Search results for: small state

Authors: Sansanee Sansiribhan, Orrawan Rewthong, Anusorn Rattanathanaophat, Sarun Saensiriphan

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The objective of this work was to study potential of rice straw for power plant in the central region of Thailand. Provincial power plant capacity was studied. The results showed that provinces central region had potential for small power plants with a capacity of over 10 MW in 13 provinces, 1-10 MW in 6 provinces and less than 1 MW in 3 provinces.

Keywords: rice straw, power plant, central region, Thailand

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Authors: Ishiyaku Abdulkadir, Satish Kumar J

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Land Productivity is a measure of the greenness of above-ground biomass in health and potential gain and is not related to agricultural productivity. Monitoring land productivity dynamics is essential to identify, especially when and where the trend is characterized degraded for mitigation measures. This research aims to monitor the land productivity trend of Gombe State between 2001 and 2015. QGIS was used to compute NDVI from AVHRR/MODIS datasets in a cloud-based method. The result appears that land area with improving productivity account for 773sq.km with 4.31%, stable productivity traced to 4,195.6 sq.km with 23.40%, stable but stressed productivity represent 18.7sq.km account for 0.10%, early sign of decline productivity occupied 5203.1sq.km with 29%, declining productivity account for 7019.7sq.km, represent 39.2%, water bodies occupied 718.7sq.km traced to 4% of the state’s area.

Keywords: above-ground biomass, dynamics, land productivity, man-environment relationship

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Authors: Boualem Chetti, Samir Zahaf

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This paper presents the steady-state performance analysis of a four-lobe journal bearing lubricated with a couple stress fluids operating in the turbulent regime, following Constantinescu’s turbulent lubrication theory. The modified Reynolds equation is solved numerically using the finite difference method taking into consideration the effects of the turbulence and the couple stress. In this analysis, the steady-state parameters in terms of the attitude angle, load carrying capacity, side leakage and friction coefficient are determined at various values of eccentricities ratio. The computed results show that the turbulence increases the load carrying capacity, the attitude angle and the friction coefficient for a journal bearing lubricated with a Newtonian or a couple stress fluids. It is found that the turbulence has strongly influence on the steady-state performances of the four-lobe journal bearing lubricated with Newtonian fluids or a couple stress fluids.

Keywords: Four-lobe journal bearings, static characteristics, couple-stress fluids, turbulent flow

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Authors: Sunil Kumar, Kavita Saini

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Haryana emerged as a state after the separation from Punjab since November, 1966. It had only 7 districts at that time but subsequently their number increased and presents their 21 districts in the state. Age and sex composition occupies very important positions in any discussion on characteristics of a population. Changes in sex ratio largely reflect the underlying socio-economic and cultural patterns of a society in different ways. Child sex ratio in Haryana is continuously decreasing and according to the census child sex ratio found lowest position in the state. Therefore, the aims of this study to examine the spatial- temporal pattern of Child sex ratio during the period 1991-2011 and identify the ‘epicenter’ or core areas of deficit of females in Haryana using tehsil level data during the period 2001-2011. This study is primarily based on the secondary sources and data were collected from the ‘Census of India’ and ‘Statistical Department’ of Haryana. The standard deviation method has been used to see the average value of child sex ratio in the study. The maximum child sex ratio declined is noticed in the district of Mahendergarh, Jhajjar, Rewari and Sonipat. However, the west and south-western part of the state marked with consistently better child sex ratio throughout the period. This is vast contiguous belt running in the north-west to south-east direction from Punjab border to NCT of Delhi and reported a very low child sex ratio. Tehsils which have reported lower child sex ratio than the state average has been called ‘Core Problem Area’ or ‘epicenter’.

Keywords: child sex ratio, core areas, epicenter, Haryana

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Authors: Somayeh Khanjani, Samaneh Nabavi, Shirin Jalili, Afshin Khara

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Fingerprints are area source of ubiquitous evidence and consequential for establishing identity. The detection and subsequent development of fingerprints are thus inevitable in criminal investigations. This becomes a difficult task in the case of certain extreme conditions like fire. A fire scene may be accidental or arson. The evidence subjected to fire is generally overlooked as there is a misconception that they are damaged. There are several scientific approaches to determine whether the fire was deliberate or not. In such as scenario, fingerprints may be most critical to link the perpetrator to the crime. The reason for this may be the destructive nature of fire. Fingerprints subjected to fire are exposed to high temperatures, soot deposition, electromagnetic radiation, and subsequent water force. It is believed that these phenomena damage the fingerprint. A novel fluorescent and a pre existing small particle reagent were investigated for the same. Zinc carbonates based fluorescent small particle reagent was capable of developing latent fingerprints exposed to a maximum temperature of 800 ̊C. Fluorescent SPR may prove very useful in such cases. Fluorescent SPR reagent based on zinc carbonate is a potential method for developing fingerprints from arson sites. The method is cost effective and non hazardous. This formulation is suitable for developing fingerprints exposed to fire/ arson.

Keywords: fingerprint, small particle reagent (SPR), arson, novel fluorescent

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Authors: Tingting Zhou

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The partial privatization of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) is a dynamic process. The main features of this process lie in not only gradual and sequential privatizations, but also privatized shares transfer. For partially privatized SOEs, the introduction of private sector ownership is not the end of the story because the previously introduced private owners may choose to leave the SOEs by transferring the privatized shares after privatization, a process that is called “privatized shares transfer”. This paper investigates the determinants of privatized shares transfer from the perspective of large shareholders’ control rights. The results captures the fact that the higher control rights of large shareholders lead to more privatized shares transfer. After exploring the impacts of excessive control rights, the results provide evidence supporting the idea that firms with excessive numbers of directors, senior managers or supervisors who also have positions in the largest controlling shareholder’s entity are more likely to transfer privatized shares owned by private owners. In addition, the largest shareholders’ ownership also plays a role in privatized shares transfer. This evidence suggests that the large shareholders’ control rights should be limited to an appropriate range during the process of privatization, thereby giving private shareholders more opportunity to participate in the operation of firms, strengthen the state and enhance the competitiveness of state capital.

Keywords: control rights of large shareholders, partial privatization, privatized shares transfer, state-owned listed companies

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Authors: S. Ibrahim, Bashir Umar

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Agricultural credit is very important for sustainable agricultural development to be achieved in any country of the world. Rural credit has proven to be a powerful instrument against poverty reduction and development in rural area. Agricultural credit enhances productivity and promotes standard of living by breaking vicious cycle of poverty of small scale farmers. This study examined access to credit among rural farmers in Giwa local government area of Kaduna state. Two stages sampling procedure was employed to select forty-two (42) respondents for the study. Primary data were collected using structured questionnaire with the help of well-trained enumerators. Data were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics. The results revealed that farmers were predominantly male (57.1%) and most (54.7%), were married with one level of education or another (66.5.%). Majority of the households’ head were between the ages of 31 to 50. majority of the farmers (68.2%) had more than 2ha of farmlands with at least 5 years of farming experience and an annual farm income of N 61,000 to 100,000 (61.9%). The Various sources of credit by the farmers in the study area were commercial banks (38.1%), Co-operative banks (47.6%), Development banks (14.2%) (formal) and Relatives (26.1%), Personal Savings (Adashi scheme) (52.3%), Moneylenders (21.4%) (informal). As regard to the amount of credit obtained by the farmers 38.1% received N 50,000-100,000, 50 % obtained N 100,001-500,000 while 11.9% obtained N 500,001-1,000,000. High interest Inadequate collateral, Complicated Procedures, lack of guarantor were the major constrains encountered by the farmers in accessing loans. The study therefore recommends that Rural farmers should be encouraged to form credit and thrift cooperative societies from which they can access much cheaper credits, Moreover, to ensure that any credit obtained may be manageable for the farmers, financial institutions should provide loans with low interest rates and government and non-governmental organizations should simplify procedures associated with accessing loans.

Keywords: analysis, access, credit, farmers

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Authors: Chandra Mukherjee

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The prevalent knowledge of the biological systems is based on the standard scientific perception of natural equilibrium, determination and predictability. Recently, a rethinking of concepts was presented and a new scientific perspective emerged that involves complexity theory with deterministic chaos theory, nonlinear dynamics and theory of fractals. The unpredictability of the chaotic processes probably would change our understanding of diseases and their management. The mathematical definition of chaos is defined by deterministic behavior with irregular patterns that obey mathematical equations which are critically dependent on initial conditions. The chaos theory is the branch of sciences with an interest in nonlinear dynamics, fractals, bifurcations, periodic oscillations and complexity. Recently, the biomedical interest for this scientific field made these mathematical concepts available to medical researchers and practitioners. Any biological network system is considered to have a nominal state, which is recognized as a homeostatic state. In reality, the different physiological systems are not under normal conditions in a stable state of homeostatic balance, but they are in a dynamically stable state with a chaotic behavior and complexity. Biological systems like heart rhythm and brain electrical activity are dynamical systems that can be classified as chaotic systems with sensitive dependence on initial conditions. In biological systems, the state of a disease is characterized by a loss of the complexity and chaotic behavior, and by the presence of pathological periodicity and regulatory behavior. The failure or the collapse of nonlinear dynamics is an indication of disease rather than a characteristic of health.

Keywords: HRV, HRVI, LF, HF, DII

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Authors: Stepanov Ivan, Musalimov Viktor, Monahov Uriy

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This report examines the current state of human gait simulator development based on the human hip joint model. This unit will create a database of human gait types, useful for setting up and calibrating mechano devices, as well as the creation of new systems of rehabilitation, exoskeletons and walking robots. The system has ample opportunity to configure the dimensions and stiffness, while maintaining relative simplicity.

Keywords: hip joint, human gait, physiotherapy, simulation

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Authors: Mariana Panayotova-Pencheva, Anetka Trifonova, Vassilena Dakova

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790 lungs from brown hares (Lepus europeus L.) from different regions of Bulgaria were investigated during the period 2009-2017. The parasitological status and pathomorphological features in the lungs were recorded. The following parasite species were established: one nematode - Protostrongylus tauricus (7.59% prevalence), one tapeworm – larva of Taenia pisiformis – Cysticercus pisiformis (3.04% prevalence) and one arthropod – larva of Linguatula serrata – Pentastomum dentatum (0.89% prevalence). Macroscopic lesions in the lungs were different depending on the causative agents. The infections with C. pisiformis and P. dentatum were attended with small, mainly superficial changes in the lungs. Protostrongylid infections were connected with different in appearance and burden macroscopic changes. In 77.7%, they were nodular, and in the rest of cases, they diffuse. The consistency of the lesions was compact. In most of the cases, alterations were grey in colour, rarely were dark-red or marble-like. In 91.7% of these cases, they were spread on the apical parts of large lung lobes. In 36.7% middle parts of the large lung lobes, and, in 26.7% small lung lobes, were also affected. The small lung lobes were never independently infected.

Keywords: Cysticercus pisiformis, Lepus europeus, lung lesions, Pentastomum dentatum, Protostrongylus tauricus

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Authors: Omair Anas

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The Persian Gulf has been in turmoil for a long time since the colonial administration has handed over the role to the small and weak kings and emirs who were assured of protection in return of many economic and security promises to them. The regional order, Saudi Arabia evolved was a rentier regional order secured by an expansion of rentier economy and taking responsibility for much of the expenses of the regional order on behalf of relatively poor countries. The two oil booms helped the Saudi state to expand the 'rentier order' driven stability and bring the countries like Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Palestine under its tutelage. The disruptive misadventure, however, came with Iran's proclamation of the Islamic Revolution in 1979 which it wanted to be exported to its 'un-Islamic and American puppet' Arab neighbours. For Saudi Arabia, even the challenge presented by the socialist-nationalist Arab dictators like Gamal Abdul Nasser and Hafez Al-Assad was not that much threatening to the Saudi Arabia’s then-defensive realism. In the Arab uprisings, the Gulf monarchies saw a wave of insecurity and Iran found it an opportune time to complete the revolutionary process it could not complete after 1979. An alliance of convenience and ideology between Iran and Islamist groups had the real potential to challenge both Saudi Arabia’s own security and its leadership in the region. The disruptive threat appeared at a time when the Saudi state had already sensed an impending crisis originating from the shifts in the energy markets. Low energy prices, declining global demands, and huge investments in alternative energy resources required Saudi Arabia to rationalize its economy according to changing the global political economy. The domestic Saudi reforms remained gradual until the death of King Abdullah in 2015. What is happening now in the region, the Qatar crisis, the Lebanon crisis and the Saudi-Iranian proxy war in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen has combined three immediate objectives, rationalising Saudi economy and most importantly, the resetting the Saudi royal power for Saudi Arabia’s longest-serving future King Mohammad bin Salman. The Saudi King perhaps has no time to wait and watch the power vacuum appearing because of Iran’s expansionist foreign policy. The Saudis appear to be employing an offensive realism by advancing a pro-active regional policy to counter Iran’s threatening influence amid disappearing Western security from the region. As the Syrian civil war is coming to a compromised end with ceding much ground to Iran-controlled militias, Hezbollah and Al-Hashad, the Saudi state has lost much ground in these years and the threat from Iranian proxies is more than a reality, more clearly in Bahrain, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. This paper attempts to analyse the changing Saudi behaviour in the region, which, the author understands, is shaped by an offensive-realist approach towards finding a favourable security environment for the Saudi-led regional order, a post-rentier order perhaps.

Keywords: terrorism, Saudi Arabia, Rentier State, gulf crisis

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Authors: Cheng-Cao Sun, Shu-Jun Li, Cuili Yang, Yongyong Xi, Liang Wang, Feng Zhang, De-Jia Li

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Hsa-miRNA-326 (miR-326) has recently been discovered having anticancer efficacy in different organs. However, the role of miR-326 on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is still ambiguous. In this study, we investigated the role of miR-326 on the development of NSCLC. The results indicated that miR-326 was significantly down-regulated in primary tumor tissues and very low levels were found in NSCLC cell lines. Ectopic expression of miR-326 in NSCLC cell lines significantly suppressed cell growth as evidenced by cell viability assay, colony formation assay and BrdU staining, through inhibition of cyclin D1, cyclin D2, CDK4, and up-regulation of p57(Kip2) and p21(Waf1/Cip1). In addition, miR-326 induced apoptosis, as indicated by concomitantly with up-regulation of key apoptosis protein cleaved caspase-3, and down-regulation of anti-apoptosis protein Bcl2. Moreover, miR-326 inhibited cellular migration and invasiveness through inhibition of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP)-7 and MMP-9. Further, oncogene CCND1 was revealed to be a putative target of miR-326, which was inversely correlated with miR-326 expression in NSCLC. Taken together, our results demonstrated that miR-326 played a pivotal role on NSCLC through inhibiting cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and promoting apoptosis by targeting oncogenic CCND1.

Keywords: hsa-miRNA-326 (miR-326), cyclin D1, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), proliferation, apoptosis

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Authors: Mauro Cristeche

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This work begins with a very simple question: How does the State spend? Argentina is witnessing a process of growing nationalization of social life, so it is necessary to find out the explanations of the phenomenon on the specific dynamic of the capitalist mode of production in Argentina and its transformations in the last decades. Then the new question is: what happened in Argentina that could explain this phenomenon? Since the seventies, the capital growth in Argentina faces deep competitive problems. Until that moment the agrarian wealth had worked as a compensation mechanism, but it began to find its limits. In the meantime, some important demographical and structural changes had happened. The strategy of the capitalist class had to become to seek in the cheapness of the labor force the main source of compensation of its weakness. As a result, a tendency to worsen the living conditions and fragmentation of the working class started to develop, manifested by unemployment, underemployment, and the fall of the purchasing power of the salary as a highlighted fact. As a consequence, it is suggested that the role of the State became stronger and public expenditure increased, as a historical trend, because it has to intervene to face the contradictions and constant growth problems posed by the development of capitalism in Argentina. On the one hand, the State has to guarantee the process of buying the cheapened workforce and at the same time the process of reproduction of the working class. On the other hand, it has to help to reproduce the individual capitals but needs to ‘attack’ them in different ways. This is why the role of the State is said to be the general political representative to the national portion of the total social capital. What will be studied is the dynamic of the intervention of the Argentine State in the context of the particular national process of capital growth, and its dynamics in the last decades. What this paper wants to show are the main general causes that could explain the phenomenon of nationalization of the social life and how it has impacted the life conditions of the working class and the system of rights.

Keywords: Argentina, nationalization, public policies, rights, state

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Authors: N. Kaewpraek, W. Assawinchaichote

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This paper considers an H_∞ TS fuzzy state-derivative feedback controller for a class of nonlinear dynamical systems. A Takagi-Sugeno (TS) fuzzy model is used to approximate a class of nonlinear dynamical systems. Then, based on a linear matrix inequality (LMI) approach, we design an H_∞ TS fuzzy state-derivative feedback control law which guarantees L₂-gain of the mapping from the exogenous input noise to the regulated output to be less or equal to a prescribed value. We derive a sufficient condition such that the system with the fuzzy controller is asymptotically stable and H_∞ performance is satisfied. Finally, we provide and simulate a numerical example is provided to illustrate the stability and the effectiveness of the proposed controller.

Keywords: h-infinity fuzzy control, an LMI approach, Takagi-Sugano (TS) fuzzy system, the photovoltaic systems

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Authors: Vaclav Mentl, P. Zlabek, J. Volak

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New methods of mechanical testing were developed recently that are based on making use of miniature test specimens (e.g. Small Punch Test). The most important advantage of these method is the nearly non-destructive withdrawal of test material and small size of test specimen what is interesting in cases of remaining lifetime assessment when a sufficient volume of the representative material cannot be withdrawn of the component in question. In opposite, the most important disadvantage of such methods stems from the necessity to correlate test results with the results of standardised test procedures and to build up a database of material data in service. The correlations among the miniature test specimen data and the results of standardised tests are necessary. The paper describes the results of fatigue tests performed on miniature tests specimens in comparison with traditional fatigue tests for several steels applied in power producing industry. Special miniature test specimens fixtures were designed and manufactured for the purposes of fatigue testing at the Zwick/Roell 10HPF5100 testing machine. The miniature test specimens were produced of the traditional test specimens. Seven different steels were fatigue loaded (R = 0.1) at room temperature.

Keywords: mechanical properties, miniature test specimens, correlations, small punch test, micro-tensile test, mini-charpy impact test

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Authors: Adegboyega Adeolapo Ola, Gerelene Jagganath

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One of the greatest challenges of human right in the world, especially African states is the use of child soldiers in armed conflict, constituting a major source of destruction of lives and properties. Mostly, they are in developing countries with the situation in Sub-Saharan Africa, the abduction and employment of children as soldiers is a form of exploitative labour that is tantamount to slavery. Since the end of cold war, Child soldier has increased in Africa countries like Angola, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Uganda. This study examines the main cause of the recruitment and use of child soldiers and its challenges to human right. It further assesses the role of international regional bodies and various governments in curbing child soldiers with a view to proffer suggestions on how to address some of the resultant threat of human right. The study posits that the control of small arms and light weapons is essential in curtailing the spread of child soldier and abuse of human right. This hopefully should result in the sustainability of human/child right in African continent. It is a recommendation of this study that, in order to sustain human right in the region, all Africa leaders, government and regional bodies; such as African Union, Economic Community of West African States, South African Development Community among others, should cooperate and work together to address the issue of illicit small arms, which could eventually lead to child soldier.

Keywords: arms control, child soldier, human right, small arms

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Authors: L. O. Luengas, E. V. Morales, L. F. G. De Souza, I. S. Bott

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Duplex Stainless Steels are well known for its good mechanical properties, and corrosion resistance. However, when submitted to heating, these features can be lost since the good properties are strongly dependent on the austenite-ferrite phase ratio which has to be approximately 1:1 to keep the phase balance. In a welded joint, the transformation kinetics at the heat affected zone (HAZ) is a function of the cooling rates applied which in turn are dependent on the heat input. The HAZ is usually ferritized at these temperatures, and it has been argued that small variations of the chemical composition can play a role in the solid state transformation sequence of ferrite to austenite during cooling. The δ → γ transformation has been reported to be massive and diffusionless due to the fast cooling rate, but it is also considered a diffusion controlled transformation. The aim of this work is to evaluate the effect of different heat inputs on the HAZ of two duplex stainless steels UNS S32304 and S32750, obtained by physical simulation.

Keywords: duplex stainless steels, HAZ, microstructural characterization, physical simulation

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Authors: S. K. Maanju, K. Saha, Sonam Yadav

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Rapid urbanization growth and multi-faceted regional level industrialization is posing serious threat to natural groundwater resource in State of Rajasthan which constitute major semi-arid part of India. The groundwater resources of the State are limited and cannot withstand the present rate of exploitation for quite a long time. Recharging of groundwater particularly in the western part, where annual precipitation does not exceed a few centimeters, is extremely slow and cannot replenish the exploited quantum. Hence, groundwater in most of the parts of this region has become an exhausting resource. In major parts water table is lowering down rapidly and continuously. The human beings of this semi-arid region are used to suffering from extreme climatic conditions of arid to semi-arid nature and acute shortage of water. The quality of groundwater too in many areas of this region is not up to the standards prescribed by the health organizations like WHO and BIS. This semi-arid region is one of the highly fluoride contaminated area of India as well as have excess, nitrates, sulphates, chlorides and total dissolved solids at various locations. Therefore, concerted efforts are needed towards sustainable development of groundwater in this State of India.

Keywords: Rajasthan, water, exploitation, sustainable, development and resource

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Authors: Shyh Ming Chern

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Cubic equations of state (EoS), popular due to their simple mathematical form, ease of use, semi-theoretical nature and, reasonable accuracy are normally fitted to vapor-liquid equilibrium P-v-T data. As a result, They often show poor accuracy in the region near and above the critical point. In this study, the performance of the renowned Peng-Robinson (PR) and Patel-Teja (PT) EoS’s around the critical area has been examined against the P-v-T data of water. Both of them display large deviations at critical point. For instance, PR-EoS exhibits discrepancies as high as 47% for the specific volume, 28% for the enthalpy departure and 43% for the entropy departure at critical point. It is shown that incorporating P-v-T data of the supercritical region into the retuning of a cubic EoS can improve its performance above the critical point dramatically. Adopting a retuned acentric factor of 0.5491 instead of its genuine value of 0.344 for water in PR-EoS and a new F of 0.8854 instead of its original value of 0.6898 for water in PT-EoS reduces the discrepancies to about one third or less.

Keywords: equation of state, EoS, supercritical water, SCW

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Authors: Davinder Singh, Jaimal Singh Khamba, Tarun Nanda

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Growth of the Indian economy has accelerated to 8% and efforts are on to further propel it to 10%. Undoubtedly, all the segments of the economy, viz. agriculture, industry and services have to improve their contribution to the economy. Growth of Micro-small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) is a sine qua non for the growth of industry, exports and other segments of the economy. Furthermore, promotion of entrepreneurship is also vital for sustenance and upward movement of the current growth trajectory of the economy. The MSME sector acts as a catalyst in upholding and encouraging the creation of the innovative spirit and entrepreneurship in the economy, thereby helping in laying the foundation for rapid industrial development. In this competitive world, they need to be able to confront the increasing competition from developed and emerging economies and to plug into the new market opportunities.

Keywords: characteristics, management, MSMEs, technology infrastructure

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Authors: Susumu Fukita, Hiromi Kawasaki, Satoko Yamasaki, Kotomi Yamashita, Tomoko Iki

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The increase in the number of workers with mental health problems has become an issue. Many workers work in small- and medium-sized enterprises, which often support local employment and economy, especially in underpopulated mountainous areas. It is important for managers to take mental health measures for employees since there is no budget to hire health staff in small- and medium-sized enterprises. It is necessary to understand the manager's attitude toward the mental health of employees and to publicly support the manager in promoting mental health measures for employees. The purpose of this study was to study the awareness of managers of small- and medium-sized enterprises regarding the mental health of employees and to consider support for managers to take measures for the mental health of employees. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six managers of small- and medium-sized enterprises in underpopulated mountainous areas in November 2019. Managers were asked about their awareness of the mental health of their employees. Qualitative descriptive analysis was used, and subcategories and categories were extracted. Four categories emerged. Regarding the mental health of employees, the managers acknowledged that if the appearance and behavior of the employees do not interfere with their lives, the manager judges that the employees’ mental health is normal. It was also found that the managers acknowledged that there is a comfortable working environment due to the characteristics of the underpopulated mountainous area. On the other hand, the managers acknowledged that employees are dissatisfied with salaries and management systems. In addition, it was found the manager acknowledged that some employees retire due to mental health problems. Although managers recognized that employees may be dissatisfied with salaries, they also recognized that there was a comfortable working environment due to the characteristics of the areas, with good interpersonal relationships. Economic challenges are difficult to solve in underpopulated mountainous areas. It is useful to consider measures that take advantage of the characteristics of the areas where it is easy to work because of good relations with each other, for example, to create a family-like workplace culture where managers and employees can engage in daily conversation. The managers judged that the employees were in good health if there was no interference with their lives. However, it is too late to take measures at the stage when it becomes an obstacle to life. Therefore, it is necessary to provide training for managers to learn observation techniques by which they quickly notice changes in the situation of employees and give appropriate responses; and to set up a contact point for managers to consult. Local governments should actively provide public support such as training for managers and establishing consultation desks to maintain valuable employment and local economics in underpopulated mountainous areas.

Keywords: employer, mental health, small- and medium- sized enterprises, underpopulated areas

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Authors: Man Kyu Kim, Hansu Shin

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This study is an analysis on gravel of sand-gravel bar that stretches variously in the Duchon and Naechon stream basins, which are situated on Hong-Cheon River (a well-developed sand-gravel bar in upstream river) basins in Korea. Naechon stream mostly flows through granite zone but Duchon stream mostly flows through gneiss zone. The characteristics of gravel in the sand-gravel bar of these two branches in the upper Hongcheon River were analyzed in this study in order to understand the geomorphic development of streams depending on the differences of bedrock. Through the analysis on the roundness and flatness of gravel, we figured out an irregular trend following the increase in supply of granite gravel and gneiss gravel as we traveled downstream. The result shows that the two basins have uppermost small basin condition reflecting the mountain valley environment although it may be difficult to do an equivalent comparison to other roundness researches in Korea or in Europe. This study conducted an analysis on gravels found in small scale streams unlike the previous studies trend which mostly studies large rivers. The research provides an opportunity to offer basic data for continuous comparison research on various small basins.

Keywords: flatness, geology, roundness, sand-gravel bar

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Authors: Ferry Kurniawan

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In this paper, we nowcast quarterly output growth in Indonesia by exploiting higher frequency data (monthly indicators) using a mixed-frequency factor model and exploiting both quarterly and monthly data. Nowcasting quarterly GDP in Indonesia is particularly relevant for the central bank of Indonesia which set the policy rate in the monthly Board of Governors Meeting; whereby one of the important step is the assessment of the current state of the economy. Thus, having an accurate and up-to-date quarterly GDP nowcast every time new monthly information becomes available would clearly be of interest for central bank of Indonesia, for example, as the initial assessment of the current state of the economy -including nowcast- will be used as input for longer term forecast. We consider a small scale mixed-frequency factor model to produce nowcasts. In particular, we specify variables as year-on-year growth rates thus the relation between quarterly and monthly data is expressed in year-on-year growth rates. To assess the performance of the model, we compare the nowcasts with two other approaches: autoregressive model –which is often difficult when forecasting output growth- and Mixed Data Sampling (MIDAS) regression. In particular, both mixed frequency factor model and MIDAS nowcasts are produced by exploiting the same set of monthly indicators. Hence, we compare the nowcasts performance of the two approaches directly. To preview the results, we find that by exploiting monthly indicators using mixed-frequency factor model and MIDAS regression we improve the nowcast accuracy over a benchmark simple autoregressive model that uses only quarterly frequency data. However, it is not clear whether the MIDAS or mixed-frequency factor model is better. Neither set of nowcasts encompasses the other; suggesting that both nowcasts are valuable in nowcasting GDP but neither is sufficient. By combining the two individual nowcasts, we find that the nowcast combination not only increases the accuracy - relative to individual nowcasts- but also lowers the risk of the worst performance of the individual nowcasts.

Keywords: nowcasting, mixed-frequency data, factor model, nowcasts combination

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Authors: Hiba Mezaache

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The current study aimed to know the impact of using information and communication technology on the process of re-engineering small and medium enterprises, as the world witnessed the speed development of the latter in its field of work and the diversity of its objectives and programs, that also made its process important for the growth and development of the institution and also gaining the flexibility to face the changes that may occur in the environment of work, so in order to know the impact of information and communication technology on the success of this process, we prepared an electronic questionnaire that included (70) items, and we also used the SPSS statistical calendar to analyze the data obtained. In the end of our study, our conclusion was that there was a positive correlation between the four dimensions of information and communication technology, i.e., hardware and equipment, software, communication networks, databases, and the re-engineering process, in addition to the fact that the studied institutions attach great importance to formal communication, for its positive advantages that it achieves in reducing time and effort and costs in performing the business. We could also say that communication technology contributes to the process of formulating objectives related to the re-engineering strategy. Finally, we recommend the necessity of empowering workers to use information technology and communication more in enterprises, and to integrate them more into the activity of the enterprise by involving them in the decision-making process, and also to keep pace with the development in the field of software, hardware, and technological equipment.

Keywords: information and communication technology, re-engineering, small and medium enterprises, the impact

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Authors: Nuhi Arslani, Aleks Brumec

Abstract:

Adhesive small bowel obstruction (ASBO) accounts for 20% of emergency surgical procedures and intraabdominal adhesions account for 65% of such cases. In a 10-year post-operative period of abdominal surgery patients, around 35% of them will be readmitted because of ASBO. The first step in approaching ASBOs is using the Bologna guidelines, which include a thorough initial evaluation to diagnose or rule out an ASBO and then proceed with either further imaging studies or emergency surgery, which can be either open or laparoscopic. The contraindications for a laparoscopic approach include hemodynamic instability of the patient and infections in the peritoneum or port sites. Studies have shown that a laparoscopic approach to adhesiolysis is linked with a significantly smaller risk of readmissions and reoperations as well as with faster recovery time and fewer postoperative infections, but has a higher risk of bowel injuries, so a careful selection of patients is required. Although studies favor a laparoscopic approach, many countries still prefer a laparotomy, often because a laparoscopic approach requires surgeons to be highly skilled in the procedure. In the US and UK, between 50 and 60% of surgeons would approach an ASBO with laparoscopy, while in Italy, this number is around 15% and it is most likely similar in Slovenia. We believe that in the right cases and in the right patients, a laparoscopic approach can be equally feasible for treating ASBOs and is associated with fewer intraoperative and postoperative complications.

Keywords: adhesive small bowel obstruction, laparoscopy, adhesions, adhesiolysis

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Authors: Mansa Radhakrishnan, Anwar Ali, Muhammad Rizwan Mughal

Abstract:

Many universities around the world are working on modular and low budget architecture of small spacecraft to reduce the development cost of the overall system. This paper focuses on the design of a modular solar power harvesting system for a hexagonal-shaped small satellite. The designed solar power harvesting systems are composed of solar panels and power converter subsystems. The solar panel is composed of solar cells mounted on the external face of the printed circuit board (PCB), while the electronic components of power conversion are mounted on the interior side of the same PCB. The solar panel with dimensions 16.5cm × 99cm is composed of 36 solar cells (each solar cell is 4cm × 7cm) divided into four parallel banks where each bank consists of 9 solar cells. The output voltage of a single solar cell is 2.14V, and the combined output voltage of 9 series connected solar cells is around 19.3V. The output voltage of the solar panel is boosted to the satellite power distribution bus voltage level (28V) by a boost converter working on a constant voltage maximum power point tracking (MPPT) technique. The solar panel module is an eight-layer PCB having embedded coil in 4 internal layers. This coil is used to control the attitude of the spacecraft, which consumes power to generate a magnetic field and rotate the spacecraft. As power converter and distribution subsystem components are mounted on the PCB internal layer, therefore it is mandatory to do thermal analysis in order to ensure that the overall module temperature is within thermal safety limits. The main focus of the overall design is on compactness, miniaturization, and efficiency enhancement.

Keywords: small satellites, power subsystem, efficiency, MPPT

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Authors: Meghdad Payan, Kostas Senetakis, Arman Khoshghalb, Nasser Khalili

Abstract:

Dynamic properties of soils, especially at the range of very small strains, are of particular interest in geotechnical engineering practice for characterization of the behavior of geo-structures subjected to a variety of stress states. This study reports on the small-strain dynamic properties of sand-silt mixtures with particular emphasis on the effect of non-plastic fines content on the small strain shear modulus (Gmax), Young’s Modulus (Emax), material damping (Ds,min) and Poisson’s Ratio (v). Several clean sands with a wide range of grain size characteristics and particle shape are mixed with variable percentages of a silica non-plastic silt as fines content. Prepared specimens of sand-silt mixtures at different initial void ratios are subjected to sequential torsional and flexural resonant column tests with elastic dynamic properties measured along an isotropic stress path up to 800 kPa. It is shown that while at low percentages of fines content, there is a significant difference between the dynamic properties of the various samples due to the different characteristics of the sand portion of the mixtures, this variance diminishes as the fines content increases and the soil behavior becomes mainly silt-dominant, rendering no significant influence of sand properties on the elastic dynamic parameters. Indeed, beyond a specific portion of fines content, around 20% to 30% typically denoted as threshold fines content, silt is controlling the behavior of the mixture. Using the experimental results, new expressions for the prediction of small-strain dynamic properties of sand-silt mixtures are developed accounting for the percentage of silt and the characteristics of the sand portion. These expressions are general in nature and are capable of evaluating the elastic dynamic properties of sand-silt mixtures with any types of parent sand in the whole range of silt percentage. The inefficiency of skeleton void ratio concept in the estimation of small-strain stiffness of sand-silt mixtures is also illustrated.

Keywords: damping ratio, Poisson’s ratio, resonant column, sand-silt mixture, shear modulus, Young’s modulus

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Authors: Cornellia Ayu, Putrianti Herni, Saptoto Robertus

Abstract:

In the context of global tourism and creative economies, digital maturity has become a crucial factor for the sustainable development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This paper explores the journey toward digital maturity among SMEs in Sleman, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, focusing on their empowerment to foster sustainable tourism and creative economy growth. The study adopts a mixed-methods approach, integrating qualitative interviews with SME owners and quantitative surveys to assess their digital capabilities and readiness. Data were collected from a diverse sample of SMEs engaged in various sectors, including crafts and culinary services. Findings reveal significant gaps in digital literacy and infrastructure, impeding the full realization of digital benefits. However, targeted interventions, such as digital training programs and the provision of affordable technology, have shown promise in bridging these gaps. The study concludes that enhancing digital maturity among SMEs is vital for their competitiveness and sustainability in the modern economy. The insights gained can inform policymakers and stakeholders aiming to bolster the digital transformation of SMEs in similar contexts.

Keywords: digital maturity, small medium enterprises, digital literacy, sustainable tourism, creative economy

Procedia PDF Downloads 43

Authors: Neha Singh

Abstract:

Background: Nowadays, the nanoparticle is gaining unexceptional attention in targeted drug delivery. But before proceeding to this episode of accomplishment, the journey and closure of these nanoparticles inside the cells should be disentangle. Being foreign for the cells, nanoparticles will easily getcleared off without any effective outcome. As the cancer cells withhold these nanoparticles for a longer period of time, more will be the drug’s effect. Chlorpromazine is a cationic amphiphilic drug which is believed to inhibit clathrin-coated pit formation by a reversible translocation of clathrin and its adapter proteins from the plasma membrane to intracellular vesicles. Chlorpromazine has a role in increasing the retention of nanoparticles in cancer cells. The mechanism of action how this small molecule increases the retention of nanoparticles is still uncovered. Method: Polymeric nanoparticle (PLGA) with Cyanine3.5 dye were synthesized by solvent evaporation method and characterized for size and zeta potential. FTIR was also done. Pulse and chase studies with and without inhibitor were done to check the retention of nanoparticle using fluorescence microscopy. Mean fluorescence intensity was measured by ImageJ software. Results: Increased retention of nanoparticle with inhibitor was observed in both pulse and chase studies. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that by repurposing these small molecule inhibitor, we can increase the retention of nanoparticle at the targeted site.

Keywords: nanoparticle, endocytosis, clathrin inhibitor, cancer cell

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Authors: Ali Ocholi

Abstract:

The study was conducted to analyze the impact of agro-allied industries on rural dwellers in Benue state, Nigeria. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select the respondents for the study. Primary data were collected through the use of structured questionnaires administered on 366 respondents from the selected communities; the data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The result of Mann-Whitney (U) statistics showed that water availability (14350) and good road network (15082.00) were the only social impact derived from the industries by the rural dwellers. The study recommended that right and proper policies and programmes should be put in place by the government to mandate all private and public agro-allied industries to embark on projects that would be in favour of the rural dwellers where the agro-allied industries are situated.

Keywords: agriculture, agro-allied industry, rural dwellers, Benue state

Procedia PDF Downloads 246