies on addressing various challenges inherent to these batteries. One of the most formidable hurdles is the widespread issue of Li dendrite nucleation and growth on the anode surface, stemming from the inherent instability of the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layer. In this study, we employed a Zn-based coating derived from waste materials, significantly enhancing the performance of the symmetrical cell across various current densities. The applied coating not only improved the cyclability of the cell by more than fourfold but also reduced the charge transfer resistance from over 300 to less than 10 before cycling. Examination through SEM micrographs of both samples revealed the successful suppression of Li dendrites by the applied coating.Keywords: Li-S batteries, Li dendrite, sustainability, Li anode
Procedia PDF Downloads 647954 Platform-as-a-Service Sticky Policies for Privacy Classification in the Cloud
Authors: Maha Shamseddine, Amjad Nusayr, Wassim Itani
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In this paper, we present a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) model for controlling the privacy enforcement mechanisms applied on user data when stored and processed in Cloud data centers. The proposed architecture consists of establishing user configurable ‘sticky’ policies on the Graphical User Interface (GUI) data-bound components during the application development phase to specify the details of privacy enforcement on the contents of these components. Various privacy classification classes on the data components are formally defined to give the user full control on the degree and scope of privacy enforcement including the type of execution containers to process the data in the Cloud. This not only enhances the privacy-awareness of the developed Cloud services, but also results in major savings in performance and energy efficiency due to the fact that the privacy mechanisms are solely applied on sensitive data units and not on all the user content. The proposed design is implemented in a real PaaS cloud computing environment on the Microsoft Azure platform.Keywords: privacy enforcement, platform-as-a-service privacy awareness, cloud computing privacy
Procedia PDF Downloads 2147953 Community Perceptions on Honey Quality in Tobacco Growing Areas in Kigoma Region, Tanzania
Authors: Pilly Kagosi, Cherestino Balama
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Beekeeping plays major role in improving biodiversity, increasing household income, and crop production through pollination. Tobacco farming is also the main source of household income for smallholder farmers. In Kigoma, production of Tobacco has increased and is perceived to threaten honey quality. The study explored the perception of the community on quality of honey in tobacco and non tobacco growing areas. The study was conducted in Kigoma Region, Tanzania. District and Villages were purposively sampled based on large numbers of people dealing with beekeeping activities and tobacco farming. Socioeconomic data were collected and analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences and content analysis. The perception of stakeholders on honey quality was analysed using Likert scale. Majority of the respondents agreed that tobacco farming greatly affects honey quality because honey from beehives near tobacco farms test bitter and sometimes irritating, which was associated with nicotine content and agrochemicals applied to tobacco crops. Though they cannot differentiate honey bitterness from agrochemicals and bee fodders. Furthermore, it was revealed that chemicals applied to tobacco and vegetables have negative effect on the bees and honey quality. Respondents believe that setting bee hives near tobacco farms might contaminate honey and therefore affect its quality. Beekeepers are not aware of the nicotine content from other bee fodders like miombo of which do not have any effect on human beings. Actually, tobacco farming does not affect beekeeping activities in issue of quality when farmers follow proper management of tobacco flowers and proper handling of honey. Though, big challenge in tobacco farming is chemically applied to the crops and harvest bee fodders for curing tobacco. The study recommends training to community on proper management of tobacco and proper handling of bee products.Keywords: community, honey, perceptions, tobacco
Procedia PDF Downloads 1387952 Challenges in Promoting Software Usability and Applying Principles of Usage-Centred Design in Saudi Arabia
Authors: Kholod J. Alotaibi, Andrew M. Gravell
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A study was conducted in which 212 software developers in higher education institutions in Saudi Arabia were surveyed to gather an indication of their understanding of the concept of usability, their acceptance of its importance, and to see how well its principles are applied. Interviews were then held with 20 of these developers, and a demonstration of Usage-Centred Design was attempted, a highly usability focused software development methodology, at one select institution for its redesign of an e-learning exam system interface during the requirements gathering phase. The study confirms the need to raise awareness of usability and its importance, and for Usage-Centred Design to be applied in its entirety, also need to encourage greater consultation with potential end-users of software and collaborative practices. The demonstration of Usage-Centred Design confirmed its ability to capture usability requirements more completely and precisely than would otherwise be the case, and hence its usefulness for developers concerned with improving software usability. The concluding discussion delves on the challenges for promoting usability and Usage-Centred Design in light of the research results and findings and recommendations are made for the same.Keywords: usability, usage-centred, applying principles of usage-centred, Saudi Arabia
Procedia PDF Downloads 3837951 Designing Space through Narratives: The Role of the Tour Description in the Architectural Design Process
Authors: A. Papadopoulou
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When people are asked to provide an oral description of a space they usually provide a Tour description, which is a dynamic type of spatial narrative centered on the narrator’s body, rather than a Map description, which is a static type of spatial narrative focused on the organization of the space as seen from above. Also, subjects with training in the architecture discipline tend to adopt a Tour perspective of space when the narrative refers to a space they have actually experienced but tend to adopt a Map perspective when the narrative refers to a space they have merely imagined. This pilot study aims to investigate whether the Tour description, which is the most common mode in the oral descriptions of experienced space, is a cognitive perspective taken in the process of designing a space. The study investigates whether a spatial description provided by a subject with architecture training in the type of a Tour description would be accurately translated into a spatial layout by other subjects with architecture training. The subjects were given the Tour description in written form and were asked to make a plan drawing of the described space. The results demonstrate that when we conceive and design space we do not adopt the same rules and cognitive patterns that we adopt when we reconstruct space from our memory. As shown by the results of this pilot study, the rules that underlie the Tour description were not detected in the translation from narratives to drawings. In a different phase, the study also investigates how would subjects with architecture training describe space when forced to take a Tour perspective in their oral description of a space. The results of this second phase demonstrate that if intentionally taken, the Tour perspective leads to descriptions of space that are more detailed and focused on experiential aspects.Keywords: architecture, design process, embodied cognition, map description, oral narratives, tour description
Procedia PDF Downloads 1517950 Regional Advantages Analysis: An Interactive Approach of Comparative and Competitive Advantages
Authors: Abdolrasoul Ghasemi, Ali Arabmazar Yazdi, Yasaman Boroumand, Aliasghar Banouei
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In regional studies, choosing an appropriate approach to analyze regional success or failure has always been a challenge. Hence, this study introduces an innovative approach to establish a link between regional success and failure in the past as well as the potential success of a region in the future. The former can be sought in the historical evaluation of comparative advantages, while the latter is portrayed as competitive advantage analysis with a forward-looking approach. Based on the interaction of comparative and competitive advantages, activities are classified into four groups, including activities with no advantage, hidden advantage, fragile advantage and synergistic advantage. In analyzing the comparative advantage of activities, the location quotient method is applied, and in analyzing their competitive advantage, Porter`s diamond model using the survey method is applied. According to the results, the share of no advantage, fragile advantage, hidden advantage and synergic advantage activities are respectively 10%, 42%, 16%, and 32%. Also, to achieve economic development in regional activities, our model provides various levels of priority. First, the activities with synergistic advantage should be prioritized, then the ones with hidden advantage, and finally the activities with fragile advantage.Keywords: regional advantage, comparative advantage, competitive advantage, Porter's diamond model
Procedia PDF Downloads 3467949 Improvement plan for Integrity of Intensive Care Unit Patients Withdrawn from Life-Sustaining Medical Care
Authors: Shang-Sin Shiu, Shu-I Chin, Hsiu-Ju Chen, Ru-Yu Lien
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The Hospice and Palliative Care Act has undergone three revisions, making it less challenging for terminal patients to withdraw life support systems. However, the adequacy of care before withdraw is a crucial factor in end-of-life medical treatment. The author observed that intensive care unit (ICU) nursing staff often rely on simple flowcharts or word of mouth, leading to inadequate preparation and failure to meet patient needs before withdraw. This results in confusion or hesitation among those executing the process. Therefore, there is a motivation to improve the withdraw of patient care processes, establish standardized procedures, ensure the accuracy of removal execution, enhance end-of-life care self-efficacy for nursing staff, and improve the overall quality of care. The investigation identified key issues: the lack of applicable guidelines for ICU care for withdraw from life-sustaining, insufficient education and training on withdraw and end-of-life care, scattered locations of withdraw-related tools, and inadequate self-efficacy in withdraw from life-sustaining care. Solutions proposed include revising withdraw care processes and guidelines, integrating tools and locations, conducting educational courses, and forming support groups. After the project implementation, the accuracy of removal cognition improved from 78% to 96.5%, self-efficacy in end-of-life care after removal increased from 54.7% to 93.1%, and the correctness of care behavior progressed from 27.7% to 97.8%. It is recommended to regularly conduct courses on removing life support system care and grief consolation to enhance the quality of end-of-life care.Keywords: the intensive care unit (ICU) patients, nursing staff, withdraw life support systems, self-efficacy
Procedia PDF Downloads 467948 Exchange Rate Forecasting by Econometric Models
Authors: Zahid Ahmad, Nosheen Imran, Nauman Ali, Farah Amir
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The objective of the study is to forecast the US Dollar and Pak Rupee exchange rate by using time series models. For this purpose, daily exchange rates of US and Pakistan for the period of January 01, 2007 - June 2, 2017, are employed. The data set is divided into in sample and out of sample data set where in-sample data are used to estimate as well as forecast the models, whereas out-of-sample data set is exercised to forecast the exchange rate. The ADF test and PP test are used to make the time series stationary. To forecast the exchange rate ARIMA model and GARCH model are applied. Among the different Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) models best model is selected on the basis of selection criteria. Due to the volatility clustering and ARCH effect the GARCH (1, 1) is also applied. Results of analysis showed that ARIMA (0, 1, 1 ) and GARCH (1, 1) are the most suitable models to forecast the future exchange rate. Further the GARCH (1,1) model provided the volatility with non-constant conditional variance in the exchange rate with good forecasting performance. This study is very useful for researchers, policymakers, and businesses for making decisions through accurate and timely forecasting of the exchange rate and helps them in devising their policies.Keywords: exchange rate, ARIMA, GARCH, PAK/USD
Procedia PDF Downloads 5497947 DOA Estimation Using Golden Section Search
Authors: Niharika Verma, Sandeep Santosh
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DOA technique is a localization technique used in the communication field. Various algorithms have been developed for direction of arrival estimation like MUSIC, ROOT MUSIC, etc. These algorithms depend on various parameters like antenna array elements, number of snapshots and various others. Basically the MUSIC spectrum is evaluated and peaks obtained are considered as the angle of arrivals. The angles evaluated using this process depends on the scanning interval chosen. The accuracy of the results obtained depends on the coarseness of the interval chosen. In this paper, golden section search is applied to the MUSIC algorithm and therefore, more accurate results are achieved. Initially the coarse DOA estimations is done using the MUSIC algorithm in the range -90 to 90 degree at the interval of 10 degree. After the peaks obtained then fine DOA estimation is done using golden section search. Also, the partitioning method is applied to estimate the number of signals incident on the antenna array. Dependency of the algorithm on the number of snapshots is also being explained. Hence, the accurate results are being determined using this algorithm.Keywords: Direction of Arrival (DOA), golden section search, MUSIC, number of snapshots
Procedia PDF Downloads 4387946 Appropriate Nutrient Management for Wheat Production in Afghanistan
Authors: Azizurahman Sakhizadah, Tsugiyuki Masunaga
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The use of sulfur fertilizer by Afghanistan farmers for wheat production has never been practiced, although sulfur deficiency has been expected for wheat production. A field experiment was conducted at Poza e Ishan Research Station Farm, Baghlan province, Afghanistan to examine the effect of sulfur fertilizer on growth and yield components of wheat. The experiment was laid out in randomize complete block design (RCBD), having three replications and eight treatments. The initial soil of experiment was alkaline (pH8.4), with textural class of sandy clay loam, available sulfur (40.8) mg kg-1, and Olsen-P (28.8) mg kg-1. Wheat variety, Kabul 013 was cultivated from November 2015 to June 2016. The recommended doses of nitrogen and Phosphors (Urea and DAP at 250 and 125 kg ha-1) were applied by broadcasting except control plot. Sulfur was applied by foliar spray (K2 SO4) at the rate of 10, 20, and 30 kg ha-1, split at tillering and flowering stages. The results demonstrated that sulfur application positively influenced on growth and yield of wheat crop with combination of nitrogen. Plant did not respond to sole sulfur application. Plant height, spike length, spikelet's number spike-1, were increased and yield g m-2 was also increased by 1.2, 19.1 and 25.1 % for 10, 20 and 30 kg sulfur ha-1 application.Keywords: sulfur, nitrogen, wheat, foliar
Procedia PDF Downloads 1387945 Interaction of between Cd and Zn in Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) Plant for Phytoextraction Method
Authors: S. Adiloğlu, K. Bellitürk, Y. Solmaz, A. Adiloğlu
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The aim of this research is to remediation of the cadmium (Cd) pollution in agricultural soils by using barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) plant. For this purpose, a pot experiment was done in greenhouse conditions. Cadmium (100 mg/kg) as CdSO4.8H2O forms was applied to each pot and incubated during 30 days. Then Ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) chelate was applied to each pot at five doses (0, 3, 6, 8 and 10 mmol/kg) 20 days before harvesting time of the barley plants. The plants were harvested after two months planting. According to the pot experiment results, Cd and Zn amounts of barley plant increased with increasing EDTA application and Zn and Cd contents of barley 20,13 and 1,35 mg/kg for 0 mmol /kg EDTA; 58,61 and 113,24 mg/kg for 10 mmol/kg EDTA doses, respectively. On the other hand, Cd and Zn concentrations of experiment soil increased with EDTA application to the soil samples. Zinc and Cd concentrations of soil 0,31 and 0,021 mg/kg for 0 mmol /kg EDTA; 2,39 and 67,40 mg/kg for 10 mmol/kg EDTA doses, respectively. These increases were found to be statistically significant at the level of 1 %. According to the results of the pot experiment, some heavy metal especially Cd pollution of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) plant province can be remediated by the phytoextraction method.Keywords: Barley, Hordeum vulgare L., cadmium, zinc, phytoextraction, soil pollution
Procedia PDF Downloads 4407944 Evaluation of the Impact of Community Based Disaster Risk Management Applied In Landslide Prone Area; Reference to Badulla District
Authors: S. B. D. Samarasinghe, Malini Herath
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Participatory planning is a very important process for decision making and choosing the best alternative options for community welfare, development of the society and its interactions among community and professionals. People’s involvement is considered as the key guidance in participatory planning. Presently, Participatory planning is being used in many fields. It's not only limited to planning but also to disaster management, poverty, housing, etc. In the past, Disaster management practice was a top-down approach, but it raised many issues as it was converted to a bottom-up approach. There are several approaches that can aid disaster management. Community-Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) is a very successful participatory approach to risk management that is often successfully applied by other disaster-prone countries. In the local context, CBDRM has been applied to prevent Diseases as well as to prevent disasters such as landslides, tsunamis and floods. From three years before, Sri Lanka has initiated the CBDRM approach to minimize landslide vulnerability. Hence, this study mainly focuses on the impact of CBDRM approaches on landslide hazards. Also to identify their successes and failures from both implementing parties and community. This research is carried out based on a qualitative method combined with a descriptive research approach. A successful framework was prepared via a literature review. Case studies were selected considering landslide CBDRM programs which were implemented by Disaster Management Center and National Building Research Organization in Badulla. Their processes were evaluated. Data collection is done through interviews and informal discussions. Then their ideas were quantified by using the Relative Effectiveness index. The resulting numerical value was used to rank the program effectiveness and their success, failures and impacting factors. Results show that there are several failures among implementing parties and the community. Overcoming those factors can make way for better conduction of future CBDRM programs.Keywords: community-based disaster risk management, disaster management, preparedness, landslide
Procedia PDF Downloads 1357943 A System Dynamics Model for Analyzing Customer Satisfaction in Healthcare Systems
Authors: Mahdi Bastan, Ali Mohammad Ahmadvand, Fatemeh Soltani Khamsehpour
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Health organizations’ sustainable development has nowadays become highly affected by customers’ satisfaction due to significant changes made in the business environment of the healthcare system and emerging of Competitiveness paradigm. In case we look at the hospitals and other health organizations as service providers concerning profit issues, the satisfaction of employees as interior customers, and patients as exterior customers would be of significant importance in health business success. Furthermore, satisfaction rate could be considered in performance assessment of healthcare organizations as a perceived quality measure. Several researches have been carried out in identification of effective factors on patients’ satisfaction in health organizations. However, considering a systemic view, the complex causal relations among many components of healthcare system would be an issue that its acquisition and sustainability requires an understanding of the dynamic complexity, an appropriate cognition of different components, and effective relationships among them resulting ultimately in identifying the generative structure of patients’ satisfaction. Hence, the presenting paper applies system dynamics approaches coherently and methodologically to represent the systemic structure of customers’ satisfaction of a health system involving the constituent components and interactions among them. Then, the results of different policies taken on the system are simulated via developing mathematical models, identifying leverage points, and using scenario making technique and then, the best solutions are presented to improve customers’ satisfaction of the services. The presenting approach supports taking advantage of decision support systems. Additionally, relying on understanding of system behavior Dynamics, the effective policies for improving the health system would be recognized.Keywords: customer satisfaction, healthcare, scenario, simulation, system dynamics
Procedia PDF Downloads 4007942 Examinations of Sustainable Protection Possibilities against Granary Weevil (Sitophilus granarius L.) on Stored Products
Authors: F. Pal-Fam, R. Hoffmann, S. Keszthelyi
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Granary weevil, Sitophilus granarius (L.) (Col.: Curculionidae) is a typical cosmopolitan pest. It can cause significant damage to stored grains, and can drastically decrease yields. Damaged grain has reduced nutritional and market value, weaker germination, and reduced weight. The commonly used protectants against stored-product pests in Europe are residual insecticides, applied directly to the product. Unfortunately, these pesticides can be toxic to mammals, the residues can accumulate in the treated products, and many pest species could become resistant to the protectants. During recent years, alternative solutions of grain protection have received increased attention. These solutions are considered as the most promising alternatives to residual insecticides. The aims of our comparative study were to obtain information about the efficacies of the 1. diatomaceous earth, 2. sterile insect technology and 3. herbal oils against the S. granarius on grain (foremost maize), and to evaluate the influence of the dose rate on weevil mortality and progeny. The main results of our laboratory experiments are the followings: 1. Diatomaceous earth was especially efficacious against S. granarius, but its insecticidal properties depend on exposure time and applied dose. The efficacy on barley was better than on maize. Mortality value of the highest dose was 85% on the 21st day in the case of barley. It can be ascertained that complete elimination of progeny was evidenced on both gain types. To summarize, a satisfactory efficacy level was obtained only on barley at a rate of 4g/kg. Alteration of efficacy between grain types can be explained with differences in grain surface. 2. The mortality consequences of Roentgen irradiation on the S. granarius was highly influenced by the exposure time, and the dose applied. At doses of 50 and 70Gy, the efficacy accepted in plant protection (mortality: 95%) was recorded only on the 21st day. During the application of 100 and 200Gy doses, high mortality values (83.5% and 97.5%) were observed on the 14th day. Our results confirmed the complete sterilizing effect of the doses of 70Gy and above. The autocide effect of 50 and 70Gy doses were demonstrated when irradiated specimens were mixed into groups of fertile specimens. Consequently, these doses might be successfully applied to put sterile insect technique (SIT) into practice. 3. The results revealed that both studied essential oils (Callendula officinalis, Hippophae rhamnoides) exerted strong toxic effect on S. granarius, but C. officinalis triggered higher mortality. The efficacy (94.62 ± 2.63%) was reached after a 48 hours exposure to H. rhamnoides oil at 2ml/kg while the application of 2ml/kg of C. officinalis oil for 24 hours produced 98.94 ± 1.00% mortality rate. Mortality was 100% at 5 ml/kg of H. rhamnoides after 24 hours duration of its application, while with C. officinalis the same value could be reached after a 12 hour-exposure to the oil. Both essential oils applied were eliminated the progeny.Keywords: Sitophilus granarius, stored product, protection, alternative solutions
Procedia PDF Downloads 1647941 The Effect of Sowing Time on Phytopathogenic Characteristics and Yield of Sunflower Hybrids
Authors: Adrienn Novák
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The field research was carried out at the Látókép AGTC KIT research area of the University of Debrecen in Eastern-Hungary, on the area of the aeolain loess of the Hajdúság. We examined the effects of the sowing time on the phytopathogenic characteristics and yield production by applying various fertilizer treatments on two different sunflower genotypes (NK Ferti, PR64H42) in 2012 and 2013. We applied three different sowing times (early, optimal, late) and two different treatment levels of fungicides (control = no fungicides applied, double fungicide protection). During our investigations, the studied cropyears were of different sowing time optimum in terms of yield amount (2012: early, 2013: average). By Pearson’s correlation analysis, we have found that delaying the sowing time pronouncedly decreased the extent of infection in both crop years (Diaporthe: r=0.663**, r=0.681**, Sclerotinia: r=0.465**, r=0.622**). The fungicide treatment not only decreased the extent of infection, but had yield increasing effect too (2012: r=0.498**, 2013: r=0.603**). In 2012, delaying of the sowing time increased (r=0.600**), but in 2013, it decreased (r= 0.356*) the yield amount.Keywords: fungicide treatment, genotypes, sowing time, yield, sunflower
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