Search results for: administrative procedures

Authors: Verónica Díaz Quezada

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Despite the wide variety of educational resources on the market and the advances produced in the technological field, the practice of teaching continues to be supported mainly by textbooks. This article reports on descriptive research with qualitative methodology carried out on secondary school mathematics teachers in a region of Chile, in order to describe the use and the indicators of appreciation that teachers have on the textbooks distributed by the official body to public educational establishments. Data were collected through an open response opinion questionnaire. According to the results, among the texts available for the annual performance of their teaching work, the expository and technological books predominate, to the detriment of comprehensive books. The exhibition structure favors master expositions and repetitive exercises, while, with the technological structure, a productive exercise is attempted, proposing numerous applications with the intention of giving meaning to the different mathematical rules and procedures. In relation to the indicators of appreciation that teachers have regarding the use of mathematics textbooks, the suitability and quality of the teaching resources are verified as the most satisfying characteristic.

Keywords: mathematics, secondary school, teachers, textbooks

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Authors: Shahenaz Sidi, S. K. Tank

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When sparsely used industrial and commercial facilities are retired or abandoned, one of the biggest issues that arise is what to do with the remaining land. This land, referred to as a ‘Brownfield site’ or simply ‘Brownfield’ is often contaminated with waste and pollutants left behind by the defunct industrial facilities and factories that stand on the land. Phytoremediation has been proved a promising greener and cleaner technology in remediating the land unlike other chemical excavation methods. Helianthus annus is a hyper accumulator of lead. Helianthus annus can be used for remediation procedures in metal contaminated soils. It is a fast-growing crop which would favour soil stabilization. Its tough leaves and stems are rarely eaten by animals. The seeds (actively eaten by birds) have very low concentrations of potentially toxic elements, and represent low risk for the food web. The study is conducted to determine the phytoextraction potentials of the plant and the eventual seed harvesting and commercial oil production on remediated soil.

Keywords: Brownfield, phytoextraction, helianthus, oil, commercial

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Authors: T. Chinyoka

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We present the Johnson-Segalman constitutive model to capture certain fluid flow phenomena that has been experimentally observed in the flow of complex polymeric fluids. In particular, experimentally observed phenomena such as shear banding, spurt and slip are explored and/or explained in terms of the non-monotonic shear-stress versus shear-rate relationships. We also explore the effects of the inclusion of physical flow aspects such as wall porosity on shear banding. We similarly also explore the effects of the inclusion of mathematical modelling aspects such as stress diffusion into the stress constitutive models in order to predict shear-stress (or shear-rate) paths. We employ semi-implicit finite difference methods for all the computational solution procedures.

Keywords: Johnson-Segalman model, diffusive Johnson-Segalman model, shear banding, finite difference methods, complex fluid flow

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Authors: Sunil Bandaru, Suresh Yv, Srinivas Vanapalli

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Heavy machinery especially compactors has more vibrations induced from the compactor mechanism than the engines. Since the operator’s comfort is most important in any of the machines, this paper shows interest in studying the vibrations on the steering wheel for a double drum compactor. As there are no standard procedures available for testing vibrations on the steering wheel of double drum compactors, this paper tries to evaluate the vibrations on the steering wheel by considering most of the possibilities. In addition to the feasibility for the operator to adjust the steering wheel tilt as in the case of automotive, there is an option for the operator to change the orientation of the operator platform for the complete view of the road’s edge on both the ends of the front and rear drums. When the orientation is either +/-180°, the operator will be closer to the compactor mechanism; also there is a possibility for the shuffle in the modes with respect to the operator. Hence it is mandatory to evaluate the vibrations levels in both cases. This paper attempts to evaluate the vibrations on the steering wheel by considering the two operator platform positions and three steering wheel tilting angles.

Keywords: FEA, CAE, steering column, steering column orientation position

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Authors: Tewele Gerlase Haile

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Like any other country, Ethiopia's state government has reached today by undergoing many political changes. Until the last quarter of the 19th century, the aristocratic regimes of Ethiopia were using their infinite mystical power to shape the traditional public administrative institutions of the country. Mystical, feudal, social, and revolutionary political systems were used as sources of ruling power to the long-lasted monarchical, military and dictatorial regimes. For a country that is struggling to escape from the vicious cycle of poverty, famines, and civil wars, understanding how political regimes reform public policies and institutions is necessary for several reasons. A retrospective policy analysis approach is employed to determine how public policies are shaped by institutional factors and why the traditional public administration paradigm of Ethiopia continues to date despite regime changes. Using the experiences of political reforms practiced in four successive regimes (1916-2023), this retrospective analysis reveals a causal relationship among policy, institutional, and political failures. Moreover, Ethiopia's law-making and policy-making background significantly reflects the behavior of governments and their institutions. With a macro-level policy analysis in mind, the paper analyzes why the recent policy and institutional reforms twisted the country into unresolved military catastrophes.

Keywords: public administration, public policy, institutional reform, political structure

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Authors: Mohammadhadi Mirmohammadi, Reza Safian, Hossein Haddad

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This paper presents an innovative solution for complex multi-objective optimization problem which is a part of efforts toward maximizing rolling mill throughput and minimizing processing costs in tandem cold rolling. This computational intelligence based optimization has been applied to the rolling schedules of tandem cold rolling mill. This method involves the combination of two derivative-free optimization procedures in the form of nested loops. The first optimization loop is based on Improving Hit and Run method which focus on balance of power, force and reduction distribution in rolling schedules. The second loop is a real-coded genetic algorithm based optimization procedure which optimizes energy consumption and productivity. An experimental result of application to five stand tandem cold rolling mill is presented.

Keywords: derivative-free optimization, Improving Hit and Run method, real-coded genetic algorithm, rolling schedules of tandem cold rolling mill

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Authors: Chamindi Dilkushi Senaratne

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Staff development both formal and informal, structured and unstructured is universally accepted as fundamental to the growth of individuals and institutions. This study is based on feedback summaries collected from 2014 to 2017 from 240 participants of the staff development programme for probationary lecturers at the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. It also contains data from interviews conducted with the resource persons in the programme. The study further includes observations from experts involved in staff training in higher education institutions in Sri Lanka The data reveals that though the programme has many aspects that can be improved, the selected topics in the curriculum and new topics that were incorporated had positive impacts to enhance continuing professional development of staff in Sri Lankan universities. The participants also believe that the programme has an impact on professional development, teaching, and management of classroom and curricula and research skills. Based on the findings, the study recommends the addition of new topics to the curriculum such as continuing professional development, code of conduct in universities, gender awareness and the green concept. The study further recommends programmes for senior academic staff in universities to assist them to reach higher levels in their career by focusing on areas such as teaching, research, and administrative skills.

Keywords: staff development, higher education, curriculum, research

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Authors: Narges Farokhshad, Milad Molazadeh, Saman Jamalabbasi, Hamed Babaei Giglou, Saeed Bibak

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The Persian language is an inflectional subject-object-verb language. This fact makes Persian a more uncertain language. However, using techniques such as Zero-Width Non-Joiner (ZWNJ) recognition, punctuation restoration, and Persian Ezafe construction will lead us to a more understandable and precise language. In most of the works in Persian, these techniques are addressed individually. Despite that, we believe that for text refinement in Persian, all of these tasks are necessary. In this work, we proposed a ViraPart framework that uses embedded ParsBERT in its core for text clarifications. First, used the BERT variant for Persian followed by a classifier layer for classification procedures. Next, we combined models outputs to output cleartext. In the end, the proposed model for ZWNJ recognition, punctuation restoration, and Persian Ezafe construction performs the averaged F1 macro scores of 96.90%, 92.13%, and 98.50%, respectively. Experimental results show that our proposed approach is very effective in text refinement for the Persian language.

Keywords: Persian Ezafe, punctuation, ZWNJ, NLP, ParsBERT, transformers

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Authors: Habibullah Pathan

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The present study aims to explore problems faced by English Language Teachers (ELT) while implementing the Outcome Based Education (OBE) model in engineering universities of Sindh. OBE is an emerging model initiative of the International Engineering Alliance. Traditional educational systems are teacher-centered or curriculum-centered, in which learners are not able to achieve desired outcomes, but the OBE model enables learners to know the outcomes before the start of the program. OBE is a circular process that begins from the needs and demands of society to stakeholders who ask the experts to produce the alumnus who can fulfill the needs and ends up getting new enrollment in the respective programs who can work according to the demands. In all engineering institutions, engineering courses besides English language courses are taught on the OBE model. English language teachers were interviewed to learn the in-depth of the problems faced by them. The study found that teachers were facing problems including pedagogical, OBE training, assessment, evaluation and administrative support. This study will be a guide for public and private English language teachers to cope with these challenges while teaching the English language on the OBE model. OBE is an emerging model by which the institutions can produce such a product that can meet the demands.

Keywords: problems of ELT teachers, outcome based education (OBE), implementing, assessment

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Authors: Huey-Yeu Yan, Ching-Ying Lee, Hung-Ru Lin

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Background: Physical assessment is a vital clinical nursing competence. The gap between conventional teaching method and the way e-generation students’ preferred could be bridged owing to the support of Internet technology, i.e. interacting with online media to manage learning works. Nursing instructors in the wake of new learning pattern of the e-generation students are challenged to actively adjust and make teaching contents and methods more versatile. Objective: The objective of this research is to explore the effects on teaching and learning with live webcast-assisted on a specific topic, Physical Assessment technique, on a designated group of young nursing majors. It’s hoped that, with a way of nursing instructing, more versatile learning resources may be provided to facilitate self-directed learning. Design: This research adopts a cross-sectional descriptive survey. The instructor demonstrated physical assessment techniques and operation procedures via live webcast broadcasted online to all students. It increased both the off-time interaction between teacher and students concerning teaching materials. Methods: A convenient sampling was used to recruit a total of 52 nursing-majors at a certain university. The nursing majors took two-hour classes of Physical Assessment per week for 18 weeks (36 hrs. in total). The instruction covered four units with live webcasting and then conducted an online anonymous survey of learning outcomes by questionnaire. The research instrument was the online questionnaire, covering three major domains—online media used, learning outcome evaluation and evaluation result. The data analysis was conducted via IBM SPSS Statistics Version 2.0. The descriptive statistics was undertaken to describe the analysis of basic data and learning outcomes. Statistical methods such as descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson’s correlation were employed in verification. Results: Results indicated the following five major findings. (1) learning motivation, about four fifth of the participants agreed the online instruction resources are very helpful in improving learning motivation and raising the learning interest. (2) learning needs, about four fifth of participants agreed it was helpful to plan self-directed practice after the instruction, and meet their needs of repetitive learning and/or practice at their leisure time. (3) learning effectiveness, about two third agreed it was helpful to reduce pre-exam anxiety, and improve their test scores. (4) course objects, about three fourth agreed that it was helpful to achieve the goal of ‘executing the complete Physical Assessment procedures with proper skills’. (5) finally, learning reflection, about all of participants agreed this experience of online instructing, learning, and practicing is beneficial to them, they recommend instructor to share with other nursing majors, and they will recommend it to fellow students too. Conclusions: Live webcasting is a low-cost, convenient, efficient and interactive resource to facilitate nursing majors’ motivation of learning, need of self-directed learning and practice, outcome of learning. When live webcasting is integrated into nursing teaching, it provides an opportunity of self-directed learning to promote learning effectiveness, as such to fulfill the teaching objective.

Keywords: innovative teaching, learning effectiveness, live webcasting, physical assessment technique

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Authors: Man-Hong Lai, Dinusha S. Gunawardena, Kok-Sing Lim, Harith Ahmad

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In this paper, we have reported birefringence manipulation in regenerated high-birefringent fiber Bragg grating (RPMG) by using CO2 laser annealing method. The results indicate that the birefringence of RPMG remains unchanged after CO2 laser annealing followed by a slow cooling process, but reduced after the fast cooling process (~5.6×10-5). After a series of annealing procedures with different cooling rates, the obtained results show that slower the cooling rate, higher the birefringence of RPMG. The volume, thermal expansion coefficient (TEC) and glass transition temperature (Tg) change of stress applying part in RPMG during the cooling process are responsible for the birefringence change. Therefore, these findings are important to the RPMG sensor in high and dynamic temperature environment. The measuring accuracy, range and sensitivity of RPMG sensor are greatly affected by its birefringence value. This work also opens up a new application of CO2 laser for fiber annealing and birefringence modification.

Keywords: birefringence, CO2 laser annealing, regenerated gratings, thermal stress

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Authors: Wen-Yan Chiau

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Taiwan passed the 'Basic Ocean Act' in November 2019, and in accordance with Article 4 of its provisions, the government should draft a decree on ocean space planning (MSP). In the past few years, although Taiwan has passed the 'Coastal Zone Management Act' and the 'Spatial Planning Act', in the face of multiple use of marine areas, it still lacks a comprehensive marine area use blueprint and a fundamental mechanism for multi-purpose use planning management. In particular, Taiwan's active development of offshore wind power is facing this problem, and it is impossible to fully reconcile the use of each domain and the public welfare through a holistic system, highlighting the urgency of the establishment of MSP system. Therefore, this article will review relevant Taiwan laws and regulations, refer to important international initiatives and experiences, and participate in the exchange of practical experience in international conference(s), and propose adequate framework, principles, procedures, and promotion strategies on MSP. Possible solutions to promote sustainable and wise use in Taiwan's waters will also be suggested for comments.

Keywords: basic ocean act, coastal zone management act, marine spatial planning, spatial planning act, Taiwan

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Authors: Eltaib Elzarrouk E. E. Abdalmajeed

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This research aims at shedding the light on environmental accounting, which is considered to be one of the most important areas in accounting discipline. It also studies the reality of the application of environmental accounting in the iron and steel sector in Libya. The questionnaire of this study was used for data collection from respondents who are employed in the Libyan Iron and Steel Company, Misurata – Libya (LISC). The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was also used for the analysis. Several important results were revealed include that the (LISC) relatively applies environmental accounting, and it faces some obstacles in conducting its application. Furthermore, the researched company realizes the importance of applying environmental accounting as a need for quality procedures. It was suggested that training courses should be held periodically to spread the awareness of environmental accounting environment. In addition, social responsibility and sustainability should be taken into consideration in the company's strategic plan.

Keywords: environment, environmental accounting, environmental accounting disclosure, The Libyan Iron and Steel Company, Misurata- Libya (LISC)

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Authors: Victor Radich, Tania Basso, Regina Moraes

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Lead qualification is one of the main procedures in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) projects. Its main goal is to identify potential consumers who have the ideal characteristics to establish a profitable and long-term relationship with a certain organization. Social networks can be an important source of data for identifying and qualifying leads since interest in specific products or services can be identified from the users’ expressed feelings of (dis)satisfaction. In this context, this work proposes the use of machine learning techniques and sentiment analysis as an extra step in the lead qualification process in order to improve it. In addition to machine learning models, sentiment analysis or opinion mining can be used to understand the evaluation that the user makes of a particular service, product, or brand. The results obtained so far have shown that it is possible to extract data from social networks and combine the techniques for a more complete classification.

Keywords: lead qualification, sentiment analysis, opinion mining, machine learning, CRM, lead scoring

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Authors: Salam Labidi, Sonia Machraoui, Souha Gharbi

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Radium isotopes (226Ra, 228Ra) and uranium isotopes (234U, 238U) activity concentrations were determined in most popular Tunisian bottled mineral waters samples. Activity concentrations of uranium were studied by radiochemical separation procedures followed by alpha spectrometry and that of radium isotopes by gamma-ray spectrometry. The activity concentrations of 238U, 234U, 226Ra and 228Ra in water samples varied in range 3.3 - 22.5 mBq.L−1, 4.0 - 34.2 mBq L−1, 2.0 - 67.0 mBq L−1 and 2.0 - 30.2 mBq L−1, respectively. These values are comparable with those reported for many other countries in the world for different types of water. Based on the activity concentration results obtained in this study, the estimated annual ingestion dose rates for three different age groups (babies, children and adults) due to the ingestion of radium and uranium isotopes through drinking water are lower than the limit of intake prescribed by WHO. The annual doses exceed the recommended value of 0.1 mSv y-1 in one case for babies.

Keywords: mineral water, natural radioactivity, radiation dose, radium, uranium

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Authors: Rashid Ahmed , John N. Avaritsiotis

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Many signal subspace-based approaches have already been proposed for determining the fixed Direction of Arrival (DOA) of plane waves impinging on an array of sensors. Two procedures for DOA estimation based neural networks are presented. First, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is employed to extract the maximum eigenvalue and eigenvector from signal subspace to estimate DOA. Second, minor component analysis (MCA) is a statistical method of extracting the eigenvector associated with the smallest eigenvalue of the covariance matrix. In this paper, we will modify a Minor Component Analysis (MCA(R)) learning algorithm to enhance the convergence, where a convergence is essential for MCA algorithm towards practical applications. The learning rate parameter is also presented, which ensures fast convergence of the algorithm, because it has direct effect on the convergence of the weight vector and the error level is affected by this value. MCA is performed to determine the estimated DOA. Preliminary results will be furnished to illustrate the convergences results achieved.

Keywords: Direction of Arrival, neural networks, Principle Component Analysis, Minor Component Analysis

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Authors: Maryam Panahiazar, Andrew M. Bishara, Yorick Chern, Roohallah Alizadehsani, Dexter Hadleye, Ramin E. Beygui

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Early detection plays a crucial role in enhancing the outcome for a patient with coronary artery disease (CAD). We utilized a big data analytics platform on ~23,000 patients with CAD from a total of 960,129 UCSF patients in 8 years. We traced the patients from their first encounter with a physician to diagnose and treat CAD. Characteristics such as demographic information, comorbidities, vital, lab tests, medications, and procedures are included. There are statistically significant gender-based differences in patients younger than 60 years old from the time of the first physician encounter to coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) with a p-value=0.03. There are no significant differences between the patients between 60 and 80 years old (p-value=0.8) and older than 80 (p-value=0.4) with a 95% confidence interval. This recognition would affect significant changes in the guideline for referral of the patients for diagnostic tests expeditiously to improve the outcome by avoiding the delay in treatment.

Keywords: electronic medical records, coronary artery disease, data analytics, young women

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Authors: Bar Y. Ainuz, Harry M. Salinas, Aleeza Ali, Eli B. Levitt, Austin J. Pourmoussa, Antoun Bouz, Miguel A. Medina

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Introduction: Breast conservation therapy remains the mainstay surgical treatment for early breast cancer. Oncoplastic techniques, in conjunction with lumpectomy and adjuvant radiotherapy, have been demonstrated to achieve good aesthetic results without adversely affecting cancer outcomes in the treatment of patients with macromastia or significant ptosis. In our patient population, many women present for breast conservation with pre-existing cosmetic implants or with breast volumes too small for soft tissue, only oncoplastic techniques. Our study evaluated a consecutive series of patients presenting for breast conservation undergoing concomitant oncoplastic-augmentation-mastopexy (OAM) with a contralateral augmentation-mastopexy for symmetry. Methods: OAM surgical technique involves simultaneous lumpectomy with exchange or placement of implants, oncoplastic mastopexy, and concomitant contralateral augmentation mastopexy for symmetry. Patients undergoing lumpectomy for breast conservation as outpatients were identified via retrospective chart review at a high volume private academic affiliated community-based cancer center. Patients with ptosis and either pre-existing breast implants or insufficient breast volume undergoing oncoplastic implant placement (or exchange) and mastopexy were included in the study. Operative details, aesthetic outcomes, and complications were assessed. Results: Over a continuous three-year period, with a two-surgeon cohort, 30 consecutive patients (56 breasts, 4 unilateral procedures) were identified. Patients had an average age of 52.5 years and an average BMI of 27.5, with 40% smokers or former smokers. The average operative time was 2.5 hours, the average implant size removed was 352 cc, and the average implant size placed was 300 cc. All new implants were smooth silicone, with the majority (92%) placed in a retropectoral fashion. 40% of patients received chemotherapy, and 80% of patients received whole breast adjuvant photon radiotherapy with a total radiation dose of either 42.56 or 52.56 Gy. The average and median length of follow-up were both 8.2 months. Of the 24 patients that received radiotherapy, 21% had asymmetry due to capsular contracture. A total of 7 patients (29.2%) underwent revisions for either positive margins (12.5%), capsular contracture (8.3%), implant loss (4.2%), or cosmetic concerns (4.2%). One patient developed a pulmonary embolism in the acute postoperative period and was treated with anticoagulant therapy. Conclusion: Oncoplastic augmentation mastopexy is a safe technique with good aesthetic outcomes and acceptable complication rates for ptotic patients with breast cancer and a paucity of breast volume or pre-existing implants who wish to pursue breast-conserving therapy. The revision rates compare favorably with single-stage cosmetic augmentation procedures as well as other oncoplastic techniques described in the literature. The short-term capsular contracture rates seem lower than the rates in patients undergoing radiation after mastectomy and implant-based reconstruction. Long term capsular contractures and revision rates are too early to know in this cohort.

Keywords: breast conserving therapy, oncoplastic augmentation mastopexy, capsular contracture, breast reconstruction

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Authors: Saadan Man, Razidah Othmanjaludin, Madiha Baharuddin

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Nowadays, the pharmaceutical products are produced through the mixing of active and complex ingredient, naturally or synthetically; and involve extensive use of prohibited animal products. This article studies the challenges faced from fiqh perspective in the production of halal pharmaceutical products which frequently contain impure elements or prohibited animal derivatives according to Islamic law. This study is qualitative which adopts library research as well as field research by conducting series of interviews with the several related parties. The gathered data is analyzed from Sharia perspective by using some instruments especially the principle of Maqasid of Sharia. This study shows that the halal status of pharmaceutical products depends on the three basic elements: the sources of the basic ingredient; the processes involved in three phases of production, i.e., before, during and after; and the possible effects of the products. Various fiqh challenges need to be traversed in producing halal pharmaceutical products including the sources of the ingredients, the logistic process, the tools used, and the procedures of productions. Thus, the whole supply chain of production of pharmaceutical products must be well managed in accordance to the halal standard.

Keywords: fiqh, halal pharmaceutical, pharmaceutical products, Malaysia

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Authors: Karen Trimmer, Raelene Ward, Linda Wondunna-Foley

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Within Australian tertiary institutions, the subject of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education has been a major concern for many years. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers are significantly under-represented in Australian schools and universities. High attrition rates in teacher education and in the teaching industry have contributed to a minimal growth rate in the numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers in previous years. There was an increase of 500 Indigenous teachers between 2001 and 2008 but these numbers still only account for one percent of teaching staff in government schools who identified as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians (Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs 2010). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers are paramount in fostering student engagement and improving educational outcomes for Indigenous students. Increasing the numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers is also a key factor in enabling all students to develop understanding of and respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures, and language. An ambitious reform agenda to improve the recruitment and retention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers will be effective only through national collaborative action and co-investment by schools and school authorities, university schools of education, professional associations, and Indigenous leaders and community networks. Whilst the University of Southern Queensland currently attracts Indigenous students to its teacher education programs (61 students in 2013 with an average of 48 enrollments each year since 2010) there is significant attrition during pre-service training. The annual rate of exiting before graduation remains high at 22% in 2012 and was 39% for the previous two years. These participation and retention rates are consistent with other universities across Australia. Whilst aspirations for a growing number of Indigenous people to be trained as teachers is present, there is a significant loss of students during their pre-service training and within the first five years of employment as a teacher. These trends also reflect the situation where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers are significantly under-represented, making up less than 1% of teachers in schools across Australia. Through a project conducted as part the nationally funded More Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Teachers Initiative (MATSITI) we aim to gain an insight into the reasons that impact Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student’s decisions to exit their program. Through the conduct of focus groups and interviews with two graduating cohorts of self-identified Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, rich data has been gathered to gain an understanding of the barriers and enhancers to the completion of pre-service qualification and transition to teaching. Having a greater understanding of these reasons then allows the development of collaborative processes and procedures to increase retention and completion rates of new Indigenous teachers. Analysis of factors impacting on exit decisions and transitions has provided evidence to support change of practice, redesign and enhancement of relevant courses and development of policy/procedures to address identified issues.

Keywords: graduation, indigenous, pre-service teacher education, retention

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Authors: Anthony George Armiger II

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This paper focuses on the counternarcotic strategies of US government agencies in Afghanistan from 2001-2014. Despite a heavy US presence in the country, Afghanistan currently accounts for 80% of opium production worldwide and remains a key contributor to the global drug market. This paper argues that the divergent counternarcotic strategies of various US government agencies on the ground in Afghanistan are a product of the organizational differences amongst those agencies and that those differences can challenge the implementation of counternarcotics policies in Afghanistan. To gain a more in-depth perspective, this paper analyzes the counternarcotic strategies of two US government agencies in Afghanistan; the United States Department of Defense (DoD) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Utilizing the framework of the organizational behavior model of organizational theory, this paper will highlight the varying organizational interests, opinions, standard operating procedures, and routines of both of the government agencies. The paper concludes with implications on counternarcotics, as well as the counterinsurgency in Afghanistan and provides recommendations for future research on foreign policy and counternarcotics.

Keywords: Afghanistan, drug policy, organizational theory, United States foreign policy

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Authors: Carlos H. Ferreira, Joana R. Pereira

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In recent decades, calls for sustainable architecture based on environmental policies have been frequent. Despite a vast number of documents, technical procedures, and publications involving these themes, conceptions, and even architectural practice are often distanced from critical and methodological reflection on the relationship between environment and architecture. Among the various issues that we could consider in this relationship, we highlight in this article the relevance of water in the environment and in the architectural design. From documentary references and works carried out, we seek contributions to a better systematization and framing of water in architectural thinking. We distinguish, on the one hand, more conceptual issues that involve the environmental relationship of water, involving its cycle, relevance in the landscape, and infrastructural commitments. On the other hand, we highlight a more operative component, focusing on the place of water in the design process, from its perception in space-shape dimensions to more specific technical requirements that involve the interdisciplinary boundaries of architecture. In both approaches to water in architectural design, we seek to contribute to greater sensitivity and efficiency in the art of designing a more sustainable future.

Keywords: sustainability, environment, water, resilience design

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Authors: Maryam Najafi, Mahdi Rajabi

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Although the rural cooperatives are an effective way for rural development in Iran, their potential is not applied effectively. The investigation of the failures of rural cooperatives helps the authorities to improve the routine procedures and eliminate the current barriers to the success of these cooperatives, and to remove the defects in order to have a more efficient policy. Therefore, this research aims to prioritize the failure factors of rural cooperatives in Isfahan province via the survey research method. For this purpose, the effective factors of these failures were investigated by the available research documents and then by the new information which was obtained from 20 questionnaires from the experts of Central Organization Rural Cooperatives in Isfahan province. The questionnaire results were analyzed by Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), Excel, and Expert Choice software. The results of this research showed that the most important failure factor of these cooperatives is the lack of the participation culture of cooperative members and then the performance of Central Organization Rural Cooperatives, and also loss of confidence of the members in the cooperation.

Keywords: cooperative, rural cooperatives, failure factors, analytical hierarchy process

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Authors: Nelson R. Osungbemiro, Rafiu O. Sanni, Rotimi F. Olaniyan, Abayomi O. Olajuyigbe

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Bacteria flora of Clarias gariepinus collected from two natural habitats namely Owena River (freshwater) and Igbokoda lagoon (brackish water) were examined using standard microbiological procedures. Thirteen bacterial species were identified. The result indicated that from the identified bacteria isolated, Vibrio sp, Proteus sp. Shigella sp. and E. coli were present in both habitats (fresh and brackish waters). Others were habitat-selective such as Salmonella sp., Pseudomonas sp, Enterococcus sp, Staphylococcus sp. that were found only in freshwater habitat. While Branhamella sp, Streptococcus sp. and Micrococcus sp. were found in brackish water habitat. Bacteria load from Owena river (freshwater) was found to be the highest load recorded at 6.21 x 104cfu. T-test analysis also revealed that there was a marked significant difference between bacterial load in guts of sampled Clarias from fresh water and brackish water habitats.

Keywords: bacteria flora, gut, Clarias gariepinus, Owena river

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Authors: Hasan Bulent Kantarci

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This paper examine how Zakat provide a fair income redistribution and struggle with poverty. To provide a fair income redistribution and struggle with poverty take place among the fundamental tasks of all countries. Each country seeks a solution for this problem according to their political, economical and administrative styles through applying various economic and financial policies. The same situation gets handled via zakat association in the Islam. Nowadays, we observe different versions of zakat in developed countries. The applications such as negative income tax denote merely a difference from the zakat being applied almost the same way under changed names. But the minimum values to donate the zakat (e.g. 85 gr. gold and 40 animals) get altered and various amounts are put into practice. It might be named as negative income tax instead of zakat, nonetheless, these applications are based on the Holy Koran and the hadith released 1400 years ago. Besides, considering the savage and slavery in the world at those times, we might easily recognize the true value of the zakat applied the first time then in Islamic system. Through zakat is enabled an income transfer by the government so that the poor could reach the minimum level of life standard. To whom the zakat would be donated was not left to people’s heart and encouraged to determine according to objective criteria. Since the zakat is obligatory, the transfer do not get forward by hand but via the government and get distributed, which requires a vast government organization. Through applying the zakat as it must be would achieve to reduce the poverty mostly and ensuring the fair income redistribution.

Keywords: Islamic finance, zakat, income redistribution, circle of poverty, negatif income tax

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Authors: Sarah Elmammeri

Abstract:

This paper will represent the postcolonial every day in the journey of asylum seekers through the asylum process in the UK. It represents everyday borders, which are defined as everyday barriers, and obstacles facing asylum seekers and refugees in the host country. These everyday barriers can be legal, financial, social and educational under the umbrella of the racialized administrative border creating a package. The arguments build on a set of 21 semi-structured interviews in English and Arabic. The interviews were conducted in the UK, online via zoom lasting between 25 minutes and 2 hours with asylum seekers, refugees, Non-governmental organisations workers and volunteers. The interviews focus on the meaning of borders both physical and metaphorical and ways to challenge the ongoing postcolonial everyday border practices. The findings conclude that these barriers are there deliberately and intentionally to target asylum seekers and limit their legal right to claim asylum in a form of policy and regulations. People in the asylum process, NGO workers, and refugees relate to this aspect of the everyday borders. Second, these barriers come intertwined together creating a structure that interferes with the daily life of an asylum seeker and later affects people with refugee status creating racialised barriers starting with the structural and official form of it: the asylum process. These structural barriers will be linked forming a multi-level barrier enhancing the racialisation of people who are categorised and selected.

Keywords: everyday borders, asylum policies, inclusion and exclusion, refugees and asylum seekers

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Authors: Cuma Şimşek

Abstract:

Nowadays our globalized world is in a very rapid and sophisticated change. In the information age, notion of ‘information’ has begun to spread faster than ever also in this age, changes and transformation has gained tremendous momentum with technology boom. This continuous change and transformation, increased the competition between existing organizations and corporations. Besides, the organizations which show resistance to change has been put out of action in this competitive environment. It is not possible to sustain the existence of organizations without adapting to change and transformation by isolating itself from developments. As a consequence of improved communication and dialog possibilities by means of increasing knowledge level, there has been made a change of scene in administrative mentality, style and activation, especially in 21th century. Leaders emerge as the most important factor in this process of perception and success. At the same time it is not enough to adapt the alteration with conventional leadership abilities and behaviors. In parallel with alteration, new types of leadership are coming up. The optimal leadership type for our era and a trending topic "Transformational Leadership" is in great demand now. In this research, current situation of the Air Forces which use high-technology weapons efficiently, operates in an environment full of threats and is analyzed. It is evaluated that in order to be ready for war continuously and adjusting itself to changing terms of warfare atmosphere , Air Forces need ‘transformational leaders’ who are innovative, foreseeing and having a vision so that they can develop new methods and strategies for complex problems. Because it is the Air Force which is responsible for being the deterrent force of its country.

Keywords: transformational, change, air force, leadership

Procedia PDF Downloads 442

Authors: Mimoun Melliti

Abstract:

In the wake of the global pandemic, educational systems worldwide faced unprecedented challenges and had to swiftly adapt to new conditions. This necessitated a fundamental shift in assessment processes, as traditional in-person exams became impractical. The present paper aims to investigate how educational systems have adapted to the new conditions imposed by the outbreak of the pandemic. This paper serves as a case study documenting the various decisions, conditions, experiments, and outcomes associated with transitioning the assessment processes of a higher education institution to a fully online format. The participants of this study consisted of 4666 students from health, engineering, science, and humanities disciplines, who were enrolled in general English (Eng101/104) and English for specific purposes (Eng102/113) courses at a preparatory year institution in Saudi Arabia. The findings of this study indicate that online assessment can be effectively implemented given the fulfillment of specific requirements. These prerequisites encompass the presence of competent staff, administrative flexibility, and the availability of necessary infrastructure and technological support. The significance of this case study lies in its comprehensive description of the various steps and measures undertaken to adapt to the "new normal" situation. Furthermore, it evaluates the impact of these measures and offers detailed recommendations for potential similar future scenarios.

Keywords: hybrid learning, testing, adaptive teaching, EFL

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Authors: Siti Nur Aida Mario, Farah Hafifee Ahmad, Rudy Tawie

Abstract:

Soil Stabilization has been widely implemented in the construction industry nowadays. Peat soil is well known as one of the most problematic soil among the engineers. The procedures need to take into account both physical and engineering properties of the stabilized peat soil. This paper presents a result of plasticity index and hardening of treated peat soil with various dosage of additives. In order to determine plasticity of the treated peat soil, atterberg limit test which comprises plastic limit and liquid limit test has been conducted. Determination of liquid limit in this experimental study is by using cone penetrometer. Vicat testing apparatus has been used in the hardening test which the penetration of the plunger is recorded every one hour for 24 hours. The results show that the plasticity index of peat soil stabilized with 80% FAAC and 20% OPC has the lowest plasticity index and recorded the fastest initial setting time. The significant of this study is to promote greener solution for future soil stabilization industry.

Keywords: additives, hardening, peat soil, plasticity index, soil stabilization

Procedia PDF Downloads 329

Authors: David Glassmeyer

Abstract:

Quantitative reasoning is necessary to robustly understand mathematical concepts ranging from elementary to university levels. Quantitative reasoning involves identifying and representing quantities and the relationships between these quantities. Without reasoning quantitatively, students often resort to memorizing formulas and procedures, which have negative impacts when they encounter mathematical topics in the future. This study investigated how high school students’ quantitative reasoning could be fostered within a unit on arc measure and angle relationships. Arc measure, or the measure of a central angle that cuts off a portion of a circle’s circumference, is often confused with arclength. In this study, the researcher redesigned an activity to clearly distinguish arc measure and arc length by using a quantitative reasoning framework. Data were collected from high school students to determine if this approach impacted their understanding of these concepts. Initial data indicates the approach was successful in supporting students’ quantitative reasoning of these topics. Implications for the work are that teachers themselves may also benefit from considering mathematical definitions from a quantitative reasoning framework and can use this activity in their own classrooms.

Keywords: arc length, arc measure, quantitative reasoning, student content knowledge

Procedia PDF Downloads 258