Search results for: event promotion

Authors: Tao Liu, Qingliang Yu, H. J. H. Brouwers

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Among the reaction products in the alkali-activated ground granulated blast furnace slag (AAS), the layered double hydroxides (LDHs) have a remarkable capacity of chloride and heavy metal ions absorption. The promotion of LDH phases in the AAS matrix can increase chloride resistance. The objective of this study is that use the different dosages of sodium aluminate to activate slag, consequently promoting the formation of in-situ LDH. The hydration kinetics of the sodium aluminate activated slag (SAAS) was tested by the isothermal calorimetry. Meanwhile, the reaction products were determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The sodium hydroxide-activated slag is selected as the reference. The results of XRD, TGA, and FTIR showed that the formation of LDH in SAAS was increased by the aluminate dosages.

Keywords: ground granulated blast furnace slag, sodium aluminate activated slag, in-situ LDH formation, chloride absorption

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Authors: Michael Mickson

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The recent development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has been increasing the number of technical solutions that can be used to identify, map, and manage the effects of geohazards. UAVs are generally cheaper and more versatile than traditional remote-sensing techniques, and they can be therefore considered as a good alternative for the acquisition of imagery and other remote sensing data before, during and after a natural hazard event. This study aims to use UAV for investigating areas susceptible to high mobility flows such as debris flow in Dominica, especially after the 2017 Hurricane Maria. The use of UAVs in identifying, mapping and managing of natural hazards helps to mitigate the negative effects of natural hazards on livelihood, properties and the built environment.

Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), geohazards, remote sensing, mapping, Dominica

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Authors: J. Racedo, J. Torres

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Globalization has led to a worldwide competition for participation in markets of goods and productive factors, with significant effects on transports requirements. The port industry has not been an exception to this event, in fact, it has received increasing attention in recent years due to its crucial role on international trade. Because of this, the measurement of port performance has become an important issue in transport policy. Port performance and port efficiency has been widely studied in the last decades, resulting in noteworthy contributions to improving the industry competitiveness. In this paper, we aim to present a review of the literature on port performance and the relation between this concept and transport policies. This study has the objective to describe the approaches that have been developed in recent years, and especially those that include the modeling of public policies. Finally, we highlight existing gaps in this field, as well as possible directions for future research.

Keywords: port performance, port efficiency, transport, policy

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Authors: Jungeun Cho

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Social finance has received increasing attention as a means to promote the growth of regional economies. Despite the plenty of research discussed their critical role and functions in regional economic development such as the financing and promotion of co-operatives or social enterprises and the offering credit to the financially excluded in the region, however, rarely are efforts made to measure the contribution of social finance in the regional economy. It is essential to establish an evaluation model in order to encourage social finance institutions to perform their supposed role and functions on regional economic development. The objective of this paper is to formulate an evaluation model of the contribution of social finance to the regional economy through an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) approach. This study is expected to provide useful guidelines for social finance institutions’ strategies and the policies of local or central government regarding social finance.

Keywords: social finance, regional economy, social economy, policies of local or central government

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Authors: Pimrawee Rocharungsat

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The study of Phetchaburi Local Food Image in order to Support Tourism aimed 1) to overview Phetchaburi tourism images; and 2) to clarify Phetchaburi local food image. Both quantitative and qualitative analysis were used in this study. Questionnaires were delivered to sample group of 1,489 tourists from 8 districts of Phetchaburi. Results were found that Phetchaburi local food image could be as tool for tourism promotion. Strong place images were within Phetchaburi center city (35%) and in the markets (34.50%). As for satisfaction of local food comparing in descending order of excellent level mean score were its eminence, identity, quality, taste, creativity, and sanitation. Results of prominent images of well-known local food of Phetchaburi were Thai custard dessert, other desserts, palm and sugar palm drink and rice in ice water. The results can be applied as promotional tools for future food tourism in Phetchaburi.

Keywords: food tourism, image, tourist, Phetchaburi province

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Authors: Chiung-Hui Chen

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Diagram and drawing are important ways to communicate and the reproduce of architectural design, Due to the development of information and communication technology, the professional thinking of architecture and interior design are also change rapidly. In development process of design, diagram always play very important role. This study is based on diagram theories, observe and record interaction between man and objects, objects and space, and space and time in a modern nuclear family. Construct a method for diagram to systematically and visualized describe the space plan of a modern nuclear family toward a intelligent design, to assist designer to retrieve information and check/review event pattern of past and present.

Keywords: digital diagram, information model, context aware, data analysis

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Authors: Edina Koch, Károly Gombás, Márton Maller

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The Little Plain is located along the Danube river, and this area is a “hotbed” of sand boil formation. This is due to the combination of a 100-250 m thick gravel layer beneath the Little Plain with a relatively thin blanket of poor soil spreading the gravel with variable thickness. Sand boils have a tradition and history in this area. It was possible to know which sand boil started and stopped working at what water level, and some of them even have names. The authors present a 2D finite element model of groundwater flow through a selected cross-section of the Danube river, which observed activation of piping phenomena during the 2013 flood event. Soil parametrization is based on a complex site investigation program conducted along the Danube River in the Little Plain.

Keywords: site characterization, groundwater flow, numerical modeling, sand boil

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Authors: Nachtane Mourad, Tarfaoui Mostapha, Saifaoui Dennoun, El Moumen Ahmed

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The current energy policy recommends the subject of energy efficiency and to phase out fossil energy as a master question for the prospective years. The kingdom requires restructuring its power equipment by improving the percentage of renewable energy supply and optimizing power systems and storage. Developing energy efficiency, therefore, obliges as a consubstantial objection to reducing energy consumption. The objective of this work is to show the energy transition in Morocco towards renewable energies, in particular, to show the great potential of renewable marine energies in Morocco, This goes back to the advantages of cost and non-pollution in addition to that of the independence of fossil energies. Bearing in mind the necessity of the balance of the Moroccan energy mix, hydraulic and thermal power plants have also been installed which will be added to the power stations already established as a prospect for a balanced network that is flexible to fluctuate demand.

Keywords: renewable marine energy, energy transition, efficiency energy, renewable energy

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Authors: G. Erkomaishvili, R. Gvelesiani, E. Kharaishvili, M. Chavleishvili

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The topic reviews the situation existing currently in Georgia in the field of tourism in conditions of globalization: Touristic resources, the paces of development of the tourism infrastructure, tourism policy, possibilities of development of the Wellness industry in Georgia that is the newest direction of the medical tourism. The factors impeding the development of the industry of tourism, namely-existence of the conflict zones, high rates of the bank credits, deficiencies associated with the tax laws, a level of infrastructural development, quality of services, deficit in the competitive staff, increase of prices in the peak seasons, insufficient promotion of the touristic opportunities of Georgia on the international markets are studied and analyzed. Besides, the levels of development of tourism in Georgia according to the World Economic Forum, aspects of cooperation with the European Union etc. are reviewed. As a result of these studies, a strategy of development of tourism and one of its directions-Wellness industries in Georgia is introduced with the relevant conclusions, on which basis the recommendations are provided.

Keywords: about tourism, tourism policy, wellness industry, business, innovation, technology

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Authors: J.T. Chivanga

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This paper conceptualizes the significance of human rights activism by the Zimbabwean diaspora in the United Kingdom by analyzing how the diaspora advocates for the promotion of the rights of the people in Zimbabwe. It critiques the strategic essentialism theory that is used by the government of Zimbabwe as a basis to discredit the work of transnational advocacy groups. The research advances this position by articulating that the diaspora does not falsify nor simplify them to garner external support on the human rights situation in Zimbabwe. It establishes and shows the significance of transnational advocacy by articulating how the Zimbabwean diaspora addresses and brings to the attention of the international community human rights violations in Zimbabwe that would otherwise not have seen the light of day due to the absence of a conducive environment in that country that stifles the organization of protests under repressive laws such as the public order and security act of 2009.

Keywords: strategic essentialism, transnational advocacy, public order and security act, Zimbabwe diaspora

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Authors: Seul Ki Min, Gwang Heum Yoon, Jung Hyun Joo, Hwa Sung Shin

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Cellular membrane distortion is known as a factor to change intracellular signaling. However, progress of relevant studies is difficult because there are no facilities that can control membrane distortion finely. In this study, we developed microfluidic device which can inflict mechanical stress on cell membrane of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii using regular height of the channels. And cellular physiological changes were analyzed from cells cultured in the device. Excessive calcium ion influx through into cytoplasm was induced from mechanical stress. The results revealed that compressed cells had up-regulated Mat3 mRNA which regulates cell size and cell cycle from a prolonged G1 phase. Additionally, TAG used for the production of biodiesel was raised rapidly from 4 h after compression. Taken together, membrane distortion can be considered as an attractive inducer for biofuel production.

Keywords: mechanical stress, membrane distortion, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, deflagellation, cell cycle, lipid metabolism

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Authors: Kanmanas Muensak, Somphoom Saweangkun

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The objectives of this research were to study the consumer behavior that affects the customer loyalty of CP Fresh Mart in Bangkok province. The sample of the study comprised 400 consumers over 15 years old who made the purchase through CP Fresh Mart in Bangkok. The questionnaires were used as the data gathering instrument, and the data were analyzed applying Percentage, Mean, Standard Deviation, Independent Sample t-test, Two- Way ANOVA, and Least Significant Difference, and Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient also. The result of hypothesis testing showed that the respondents of different gender, age, level of education, income, marital status and occupation had differences in consumer behavior through customer loyalty of CP Fresh Mart and the factors on customer loyalty in the aspects of re-purchase, word of mouth and price sensitive, promotion, process, and personnel had positive relationship with the consumer behavior through of CP Fresh Mart in Bangkok as well as.

Keywords: consumers in Bangkok, consumer behavior, customer loyalty, CP Fresh Mart, operating budget

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Authors: Wee Tong Liaw, Elaine Wong Yee Sing

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Since 2001, many companies in Singapore have voluntarily participated in the bi-annual Singapore HEALTH Award initiated by the Health Promotion Board of Singapore (HPB). The Singapore HEALTH Award (SHA), is an industry wide award and assessment process. SHA assesses and recognizes employers in Singapore for implementing a comprehensive and sustainable health promotion programme at their workplaces. The rationale for implementing a sustained health promoting workplace and participating in SHA is obvious when company management is convinced that healthier employees, business productivity, and profitability are positively correlated. However, performing research or empirical studies on the impact of a sustained health promoting workplace on stock returns are not likely to yield any interests in the absence of a systematic and independent assessment on the comprehensiveness and sustainability of a health promoting workplace in most developed economies. The principles of diversification and mean-variance efficient portfolio in Modern Portfolio Theory developed by Markowitz (1952) laid the foundation for the works of many financial economists and researchers, and among others, the development of the Capital Asset Pricing Model from the work of Sharpe (1964), Lintner (1965) and Mossin (1966), and the Fama-French Three-Factor Model of Fama and French (1992). This research seeks to support the rationale by studying whether there is a significant relationship or impact of a sustained health promoting workplace on the performance of companies listed on the SGX. The research shall form and test hypotheses pertaining to the impact of a sustained health promoting workplace on company’s performances, including stock returns, of companies that participated in the SHA and companies that did not participate in the SHA. In doing so, the research would be able to determine whether corporate and fund manager should consider the significance of a sustained health promoting workplace as a risk factor to explain the stock returns of companies listed on the SGX. With respect to Singapore’s stock market, this research will test the significance and relevance of a health promoting workplace using the Singapore Health Award as a proxy for non-diversifiable risk factor to explain stock returns. This study will examine the significance of a health promoting workplace on a company’s performance and study its impact on stock price performance and beta and examine if it has higher explanatory power than the traditional single factor asset pricing model CAPM (Capital Asset Pricing Model). To study the significance there are three key questions pertinent to the research study. I) Given a choice, would an investor be better off investing in a listed company with a sustained health promoting workplace i.e. a Singapore Health Award’s recipient? II) The Singapore Health Award has four levels of award starting from Bronze, Silver, Gold to Platinum. Would an investor be indifferent to the level of award when investing in a listed company who is a Singapore Health Award’s recipient? III) Would an asset pricing model combining FAMA-French Three Factor Model and ‘Singapore Health Award’ factor be more accurate than single factor Capital Asset Pricing Model and the Three Factor Model itself?

Keywords: asset pricing model, company's performance, stock prices, sustained health promoting workplace

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Authors: Joo-Heon Lee, Ho-Won Jang, Hyung-Won Cho, Tae-Woong Kim

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Drought is a recurrent climatic feature that occurs in virtually every climatic zone around the world. Korea experiences the drought almost every year at the regional scale mainly during in the winter and spring seasons. Moreover, extremely severe droughts at a national scale also occurred at a frequency of six to seven years. Various drought indices had developed as tools to quantitatively monitor different types of droughts and are utilized in the field of drought analysis. Since drought is closely related with climatological and topographic characteristics of the drought prone areas, the basins where droughts are frequently occurred need separate drought preparedness and contingency plans. In this study, an analysis using statistical methods was carried out for the historical droughts occurred in the five major river basins in Korea so that drought characteristics can be quantitatively investigated. It was also aimed to provide information with which differentiated and customized drought preparedness plans can be established based on the basin level analysis results. Conventional methods which quantifies drought execute an evaluation by applying a various drought indices. However, the evaluation results for same drought event are different according to different analysis technique. Especially, evaluation of drought event differs depend on how we view the severity or duration of drought in the evaluation process. Therefore, it was intended to draw a drought history for the most severely affected five major river basins of Korea by investigating a magnitude of drought that can simultaneously consider severity, duration, and the damaged areas by applying drought run theory with the use of SPI (Standardized Precipitation Index) that can efficiently quantifies meteorological drought. Further, quantitative analysis for the historical extreme drought at various viewpoints such as average severity, duration, and magnitude of drought was attempted. At the same time, it was intended to quantitatively analyze the historical drought events by estimating the return period by derived SDF (severity-duration-frequency) curve for the five major river basins through parametric regional drought frequency analysis. Analysis results showed that the extremely severe drought years were in the years of 1962, 1988, 1994, and 2014 in the Han River basin. While, the extreme droughts were occurred in 1982 and 1988 in the Nakdong river basin, 1994 in the Geumg basin, 1988 and 1994 in Youngsan river basin, 1988, 1994, 1995, and 2000 in the Seomjin river basin. While, the extremely severe drought years at national level in the Korean Peninsula were occurred in 1988 and 1994. The most damaged drought were in 1981~1982 and 1994~1995 which lasted for longer than two years. The return period of the most severe drought at each river basin was turned out to be at a frequency of 50~100 years.

Keywords: drought magnitude, regional frequency analysis, SPI, SDF(severity-duration-frequency) curve

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Authors: Nisa Mohan

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Adverse drug event (ADE) related hospital admissions are common among older people. The first step in prevention is accurately estimating the prevalence of ADE admissions. Clinical coding is an efficient method to estimate the prevalence of ADE admissions. The objective of the study is to estimate the rate of under-coding of ADE admissions in older people in New Zealand and to explore how clinical coders decide whether or not to code an admission as an ADE. There has not been any research in New Zealand to explore these areas. This study is done using a mixed-methods approach. Two common and serious ADEs in older people, namely bleeding and hypoglycaemia were selected for the study. In study 1, eight hundred medical records of people aged 65 years and above who are admitted to hospital due to bleeding and hypoglycemia during the years 2015 – 2016 were selected for quantitative retrospective medical records review. This selection was made to estimate the proportion of ADE-related bleeding and hypoglycemia admissions that are not coded as ADEs. These files were reviewed and recorded as to whether the admission was caused by an ADE. The hospital discharge data were reviewed to check whether all the ADE admissions identified in the records review were coded as ADEs, and the proportion of under-coding of ADE admissions was estimated. In study 2, thirteen clinical coders were selected to conduct qualitative semi-structured interviews using a general inductive approach. Participants were selected purposively based on their experience in clinical coding. Interview questions were designed in a way to investigate the reasons for the under-coding of ADE admissions. The records review study showed that 35% (Cl 28% - 44%) of the ADE-related bleeding admissions and 22% of the ADE-related hypoglycemia admissions were not coded as ADEs. Although the quality of clinical coding is high across New Zealand, a substantial proportion of ADE admissions were under-coded. This shows that clinical coding might under-estimate the actual prevalence of ADE related hospital admissions in New Zealand. The interviews with the clinical coders added that lack of time for searching for information to confirm an ADE admission, inadequate communication with clinicians, along with coders’ belief that an ADE is a small thing might be the potential reasons for the under-coding of the ADE admissions. This study urges the coding policymakers, auditors, and trainers to engage with the unconscious cognitive biases and short-cuts of the clinical coders. These results highlight that further work is needed on interventions to improve the clinical coding of ADE admissions, such as providing education to coders about the importance of ADEs, education to clinicians about the importance of clear and confirmed medical records entries, availing pharmacist service to improve the detection and clear documentation of ADE admissions and including a mandatory field in the discharge summary about external causes of diseases.

Keywords: adverse drug events, bleeding, clinical coders, clinical coding, hypoglycemia

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Authors: Farid Khosravikia, Patricia Clayton

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The main objective of this study is to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of various machine learning techniques in forecasting ground-motion intensity measures given source characteristics, source-to-site distance, and local site condition. Intensity measures such as peak ground acceleration and velocity (PGA and PGV, respectively) as well as 5% damped elastic pseudospectral accelerations at different periods (PSA), are indicators of the strength of shaking at the ground surface. Estimating these variables for future earthquake events is a key step in seismic hazard assessment and potentially subsequent risk assessment of different types of structures. Typically, linear regression-based models, with pre-defined equations and coefficients, are used in ground motion prediction. However, due to the restrictions of the linear regression methods, such models may not capture more complex nonlinear behaviors that exist in the data. Thus, this study comparatively investigates potential benefits from employing other machine learning techniques as a statistical method in ground motion prediction such as Artificial Neural Network, Random Forest, and Support Vector Machine. The algorithms are adjusted to quantify event-to-event and site-to-site variability of the ground motions by implementing them as random effects in the proposed models to reduce the aleatory uncertainty. All the algorithms are trained using a selected database of 4,528 ground-motions, including 376 seismic events with magnitude 3 to 5.8, recorded over the hypocentral distance range of 4 to 500 km in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas since 2005. The main reason of the considered database stems from the recent increase in the seismicity rate of these states attributed to petroleum production and wastewater disposal activities, which necessities further investigation in the ground motion models developed for these states. Accuracy of the models in predicting intensity measures, generalization capability of the models for future data, as well as usability of the models are discussed in the evaluation process. The results indicate the algorithms satisfy some physically sound characteristics such as magnitude scaling distance dependency without requiring pre-defined equations or coefficients. Moreover, it is shown that, when sufficient data is available, all the alternative algorithms tend to provide more accurate estimates compared to the conventional linear regression-based method, and particularly, Random Forest outperforms the other algorithms. However, the conventional method is a better tool when limited data is available.

Keywords: artificial neural network, ground-motion models, machine learning, random forest, support vector machine

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Authors: Sameer Muhammad Aslam, Nura Said Mohsin Al-Saifi

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This research shows the process of creating a blood donation website for Oman. Blood donation is a widespread, crucial, ongoing process, so it is important that this website is easy to use. Several automated blood management systems are available, but none provides an effective algorithm that takes into account variables such as frequency of donation, donation date, and gender. In Oman, the Ministry of Health maintains a blood bank and keeps donors informed about the need for blood through a website. They also inform donors and the wider public where and when is their next blood donation event. The website's main goals are to educate the community about the benefits of blood donation. It also manages donor and receiver documentation and encourages voluntary blood donation by providing easy access to information about blood types and blood distribution in various hospitals in Oman, based on hospital needs.

Keywords: Oman, blood bank, blood donors, donor website

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Authors: Ching-Hsu Huang, Shang-Huan Wu

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In recent years, environmental awareness has increased, environmental issues caused by meat-eating have been extended to promote reducing food surplus and waste advocates. We lose more than 3 million tons of food on average on a daily basis. Private households represent the largest food-waste faction. The main purpose of this study is to design and develop household dishes by using edible food surplus. The questionnaires were conducted to find the majority of food surplus from households, including carrot peel, pumpkin, fish skin, and soy dregs—this study designed and developed the household dishes by using the leftovers. We briefly discuss the contributions of the dishes. Mapping the household dishes deepens the promotion of household food waste prevention strategies. This study also linked the results with a set of policy, education, and restaurant business options

Keywords: food waste, food surplus, household dishes design, food waste prevention strategies

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Authors: Matthew J. Glanville, Christian J. Rohr

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Coastal waterspout activity is known to occur globally over a wide climatic range. This study has focussed on recent tornadic waterspout activity along the temperate New South Wales coastline of Australia. Recent tornadic waterspout impacts were surveyed at Kurnell, Kiama, and Lennox Head in coastal New South Wales and are thought to have formed either wholly or partly offshore. It is proposed that a warm, moist layer of air at the sea surface creates more unstable atmospheric conditions than would an approaching supercell path over land, and hence a greater propensity to generate a tornadic event. Measured and observed wind velocities in the vicinity of 60 ms-1 associated with the observed tornadic waterspouts are considerably higher in magnitude than the basic wind speed presented in AS1170.2 for an estimated return period of 2000 years in Region A.

Keywords: coastal, survey, tornadic, waterspout

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Authors: Sahar Jami, Iman Valizadeh

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The purpose of the study: The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of culture on the choice of capital structure management companies are listed in the Tehran Stock Exchange. Methods: This study was a cross-document using data after the event (Retrospective) in 1394 was performed. To select a sample of elimination sampling (screening) is used to determine the sample size was 123 companies. Results: The results showed that the variables of culture, return on equity, a significant positive impact on the capital structure (ROA, QTobins) and financial leverage and firm size variables and a significant negative impact on the capital structure (ROA, QTobins).

Keywords: culture management, capital structure, ROA, QTobins, variables of culture

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Authors: Sivilai Jayankura

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The objective is to study the behaviors, lifestyles and consumption of the student of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. This paper is survey research by using a questionnaire to collect the data with students of Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University for 385 sampling, random coincidence sampling has been provide. Data analysis by descriptive statistics include the distribution, frequency, percentage, average, and standard deviation. The result found that the majority of students are female, and spend their time with their own ideas, like socializing with friends and shopping at the shopping mall, see the movie at the theaters and at the night time will enjoy with their mobile phone and found they long for the quality-price and also brand name regarding the dress. The media and promotion is a key factor impact to the decision to purchase the product and service with mobile phones will be good business to expand business channel also.

Keywords: consumption of teenager, internet, lifestyle behavior, Suan Sunundha Rajabhat University

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Authors: Katharina Ninaus, Ralf Terlutter, Sandra Diehl

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Information and communication technologies (ICT) have become pervasive in all areas of modern life, both in work and leisure. Technological developments and particularly the ubiquity of smartphones have made it possible for ICT consumers to be constantly connected to work, fostering an always-on mentality and increasing the pressure to be accessible at all times. However, performing work tasks outside of working hours using ICT results in a lack of mental detachment and recovery from work. It is, therefore, necessary to develop effective behavioral interventions to increase risk awareness of a constant connection to the workplace in the employed population. Drawing on regulatory focus theory, this study aims to investigate the persuasiveness of tailoring messages to individuals’ chronic regulatory focus in order to encourage ICT consumers to set boundaries by defining fixed times for professional accessibility outside of working hours in order to contribute to the well-being of ICT consumers with high ICT involvement in their work life. The experimental study examines the interaction effect between consumers’ chronic regulatory focus (i.e. promotion focus versus prevention focus) and positive or negative message framing (i.e. gain frame versus loss frame) on consumers’ intention to perform the advocated behavior. Based on the assumption that congruent messages create regulatory fit and increase message effectiveness, it is hypothesized that behavioral intention will be higher in the condition of regulatory fit compared to regulatory non-fit. It is further hypothesized that ad believability and attitude toward the ad will mediate the effect of regulatory fit on behavioral intention given that ad believability and ad attitude both determine consumer behavioral responses. Results confirm that the interaction between regulatory focus and message frame emerged as a predictor of behavioral intention such as that consumers’ intentions to set boundaries by defining fixed times for professional accessibility outside of working hours increased as congruency with their regulatory focus increased. The loss-framed ad was more effective for consumers with a predominant prevention focus, while the gain-framed ad was more effective for consumers with a predominant promotion focus. Ad believability and attitude toward the ad both emerged as predictors of behavioral intention. Mediation analysis revealed that the direct effect of the interaction between regulatory focus and message frame on behavioral intention was no longer significant when including ad believability and ad attitude as mediators in the model, indicating full mediation. However, while the indirect effect through ad believability was significant, the indirect effect through attitude toward the ad was not significant. Hence, regulatory fit increased ad believability, which then increased behavioral intention. Ad believability appears to have a superior effect indicating that behavioral intention does not depend on attitude toward the ad, but it depends on whether or not the ad is perceived as believable. The study shows that the principle of regulatory fit holds true in the context of ICT consumption and responds to calls for more research on mediators of health message framing effects.

Keywords: always-on mentality, Information and communication technologies (ICT) consumption, message framing, regulatory focus

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Authors: Cinthia G. P. Calou, Franz J. Antezana, Ana I. O. Nicolau, Eveliny S. Martins, Paula R. A. L. Soares, Glauberto S. Quirino, Dayanne R. Oliveira, Priscila S. Aquino, Régia C. M. B. Castro, Ana K. B. Pinheiro

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Introduction: As an integral part of the health-disease process, gestation is a period in which the social insertion of women can influence, in a positive or negative way, the course of the pregnancy-puerperal cycle. Thus, evaluating the quality of life of this population can redirect the implementation of innovative practices in the quest to make them more effective and real for the promotion of a more humanized care. This study explores the associations between the obstetric factors with affected areas of health-related quality of life of pregnant women with habitual risk. Methods: This is a cross-sectional, quantitative study conducted in three public facilities and a private service that provides prenatal care in the city of Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil. The sample consisted of 261 pregnant women who underwent low-risk prenatal care and were interviewed from September to November 2014. The collection instruments were a questionnaire containing socio-demographic and obstetric variables, in addition to the Brazilian version of the Mother scale Generated Index (MGI) characterized by being a specific and objective instrument, consisting of a single sheet and subdivided into three stages. It allows identifying the areas of life of the pregnant woman that are most affected, which could go unnoticed by the pre-formulated measurement instruments. The obstetric data, as well as the data concerning the application of the MGI scale, were compiled and analyzed through the statistical program Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), version 20.0. After the compilation, a descriptive analysis was carried out. Then, associations were made between some variables. The tests applied were the Pearson Chi-Square and the Fisher's exact test. The odds ratio was also calculated. These associations were considered statistically significant when the p (probability) value was less than or equal to a level of 5% (α = 0.05) in the tests performed. Results: The variables that negatively reflected the quality of life of the pregnant women and presented a significant association with the polaciuria were: gestational age (p = 0.022) and parity (p = 0.048). Episodes of nausea and vomiting also showed significant with gestational age correlation (p = 0.0001). Evaluating the crossing of stress, we observed a significant association with parity (p = 0.0001). In turn, emotional lability revealed dependence on the variable type of delivery (p = 0.009). Conclusion: The health professionals involved in the assistance to the pregnant woman can understand how the process of gestation is experienced, considering all its peculiar transformations; to meet their individual needs, stimulating their autonomy and their power of choice, envisaging the achievement of a better quality of life related to health in the perspective of health promotion.

Keywords: health-related quality of life, obstetric nursing, pregnant women, prenatal care

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Authors: Qiao Mao

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Starting from the theoretical viewpoints of relational aesthetics, this study explores the relationship between the university art gallery and the communities, taking Art Scattering Program in the Name of Trees of the Art Gallery of National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) as a case. The researcher uses observational and interview methods to obtain research materials to explore how university art galleries interact with communities through public art exhibitions and strengthen the relatively weak relationships with community residents. The researcher also observes how community residents can change their opinions about the university gallery by participating in public art exhibitions. The results show that the university art gallery can effectively establish the interaction with the community residents and repair the relationship with them through such programs as "collection-sharing," "teacher-student co-creation," "artist stationing," and "education promotion activities," playing an active role in promoting interpersonal communication, sustaining the natural environment development and improving community public space.

Keywords: university art gallery, public art, relational aesthetics, communities, interaction

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Authors: Nithi Sermsiriviboon, Somchai Supattarakul

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Dividend initiations are an economically significant event that has important implications for a firm’s future financial capacity. Given that the market’s expectation of a consistent payout, managers of IPO firms must approach the initial dividend decision cautiously. We compare the long run performance of IPO firms that initiated dividends with those of similarly matched non-payers. We found that firms which initiated dividends perform significantly better up to three years after the initiation date. Moreover, we measure investor reactions by 2-day around dividend announcement date cumulative abnormal return. We evidence no statistically significant differences between cumulative abnormal returns (CAR) of IPO firms and cumulative abnormal returns of Non-IPO firms, indicating that investors do not respond to dividend announcement of IPO firms more than they do to the dividend announcement of Non-IPO firms.

Keywords: dividend, initial public offerings, long-run performance, finance

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Authors: Jingjing Li, Shifu Wang

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After the irreversible consequences of the traditional renewal mode of ‘function first and then beautification’, such as the constructive destruction, social differentiation, and cultural, ecological imbalance, the renewal of the historical urban area began to pay attention to the excavation of cultural connotation, and entered a new stage from the pursuit of ‘quantity’ growth to the promotion of ‘quality’, expecting to rejuvenate the old city through the intervention of public art. This paper interprets the cases at home and abroad, summarizes the different forms of expression and application strategies of public art in the renewal of historical urban areas, and combs the limitations of the existing practice in Guangzhou through observation. Finally, it puts forward suggestions from three aspects of the system, implementation strategy, and implementation path, respectively, and explores the path of simultaneous rejuvenation of material space and cultural space in historical urban areas under the intervention of public art.

Keywords: public art, historic city, public space, renewal activation

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Authors: Proud Arunrangsiwed

Abstract:

This study analyzes the crisis management and image repair strategies during the crisis of Mahidol Wittayanusorn School (MWIT) library burning. The library of this school was burned by a 16-year-old-male student on June 6th, 2010. This student blamed the school that the lesson was difficult, and other students were selfish. Although no one was in the building during the fire, it had caused damage to the building, books and electronic supplies around 130 million bahts (4.4 million USD). This event aroused many discourses arguing about the education system and morality. The strategies which were used during crisis were denial, shift the blame, bolstering, minimization, and uncertainty reduction. The results of using these strategies appeared after the crisis. That was the numbers of new students, who registered for the examination to get into this school in the later years, have remained the same.

Keywords: school, crisis management, violence, image repair strategies, uncertainty, burn

Procedia PDF Downloads 471

Authors: M. Maier, I. Dedigama, J. Majasan, Y. Wu, Q. Meyer, L. Castanheira, G. Hinds, P. R. Shearing, D. J. L. Brett

Abstract:

Increasing the efficiency of electrolyser technology is commonly seen as one of the main challenges on the way to the Hydrogen Economy. There is a significant lack of understanding of the different states of operation of polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolysers (PEMWE) and how these influence the overall efficiency. This in particular means the two-phase flow through the membrane, gas diffusion layers (GDL) and flow channels. In order to increase the efficiency of PEMWE and facilitate their spread as commercial hydrogen production technology, new analytic approaches have to be found. Acoustic emission (AE) offers the possibility to analyse the processes within a PEMWE in a non-destructive, fast and cheap in-situ way. This work describes the generation and analysis of AE data coming from a PEM water electrolyser, for, to the best of our knowledge, the first time in literature. Different experiments are carried out. Each experiment is designed so that only specific physical processes occur and AE solely related to one process can be measured. Therefore, a range of experimental conditions is used to induce different flow regimes within flow channels and GDL. The resulting AE data is first separated into different events, which are defined by exceeding the noise threshold. Each acoustic event consists of a number of consequent peaks and ends when the wave diminishes under the noise threshold. For all these acoustic events the following key attributes are extracted: maximum peak amplitude, duration, number of peaks, peaks before the maximum, average intensity of a peak and time till the maximum is reached. Each event is then expressed as a vector containing the normalized values for all criteria. Principal Component Analysis is performed on the resulting data, which orders the criteria by the eigenvalues of their covariance matrix. This can be used as an easy way of determining which criteria convey the most information on the acoustic data. In the following, the data is ordered in the two- or three-dimensional space formed by the most relevant criteria axes. By finding spaces in the two- or three-dimensional space only occupied by acoustic events originating from one of the three experiments it is possible to relate physical processes to certain acoustic patterns. Due to the complex nature of the AE data modern machine learning techniques are needed to recognize these patterns in-situ. Using the AE data produced before allows to train a self-learning algorithm and develop an analytical tool to diagnose different operational states in a PEMWE. Combining this technique with the measurement of polarization curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy allows for in-situ optimization and recognition of suboptimal states of operation.

Keywords: acoustic emission, gas diffusion layers, in-situ diagnosis, PEM water electrolyser

Procedia PDF Downloads 155

Authors: Piyanut Sujit

Abstract:

The purposes of this study were to: 1) create knowledge and develop web based instruction on the puppet show, 2) evaluate the effectiveness of the web based instruction on the puppet show by using the criteria of 80/80, and 3) compare and analyze the achievement of the students before and after learning with web based instruction on the puppet show. The population of this study included 53 students in the Program of Library and Information Sciences who registered in the subject of Reading and Reading Promotion in semester 1/2011, Suansunandha Rajabhat University. The research instruments consisted of web based instruction on the puppet show, specialist evaluation form, achievement test, and tests during the lesson. The research statistics included arithmetic mean, variable means, standard deviation, and t-test in SPSS for Windows. The results revealed that the effectiveness of the developed web based instruction was 84.67/80.47 which was higher than the set criteria at 80/80. The student achievement before and after learning showed statistically significant difference at 0.05 as in the hypothesis.

Keywords: puppet, puppet show, web based instruction, library and information sciences

Procedia PDF Downloads 367

Authors: Suleiman Ahmed Badayi

Abstract:

Corporate governance literature is very wide and involves several empirical studies conducted on the relationship between board structure, composition and firm performance. The separation of ownership and control in organizations were aimed at reducing the losses suffered by the investors in the event of financial scandals. This paper reviewed the theoretical and empirical literature on the relationship between board composition and its impact on firm performance. The findings from the studies provide different results while some are of the view that board structure is related to firm performance, many empirical studies indicates no relationship. However, others found a U-shape relationship between firm performance and board structure. Therefore, this study argued that board structure is not much significant to determine the financial performance of a firm.

Keywords: board structure, composition, firm performance, corporate governance

Procedia PDF Downloads 566