Search results for: active sampling

Authors: Harneet Walia, Morteza Zihayat

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Customer acquisition has become one of the critical issues of any business in the 21st century; having a healthy customer base is the essential asset of the bank business. Term deposits act as a major source of cheap funds for the banks to invest and benefit from interest rate arbitrage. To attract customers, the marketing campaigns at most financial institutions consist of multiple outbound telephonic calls with more than one contact to a customer which is a very time-consuming process. Therefore, customized direct marketing has become more critical than ever for attracting new clients. As customer acquisition is becoming more difficult to archive, having an intelligent and redefined list is necessary to sell a product smartly. Our aim of this research is to increase the effectiveness of campaigns by predicting customers who will most likely subscribe to the fixed deposit and suggest the most suitable month to reach out to customers. We design a Time Aware Upsell Prediction Framework (TAUPF) using two different approaches, with an aim to find the best approach and technique to build the prediction model. TAUPF is implemented using Upsell Prediction Approach (UPA) and Clustered Upsell Prediction Approach (CUPA). We also address the data imbalance problem by examining and comparing different methods of sampling (Up-sampling and down-sampling). Our results have shown building such a model is quite feasible and profitable for the financial institutions. The Time Aware Upsell Prediction Framework (TAUPF) can be easily used in any industry such as telecom, automobile, tourism, etc. where the TAUPF (Clustered Upsell Prediction Approach (CUPA) or Upsell Prediction Approach (UPA)) holds valid. In our case, CUPA books more reliable. As proven in our research, one of the most important challenges is to define measures which have enough predictive power as the subscription to a fixed deposit depends on highly ambiguous situations and cannot be easily isolated. While we have shown the practicality of time-aware upsell prediction model where financial institutions can benefit from contacting the customers at the specified month, further research needs to be done to understand the specific time of the day. In addition, a further empirical/pilot study on real live customer needs to be conducted to prove the effectiveness of the model in the real world.

Keywords: customer acquisition, predictive analysis, targeted marketing, time-aware analysis

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Authors: Sifen Abreham

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Employees are resources in organizations; as such, they need to be trained and developed properly to achieve an organization's goals and expectations. The initial development of the human resource management concept is based on the effective utilization of people to treat them as resources, leading to the realization of business strategies and organizational objectives. The study aimed to assess the effect of training and development practices on employee performance. The researcher used an explanatory research design, which helps to explain, understand, and predict the relationship between variables. To collect the data from the respondents, the study used probability sampling. From the probability, the researcher used stratified random sampling, which can branch off the entire population into homogenous groups. The result was analyzed and presented by using the statistical package for the social science (SPSS) version 26. The major finding of the study was that the training has an impact on employees' job performance to achieve organizational objectives. The district has a policy and procedure for training and development, but it doesn’t apply actively, and it’s not suitable for district-advised reform this policy and procedure and applied actively; the district gives training for the majority of its employees, but most of the time, the training is theoretical the district advised to use practical training method to see positive change, the district gives evaluation after the employees take training and development, but the result is not encouraging the district advised to assess employees skill gap and feel that gap, the district has a budget, but it’s not adequate the district advised to strengthen its financial ground.

Keywords: training, development, employees, performance, policy

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Authors: Mohammed Makha, Jakob Heier, Frank Nüesch, Roland Hany

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Organic solar cells (OSCs) have made rapid progress and currently achieve power conversion efficiencies (PCE) of over 10%. OSCs have several merits over other direct light-to-electricity generating cells and can be processed at low cost from solution on flexible substrates over large areas. Moreover, combining organic semiconductors with transparent and conductive electrodes allows for the fabrication of semitransparent OSCs (SM-OSCs). For SM-OSCs the challenge is to achieve a high average visible transmission (AVT) while maintaining a high short circuit current (Jsc). Typically, Jsc of SM-OSCs is smaller than when using an opaque metal top electrode. This is because the non-absorbed light during the first transit through the active layer and the transparent electrode is forward-transmitted out of the device. Recently, OSCs using a ternary blend of organic materials have received attention. This strategy was pursued to extend the light harvesting over the visible range. However, it is a general challenge to manipulate the performance of ternary OSCs in a predictable way, because many key factors affect the charge generation and extraction in ternary solar cells. Consequently, the device performance is affected by the compatibility between the blend components and the resulting film morphology, the energy levels and bandgaps, the concentration of the guest material and its location in the active layer. In this work, we report on a solvent-free lamination process for the fabrication of efficient and semitransparent ternary blend OSCs. The ternary blend was composed of PC70BM and the electron donors PBDTTT-C and an NIR cyanine absorbing dye (Cy7T). Using an opaque metal top electrode, a PCE of 6% was achieved for the optimized binary polymer: fullerene blend (AVT = 56%). However, the PCE dropped to ~2% when decreasing (to 30 nm) the active film thickness to increase the AVT value (75%). Therefore we resorted to the ternary blend and measured for non-transparent cells a PCE of 5.5% when using an active polymer: dye: fullerene (0.7: 0.3: 1.5 wt:wt:wt) film of 95 nm thickness (AVT = 65% when omitting the top electrode). In a second step, the optimized ternary blend was used of the fabrication of SM-OSCs. We used a plastic/metal substrate with a light transmission of over 90% as a transparent electrode that was applied via a lamination process. The interfacial layer between the active layer and the top electrode was optimized in order to improve the charge collection and the contact with the laminated top electrode. We demonstrated a PCE of 3% with AVT of 51%. The parameter space for ternary OSCs is large and it is difficult to find the best concentration ratios by trial and error. A rational approach for device optimization is the construction of a ternary blend phase diagram. We discuss our attempts to construct such a phase diagram for the PBDTTT-C: Cy7T: PC70BM system via a combination of using selective Cy7T selective solvents and atomic force microscopy. From the ternary diagram suitable morphologies for efficient light-to-current conversion can be identified. We compare experimental OSC data with these predictions.

Keywords: organic photovoltaics, ternary phase diagram, ternary organic solar cells, transparent solar cell, lamination

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Authors: Nelson Bii, Christopher Ouma, John Odhiambo

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Non-response is a potential source of errors in sample surveys. It introduces bias and large variance in the estimation of finite population parameters. Regression models have been recognized as one of the techniques of reducing bias and variance due to random non-response using auxiliary data. In this study, it is assumed that random non-response occurs in the survey variable in the second stage of cluster sampling, assuming full auxiliary information is available throughout. Auxiliary information is used at the estimation stage via a regression model to address the problem of random non-response. In particular, the auxiliary information is used via an improved Nadaraya-Watson kernel regression technique to compensate for random non-response. The asymptotic bias and mean squared error of the estimator proposed are derived. Besides, a simulation study conducted indicates that the proposed estimator has smaller values of the bias and smaller mean squared error values compared to existing estimators of finite population mean. The proposed estimator is also shown to have tighter confidence interval lengths at a 95% coverage rate. The results obtained in this study are useful, for instance, in choosing efficient estimators of the finite population mean in demographic sample surveys.

Keywords: mean squared error, random non-response, two-stage cluster sampling, confidence interval lengths

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Authors: S. Nandagopalan, N. Pradeep

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The aim of this paper is to propose a general framework for storing, analyzing, and extracting knowledge from two-dimensional echocardiographic images, color Doppler images, non-medical images, and general data sets. A number of high performance data mining algorithms have been used to carry out this task. Our framework encompasses four layers namely physical storage, object identification, knowledge discovery, user level. Techniques such as active contour model to identify the cardiac chambers, pixel classification to segment the color Doppler echo image, universal model for image retrieval, Bayesian method for classification, parallel algorithms for image segmentation, etc., were employed. Using the feature vector database that have been efficiently constructed, one can perform various data mining tasks like clustering, classification, etc. with efficient algorithms along with image mining given a query image. All these facilities are included in the framework that is supported by state-of-the-art user interface (UI). The algorithms were tested with actual patient data and Coral image database and the results show that their performance is better than the results reported already.

Keywords: active contour, Bayesian, echocardiographic image, feature vector

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Authors: Marc S. Paolella, Pawel Polak

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The paper proposes a framework for large-scale portfolio optimization which accounts for all the major stylized facts of multivariate financial returns, including volatility clustering, dynamics in the dependency structure, asymmetry, heavy tails, and non-ellipticity. It introduces a so-called risk fear portfolio strategy which combines portfolio optimization with active risk monitoring. The former selects optimal portfolio weights. The latter, independently, initiates market exit in case of excessive risks. The strategy agrees with the stylized fact of stock market major sell-offs during the initial stage of market downturns. The advantages of the new framework are illustrated with an extensive empirical study. It leads to superior multivariate density and Value-at-Risk forecasting, and better portfolio performance. The proposed risk fear portfolio strategy outperforms various competing types of optimal portfolios, even in the presence of conservative transaction costs and frequent rebalancing. The risk monitoring of the optimal portfolio can serve as an early warning system against large market risks. In particular, the new strategy avoids all the losses during the 2008 financial crisis, and it profits from the subsequent market recovery.

Keywords: comfort, financial crises, portfolio optimization, risk monitoring

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Authors: Seyi Olalekan Olawuyi, Abbyssiania Mushunje

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The potential benefits of agricultural production to improve the welfare condition of smallholder farmers in developing countries is no more a news because it has been widely documented. Yet majority of these farming households suffer from shortfall in production output to meet both the consumption needs and market demand which adversely affects output market participation and by extension welfare condition. Therefore, this study investigated the impacts of output market participation on households’ welfare of cassava-based farmers in Oyo State, Nigeria. Multistage sampling technique was used to select 324 sample size used for this study. The findings from the data obtained and analyzed through composite score and crosstab analysis revealed that there is varying degree of output market participation among the farmers which also translate to the observed welfare profile differentials in the study area. The probit model analysis with respect to the selection equation identified gender of household head, household size, access to remittance, off-farm income and ownership of farmland as significant drivers of output market participation in the study area. Furthermore, the treatment effect model of the welfare equation and propensity score matching (PSM) technique were used as robust checks; and the findings attest to the fact that, complimentarily with other significant variables highlighted in this study, output market participation indeed has a significant impact on farming households’ welfare. As policy implication inferences, the study recommends female active inclusiveness and empowerment in farming activities, birth control strategies, secondary income smoothing activities and discouragement of land fragmentation habits, to boost productivity and output market participation, which by extension can significantly improve farming households’ welfare.

Keywords: Cassava market participation, households' welfare, propensity score matching, treatment effect model

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Authors: Tingyu Zhang

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The horizontal ecological compensation (HEC) mechanism is the key to stimulating the active participation of the whole basin in ecological protection. In this paper, we construct an evolutionary model for HEC in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) basin with the introduction of the central government constraint and incentive mechanism (CGCIM) and explore the conditions for the realization of a (Protection and compensation) strategy that meets the social expectations. Further, the water quality-water quantity model is utilized to measure the HEC amount with the characteristic factual data of the YREB in 2020-2022. The results show that the stability of the evolutionary game model of upstream and downstream governments in the YREB is closely related to the CGCIM. If (Protection Compensation) is to be realized as the only evolutionary stable strategy of the evolutionary game system composed of upstream and downstream governments, it is necessary for the CGCIM to satisfy that the sum of the incentives for the protection side and its unilateral or bilateral constraints is greater than twice the input cost of the active strategy, and the sum of the incentives for the compensation side and its unilateral or bilateral constraints is greater than the amount of ecological compensation that needs to be paid by it when it adopts the active strategy. At this point, the total amount of HEC that the downstream government should give to the upstream government of the YREB is 2856.7 million yuan in 2020, 5782.1 million yuan in 2021, and 23166.7 million yuan in 2022. The results of the study can provide a reference for promoting the improvement and refinement of the HEC mechanism in the YREB.

Keywords: horizontal ecological compensation, Yangtze river economic belt, evolutionary game analysis, water quality and quantity model research on territorial ecological restoration in Mianzhu city, Sichuan, under the dual evaluation framework

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Authors: Amarjyoti Das Mahapatra, Umesh Kumar, Bhaskar Datta

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A pseudo peptide can mimic the biological or structural properties of natural peptides. They have become an increasing attention in medicinal chemistry because of their interesting advantages like more bioavailability and less biodegradation than compare to the physiologically active native peptides which increase their therapeutic applications. Many biologically active compounds contain urea as functional groups, and they have improved pharmacokinetic properties because of their bioavailability and metabolic stability. Recently we have reported a single-step synthesis of sulfonyl urea and sulfonyltriuret from sulfonyl chloride and sodium cyanate. But the yield of sulfonyltriuret was less around 40-60% because of the formation of other products like sulfonamide and sulfonylureas. In the present work, we mainly focused on the selective synthesis of sulfonyltriuret using tetrabutylammonium cyanate and sulfonyl chloride. More precisely, we are interested in the controlled synthesis of oligomeric urea mainly sulfonyltriuret as a new class of pseudo peptide and their application as protease modulators. The distinctive architecture of these molecules in the form of their pseudo-peptide backbone offers promise as a potential pharmacophore. The synthesized molecules have been screened on trypsin enzyme, and we observed that these molecules are the efficient modulator of trypsin enzyme.

Keywords: pseudo peptide, pharmacophore, sulfonyltriuret, trypsin

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Authors: Robert Dutkiewicz, Monika Szpringer, Mariola Wojciechowska

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Physical activity is one of the factors greatly influencing healthy lifestyle. The recent research into physical activity of the Polish society reveals that contribution of physical culture to healthy lifestyle is insufficient. Students, regardless of age, spend most of free-time in front of a TV or computer. The research attempted to identify the level of physical activity and healthy lifestyle among students of medical sciences and other students doing their teaching degrees. The findings of physical activity research conducted in 2014, which covered 364 students of medical sciences and future teachers from the University of Jan Kochanowski in Kielce were analysed. The research involved the method of diagnostic survey based on a questionnaire. It attempted to establish to what extent such factors as the field of studies, the place of residence and BMI affect students’ physical activity. Empirical material was analysed by means of SPSS/PC, the leading statistical software. The field of study significantly influences physical activity of the respondents. The students of physiotherapy and public health tend to be more physically active than students of biology and geography: 46.8% students of geography and 51.8 % biology students seldom take up physical activity. Obesity and overweight are currently serious problems of university students: 6.6% of them are obese and 19% overweight. It is alarming that these students are not willing to find ways to be more physically active. Most of the obese and overweight respondents study biology or geography and live in a rural area. Unequal chances in terms of youth physical culture are determined by the differences between rural and urban environments. Young people living in rural areas are less physically active, particularly in terms of the frequency and the amount of time devoted to physical activity. This is caused by poor infrastructure to perform physical activity, the lack of or limited number of sports clubs and centres. It is thought-provoking that most of the students claim that they do not have enough time to do sports or other activities, but at the same time they spend a lot of time at a computer or watching TV.

Keywords: BMI, healthy lifestyle, sports activity, students

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Authors: Dong-Cheol Jeong, Jookyung Lee, Yu Hyeon Ro, Changsik Song

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The design and synthesis of photo-active polymeric systems are important in regard to solar energy harvesting and utilization. In this study, we synthesized photo-active polymer, thin films, and polymer gel via iterative self-assembly using reversible metal-terpyridine (M-tpy) interactions. The photocurrent generated in the polymeric thin films with Zn(II) was much higher than those of other films. Apparent diffusion rate constant (kapp) was measured for the electron hopping process via potential-step chronoamperometry. As a result, the kapp for the polymeric thin films with Zn(II) was almost two times larger than those with other metal ions. We found that the anodic photocurrents increased with the inclusion of the multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWNT) layer. Inclusion of MWNTs can provide efficient electron transfer pathways. In addition, polymer gel based on interactions between terpyridine and metal ions was shown the photocatalytic activity. Interestingly, in the Mg-terpyridine gel, the reaction rate of benzylamine to imine photo-oxidative coupling was faster than Fe-terpyridine gel because the Mg-terpyridine gel has two steps electron transfer pathway but Fe-terpyridine gel has three steps electron transfer pathway.

Keywords: terpyridine, photocatalyst, self-assebly, metal-ligand

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Authors: Abdullah Pandang, Mantasiah Rivai, Nur Fadhilah Umar, Azam Arifyadi

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This study aims to measure the validity of the politeness behaviour scale and obtain a model that fits the scale. The researcher developed the Politeness Behavior on Communicating (PBC) scale. The research method uses descriptive quantitative by developing the PBC scale. The population in this study were students in three provinces, namely South Sulawesi, West Sulawesi, and Central Sulawesi, recorded in the 2022/2023 academic year. The sampling technique used stratified random sampling by determining the number of samples using the Slovin formula. The sample of this research is 1200 students. This research instrument uses the PBC scale, which consists of 5 (five) indicators: self-regulation of compensation behaviour, self-efficacy of compensation behaviour, fulfilment of social expectations, positive feedback, and no strings attached. The PBC scale consists of 34 statement items. The data analysis technique is divided into two types: the validity test on the correlated item values and the item reliability test referring to Cronbach's and McDonald's alpha standards using the JASP application. Furthermore, the data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The results showed that the adaptation of the Politeness Behavior on Communicating (PBC) scale was on the Fit Index with a chi-square value (711,800/375), RMSEA (0.53), GFI (0.990), CFI (0.987), GFI (0.985).

Keywords: polite behavior in communicating, positive communication, exploration factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis

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Authors: O. J. Ajayi, J. H. Tsado, F. Olah

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The study analyzed the effect of information and communication technology (ICT) usage on cassava farmers in Otukpo local government area of Benue state, Nigeria. Primary data was collected from 120 randomly selected cassava farmers using multi-stage sampling technique. A structured questionnaire and interview schedule was employed to generate data. Data were analyzed using descriptive (frequency, mean and percentage) and inferential statistics (OLS (ordinary least square) and Chi-square). The result revealed that majority (78.3%) were within the age range of 21-50 years implying that the respondents were within the active age for maximum production. 96.8% of the respondents had one form of formal education or the other. The sources of ICT facilities readily available in area were radio(84.2%), television(64.2%) and mobile phone(90.8%) with the latter being the most relied upon for cassava farming. Most of the farmers were aware (98.3%) and had access (95.8%) to these ICT facilities. The dependence on mobile phone and radio were highly relevant in cassava stem selection, land selection, land preparation, cassava planting technique, fertilizer application and pest and disease management. The value of coefficient of determination (R2) indicated an 89.1% variation in the output of cassava farmers explained by the inputs indicated in the regression model implying that, there is a positive and significant relationship between the inputs and output. The results also indicated that labour, fertilizer and farm size were significant at 1% level of probability while ICT use was significant at 10%. Further findings showed that finance (78.3%) was the major constraint associated with ICT use. Recommendations were made on strengthening the use of ICT especially contemporary ones like the computer and internet among farmers for easy information sourcing which can boost agricultural production, improve livelihood and subsequently food security. This may be achieved by providing credit or subsidies and information centres like telecentres and cyber cafes through government assistance or partnership.

Keywords: ICT, cassava farmers, inputs, output

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Authors: A. Anandha Selvan, B. Malarvizhi

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In recent year the problem of space debris have become very serious. The mass of the artificial objects in orbit increased quite steadily at the rate of about 145 metric tons annually, leading to a total tally of approximately 7000 metric tons. Now most of space debris object orbiting in LEO region about 97%. The catastrophic collision can be mostly occurred in LEO region, where this collision generate the new debris. Thus, we propose a concept for cleaning the space debris in the region of thermosphere by passing the Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) radiation to in front of space debris object from the re-orbiter. So in our concept the Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) radiation will create the thermosphere expansion by reacting with atmospheric gas particles. So the drag is produced in front of the space debris object by thermosphere expansion. This drag force is high enough to slow down the space debris object’s relative velocity. Therefore the space debris object gradually reducing the altitude and finally enter into the earth’s atmosphere. After the first target is removed, the re-orbiter can be goes into next target. This method remove the space debris object without catching debris object. Thus it can be applied to a wide range of debris object without regard to their shapes or rotation. This paper discusses the operation of re-orbiter for removing the space debris in thermosphere region.

Keywords: active space debris removal, space debris, LEO, extreme ultraviolet, re-orbiter, thermosphere

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Authors: Rongbo Shen, Jianhua Yao, Kezhou Yan, Kuan Tian, Cheng Jiang, Ke Zhou

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This study proposes a generative adversarial networks (GAN) framework to perform synthetic sampling in feature space, i.e., feature augmentation, to address the class imbalance problem in medical image analysis. A feature extraction network is first trained to convert images into feature space. Then the GAN framework incorporates adversarial learning to train a feature generator for the minority class through playing a minimax game with a discriminator. The feature generator then generates features for minority class from arbitrary latent distributions to balance the data between the majority class and the minority class. Additionally, a data cleaning technique, i.e., Tomek link, is employed to clean up undesirable conflicting features introduced from the feature augmentation and thus establish well-defined class clusters for the training. The experiment section evaluates the proposed method on two medical image analysis tasks, i.e., mass classification on mammogram and cancer metastasis classification on histopathological images. Experimental results suggest that the proposed method obtains superior or comparable performance over the state-of-the-art counterparts. Compared to all counterparts, our proposed method improves more than 1.5 percentage of accuracy.

Keywords: class imbalance, synthetic sampling, feature augmentation, generative adversarial networks, data cleaning

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Authors: Yu-Wen Lin, Chin-Sheng Tang, Wan-Yi Chen

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Various biological specimens, drugs, and chemicals exist in the hospital. The medical staffs and hypersensitive inpatients expose might expose to multiple hazards while they work or stay in the hospital. Therefore, the indoor air quality (IAQ) of the hospital should be paid more attention. Respiratory care wards (RCW) are responsible for caring the patients who cannot spontaneously breathe without the ventilators. The patients in RCW are easy to be infected. Compared to the bacteria concentrations of other hospital units, RCW came with higher values in other studies. This research monitored the IAQ of the RCW and checked the compliances of the indoor air quality standards of Taiwan Indoor Air Quality Act. Meanwhile, the influential factors of IAQ and the impacts of ventilator modules, with humidifier or with filter, were investigated. The IAQ of two five-bed wards and one nurse station of a RCW in a regional hospital were monitored. The monitoring was proceeded for 16 hours or 24 hours during the sampling days with a sampling frequency of 20 minutes per hour. The monitoring was performed for two days in a row and the AIQ of the RCW were measured for eight days in total. The concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO₂), carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter (PM), nitrogen oxide (NOₓ), total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs), relative humidity (RH) and temperature were measured by direct reading instruments. The bioaerosol samples were taken hourly. The hourly air change rate (ACH) was calculated by measuring the air ventilation volume. Human activities were recorded during the sampling period. The linear mixed model (LMM) was applied to illustrate the impact factors of IAQ. The concentrations of CO, CO₂, PM, bacterial and fungi exceeded the Taiwan IAQ standards. The major factors affecting the concentrations of CO, PM₁ and PM₂.₅ were location and the number of inpatients. The significant factors to alter the CO₂ and TVOC concentrations were location and the numbers of in-and-out staff and inpatients. The number of in-and-out staff and the level of activity affected the PM₁₀ concentrations statistically. The level of activity and the numbers of in-and-out staff and inpatients are the significant factors in changing the bacteria and fungi concentrations. Different models of the patients’ ventilators did not affect the IAQ significantly. The results of LMM can be utilized to predict the pollutant concentrations under various environmental conditions. The results of this study would be a valuable reference for air quality management of RCW.

Keywords: respiratory care ward, indoor air quality, linear mixed model, bioaerosol

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Authors: Adam Modu Abbas

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Nigeria, due to its location, size and population is very vulnerable to the impact of climate change. Little effort is however made to address most of the problems, despite the fact that sufficient understanding is made on the impact of climate change and problems emanating from it are also always being propagated. Migration, one of the resultant effects of climate change is however given less attention. This paper focuses on the climate change impact and one of resulting effects, migration and its associated problems. Purposive sampling technique was adopted in sampling 250 respondents who were mainly family members of out-migrants from Ngala and Kala-Balge LGAs of North-eastern Borno State, Nigeria. Available literatures were consulted for the types of climate change impacts. The results revealed that, climate change leads to climatic variation over the space with numerous effects on the environment such as intermittent droughts, desertification/deforestation, low water table and establishment of dams across the courses of the main sources of water supply to the Lake Chad. Many people in the study area either migrated to Cameroon’s Darrak, Lake Doi and Mayo Mbund, Lagos, Nigeria, leaving some members of their families at home. More than half of respondents indicated that the heads of the households migrated as a result of poor harvest due to diminishing or fluctuating rains/drought and/or drying of river Surbewel. It is recommended that; inter-basin water transfers should be embarked upon.

Keywords: climate, change, migration, dam, intermittent

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Authors: Elaine Wong

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This research protocol aims to explore and justify the need for nutrition and physical activity intervention to improve health outcomes among SME (Small Medium Enterprise) employees. It was found that the worksite is an ideal and convenient setting for employees to take charge of their health thru active participation in health programmes since they spent a great deal of time at their workplace. This study will examine the impact of both general or/and targeted health interventions in both SME and non-SME companies utilizing the Workplace Health Promotion (WHP) grant over a 12 months period and assessed the improvement in chronic health disease outcomes in Singapore. Random sampling of both non-SME and SME companies will be conducted to undergo health intervention and statistical packages such as Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) 25 will be used to examine the impact of both general and targeted interventions on employees who participate and those who do not participate in the intervention and their effects on blood glucose (BG), blood lipid, blood pressure (BP), body mass index (BMI), and body fat percentage. Using focus groups and interviews, the data results will be transcribed to investigate enablers and barriers to workplace health intervention revealed by employees and WHP coordinators that could explain the variation in the health screening results across the organisations. Dietary habits and physical activity levels of the employees participating and not participating in the intervention will be collected before and after intervention to assess any changes in their lifestyle practices. It makes economic sense to study the impact of these interventions on health screening outcomes across various organizations that are existing grant recipients to justify the sustainability of these programmes by the local government. Healthcare policy makers and employers can then tailor appropriate and relevant programmes to manage these escalating chronic health disease conditions which is integral to the competitiveness and productivity of the nation’s workforce.

Keywords: chronic diseases, health screening, nutrition and fitness intervention , workplace health

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Authors: Sathiya Susuman Appunni

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Background: This article reviews the self-reported pregnancies among teenage girls currently attending secondary school in South Africa. The study aim is to examine the demographic and socio-economic factors associated with self-reported pregnancies among teenage girls currently attending secondary school in the study area. Data and Methods: Secondary data drawn from the General Household Surveys 2016 and Community Survey 2016 as well as 10 % sample data from the 2011 South African census were used. Bivariate, and Multivariate analyses were carried in order to meet the aims of the study. Results: The independent variable identified was the number of economically active people in the household, which indicated 3.3% in 2011 and 3.6% in 2016 for the household with no economically active member. Among the provinces, Limpopo has been leading by 5.2% of self-reported pregnancies among the girls currently attending secondary school in South Africa. Conclusion: It is recommended that the needs to be special health policies and strategies in place to address this epidemic and such policies need to be targeted to the different needs of teenagers in the different demarcations of the country.

Keywords: pregnancy prevalence, demographic, household, teenage girls, socio-economic

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Authors: Chuanxiang Cheng, Tiantian Min, Jin Yue

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Antimicrobial active packaging enables extensive biological effects to improve food safety. However, the efficacy of antimicrobial packaging hinges on factors including the diffusion rate of the active agent toward the food surface, the initial content in the antimicrobial agent, and the targeted food shelf life. Among the possibilities of antimicrobial packaging design, an interesting approach involves the incorporation of volatile antimicrobial agents into the packaging material. In this case, the necessity for direct contact between the active packaging material and the food surface is mitigated, as the antimicrobial agent exerts its action through the packaging headspace atmosphere towards the food surface. However, it still remains difficult to achieve controlled and precise release of bioactive compounds to the specific target location with required quantity in food packaging applications. Remarkably, the development of stimuli-responsive materials for electrospinning has introduced the possibility of achieving controlled release of active agents under specific conditions, thereby yielding enduring biological effects. Relative humidity (RH) for the storage of food categories such as meat and aquatic products typically exceeds 90%. Consequently, high RH can be used as an abiotic trigger for the release of active agents to prevent microbial growth. Hence, a novel RH - responsive polyvinyl alcohol/chitosan (PVA/CS) composite nanofibrous film incorporated with 4-terpineol/β-cyclodextrin inclusion complexes (4-TA@β-CD ICs) was engineered by electrospinning that can be deposited as a functional packaging materials. The characterization results showed the thermal stability of the films was enhanced after the incorporation due to the hydrogen bonds between ICs and polymers. Remarkably, the 4 wt% 4-TA@β-CD ICs/PVA/CS film exhibited enhanced crystallinity, moderate hydrophilic (Water contact angle of 81.53°), light barrier property (Transparency of 1.96%) and water resistance (Water vapor permeability of 3.17 g mm/m2 h kPa). Moreover, this film also showed optimized mechanical performance with a Young’s modulus of 11.33 MPa, a tensile strength of 19.99 MPa and an elongation at break of 4.44 %. Notably, the antioxidant and antibacterial properties of this packaging material were significantly improved. The film demonstrated the half-inhibitory concentrations (IC50) values of 87.74% and 85.11% for scavenging 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2, 2′-azinobis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic) (ABTS) free radicals, respectively, in addition to an inhibition efficiency of 65% against Shewanella putrefaciens, the characteristic bacteria in aquatic products. Most importantly, the film achieved controlled release of 4-TA under high 98% RH by inducing the plasticization of polymers caused by water molecules, swelling of polymer chains, and destruction of hydrogen bonds within the cyclodextrin inclusion complex. Consequently, low relative humidity is suitable for the preservation of nanofibrous film, while high humidity conditions typical in fresh food packaging environments effectively stimulated the release of active compounds in the film. This film with a long-term antimicrobial effect successfully extended the shelf life of Litopenaeus vannamei shrimp to 7 days at 4 °C. This attractive design could pave the way for the development of new food packaging materials.

Keywords: controlled release, electrospinning, nanofibrous film, relative humidity–responsive, shrimp preservation

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Authors: Sarojini Imran, Riza Firmansyah, Aula Ramadhan, Chudamul Furqon, Achfriyatama Oktariflandi

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This article delves into the participatory approach in formulating a master plan for the development of pioneer village tourism in Cibubuan, Sumedang. We explore the process of participatory mapping that involves the active participation of the local community in planning and envisioning the future of village tourism. This research considers the positive impact that arises when the community takes an active role in designing a master plan that benefits the local economy while preserving culture and the environment. The results of this research reveal that the participatory approach can create a more accurate and community-responsive mapping that aligns with the aspirations of the people in Cibubuan Village. It also provides a deep insight into how community-developed mapping can guide the development of sustainable tourism. By offering a deeper understanding of the participatory role in village tourism development planning, this article provides essential insights for stakeholders and researchers in this field. We hope this article will inspire more communities to adopt a participatory approach in planning the future of their village tourism.

Keywords: participatory masterplan, pioneer village tourism, sustainable tourism, community engagement, Cibubuan Village

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Authors: Pei Li, Chunyi Zhi

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Conversion-type lithium-ion batteries show great potential as high-energy-density, low-cost and sustainable alternatives to current transition-metal-based intercalation cells. Li-Cl₂/Li⁻I₂ conversion batteries, based on anionic redox reactions of Cl⁻/Cl⁰ or I⁻/I⁰, are highly attractive due to their superior voltage and capacity. However, a redox-active and reversible chlorine cathode has not been developed in organic electrolytes. And thermodynamic instability and shuttling issues of iodine cathodes have plagued the active iodine loading, capacity retention and cyclability. By reversible chemical bonds, we develop reversible chlorine redox reactions in organic electrolytes with interhalogen bonds between I and Cl for Li-I₂ batteries and develop a highly thermally stable I/I₃--bonded organic salts with iodine content up to 80% as cathode materials for the rechargeable Li-I₂ batteries. The demonstration of reversible chemical bonds enabled rechargeable Li-halogen batteries opens a new avenue to develop halogen compound cathodes.

Keywords: conversion-type, chlorine, halogen cathode, high energy density, iodine, interhalogen bond, lithium-ion batteries

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Authors: Abdul Haris Setiawan

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Teachers empowerment is one of the important factors considered to contribute significantly to the achievement of the national education goals. This study was conducted to determine the influence on the vocational teachers empowerment toward the performance of the vocational high schools based on the Education National Standards of Indonesia. The population of the study was all vocational teachers at the State Vocational High schools in Surakarta, Central Java Province, Indonesia. The sampling technique used proportional random sampling technique. This study used a quantitative descriptive statistical analysis techniques. The data was collected using questionnaires. The data has been collected and then tested using analysis requirements test. Having tested using the requirements analysis and then the data processed using regression analysis between the independent and dependent variables to determine the effect and the regression equation. The results of the study found that the level of vocational high schools’ performance based on the Education National Standards of Indonesia was 74.29%, including in the high category; the level of vocational teachers empowerment was 76.20%, including in the high category; there was a positive influence of vocational teachers empowerment toward the vocational high schools’ performance based on the Education National Standards of Indonesia with a correlation coefficient of 0,886, and a contribution of 78.50% with the regression equation Y = 79.431 +0.534 X.

Keywords: vocational teachers, empowerment, vocational high school, the education national standards

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Authors: Nesrine Frifita, Mohamed Gharbi, Kevin Mickus

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Physical methods based on gravity, seismic and seismological data were adopted to clarify the relationship between the distribution of seismicity and the crustal deformations under the chott belts and surrounding regions, in southern atlas of Tunisia. Gafsa and its surrounding were described as a moderate seismic zone, and the fault of Gafsa is one of most seismically active faults in Tunisia in general, and in the southern Atlas in particularly. The present work aims to prove a logical relationship between the distribution of seismicity and deformations which strongly related to thickness and density variations within the basement and sedimentary cover along the study area, through several physical methods; gravity, seismic and seismological data were interpreted to calculate physical propriety of the subsurface rocks, the depth and geometry of active faults and causatives bodies. Findings show that depths variation and mixed thin and thick skinned structural style characterizing the chott belts explain the moderate seismicity in the study area.

Keywords: potential fields, seismicity, Southern Atlas, Tunisia

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Authors: Miroslava Markovic, Snezana Rajkovic, Ljubinko Rakonjac, Aleksandar Lucic

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Oak powdery mildew is a serious problem on seedlings in nurseries as well as on naturally and artificially introduced progeny. The experiments were set on oak seedlings in two nurseries located in Central Serbia, where control of oak powdery mildew Microsphaera alphitoides Griff. et Maubl. had been conducted through alternative protection measures by means of various dosages of AQ-10 biofungicide, with and without added polymer (which has so far never been used in this country for control of oak powdery mildew). Simultaneous testing was conducted on the efficiency of a chemical sulphur-based preparation (used in this area for many years as a measure of suppression of powdery mildews, without the possibility of developing resistance of the pathogen to the active matter). To date, the Republic of Serbia has registered no fungicides for suppression of pathogens in the forest ecosystems. In order to introduce proper use of new disease-fighting agents into a country, certain relevant principles, requirements and criteria prescribed by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) must be observed, primarily with respect to measures of assessment and mitigation of risks, the list of dangerous and highly dangerous pesticides with the possibility of alternative protection. One of the main goals of the research was adjustment of the protective measures to the FSC policy through selection of eco-toxicologically favourable fungicides, given the fact that only preparations named on the list of permitted active matters are approved for use in certified forests. The results of the research have demonstrated that AQ-10 biofungicide can be used as a part of integrated disease management programmes as an alternative, through application of several treatments during vegetation and combination with other active matters registered for these purposes, so as to curtail the use of standard fungicides for control of powdery mildews on oak seedlings in nurseries. The best results in suppression of oak powdery mildew were attained through use of AQ-10 biofungicide (dose 50 or 70g/ha) with added polymer Nu Film-17 (dose 1.0 or 1.5 l/ha). If the treatment is applied at the appropriate time, even fewer number of treatments and smaller doses will be just as efficient.

Keywords: oak powdery mildew, biofungicides, polymers, Microsphaera alphitoides

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Authors: Terry Teo, Sun Woh Lye, Yufei Li, Zainuddin Zakaria

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Wearable devices such as Electroencephalography (EEG) hold immense potential in the monitoring and assessment of a person’s task engagement. This is especially so in remote or online sites. Research into its use in measuring an individual's cognitive state while performing task activities is therefore expected to increase. Despite the growing number of EEG research into brain functioning activities of a person, key challenges remain in adopting EEG for real-time operations. These include limited portability, long preparation time, high number of channel dimensionality, intrusiveness, as well as level of accuracy in acquiring neurological data. This paper proposes an approach using a 4-6 EEG channels to determine the cognitive states of a subject when undertaking a set of passive and active monitoring tasks of a subject. Air traffic controller (ATC) dynamic-tasks are used as a proxy. The work found that when using the channel reduction and identifier algorithm, good trend adherence of 89.1% can be obtained between a commercially available BCI 14 channel Emotiv EPOC+ EEG headset and that of a carefully selected set of reduced 4-6 channels. The approach can also identify different levels of engagement activities ranging from general monitoring ad hoc and repeated active monitoring activities involving information search, extraction, and memory activities.

Keywords: assessment, neurophysiology, monitoring, EEG

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Authors: S. Nandagopalan, N. Pradeep

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The aim of this paper is to propose a general framework for storing, analyzing, and extracting knowledge from two-dimensional echocardiographic images, color Doppler images, non-medical images, and general data sets. A number of high performance data mining algorithms have been used to carry out this task. Our framework encompasses four layers namely physical storage, object identification, knowledge discovery, user level. Techniques such as active contour model to identify the cardiac chambers, pixel classification to segment the color Doppler echo image, universal model for image retrieval, Bayesian method for classification, parallel algorithms for image segmentation, etc., were employed. Using the feature vector database that have been efficiently constructed, one can perform various data mining tasks like clustering, classification, etc. with efficient algorithms along with image mining given a query image. All these facilities are included in the framework that is supported by state-of-the-art user interface (UI). The algorithms were tested with actual patient data and Coral image database and the results show that their performance is better than the results reported already.

Keywords: active contour, bayesian, echocardiographic image, feature vector

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Authors: Ali Akbar Heydari

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Control charts are an important tool of statistical quality control. Thesecharts are used to detect and eliminate unwanted special causes of variation that occurred during aperiod of time. The design and operation of control charts require the determination of three design parameters: the sample size (n), the sampling interval (h), and the width coefficient of control limits (k). Thevariable parameters (VP) x-bar controlchart is the x-barchart in which all the design parameters vary between twovalues. These values are a function of the most recent process information. In fact, in the VP x-bar chart, the position of each sample point on the chart establishes the size of the next sample and the timeof its sampling. The synthetic x-barcontrol chartwhich integrates the x-bar chart and the conforming run length (CRL) chart, provides significant improvement in terms of detection power over the basic x-bar chart for all levels of mean shifts. In this paper, we introduce the syntheticVP x-bar control chart for monitoring changes in the process mean. To determine the design parameters, we used a statistical design based on the minimum out of control average run length (ARL) criteria. The optimal chart parameters of the proposed chart are obtained using the Markov chain approach. A numerical example is also done to show the performance of the proposed chart and comparing it with the other control charts. The results show that our proposed syntheticVP x-bar controlchart perform better than the synthetic x-bar controlchart for all shift parameter values. Also, the syntheticVP x-bar controlchart perform better than the VP x-bar control chart for the moderate or large shift parameter values.

Keywords: control chart, markov chain approach, statistical design, synthetic, variable parameter

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Authors: Olga Leontjeva

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In the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI), some organization management approaches need to be adapted or changed. Human Resource Management (HRM) is a part of organization management that is under the managers' focus nowadays, because AI integration into organization activities brings some HRM-connected challenges. The topic became more significant during the crises of many organizations in the world caused by the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). The paper presents an approach, which will be used for the study that is going to be focused on the various case analysis. The author of the future study will analyze the cases of the organizations from Latvia and Spain that are grouped by the size, type of activity and area of business. The information for the cases will be collected through structured interviews and online surveys. The main result presented is the questionnaire developed that will be used for the study as well as the definition and description of sampling. The first round of the survey will be based on convenience sampling that is the main limitation of the study. To conclude, the approach developed will help to collect valid data if the organizations participating in the survey are ready to share their cases in depth, so the researchers could draw the right conclusions and generalize compared organizations’ cases. The questionnaire developed for the survey is applicable for both written online data collection as well as for the interviews. The case analysis will help to identify some HRM challenges that are connected to AI integration into organization activities such as management of different generation employees and their training peculiarities.

Keywords: age of artificial intelligence, case analysis, generation Y and Z employees, human resource management

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Authors: Hanan Badr, Fahad Manee, Rao Shashidhar, Omar Bayoumy

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Introduction: Hypertension is the major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and stroke and a universe leading cause of disability-adjusted life years and mortality. Adopting an unhealthy lifestyle is thought to be associated with developing hypertension regardless of predisposing genetic factors. This study aimed to examine the association between recreational physical activity (RPA), and sedentary behaviors with a risk of hypertension among ministry employees, where there is no role for occupational physical activity (PA), and to scrutinize participants’ time spent in RPA and sedentary behaviors on the working and weekend days. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among randomly selected 2562 employees working at ten randomly selected ministries in Kuwait. To have a representative sample, the proportional allocation technique was used to define the number of participants in each ministry. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data about participants' socio-demographic characteristics, health status, and their 24 hours’ time use during a regular working day and a weekend day. The time use covered a list of 20 different activities practiced by a person daily. The New Zealand Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (NZPAQ-SF) was used to assess the level of RPA. The scale generates three categories according to the number of hours spent in RPA/week: relatively inactive, relatively active, and highly active. Gender-matched trained nurses performed anthropometric measurements (weight and height) and measuring blood pressure (two readings) using an automatic blood pressure monitor (95% accuracy level compared to a calibrated mercury sphygmomanometer). Results: Participants’ mean age was 35.3±8.4 years, with almost equal gender distribution. About 13% of the participants were smokers, and 75% were overweight. Almost 10% reported doctor-diagnosed hypertension. Among those who did not, the mean systolic blood pressure was 119.9±14.2 and the mean diastolic blood pressure was 80.9±7.3. Moreover, 73.9% of participants were relatively physically inactive and 18% were highly active. Mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure showed a significant inverse association with the level of RPA (means of blood pressure measures were: 123.3/82.8 among relatively inactive, 119.7/80.4 among relatively active, and 116.6/79.6 among highly active). Furthermore, RPA occupied 1.6% and 1.8% of working and weekend days, respectively, while sedentary behaviors (watching TV, using electronics for social media or entertaining, etc.) occupied 11.2% and 13.1%, respectively. Sedentary behaviors were significantly associated with high levels of systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Binary logistic regression revealed that physical inactivity (OR=3.13, 95% CI: 2.25-4.35) and sedentary behaviors (OR=2.25, CI: 1.45-3.17) were independent risk factors for high systolic and diastolic blood pressure after adjustment for other covariates. Conclusions: Physical inactivity and sedentary lifestyle were associated with a high risk of hypertension. Further research to examine the independent role of RPA in improving blood pressure levels and cultural and occupational barriers for practicing RPA are recommended. Policies should be enacted in promoting PA in the workplace that might help in decreasing the risk of hypertension among sedentary occupation workers.

Keywords: physical activity, sedentary behaviors, hypertension, workplace

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