Search results for: relativistic mean field theory

Authors: Chris Ogwu Attah, Okpanachi Linus Odiji

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An election is no doubt a universally accepted means of resolving societal problems, particularly those with political connotations. While the process has often been conducted in advanced democracies without attacks on opponents and the populace, that ambiance of political tranquillity has hardly been enjoyed in many African states. While the violent nature of polls on this part of the globe have for long been linked among other things to monetization and the zero-sum character of politics, emerging trends show how the increasing rate of electoral violence may not be unconnected to the broadcasts of violent acts in the media. Anchored on the age-long complaints about the possible deleterious effects of mass media and Plato’s concern about the effects of plays on the youth, this study aims to interrogate the relationship between media and electoral violence in Nigeria using Kogi State as a case study. While the Social Cognitive Theory is adopted to guide the study to fruition, data was elicited primarily from a multi-stage sampling arrangement in which respondents from three purposively selected locations (Anyigba, Lokoja, and Okene) were randomly selected. Using chi-square to test the assumption that media violence catalyzes electoral violence in Kogi State, it was discovered among other revelations that electoral violence increases numerically with the depiction of violence in the media. As a recommendation, therefore, this paper advocate that Civil Society Organisations, as well as relevant governmental agencies, should carry out mass political education which aims at instilling political morals on the populace, especially the youths.

Keywords: electoral violence, media, media violence, violence

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Authors: Marko Kolaković, Mladen Turuk

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Entrepreneurship is a valuable discipline important for the competitiveness of the European economy. The European Union's economy is constantly changing, and there is an increased demand for special knowledge and skills to help actors cope in a turbulent business environment. By promoting entrepreneurship in education, the citizens of the European Union are encouraged to be enterprising, innovative, and creative in designing solutions to perceived commercial and social problems in the form of offered products and services created as a result of the entrepreneurial process. The European Union has developed a series of guidelines to encourage entrepreneurship in education and training, and it supports entrepreneurship itself through various activities such as Erasmus + and other programs. A number of tools have been developed to support the development of entrepreneurial spirit among the citizens of the European Union. Special emphasis is placed on the methods of developing creativity, critical thinking, and the development of digital competencies. The aim of this paper is to investigate the initiatives of the European Union in the field of entrepreneurship education and to analyze the concept of entrepreneurship education in selected EU member states. Also, an overview of the desired learning outcomes acquired as a result of the successfully completed entrepreneurship education process will be provided.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial education, EU, croatia

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Authors: Moammar Dayoub

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The study aimed to know the reality of farmers and determine the extent of adoption of the recommendations of the fertilizer and the difficulties and problems they face. The study was conducted on a random sample of farmers consist of 95 farmers who had analysed their field soil in scientific research centres in agricultural southern region through the form specially prepared for this purpose, the results showed that the rate of adoption of the fertilizer recommendations whole amounted to an average of 36.9% in the southern region, The degree of adoption was 34.7% in the region. The results showed that 41% of farmers did not implement the recommendations because of the non-convenient analysis, and 34% due to neglect, and 15% due to the weather and an environment, while 10% of them for lack of manure in the suitable time. The study also revealed that Independent factors affecting the continuing adoption of soil analysis are: farms experience, sampling method in farmer’s schools, irrigated area, and personal knowledge of farmers in analysing the soil. Also, show that the application of fertilizer recommendations led to increased production by 15-20%, this analysis emphasizes the importance of soil analysis and adherence to the recommendations of the research centres.

Keywords: adoption, recommendations of the fertilizer, soil analysis, southern region

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Authors: Abiodun Ladanu Ajala, Wuyi Oke

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Mathematical simulation and optimization models packaged within interactive computer programs provide a common way for planners and managers to predict the behaviour of any proposed water resources system design or management policy before it is implemented. Modeling presents a principal technique of predicting the behaviour of the proposed infrastructural designs or management policies. Models can be developed and used to help identify specific alternative plans that best meet those objectives. This study discusses various types of models, their development, architecture, data requirements, and applications in the field of engineering. It also outlines the advantages and limitations of each the optimization and simulation models presented. The techniques explored in this review include; dynamic programming, linear programming, fuzzy optimization, evolutionary algorithms and finally artificial intelligence techniques. Previous studies carried out using some of the techniques mentioned above were reviewed, and most of the results from different researches showed that indeed optimization and simulation provides viable alternatives and predictions which form a basis for decision making in building engineering structures and also in engineering planning and management.

Keywords: linear programming, mutation, optimization, simulation

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Authors: Mayank Sharma, Anubhaw Kumar, Siddharth Desai, Ankit Tomar

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With the advent of cost-effective hardware and communication technologies, the scope of digitalising operations within a supply chain has tremendously increased. This has provided the opportunity to create digital twins of entire supply chains through the use of Internet-of-Things (IoT) and communication technologies. Adverse events like the COVID-19 pandemic and unpredictable geo-political situations have further warranted the importance of digitalization and remote operability of day-to-day operations at critical nodes. Globalisation, rising consumerism & e-commerce has exponentially increased the complexities of existing supply chains. We discuss here a scalable, future-ready and inclusive framework for creating digital twins developed along with the industry leaders from Cisco, Bosch, Accenture, Intel, Deloitte & IBM. We have proposed field-tested key technologies and frameworks required for creating digital twins. We also present case studies of real-life stable deployments done by us in the supply chains of a few marquee industry leaders.

Keywords: internet-of-things, digital twins, smart factory, industry 4.0, smart manufacturing

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Authors: Benjamin Kaufmann, Michael Hofstätter, Nadine Raidl, Peter Supancic

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ZnO varistors are the leading overvoltage protection elements in today’s electronic industry. Their highly non-linear current-voltage characteristics, very fast response times, good reliability and attractive cost of production are unique in this field. There are challenges and questions unsolved. Especially, the urge to create even smaller, versatile and reliable parts, that fit industry’s demands, brings manufacturers to the limits of their abilities. Although, the varistor effect of sintered ZnO is known since the 1960’s, and a lot of work was done on this field to explain the sudden exponential increase of conductivity, the strict dependency on sinter parameters, as well as the influence of the complex microstructure, is not sufficiently understood. For further enhancement and down-scaling of varistors, a better understanding of the microscopic processes is needed. This work attempts a microscopic approach to investigate ZnO varistor performance. In order to cope with the polycrystalline varistor ceramic and in order to account for all possible current paths through the material, a preferably realistic model of the microstructure was set up in the form of three-dimensional networks where every grain has a constant electric potential, and voltage drop occurs only at the grain boundaries. The electro-thermal workload, depending on different grain size distributions, was investigated as well as the influence of the metal-semiconductor contact between the electrodes and the ZnO grains. A number of experimental methods are used, firstly, to feed the simulations with realistic parameters and, secondly, to verify the obtained results. These methods are: a micro 4-point probes method system (M4PPS) to investigate the current-voltage characteristics between single ZnO grains and between ZnO grains and the metal electrode inside the varistor, micro lock-in infrared thermography (MLIRT) to detect current paths, electron back scattering diffraction and piezoresponse force microscopy to determine grain orientations, atom probe to determine atomic substituents, Kelvin probe force microscopy for investigating grain surface potentials. The simulations showed that, within a critical voltage range, the current flow is localized along paths which represent only a tiny part of the available volume. This effect could be observed via MLIRT. Furthermore, the simulations exhibit that the electric power density, which is inversely proportional to the number of active current paths, since this number determines the electrical active volume, is dependent on the grain size distribution. M4PPS measurements showed that the electrode-grain contacts behave like Schottky diodes and are crucial for asymmetric current path development. Furthermore, evaluation of actual data suggests that current flow is influenced by grain orientations. The present results deepen the knowledge of influencing microscopic factors on ZnO varistor performance and can give some recommendations on fabrication for obtaining more reliable ZnO varistors.

Keywords: metal-semiconductor contact, Schottky diode, varistor, zinc oxide

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Authors: Monika Sobolewska, Aleksandra Majchrzak, Bartlomiej Chojnacki, Katarzyna Baruch, Adam Pilch

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The main purpose of the study is to perform the measurement and analysis of noise harmfulness in public utility facilities. The World Health Organization reports that the number of people suffering from hearing impairment is constantly increasing. The most alarming is the number of young people occurring in the statistics. The majority of scientific research in the field of hearing protection and noise prevention concern industrial and road traffic noise as the source of health problems. As the result, corresponding standards and regulations defining noise level limits are enforced. However, there is another field uncovered by profound research – leisure time. Public utility facilities such as clubs, shopping malls, sport facilities or concert halls – they all generate high-level noise, being out of proper juridical control. Among European Union Member States, the highest legislative act concerning noise prevention is the Environmental Noise Directive 2002/49/EC. However, it omits the problem discussed above and even for traffic, railway and aircraft noise it does not set limits or target values, leaving these issues to the discretion of the Member State authorities. Without explicit and uniform regulations, noise level control at places designed for relaxation and entertainment is often in the responsibility of people having little knowledge of hearing protection, unaware of the risk the noise pollution poses. Exposure to high sound levels in clubs, cinemas, at concerts and sports events may result in a progressive hearing loss, especially among young people, being the main target group of such facilities and events. The first step to change this situation and to raise the general awareness is to perform reliable measurements the results of which will emphasize the significance of the problem. This project presents the results of more than hundred measurements, performed in most types of public utility facilities in Poland. As the most suitable measuring instrument for such a research, personal noise dosimeters were used to collect the data. Each measurement is presented in the form of numerical results including equivalent and peak sound pressure levels and a detailed description considering the type of the sound source, size and furnishing of the room and the subjective sound level evaluation. In the absence of a straight reference point for the interpretation of the data, the limits specified in EU Directive 2003/10/EC were used for comparison. They set the maximum sound level values for workers in relation to their working time length. The analysis of the examined problem leads to the conclusion that during leisure time, people are exposed to noise levels significantly exceeding safe values. As the hearing problems are gradually progressing, most people underplay the problem, ignoring the first symptoms. Therefore, an effort has to be made to specify the noise regulations for public utility facilities. Without any action, in the foreseeable future the majority of Europeans will be dealing with serious hearing damage, which will have a negative impact on the whole societies.

Keywords: hearing protection, noise level limits, noise prevention, noise regulations, public utility facilities

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Authors: Palwinder Singh, Munish Sandhir, Tejinder Singh

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The ordinary differential equations (ODE) represent a natural framework for mathematical modeling of many real-life situations in the field of engineering, control systems, physics, chemistry and astronomy etc. Such type of differential equations can be solved by analytical methods or by numerical methods. If the solution is calculated using analytical methods, it is done through calculus theories, and thus requires a longer time to solve. In this paper, we compare the numerical accuracy of the solutions given by the three main types of one-step initial value solvers: Taylor’s Series Method, Euler’s Method and Runge-Kutta Fourth Order Method (RK4). The comparison of accuracy is obtained through comparing the solutions of ordinary differential equation given by these three methods. Furthermore, to verify the accuracy; we compare these numerical solutions with the exact solutions.

Keywords: Ordinary differential equations (ODE), Taylor’s Series Method, Euler’s Method, Runge-Kutta Fourth Order Method

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Authors: Massimiliano Nastri

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The study is part of the scientific references on executive design in engineering and architecture, understood as an interdisciplinary field aimed at anticipating and simulating, planning and managing, guiding and instructing construction operations on site. On this basis, the study intends to provide an analysis of a theoretical, methodological, and guiding character aimed at constituting the disciplinary sphere of the executive design, often in the absence of supporting methodological and procedural guidelines in engineering and architecture. The basic methodologies of the study refer to the investigation of the theories and references that can contribute to constituting the scenario of the executive design as the practice of modelling, visualization, and simulation of the construction phases, through the practices of projection of the pragmatic issues of the building. This by proposing a series of references, interrelations, and openings intended to support (for intellectual, procedural, and applicative purposes) the executive definition of the project, aimed at activating the practices of cognitive acquisition and realization intervention within reality.

Keywords: modelling and simulation technology, executive design, discretization of the construction, engineering design for building

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Authors: Iqbaldeep Kaur, Amarjeet Kaur

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Software Reusability is important part of software development. So component based software development in case of software testing has gained a lot of practical importance in the field of software engineering from academic researcher and also from software development industry perspective. Finding test cases for efficient reuse of test cases is one of the important problems aimed by researcher. Clustering reduce the search space, reuse test cases by grouping similar entities according to requirements ensuring reduced time complexity as it reduce the search time for retrieval the test cases. In this research paper we proposed approach for re-usability of test cases by unsupervised approach. In unsupervised learning we proposed k-mean and Support Vector Machine. We have designed the algorithm for requirement and test case document clustering according to its tf-idf vector space and the output is set of highly cohesive pattern groups.

Keywords: software testing, reusability, clustering, k-mean, SVM

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Authors: M. Yusuf Ansari, Asad Abbas

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Proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell is a very efficient and promising energy conversion device. Although Nafion® is considered as benchmark materials for membrane used in PEM fuel cell, it has limitations that restrict its uses. Alternative materials for the membrane is always a challenging field for researchers. Sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK) is one of the promising material for membrane due to its chemical and mechanical stability and lower cost. In this work, SPEEK is synthesized, and property booster such as silica nanoparticles and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) are also added to analyse changes in properties such as water uptake, IEC, and conductivity. It has been found that adding PVA support high water uptake and proton conductivity but at large amount of PVA reduces the proton conductivity due to very high water uptake. Adding silica enhances water uptake and proton conductivity.

Keywords: PEM Membrane, sulfonated poly (ether ether ketone) (SPEEK), silica fumes (SiO2), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)

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Authors: Jiawei Dai, Xinrong Li, Yulong Sun, Yunxiao Hao

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Recently, participatory approaches have become popular in a variety of fields, including social work, community, and population health, as important research tools for researchers to understand and immerse communities and conceptualize social phenomena. The participatory visual research methods promote the diversification and depth of the exploration process and communication forms to support the feasibility and practicality of the scheme, which helps to further inspire designers and avoid blind spots caused by the solidification of single thinking. This paper focuses on how to develop visual toolkits for participatory methods to assist and shape crowd participation and trigger idea generation in community issues. This project helps to verify the value of participatory visual tools in shaping participation and arousing expression, which provides support for gaining community diversity insights and community problem-solving. In addition, a visual toolbox was developed based on an actual case in a community for field testing, and further discussion was carried out after the data results were analyzed.

Keywords: participatory design, community service, visual toolbox, visual metaphor

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Authors: Tingting Lin, Manfred von Willich, Dafu Lou, Phil Eisen

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A white-box implementation of a cryptographic algorithm is a software implementation intended to resist extraction of the secret key by an adversary. To date, most of the white-box techniques are used to protect block cipher implementations. However, a large proportion of the white-box implementations are proven to be vulnerable to affine equivalence attacks and other algebraic attacks, as well as differential computation analysis (DCA). In this paper, we identify a class of block ciphers for which we propose a method of constructing white-box implementations. Our method is based on threshold implementations and operations in composite fields. The resulting implementations consist of lookup tables and few exclusive OR operations. All intermediate values (inputs and outputs of the lookup tables) are masked. The threshold implementation makes the distribution of the masked values uniform and independent of the original inputs, and the operations in composite fields reduce the size of the lookup tables. The white-box implementations can provide resistance against algebraic attacks and DCA-like attacks.

Keywords: white-box, block cipher, composite field, threshold implementation

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Authors: Ibrahim Aly, Rabab Zalat, Bahaa EL Deen W. El Aswad, Ismail M. Moharm, Basam M. Masoud, Tarek Diab

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The objective of the present study was to evaluate the novel nanomagnetic beads based–latex agglutination assay (NMB-LAT) as a simple test for diagnosis of S. haematobium as well as standardize the novel nanomagnetic beads based –ELISA (NMB-ELISA). According to urine examination this study included 85 S. haematobium infected patients, 30 other parasites infected patients and 25 negative control samples. The sensitivity of novel NMB-LAT was 82.4% versus 96.5% and 88.2% for NMB-ELISA and currently used sandwich ELISA respectively. The specificity of NMB-LAT was 83.6% versus 96.3% and 87.3% for NMB-ELISA and currently used sandwich ELISA respectively. In conclusion, the novel NMB-ELISA is a valuable applicable diagnostic technique for diagnosis of human schistosomiasis haematobium. The novel NMB-ELISA assay is a suitable applicable diagnostic method in field survey especially when followed by ELISA as a confirmatory test in query false negative results. Trials are required to increase the sensitivity and specificity of NMB-ELISA assay.

Keywords: diagnosis, iatex agglutination, nanomagnetic beads, sandwich ELISA

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Authors: Alexander Rincón Ruiz

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This article is based on an exhaustive review and interdisciplinary effort spanning three years. It involved interviews, dialogues, discussion panels, and collective work on various visions of bio-economy in Colombia. The dialogue included government institutions, universities, local communities, activist groups, research institutes, the productive sector, and politicians, integrating perspectives such as Latin American environmental thought, complexity theory, modern visions, local worldviews (Afro-Colombian, indigenous, peasant), decoloniality, political ecology, ecological economics, and environmental economies. This work highlighted the need to redefine the traditional bio-economy concept, typically focused on markets and biotechnology, and to revisit the original idea of a bio-economy as an ‘economy for life’. In a country as diverse as Colombia—both biophysically and in its varied relationships with the territory—this redefinition is crucial. It emphasizes alternative logics of well-being related to resilience, care, and cooperation, reflecting Indigenous, Afro-Colombian, and peasant worldviews. This article is significant for proposing, for the first time, a viable approach to diverse and alternative economies for life tailored to the Colombian context. It represents not only academic work but also a political commitment to inclusion and plurality, aligning with the Colombian context and potentially extendable to other regions.

Keywords: ecological economics, decoloniality, complexity, Biodiversity

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Authors: Ligia Florio, João Mauricio Castaldelli-Maia

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Background: Food addiction (FA) emerged in the 1990s as a possible contributor to the increasing prevalence of obesity and overweight, in conjunction with changing food environments and mental health conditions. However, FA is not yet listed as one of the disorders in the DSM-5 and/or the ICD-11. Although there are controversies and debates in the literature about the classification and construct of FA, the most common approach to access it is the use of a research tool - the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) - which approximates the concept of FA to the concept diagnosis of dependence on psychoactive substances. There is a need to explore the dimensional phenotypes accessed by YFAS in different population groups for a better understanding and scientific support of FA diagnoses. Methods: The primary objective of this project was to investigate the construct validity of the FA concept by mYFAS 2.0 in individuals who underwent bariatric surgery (n = 100) at the Hospital Estadual Mário Covas since 2011. Statistical analyzes were conducted using the STATA software. In this sense, structural or factor validity was the type of construct validity investigated using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and item response theory (IRT) techniques. Results: EFA showed that the one-dimensional model was the most parsimonious. The IRT showed that all criteria contributed to the latent structure, presenting discrimination values greater than 0.5, with most presenting values greater than 2. Conclusion: This study reinforces a FA dimension in patients who underwent bariatric surgery. Within this dimension, we identified the most severe and discriminating criteria for the diagnosis of FA.

Keywords: obesity, food addiction, bariatric surgery, regain

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Authors: Zouleykha Belabbes

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Learning foreign languages is sine qua non in the era of globalization, mobility, and communications, which grants access and connectedness to the world. This urgent need is highlighted in monolingual settings, however, in multilingual contexts the case is, to some extent, complicated. In effect, research on bilingualism and multilingualism lead to the issue of Cross Linguistic Influence (CLI) which seeks to explain how and under which conditions prior linguistic knowledge of first language (L1) and / or second language (L2) influences the production, comprehension and development of a third language (L3) or additional language (Ln). Moreover, the issue of age is also one of the persistent topics in the field of language acquisition. This paper aims to scrutinize the effect of age and two previously known languages: Arabic (L1) and French (L2) in acquiring English (L3) phonology in Algerian context. The study consisted of 20 participants of different age range who were presented with recorded samples of English (L3). The findings confirm the results of some previous studies on the issue of Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) and demonstrate a tendency for the L2 phonological transfer in L3 production at the initial stages of acquisition within young and later learners that for some circumstances diminished as L3 proficiency develop.

Keywords: acquisition, age effect, cross linguistic influence, L3 phonology

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Authors: I. Turk Cakir, B. Hacisahinoglu, S. Kartal, A. Yilmaz, A. Yilmaz, Z. Uysal, O. Cakir

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In the search for new physics beyond the Standard Model, Flavour Changing Neutral Current (FCNC) is a good research field in terms of the observability at future colliders. Increased Higgs production with higher energy and luminosity in colliders is essential for verification or falsification of our knowledge of physics and predictions, and the search for new physics. Prospective electron-proton collider constituent of the Future Circular Collider project is FCC-eh. It offers great sensitivity due to its high luminosity and low interference. In this work, thq FCNC interaction vertex with off-shell top quark decay at electron-proton colliders is studied. By using MadGraph5_aMC@NLO multi-purpose event generator, observability of tuh and tch couplings are obtained with equal coupling scenario. Upper limit on branching ratio of tree level top quark FCNC decay is determined as 0.012% at FCC-eh with 1 ab ^−1 luminosity.

Keywords: FCC, FCNC, Higgs Boson, Top Quark

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Authors: Tegan H. Emerson, Colin C. Olson, George Stantchev, Jason A. Edelberg, Michael Wilson

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Detecting small targets at range is difficult because there is not enough spatial information present in an image sub-region containing the target to use correlation-based methods to differentiate it from dynamic confusers present in the scene. Moreover, this lack of spatial information also disqualifies the use of most state-of-the-art deep learning image-based classifiers. Here, we use characteristics of target tracks extracted from video sequences as data from which to derive distinguishing topological features that help robustly differentiate targets of interest from confusers. In particular, we calculate persistent homology from time-delayed embeddings of dynamic statistics calculated from motion tracks extracted from a wide field-of-view video stream. In short, we use topological methods to extract features related to target motion dynamics that are useful for classification and disambiguation and show that small targets can be detected at range with high probability.

Keywords: motion tracks, persistence images, time-delay embedding, topological data analysis

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Authors: Juan David Sepulveda

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This article reflects the current stage of progress in the project “Determining technological trends in energy generation”. At first it was oriented towards finding out those trends by employing such tools as the scientometrics community had proved and accepted as effective for getting reliable results. Because a documented methodological guide for this purpose could not be found, the decision was made to reorient the scope and aim of this project, changing the degree of interest in pursuing the objectives. Therefore it was decided to propose and implement a novel guide from the elements and techniques found in the available literature. This article begins by explaining the elements and considerations taken into account when implementing and applying this methodology, and the tools that led to the implementation of a software application for patent revision. Univariate analysis helped recognize the technological leaders in the field of energy, and steered the way for a multivariate analysis of this sample, which allowed for a graphical description of the techniques of mature technologies, as well as the detection of emerging technologies. This article ends with a validation of the methodology as applied to the case of fuel cells.

Keywords: energy, technology mapping, patents, univariate analysis

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Authors: Juan Portoviejo Brito, Daniel Icaza Alvarez, Christian Castro Samaniego

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In this article, we present the modeling, simulations, and energy conversion analysis of the solar-wind system for the Quingeo Heritage Center in Ecuador. A numerical model was constructed based on the 19 equations, it was coded in MATLAB R2017a, and the results were compared with the experimental data of the site. The model is built with the purpose of using it as a computer development for the optimization of resources and designs of hybrid systems in the Parish of Quingeo and its surroundings. The model obtained a fairly similar pattern compared to the data and curves obtained in the field experimentally and detailed in manuscript. It is important to indicate that this analysis has been carried out so that in the near future one or two of these power generation systems can be exploited in a massive way according to the budget assigned by the Parish GAD of Quingeo or other national or international organizations with the purpose of preserving this unique colonial helmet in Ecuador.

Keywords: hybrid system, wind turbine, modeling, simulation, Smart Grid, Quingeo Azuay Ecuador

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Authors: Rosaline Govender

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This research study is an exploration of the self-directed professional development of teachers who teach in public schools in an era of democracy and educational change in South Africa. Amidst an ever-changing educational system, the teachers in this study position themselves as self-directed teacher-learners where they adopt particular learning practices which enable change within the broader discourses of public schooling. Life-story interviews were used to enter into the private and public spaces of five teachers which offer glimpses of how particular systems shaped their identities, and how the meanings of self-directed teacher-learner shaped their learning practices. Through the Multidimensional framework of analysis and interpretation the teachers’ stories were analysed through three lenses: restorying the field texts - the self through story; the teacher-learner in relation to social contexts, and practices of self-directed learning.This study shows that as teacher-learners learn for change through self-directed learning practices, they develop their agency as transformative intellectuals, which is necessary for the reworking of South African public schools.

Keywords: professional development, professionality, professionalism, self-directed learning

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Authors: Musa Bala Zakari, Mark Button

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This paper explores the extent, nature, and characteristics of public sector corruption in Nigeria and the enhancement of the major anti-corruption initiatives (reforms), thereby providing insight into the types, forms and causes of corruption in Nigeria. This paper argues that attempts to devise and suggest effective anti-corruption reforms to control systemic corruption in Nigeria require identifying the most prevalent types of corruption targeted and tackling the fundamental country specific causes. It analyses two types of public sector corruption as it relates to Nigeria and the workings of its inefficient governance system. This paper concludes with the imperative of a collective action against corruption supported by considerable amount of domestic political will existing in a favourable policy context. In undertaking this, the paper draws upon publicly available documents, case laws review and semi-structured interviews conducted with various personnel working in the field of corruption in the dedicated anticorruption agencies, academics, and practitioners from other relevant institutions of accountability.

Keywords: corruption, development, good governance, public sector

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Authors: Mirosław Krzemieniewski, Marcin Zieliński, Marcin Dębowski

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Electrokinetic disintegration is one of the high-voltage electric methods. The design of systems is exceptionally simple. Biomass flows through a system of pipes with alongside mounted electrodes that generate an electric field. Discharges in the electric field deform cell walls and lead to their successive perforation, thereby making their contents easily available to bacteria. The spark-over occurs between electrode surface and pipe jacket which is the second pole and closes the circuit. The value of voltage ranges from 10 to 100kV. Electrodes are supplied by normal “power grid” monophase electric current (230V, 50Hz). Next, the electric current changes into direct current of 24V in modules serving for particular electrodes, and this current directly feeds the electrodes. The installation is completely safe because the value of generated current does not exceed 250mA and because conductors are grounded. Therefore, there is no risk of electric shock posed to the personnel, even in the case of failure or incorrect connection. Low values of the electric current mean small energy consumption by the electrode which is extremely low – only 35W per electrode – compared to other methods of disintegration. Pipes with electrodes with diameter of DN150 are made of acid-proof steel and connected from both sides with 90º elbows ended with flanges. The available S and U types of pipes enable very convenient fitting with system construction in the existing installations and rooms or facilitate space management in new applications. The system of pipes for electrokinetic disintegration may be installed horizontally, vertically, askew, on special stands or also directly on the wall of a room. The number of pipes and electrodes is determined by operating conditions as well as the quantity of substrate, type of biomass, content of dry matter, method of disintegration (single or circulatory), mounting site etc. The most effective method involves pre-treatment of substrate that may be pumped through the disintegration system on the way to the fermentation tank or recirculated in a buffered intermediate tank (substrate mixing tank). Biomass structure destruction in the process of electrokinetic disintegration causes shortening of substrate retention time in the tank and acceleration of biogas production. A significant intensification of the fermentation process was observed in the systems operating in the technical scale, with the greatest increase in biogas production reaching 18%. The secondary, but highly significant for the energetic balance, effect is a tangible decrease of energy input by agitators in tanks. It is due to reduced viscosity of the biomass after disintegration, and may result in energy savings reaching even 20-30% of the earlier noted consumption. Other observed phenomena include reduction in the layer of surface scum, reduced sewage capability for foaming and successive decrease in the quantity of bottom sludge banks. Considering the above, the system for electrokinetic disintegration seems a very interesting and valuable solutions meeting the offer of specialist equipment for the processing of plant biomass, including Virginia fanpetals, before the process of methane fermentation.

Keywords: electrokinetic disintegration, biomass, biogas production, fermentation, Virginia fanpetals

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Authors: F. N. U. Abdullah, A. M. H. Ibrahim, Shuyu Liu

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Hybrid wheat root system is the major plant organ for water and nutrient acquisition. An initial wheat root study with Winrhizo scanner showed that entries with high root surface area but narrow root angle are associated with past drought tolerance in Texas, while those with wide angle can perform best under normal growing conditions. In a hybrid field experiment, commercial heterosis up to 8.3% in grain yield was obtained from diverse parents selected from male and female diverse groups. These hybrids showed promising yield at Greenville and McGregor, Texas, with grain yield up to 4412 Kg ha⁻¹ as compared to best performing commercial varieties ‘TAM-304’ (4075 Kg ha⁻¹) and ‘Gallagher’ (3981 Kg ha⁻¹). Among 130 hybrids produced, a subset of 50 better-performing hybrids and parents was subjected to one-month-old plant root studies scanned with Winrhizo. The results showed a significant positive correlation of grain yield with initial root angle and a negative correlation with root length.

Keywords: hybrids, root studies, heterosis, wheat breeding

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Authors: Rais Yusoh, Rosli Saad, Mokhtar Saidin, Fauzi Andika, Sabiu Bala Muhammad

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Resistivity and seismic refraction profiling have become a common method in pre-investigations for visualizing subsurface structure. The integration of the methods could reduce an interpretation ambiguity. Both methods have their individual software packages for data inversion, but potential to combine certain geophysical methods are restricted; however, the research algorithms that have this functionality was existed and are evaluated personally. The interpretation of subsurface were improve by combining inversion data from both methods by influence each other models using closure coupling; thus, by implementing both methods to support each other which could improve the subsurface interpretation. These methods were applied on a field dataset from a pre-investigation for archeology in finding the ancient river. There were no major changes in the inverted model by combining data inversion for this archetype which probably due to complex geology. The combine data analysis provides an additional technique for interpretation such as an alluvium, which can have strong influence on the ancient river findings.

Keywords: ancient river, combine inversion, resistivity, seismic refraction

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Authors: Somdech Rungsrisawat

Abstract:

The objective of this research was to investigate how to develop an appropriate management and administration model for the College of Film, Television, Multimedia and Performing Arts at Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University. A combination of qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methods was employed. The data collection was from the 8 experts who were the academic staff and entrepreneurs in films, television, multimedia and performing arts, and from 471 students studying in the communication arts field. The findings of this research paper presented the appropriate management and administration model for the College of Film, Television, Multimedia and Performing Arts, which depended on 3 factors: [i] the marketing management and the supporting facilities such as buildings, equipments and accessibility for students to the college; [ii] the competency of academic staff or lecturers and supporting staff; and [iii] career opportunities after graduation.

Keywords: educational institution management, educational management, learning resources, non-formal education, Thai qualifications framework for higher education

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Authors: Do Jaesoo, Kim Kyoung Seok

Abstract:

Under the recent difficult economic conditions, a number of people are increasingly expecting fostering ventures as the breakthrough in economic recovery and thus more attention is socially paid to an entrepreneur spirit. However, even though the role of managers is very important for the success of a venture company, programs to cultivate their qualities and skills are quite insufficient. In recent years, programs to foster entrepreneurs and business men have proliferated, which are led mainly by national agencies, research institutions, and large corporations. However, these programs still remain at a tottering stage, since there is no accumulated knowledge in many aspects, including systemic know-how and education. Therefore, this study attempted to introduce the definition of the entrepreneur (founder’s) spirit and furthermore identify the characteristics required for entrepreneurs as the subject of management. It thus tried to examine how those characteristics have an influence on entrepreneurs as their successful conditions, and presented foreign cases after analyzing the entrepreneur spirit through case studies. The entrepreneur spirit and the venture management emerge as a new field in business administration and scholars have reported various theories. Further research activities and efforts for active exchanges are also needed thereof.

Keywords: venture, entrepreneur, entrepreneur (founder’s) spirit, characteristics of entrepreneur spirit

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Authors: Justin D. Olmanson, Katrina S. Kennett, Bill Cope

Abstract:

In the field of education technology, innovation is often tightly coupled to recent technological inventions and emerging technologies. Despite this, some scholars have argued that using established technologies in new pedagogical or curricular ways recasts them and places them once more under the umbrella of emerging education technologies. In this study, we trace how an innovative education technology design emerged, not from a technological breakthrough, but rather via a techno-pedagogical pivot. We describe the design and impact of a digital writing tool created to scaffold student self-evaluation of academic texts. We theorize about and trace how innovation can also emerge from a pivot, namely how leveraging existing practices in new ways can create pedagogically and experientially innovative learning opportunities. After describing the design of Info Writer, we unpack the results of a study based on an implementation the tool, and then theorize and reflect on the way the design process and study findings suggest that pivoting an existing practice can lead to innovative education technology designs.

Keywords: design, education, revision, technology, writing

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Authors: Maximilian Elsen, Frank Tietze

Abstract:

The development and diffusion of green technologies are crucial for achieving our ambitious climate targets. The Paris Agreement commits its members to develop strategies for achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by the second half of the century. Governments, executives, and academics are working on net-zero strategies and the business of rating organisations on their environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance has grown tremendously in its public interest. ESG data is now commonly integrated into traditional investment analysis and an important factor in investment decisions. Creating these metrics, however, is inherently challenging as environmental and social impacts are hard to measure and uniform requirements on ESG reporting are lacking. ESG metrics are often incomplete and inconsistent as they lack fully accepted reporting standards and are often of qualitative nature. This study explores the use of patent data for assessing the environmental performance of companies by focusing on their patented inventions in the space of climate change mitigation and adaptation technologies (CCMAT). The present study builds on the successful identification of CCMAT patents. In this context, the study adopts the Y02 patent classification, a fully cross-sectional tagging scheme that is fully incorporated in the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC), to identify Climate Change Adaptation Technologies. The Y02 classification was jointly developed by the European Patent Office (EPO) and the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and provides means to examine technologies in the field of mitigation and adaptation to climate change across relevant technologies. This paper develops sustainability-related metrics for firm-level patent portfolios. We do so by adopting a three-step approach. First, we identify relevant CCMAT patents based on their classification as Y02 CPC patents. Second, we examine the technological strength of the identified CCMAT patents by including more traditional metrics from the field of patent analytics while considering their relevance in the space of CCMAT. Such metrics include, among others, the number of forward citations a patent receives, as well as the backward citations and the size of the focal patent family. Third, we conduct our analysis on a firm level by sector for a sample of companies from different industries and compare the derived sustainability performance metrics with the firms’ environmental and financial performance based on carbon emissions and revenue data. The main outcome of this research is the development of sustainability-related metrics for firm-level environmental performance based on patent data. This research has the potential to complement existing ESG metrics from an innovation perspective by focusing on the environmental performance of companies and putting them into perspective to conventional financial performance metrics. We further provide insights into the environmental performance of companies on a sector level. This study has implications of both academic and practical nature. Academically, it contributes to the research on eco-innovation and the literature on innovation and intellectual property (IP). Practically, the study has implications for policymakers by deriving meaningful insights into the environmental performance from an innovation and IP perspective. Such metrics are further relevant for investors and potentially complement existing ESG data.

Keywords: climate change mitigation, innovation, patent portfolios, sustainability

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