Search results for: local learning resource

Authors: Aymen Arfaoui, Abdelkader Soumaya

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The Messalla-Ressas-Bou Kornine (MRB) and Hammamet Korbous (HK) major trending North-South fault zones provide a good opportunity to show the effects of the Eocene compressive phase in northern Tunisia. They acted as paleogeographical boundaries during the Mesozoic and belonged to a significant strike-slip corridor called the «North-South Axis,» extending from the Saharan platform at the South to the Gulf of Tunis at the North. Our study area is situated in a relay zone between two significant strike-slip faults (HK and MRB), separating the Atlas domain from the Pelagian Block. We used a multidisciplinary approach, including fieldwork, stress inversion, and geophysical profiles, to argue the shortening event that affected the study region. The MRB and HK contractional duplex is a privileged area for a local stress field and stress nucleation. The stress inversion of fault slip data reveals an Eocene compression with NW-SE trending SHmax, reactivating most of the ancient Mesozoic normal faults in the region. This shortening phase is represented in the MRB belt by an angular unconformity between the Upper Eocene over various Cretaceous strata. The stress inversion data reveal a compressive tectonic with an average NW-SE trending Shmax. The major N-S faults are reactivated under this shortening as sinistral oblique faults. The orientation of SHmax deviates from NW-SE to E-W near the preexisting deep faults of MRB and HK. This E-W stress direction generated the emerging overlap of Ressas-Messella and blind thrust faults in the Cretaceous deposits. The connection of the sub-meridian reverse faults in depth creates "flower structures" under an E-W local compressive stress. In addition, we detected a reorientation of the SHmax into an N-S direction in the central part of the MRB - HK contractional duplex, creating E-W reverse faults and overlapping zones. Finally, the Eocene compression constituted the first major tectonic phase which inverted the Mesozoic preexisting extensive fault system in Northern Tunisia.

Keywords: Tunisia, eocene compression, tectonic stress field, Bou Kornine-Ressas-Messella

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Authors: Arzyana Sunkar, Yanto Santosa, Siti Badriyah Rushayati

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Indonesia has experienced annual forest fires that have rapidly destroyed and degraded its forests. Fires in the peat swamp forests of Riau Province, have set the stage for problems to worsen, this being the ecosystem most prone to fires (which are also the most difficult, to extinguish). Despite various efforts to curb deforestation, and forest degradation processes, severe forest fires are still occurring. To find an effective solution, the basic causes of the problems must be identified. It is therefore critical to have an in-depth understanding of the underlying causal factors that have contributed to deforestation and forest degradation as a whole, in order to attain reductions in their rates. An assessment of the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation was carried out, in order to design and implement measures that could slow these destructive processes. Research was conducted in Giam Siak Kecil–Bukit Batu Biosphere Reserve (GSKBB BR), in the Riau Province of Sumatera, Indonesia. A biosphere reserve was selected as the study site because such reserves aim to reconcile conservation with sustainable development. A biosphere reserve should promote a range of local human activities, together with development values that are in line spatially and economically with the area conservation values, through use of a zoning system. Moreover, GSKBB BR is an area with vast peatlands, and is experiencing forest fires annually. Various factors were analysed to assess the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in GSKBB BR; data were collected from focus group discussions with stakeholders, key informant interviews with key stakeholders, field observation and a literature review. Landsat satellite imagery was used to map forest-cover changes for various periods. Analysis of landsat images, taken during the period 2010-2014, revealed that within the non-protected area of core zone, there was a trend towards decreasing peat swamp forest areas, increasing land clearance, and increasing areas of community oil-palm and rubber plantations. Fire was used for land clearing and most of the forest fires occurred in the most populous area (the transition area). The study found a relationship between the deforested/ degraded areas, and certain distance variables, i.e. distance from roads, villages and the borders between the core area and the buffer zone. The further the distance from the core area of the reserve, the higher was the degree of deforestation and forest degradation. Research findings suggested that agricultural expansion may be the direct cause of deforestation and forest degradation in the reserve, whereas socio-economic factors were the underlying driver of forest cover changes; such factors consisting of a combination of socio-cultural, infrastructural, technological, institutional (policy and governance), demographic (population pressure) and economic (market demand) considerations. These findings indicated that local factors/problems were the critical causes of deforestation and degradation in GSKBB BR. This research therefore concluded that reductions in deforestation and forest degradation in GSKBB BR could be achieved through ‘local actor’-tailored approaches such as community empowerment

Keywords: Actor-led solution, community empowerment, drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, Giam Siak Kecil – Bukit Batu Biosphere Reserve

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Authors: Asma Moomal, Zukarnain Zakaria

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In this uncertain, highly competitive and hasty moving era, most of the organizations are surviving under the pressure of complex dynamics, fierce competition and many challenges in terms of global talent management within the global market. One key result of these challenges is that the organizations have to be organized and good at handling human capital if they want to gain sustainable and steady success in near future. By keeping in mind the importance of global competition, many human resource (HR) professionals are diagnosing the complexities in managing talent of human capital at global level, especially those of multinational enterprises (MNEs). As, there has been little research in the country regarding identification of the GTM in MNEs, this paper reviewed the relevant literature in order to examine the role of GTM strategies in enhancing the organizational development in the MNEs of Malaysia. The data collection technique used in this study was done through the secondary data resources (i.e. the existing literature analysis). This study contributes to extend our understanding of the impact of GTM on organizational development of MNEs within the country.

Keywords: Global Talent Management (GTM), multinational enterprises (MNEs), organizational development, talent

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Authors: Bilal Ashraf, Qianxiao Zhang

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This study empirically investigated the linkage amid financial development and its important determinants such as information and communication technology, natural resource rents, economic growth, current account balance, and gross savings in 107 economies. This paper preferred to employ the second-generation unit root tests to handle the issues of slope heterogeneity and “cross-sectional dependence” in panel data. The “Kao, Pedroni, and Westerlund tests” confirm the long-lasting connections among the variables under study, while the significant endings of “cross-sectionally augmented autoregressive distributed lag (CS-ARDL)” exposed that NRR, CAB, and S negatively affected the financial development while ICT and EG stimulates the procedure of FD. Further, the robustness analysis's application of FGLS supports the appropriateness and applicability of CS-ARDL. Finally, the findings of “DH causality analysis” endorse the bidirectional causality linkages amongst research factors. Based on the study's outcomes, we suggest some policy suggestions that empower the process of financial development, globally.

Keywords: determinants of financial developments, CS-ARDL, financial development, global sample, causality analysis

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Authors: Farzad Hosseini Hossein Abadi, Cristina Prieto Sierra, Cesar Álvarez Díaz

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Predicting streamflow accurately in flashy catchments prone to floods is a major research and operational challenge in hydrological modeling. Recent advancements in deep learning, particularly Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks, have shown to be promising in achieving accurate hydrological predictions at daily and hourly time scales. In this work, a multi-timescale LSTM (MTS-LSTM) network was applied to the context of regional hydrological predictions at an hourly time scale in flashy catchments. The case study includes 40 catchments allocated in the Basque Country, north of Spain. We explore the impact of hyperparameters on the performance of streamflow predictions given by regional deep learning models through systematic hyperparameter tuning - where optimal regional values for different catchments are identified. The results show that predictions are highly accurate, with Nash-Sutcliffe (NSE) and Kling-Gupta (KGE) metrics values as high as 0.98 and 0.97, respectively. A principal component analysis reveals that a hyperparameter related to the length of the input sequence contributes most significantly to the prediction performance. The findings suggest that input sequence lengths have a crucial impact on the model prediction performance. Moreover, employing catchment-scale analysis reveals distinct sequence lengths for individual basins, highlighting the necessity of customizing this hyperparameter based on each catchment’s characteristics. This aligns with well known “uniqueness of the place” paradigm. In prior research, tuning the length of the input sequence of LSTMs has received limited focus in the field of streamflow prediction. Initially it was set to 365 days to capture a full annual water cycle. Later, performing limited systematic hyper-tuning using grid search, revealed a modification to 270 days. However, despite the significance of this hyperparameter in hydrological predictions, usually studies have overlooked its tuning and fixed it to 365 days. This study, employing a simultaneous systematic hyperparameter tuning approach, emphasizes the critical role of input sequence length as an influential hyperparameter in configuring LSTMs for regional streamflow prediction. Proper tuning of this hyperparameter is essential for achieving accurate hourly predictions using deep learning models.

Keywords: LSTMs, streamflow, hyperparameters, hydrology

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Authors: Emilia K. H. Danielsson-Waters, Malaz Elsaddig, Kevin Jones

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Unfortunately, it is well known that neonatal deaths are a common and potentially preventable occurrence across the world. Neonatal resuscitation is a simple and inexpensive intervention that can effectively reduce this rate, and can be taught and implemented globally. This project is a follow-on from one in 2012, which found that neonatal resuscitation simulation was valuable for education, but would be better improved by being delivered by local staff. Methods: This study involved auditing the neonatal admission and death records within a rural Ugandan hospital, alongside implementing a Train-The-Trainer teaching scheme to teach Neonatal Resuscitation. One local doctor was trained for simulating neonatal resuscitation, whom subsequently taught an additional 14 staff members in one-afternoon session. Participants were asked to complete questionnaires to assess their knowledge and confidence pre- and post-simulation, and a survey to identify barriers and drivers to simulation. Results: The results found that the neonatal mortality rate in this hospital was 25% between July 2016- July 2017, with birth asphyxia, prematurity and sepsis being the most common causes. Barriers to simulation that were identified predominantly included a lack of time, facilities and opportunity, yet all members stated simulation was beneficial for improving skills and confidence. The simulation session received incredibly positive qualitative feedback, and also a 0.58-point increase in knowledge (p=0.197) and 0.73-point increase in confidence (0.079). Conclusion: This research shows that it is possible to create a teaching scheme in a rural hospital, however, many barriers are in place for its sustainability, and a larger sample size with a more sensitive scale is required to achieve statistical significance. This is undeniably important, because teaching neonatal resuscitation can have a direct impact on neonatal mortality. Subsequently, recommendations include that efforts should be put in place to create a sustainable training scheme, for example, by employing a resuscitation officer. Moreover, neonatal resuscitation teaching should be conducted more frequently in hospitals, and conducted in a wider geographical context, including within the community, in order to achieve its full effect.

Keywords: neonatal resuscitation, sustainable medical education, train-the-trainer, Uganda

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Authors: Sasiporn Rattanasupha, Settapat Chinviriyasit

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The treatment function adopts a continuous and differentiable function which can describe the effect of delayed treatment when the number of infected individuals increases and the medical condition is limited. In this paper, the SEIR epidemic model with treatment function is studied to investigate the dynamics of the model due to the effect of treatment. It is assumed that the treatment rate is proportional to the number of infective patients. The stability of the model is analyzed. The model is simulated to illustrate the analytical results and to investigate the effects of treatment on the spread of infection.

Keywords: basic reproduction number, local stability, SEIR epidemic model, treatment function

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Authors: Mapule Maema

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The paper aims to highlight the role that community activism has played in promoting social justice around housing issues in the Western Cape. The Western Cape is one of the largest spatially segregated provinces in South Africa which continues to exhibit grave inequalities between cities, townships and farms. These inequalities cut across intersectional issues such as, race, class, gender, and politics. The main challenges facing marginalized communities in the Western Cape include access to housing, land and basic services. This is not peculiar to only the Western Cape, the entire country is facing similar challenges however the Western Cape is seen as a fasted urbanizing province in the country due to tourism. Various social movements have been formed across the country to counter these challenges, however, this paper focuses on the resilience communities have fostered despite the myriad housing and spatial crisis they are faced with. The paper focuses on the Legal Resource’s Centre’s clients from an informal settlement called Imizamo Yethu based in Hout Bay Valley area. The 18 hectare settlement houses approximately 33600 people. On the 21st July 2017, Hout Bay experienced violent protests following an eviction order passed by the City of Cape Town. The protest was characterized by tensions within the community regarding the super-blocking initiative which aims to establish roads in informal settlements to ensure basic services. Residents against the process argued that there were no proper consultations done to educate them on what this process entailed. Public participation is one of the objectives the municipalities aim to promote however it remains a great challenge. In order to highlight the experiences of the LRC clients in relation to what motivated their involvement in the movement, how it felt their participation, and aspirations, the paper will employ qualitative research methods. Qualitative research methods enable the researcher to get a deeper and nuanced understanding of the social world in the eyes of those who experienced it. It is a flexible methodology that enables one to also understand social processes and the significance they generate. Data will be collected through the use of the World Cafe as a focus group method. The World Café is a simple, effective and flexible format for hosting group dialogue. The steps taken when setting up a World Café includes the following: setting the context (why you are bringing people together and what you want to achieve), create hospitality space (make participants feel at home and free to discuss issues), explore questions that matter, connect diverse perspectives (the opportunity to actively contribute your thinking), listen together for patterns and insights, share collective discoveries and learnings. Secondary data will be used to augment the data collected. Stories of impact will be drawn from the exercises. This paper will contribute to the discourse of sustainable housing and urban development and the research outputs will be disseminated to the public for learning.

Keywords: community activism, influence, social justice, development

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Authors: Rekab Djabri Hamza, Daoud Salah

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We report first-principles calculations of structural and magnetic properties of TmAs compound in zinc blende(B3) and CsCl(B2), structures employing the density functional theory (DFT) within the local density approximation (LDA). We use the full potential linear muffin-tin orbitals (FP-LMTO) as implemented in the LMTART-MINDLAB code (Calculation). Results are given for lattice parameters (a), bulk modulus (B), and its first derivatives(B’) in the different structures NaCl (B1) and CsCl (B2). The most important result in this work is the prediction of the possibility of transition; from cubic rocksalt (NaCl)→ CsCl (B2) (32.96GPa) for TmAs. These results use the LDA approximation.

Keywords: LDA, phase transition, properties, DFT

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Authors: Johanna Lundqvist

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Third cycle supervision is a multifaceted and complex task for supervisors in higher education. It progresses over several years and is affected by several proximal and distal factors. It can result in positive learning outcomes for doctoral students and high-quality publications. However, not all doctoral students thrive during their doctoral studies; nor do they all complete their studies. This is problematic for both the individuals themselves as well as society at large: doctoral students are valuable and important in current research, future research and higher education. The aim of this literature review is to elucidate what responsible third cycle supervision can include and be in practice. The question posed is as follows: according to recent literature, what is it that characterises responsible third cycle supervision in which doctoral students can thrive and develop their research knowledge and skills? A literature review was conducted, and the data gathered from the literature regarding responsible third cycle supervision was analysed by means of a thematic analysis. The analysis was inspired by the notion of responsible inclusion outlined by David Mitchell. In this study, the term literature refers to research articles and regulations. The results (preliminary) show that responsible third cycle supervision is associated with a number of interplaying factors (themes). These are as follows: committed supervisors and doctoral students; a clear vision and research problem; an individual study plan; adequate resources; interaction processes and constructive feedback; creativity; cultural awareness; respect and research ethics; systematic quality work and improvement efforts; focus on overall third cycle learning goals; and focus on research presentations and publications. Thus, responsible third cycle supervision can occur if these factors are realized in practice. This literature review is of relevance to evaluators, researchers, and management in higher education, as well as third cycle supervisors.

Keywords: doctoral student, higher education, third cycle supervisors, third cycle programmes

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Authors: Sabita Mahapatra

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‘Going green’ has been an emerging issue worldwide driving companies to continuously enhance their green capabilities and implement innovative green practices to protect the environment and improve business performance. Green has become a contemporary business environmental issue. The resource advantage theory is adopted in the present study to observe the impact of marketing orientation and green innovation practices on environmental and firm’s performance. The small and medium firms compared to large firms have different approach towards market orientation as a strategic tool. The present study proposes a conceptual framework regarding the impact of market orientation on environmental and firm’s performance through green innovation practices in the context of small and medium scale industries (SMEs). The propositions developed in the present paper would provide scope for future research study to validate the conceptual framework in the emerging economy like India.

Keywords: market orientation, green innovation practices, environment performance, corporate performance, emerging market

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Authors: Wuttigrai Ngamsirijit

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Talent management in today’s modern organizations has become data-driven due to a demand for objective human resource decision making and development of analytics technologies. HR managers have been faced with some obstacles in exploiting data and information to obtain their effective talent management decisions. These include process-based data and records; insufficient human capital-related measures and metrics; lack of capabilities in data modeling in strategic manners; and, time consuming to add up numbers and make decisions. This paper proposes a framework of talent management through integration of talent value chain and human capital analytics approaches. It encompasses key data, measures, and metrics regarding strategic talent management decisions along the organizational and talent value chain. Moreover, specific predictive and prescriptive models incorporating these data and information are recommended to help managers in understanding the state of talent, gaps in managing talent and the organization, and the ways to develop optimized talent strategies.    

Keywords: decision making, human capital analytics, talent management, talent value chain

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Authors: Kwaku Damoah

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The agricultural sector is characterized by continuous transformation, driven by factors such as demographic shifts, evolving consumer preferences, climate change, and migration trends. This dynamic environment presents complex challenges for key stakeholders including farmers, governments, and investors, who must navigate these changes to achieve optimal investment returns. To effectively predict market trends and uncover promising investment opportunities, a systematic, data-driven approach is essential. This paper introduces the Structural Evolution Index (SEI), a machine learning-based methodology. SEI is specifically designed to analyse long-term trends and forecast the potential of emerging agricultural products for investment. Versatile in application, it evaluates various agricultural metrics such as production, yield, trade, land use, and consumption, providing a comprehensive view of the evolution within agricultural markets. By harnessing data from the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAOSTAT), this study demonstrates the SEI's capabilities through Comparative Exploratory Analysis and evaluation of international trade in agricultural products, focusing on Malaysia and Singapore. The SEI methodology reveals intricate patterns and transitions within the agricultural sector, enabling stakeholders to strategically identify and capitalize on emerging markets. This predictive framework is a powerful tool for decision-makers, offering crucial insights that help anticipate market shifts and align investments with anticipated returns.

Keywords: agricultural investment, algorithm, comparative exploratory analytics, machine learning, market trends, predictive analytics, structural evolution index

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Authors: Autumn Rooms Cypres, Barbara Driver

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The purpose of this study is to extend discussions about innovations and career politics. Research questions that grounded this effort were: How does an academic learn the unspoken rules of the academy? What happens politically to an academic’s career when their research speaks against the grain of society? Do professors perceive signals that it is time to move on to another institution or even to another career? Epistemology and Methods: This qualitative investigation was focused on examining perceptions of academics. Therefore an open-ended field study, based on Grounded Theory, was used. This naturalistic paradigm (Lincoln & Guba,1985) was selected because it tends to understand information in terms of whole, of patterns, and in relations to the context of the environment. The technique for gathering data was the process of semi-structured, in-depth interviewing. Twenty five academics across the United States were interviewed relative to their career trajectories and the politics and opportunities they have encountered in relation to their research efforts. Findings: The analysis of interviews revealed four themes: Academics are beholden to 2 specific networks of power that influence their sense of job security; the local network based on their employing university and the national network of scholars who share the same field of research. The fights over what counts as research can and does drift from the intellectual to the political, and personal. Academic were able to identify specific instances of shunning and or punishment from their colleagues related directly to the dissemination of research that spoke against the grain of the local or national networks. Academics identified specific signals from both of these networks indicating that their career was flourishing or withering. Implications: This research examined insights from those who persevered when the fights over what and who counts drifted from the intellectual to the political, and the personal. Considerations of why such drifts happen were offered in the form of a socio-political construct called Fit, which included thoughts on hegemony, discourse, and identity. This effort reveals the importance of understanding what professional capital is relative to job security. It also reveals that fear is an enmeshed and often unspoken part of the culture of Academia. Further research to triangulate these findings would be helpful within international contexts.

Keywords: politics, academia, job security, context

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Authors: Malika Elkyal

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We consider an iterative parallel multi-splitting method for differential algebraic equations. The main feature of the proposed idea is to use the asynchronous form. We prove that the multi-splitting technique can effectively accelerate the convergent performance of the iterative process. The main characteristic of an asynchronous mode is that the local algorithm does not have to wait at predetermined messages to become available. We allow some processors to communicate more frequently than others, and we allow the communication delays to be substantial and unpredictable. Accordingly, we note that synchronous algorithms in the computer science sense are particular cases of our formulation of asynchronous one.

Keywords: parallel methods, asynchronous mode, multisplitting, differential algebraic equations

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Authors: Adhithy Menon E., Biju C. A.

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In the 1960s, the concept of preserving heritage monuments was first introduced. During the 1990s, the concept of cultural landscapes gained importance, highlighting the importance of culture and heritage. Throughout this paper, we examine the second category of the cultural landscape, which is an organically evolving landscape as it represents a web of tangible, intangible, and ecological heritage and the ways in which they can be rejuvenated. Cultural landscapes in various regions, such as the Chettinad Village clusters, are in serious decline, which is identified through the Heritage Passport program of this area (2007). For this reason, it is necessary to conduct a detailed analysis of the factors that contribute to this degradation to ensure its protection in the future. An analysis of the cultural landscape of the Chettinad Village clusters and its impact on the community is presented in this paper. The paper follows the first objective, which is to understand cultural landscapes and their different criteria and categories. It is preceded by the study of various methods for protecting cultural landscapes. To identify a core area of intervention based on the parameters of Cultural Landscapes and Community Based Tourism, a study and analysis of the regional context of Chettinad village clusters considering tourism development must first be conducted. Lastly, planning interventions for integrating community-based tourism in Chettinad villages for the purpose of rejuvenating the cultural landscapes of the villages as well as their communities. The major findings include the importance of the local community in protecting cultural landscapes. The parameters identified to have an impact on Chettinad Village clusters are a community (community well-being, local maintenance, and enhancement, demand, alternative income for community, public participation, awareness), tourism (location and physical access, journey time, tourist attractions), integrity (natural factors, natural disasters, demolition of structures, deterioration of materials) authenticity (sense of place, living elements, building techniques, artistic expression, religious context) disaster management (natural disasters) and environmental impact (pollution). This area can be restored to its former glory and preserved as part of the cultural landscape for future generations by focusing on and addressing these parameters within the identified core area of the Chettinad Villages cluster (Kanadukathan TP, Kothamangalam, Kottaiyur, Athangudi, Karikudi, and Palathur).

Keywords: Chettinad village clusters, community, cultural landscapes, organically evolved.

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Authors: Ceyda Sensin

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Chios Island in Greece hosts many refugees from the Middle East since the Turkey-EU Refugee Deal. Thus, it has become commonplace for non-governmental organizations (NGO) to provide help for refugees in various ways. The purpose of this research is to identify ways in which improvements can be made in the educational services offered to young adult refugees (age group 14-22) by the NGO’s. To meet this aim, an unstructured observational technique was used in this qualitative study. The data was collected as a participant observer in February 2018. According to the observations made in this study, it came out that international NGOs may utilize volunteering team members on an urgent basis since they are a free resource from all around the world. In this study, it was observed that the volunteering team members without any teaching qualifications or teaching experience have struggled with reaching refugee students with or without potential mental health problems from exposure to stress, turmoil and trauma. Therefore, this study highly recommends the use of more relevantly trained professionals, alongside the volunteer staff. Alternatively, the volunteer staffs need to have teacher training and periodical refresher training.

Keywords: ethnographic study, non-governmental organizations, refugees, qualitative research method

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Authors: Xin Jie Li

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Due to population agglomeration, huge scale, and complex activities, megacities have become risk centers. To resist the risks brought by development uncertainty, the construction of resilient cities has become a common strategic choice for megacities. As a key link in promoting the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity, optimizing the layout of national land space that focuses on ecology, production, and life and improving the rationality of spatial resource allocation are conducive to fundamentally promoting the resilience construction of megacities. Therefore, based on the perspective of territorial space governance, this article explores the potential risks faced by the territorial space of megacities and proposes possible paths for the resilience construction of megacities from four aspects: promoting the construction of a resilience system throughout the entire life cycle, constructing a disaster prevention and control system with ecological resilience, creating an industrial spatial pattern with production resilience, and enhancing community resilience to anchor the front line of risk response in megacities.

Keywords: mega cities, potential risks, resilient city construction, territorial and spatial governance

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Authors: C. Fernandez-Plaza, I. Abad, E. Diaz, I. Diaz

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Births occurring before the 37th week of gestation are considered preterm births. A threat of preterm is defined as the beginning of regular uterine contractions, dilation and cervical effacement between 23 and 36 gestation weeks. To author's best knowledge, the factors that determine the beginning of the birth are not completely defined yet. In particular, the incidence of sleep habits on preterm births is weekly studied. The aim of this study is to develop a model to predict the factors affecting premature delivery on pregnancy, based on the above potential risk factors, including those derived from sleep habits and light exposure at night (introduced as 12 variables obtained by a telephone survey using two questionnaires previously used by other authors). Thus, three groups of variables were included in the study (maternal, fetal and sleep habits). The study was approved by Research Ethics Committee of the Principado of Asturias (Spain). An observational, retrospective and descriptive study was performed with 481 births between January 1, 2015 and May 10, 2016 in the University Central Hospital of Asturias (Spain). A statistical analysis using SPSS was carried out to compare qualitative and quantitative variables between preterm and term delivery. Chi-square test qualitative variable and t-test for quantitative variables were applied. Statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) between preterm vs. term births were found for primiparity, multi-parity, kind of conception, place of residence or premature rupture of membranes and interruption during nights. In addition to the statistical analysis, machine learning methods to look for a prediction model were tested. In particular, tree based models were applied as the trade-off between performance and interpretability is especially suitable for this study. C5.0, recursive partitioning, random forest and tree bag models were analysed using caret R-package. Cross validation with 10-folds and parameter tuning to optimize the methods were applied. In addition, different noise reduction methods were applied to the initial data using NoiseFiltersR package. The best performance was obtained by C5.0 method with Accuracy 0.91, Sensitivity 0.93, Specificity 0.89 and Precision 0.91. Some well known preterm birth factors were identified: Cervix Dilation, maternal BMI, Premature rupture of membranes or nuchal translucency analysis in the first trimester. The model also identifies other new factors related to sleep habits such as light through window, bedtime on working days, usage of electronic devices before sleeping from Mondays to Fridays or change of sleeping habits reflected in the number of hours, in the depth of sleep or in the lighting of the room. IF dilation < = 2.95 AND usage of electronic devices before sleeping from Mondays to Friday = YES and change of sleeping habits = YES, then preterm is one of the predicting rules obtained by C5.0. In this work a model for predicting preterm births is developed. It is based on machine learning together with noise reduction techniques. The method maximizing the performance is the one selected. This model shows the influence of variables related to sleep habits in preterm prediction.

Keywords: machine learning, noise reduction, preterm birth, sleep habit

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Authors: Mirriam M. Moleko, Sekanse A. Ntsala

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Language in mathematics instruction enables the teacher to communicate mathematical knowledge to the learners with precision. It also enables the learner to deal with mathematical activities effectively. This scholarly piece was motivated by the fact that mathematics performance in the South African primary classrooms has not been satisfactory, and English, which is a Language of Learning and Teaching (LoLT) for the majority of the learners, has been singled out as one of the major impediments. This is not only on the part of the learners, but also on the part of the teachers as well. The study thus focused on the lack of competency in English among the primary school teachers as one of the possible causes of poor performance in mathematics in primary classrooms. The qualitative processes, which were premised on the social interaction theory as a lens, sourced the narratives of 10 newly qualified primary school mathematics teachers from the disadvantaged schools on the matter. This was achieved through the use of semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. The data, which were analyzed thematically, highlighted the actuality that the challenges cut across the pre-service stage to the in-service stage. The findings revealed that the undergraduate mathematics courses in the number of the institutions neglect the importance of language. The study further revealed that the in-service mathematics teachers lack adequate linguistic command, thereby finding it difficult to successfully teach some mathematical concepts, or even to outline instructions clearly. The study thus suggests the need for training institutions to focus on improving the teachers’ English language competency. The need for intensive in-service training targeting the problem areas was also highlighted. The study thus contributes to the body of knowledge by providing suggestions on how the mathematics teachers’ language incompetency can be mitigated.

Keywords: Competency, English language proficiency, language of learning and teaching, primary mathematics teachers

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Authors: Karan R. Chavan, Paula Saavalainen, Kumudini V. Marathe, Riitta L. Keiski, Ganapati D. Yadav

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Co-contamination of groundwaters by arsenic in different forms is often observed around the globe. Arsenic is introduced into the waters by several mechanisms and different technologies are proposed and practiced for effective removal. The assessment of three prominent technologies, namely, adsorption, ion exchange and nanofiltration was carried out in this study based on lifecycle methodology. The life of the technologies was divided into two stages: cradle to gate (C-G) and gate to gate (G-G), in order to find out the impacts in different categories of environmental burdens, human health and resource consumption. Life cycle inventory was estimated by use of models and design equations concerning with the different technologies. Regeneration was considered for each technology and over the course of its full lifetime. The impact values of adsorption technology for the C-G stage are greater by thousand times (103) and million times (106) compared to ion exchange and nanofiltration technologies, respectively. The impact of G-G stage of the lifecycle is the major contributor of the impact for all the 3 technologies due to electricity consumption during the operation. Overall, the ion Exchange technology fares well in this study of removal of As (V) only.

Keywords: arsenic, nanofiltration, lifecycle assessment, membrane technology

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Authors: Jiri Kysucan, Dusan Klos, Katherine Vomackova, Pavel Koranda, Martin Lovecek, Cestmir Neoral, Roman Havlik

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Aim: The prognosis of patients with pancreatic cancer is poor. The median of survival after establishing diagnosis is 3-11 months without surgical treatment, 13-20 months with surgical treatment depending on the disease stage, 5-year survival is less than 5%. Radical surgical resection remains the only hope of curing the disease. Early diagnosis with valid establishment of tumor resectability is, therefore, the most important aim for patients with pancreatic cancer. The aim of the work is to evaluate the contribution and define the role of 18F-FDG PET/CT in preoperative staging. Material and Methods: In 195 patients (103 males, 92 females, median age 66,7 years, 32-88 years) with a suspect pancreatic lesion, as part of the standard preoperative staging, in addition to standard examination methods (ultrasonography, contrast spiral CT, endoscopic ultrasonography, endoscopic ultrasonographic biopsy), a hybrid 18F-FDG PET/CT was performed. All PET/CT findings were subsequently compared with standard staging (CT, EUS, EUS FNA), with peroperative findings and definitive histology in the operated patients as reference standards. Interpretation defined the extent of the tumor according to TNM classification. Limitations of resectability were local advancement (T4) and presence of distant metastases (M1). Results: PET/CT was performed in a total of 195 patients with a suspect pancreatic lesion. In 153 patients, pancreatic carcinoma was confirmed and of these patients, 72 were not indicated for radical surgical procedure due to local inoperability or generalization of the disease. The sensitivity of PET/CT in detecting the primary lesion was 92.2%, specificity was 90.5%. A false negative finding in 12 patients, a false positive finding was seen in 4 cases, positive predictive value (PPV) 97.2%, negative predictive value (NPV) 76,0%. In evaluating regional lymph nodes, sensitivity was 51.9%, specificity 58.3%, PPV 58,3%, NPV 51.9%. In detecting distant metastases, PET/CT reached a sensitivity of 82.8%, specificity was 97.8%, PPV 96.9%, NPV 87.0%. PET/CT found distant metastases in 12 patients, which were not detected by standard methods. In 15 patients (15.6%) with potentially radically resectable findings, the procedure was contraindicated based on PET/CT findings and the treatment strategy was changed. Conclusion: PET/CT is a highly sensitive and specific method useful in preoperative staging of pancreatic cancer. It improves the selection of patients for radical surgical procedures, who can benefit from it and decreases the number of incorrectly indicated operations.

Keywords: cancer, PET/CT, staging, surgery

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Authors: Habtamu Garoma Debela, Gemechis File Duressa

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In this work, our primary interest is to provide ε-uniformly convergent numerical techniques for solving singularly perturbed semilinear boundary value problems with non-local boundary condition. These singular perturbation problems are described by differential equations in which the highest-order derivative is multiplied by an arbitrarily small parameter ε (say) known as singular perturbation parameter. This leads to the existence of boundary layers, which are basically narrow regions in the neighborhood of the boundary of the domain, where the gradient of the solution becomes steep as the perturbation parameter tends to zero. Due to the appearance of the layer phenomena, it is a challenging task to provide ε-uniform numerical methods. The term 'ε-uniform' refers to identify those numerical methods in which the approximate solution converges to the corresponding exact solution (measured to the supremum norm) independently with respect to the perturbation parameter ε. Thus, the purpose of this work is to develop, analyze, and improve the ε-uniform numerical methods for solving singularly perturbed problems. These methods are based on nonstandard fitted finite difference method. The basic idea behind the fitted operator, finite difference method, is to replace the denominator functions of the classical derivatives with positive functions derived in such a way that they capture some notable properties of the governing differential equation. A uniformly convergent numerical method is constructed via nonstandard fitted operator numerical method and numerical integration methods to solve the problem. The non-local boundary condition is treated using numerical integration techniques. Additionally, Richardson extrapolation technique, which improves the first-order accuracy of the standard scheme to second-order convergence, is applied for singularly perturbed convection-diffusion problems using the proposed numerical method. Maximum absolute errors and rates of convergence for different values of perturbation parameter and mesh sizes are tabulated for the numerical example considered. The method is shown to be ε-uniformly convergent. Finally, extensive numerical experiments are conducted which support all of our theoretical findings. A concise conclusion is provided at the end of this work.

Keywords: nonlocal boundary condition, nonstandard fitted operator, semilinear problem, singular perturbation, uniformly convergent

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Authors: A. Javorova, M. Matusova, K. Velisek

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The article summarizes the experience of laboratory technical subjects teaching methodologies using a number of software products. The main aim is to modernize the teaching process in accordance with the requirements of today - based on information technology. Increasing of the study attractiveness and effectiveness is due to the introduction of CA technologies in the learning process. This paper discussed the areas where individual CA system used. Environment using CA systems are briefly presented in each chapter.

Keywords: education, CA systems, simulation, technology

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Authors: Moses Obenade, Francis I. Okpiliya, Gordon T. Amangabara

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According to the 2006 Census of Nigeria, there are 2,525,690 females out of the total population of 5,198,716 of Rivers State. Of that figure, about 90 percent are still within the reproductive age of (0-49). With an annual growth rate of 3.4 percent, the population of Rivers State is estimated to grow to 7,262,755 by 2016. This means an increase of 2,064,039 within a ten year period. From a projected population increase of 182,766 in 2007 only 30,394 live births were registered while an astronomical increase of 543,275 live births were registered in 2008 as against the anticipated increase of 188,980. Preliminary investigations revealed that this exceptional figure in 2008 was occasioned by manpower and logistics support provided by the Rivers State Government for the Port Harcourt office of the National Population Commission (NPC). The mop-up exercise of 2008 by NPC that was engineered from the support provided by the Rivers State Government indicates that the agency needs the co-operation and partnership of the three tiers of government and the communities in performing its statutory duties that is pertinent to national planning, growth and development. Because the incentives received from Rivers State Government did not continue in 2009, live births registration noise-dived to only 60,546 from the expected increase of 195,405. It was further observed that Port Harcourt City and Obio/Akpor Local Government Areas which constitute the state capital have the highest number of live births registration during the period of 2007 to 2014 covered by this paper. This trend of not adequately accounting for or registering all live births in the state has continued till date without being addressed by the authorities concerned. The current situation if left unchecked portend serious danger for the state and indeed Nigeria, as paucity of data could hamper sound economic planning as well as proper allocation of resources to targeted sectors. This paper therefore recommends an innovative multi-stakeholder funding strategy comprising the federal, state, local government and communities. Their participation in an integrated manner will aid the achievement of comprehensive live births registration in the state. It is hoped that investments in education, health and social sectors could help in addressing most of the problems bedeviling the nation as such as lowering of fertility and improving lives.

Keywords: live births registration, population, rivers state, national population commission, Nigeria

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Authors: Santosh Kumar Sharma

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In view of management education with special reference to India, it has been noted that students have deviations between their career anchors and domain of specialization. As a consequence, they face problems in their summer internships and placements in the corporate sector. Eventually, they either change their career track or leave the management profession, which is a serious concern from the perspective of human capital. However, there is no substantial literature in the given context. Therefore, the present study contributes to the global discourse of management education and its spillover effect on human resource management. The objective of the present study is to analyze the deviation between career anchors and domain specialization with reference to management education in India. The present study is exploratory in nature, wherein data has been collected from a significant number of post-graduate students who are pursuing management education from a premium business school in India, followed by descriptive analysis. The present research contributes to the professional development of management students from the perspective of human capital, which is eventually related to various factors of the Indian economy.

Keywords: India, management education, domain specialization, placements

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Authors: Bussabamintra Chalauisaeng

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The creative writing skill of Thai fourth year university learners majoring in English at Khon Kaen University, Thailand has been enhanced in an English creative writing course through the implementation of creative thinking process. The creative writing assignments cover writing a variety of short poems and a short story, bibliography and short play scripts. However, this study focuses mainly on writing short poems and short stories through the implementation of creative thinking process via action research design with on-going needs analysis and feedbacks to meet their learning needs for 45 hours. At the end of the course, forty two learners’ creative writing skill appeared to be significantly improved. Through the research instruments such as the tasks assigned both inside and outside the class as self –study including class observation, semi-conversational interviews and teacher feedback both in persons and on line including peer feedbacks. The research findings show that the target learners could produce better short poems and short story assessed by the set of criteria such as the creative and innovative short poems and short stories with complete and interesting elements of a short story like plot, theme, setting, symbolism and so on. This includes a higher level of the awareness of the pragmatic use of English writing in terms of word choices, grammar rules and writing styles. All of these outcomes reflect positive trends of success in terms of the learners’ improved creative writing skill as well as better attitudes to and motivation for learning to write English for pleasure. More interestingly, many learners claimed that this innovative teaching method through the implementation of creative thinking process integrated with creative writing help stretch their imaginations and inspire them to become a writer in the future.

Keywords: creative thinking process, creative writing skill, enhancing, implementing

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Authors: So Yae Koh, YeonWoo Song, Ji-Yeon Ryu, Jeong Yong Moon, Somi Kim Cho

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Blueberry, a perennial shrub, is one of the most popular fruits due to its flavor and strong free radical scavenging properties. In this study, the blueberry puree was fermented by Lactobacillus plantarum CK10 and the antioxidant activities of fermentation products were examined. Various conditions with different supplements (5% sucrose or 10% skim milk) were evaluated for fermentation efficiency and the effects on antioxidant properties. The viable cell count of lactic acid bacteria, pH, total phenolic compounds and flavonoids contents were measured after 7 days of fermentation. DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) and ABTS [2,2’-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid)] radical scavenging activities were highly enhanced compared to non-fermented blueberry puree after fermentation. Interestingly, the antioxidant activities were greatly increased in the fermentation of blueberry puree alone without supplements. The present results indicate that the blueberry puree fermented by Lactobacillus plantarum CK10 could be used as a potential source of natural antioxidants and these findings will facilitate the utilization of blueberry as a resource for food additive.

Keywords: antioxidant activity, blueberry, lactobacillus plantarum CK10, fermentation

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Authors: Neha Toppo

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Plans and programs for successful secondary education are incomplete without the inclusion of teaching English as an important area. Even after sixteen years of the formation of Jharkhand as a separate state, the students are still struggling to achieve quality education of English. This paper intends to account the present condition of teaching English in Jharkhand board secondary level schools through discussion on various issues of English language teaching, language need and learning challenges of its students. The study is to analyze whether the learning environment, teaching methods and materials, teaching resources, goals of language curriculum are appropriately convincing for the students of the board or require to be reanalyzed and also to provide appropriate suggestions for improvement. Immediate attention must be drawn towards the problem for benefitting those students, who despite their knowledge and talent are lagging behind in numerous fields only due to the lack of proficiency in English. The data and discussion provided are on the basis of a survey, in which semi structured interview with teachers, students and administrators in several schools including both rural and urban area has been taken. Questionnaire, observation and testing were used as important tools. The survey has been conducted in Ranchi district, as it covers large geographical area which includes number of villages and at the same time several towns. The district primarily possesses tribes as well as different class of people including immigrants from all over and outside Jharkhand with their social, economical strata. The observation makes it clear that the English language teaching at the state board is not complementing its context and the whole language teaching system should be re-examined to establish learner oriented environment.

Keywords: material, method, secondary level, teaching resources

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Authors: Djelloul Benatiallah

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Due to the current high consumption and recent industry growth, the depletion of fossil and natural energy supplies like oil, gas, and uranium is declining. Due to pollution and climate change, there needs to be a swift switch to renewable energy sources. Research on renewable energy is being done to meet energy needs. Solar energy is one of the renewable resources that can currently meet all of the world's energy needs. In most parts of the world, solar energy is a free and unlimited resource that can be used in a variety of ways, including photovoltaic systems for the generation of electricity and thermal systems for the generation of heatfor the residential sector's production of hot water. In this article, we'll conduct a comparison. The first step entails identifying the two empirical models that will enable us to estimate the daily irradiations on a horizontal plane. On the other hand, we compare it using the data obtained from measurements made at the Adrar site over the four distinct seasons. The model 2 provides a better estimate of the global solar components, with an absolute mean error of less than 7% and a correlation coefficient of more than 0.95, as well as a relative coefficient of the bias error that is less than 6% in absolute value and a relative RMSE that is less than 10%, according to a comparison of the results obtained by simulating the two models.

Keywords: solar radiation, renewable energy, fossil, photovoltaic systems

Procedia PDF Downloads 75