Search results for: Delphi technique questionnaire

Authors: Abiodun Ezekiel Adesina, Ijeoma Ginikanwa Akubugwo

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Information and Communication Technology, ICT can heighten pre-service teachers’ attitudes toward learning and metacognitive learning; however, there is a dearth of literature on the perception of the pre-service teachers on heightening their attitude toward learning and metacognitive learning. Thus, this study investigates the perception of pre-service science teachers on heightening their attitude towards learning and metacognitive learning through ICT. Two research questions and four hypotheses guided the research. A mixed methods research was adopted for the study in concurrent triangulation type of integrating qualitative and quantitative approaches to the study. The cluster random sampling technique was adopted to select 250 pre-service science teachers in Oyo township. Two self-constructed instruments: Heightening Pre-service Science Teachers’ Attitude towards Learning and Metacognitive Learning through Information and Communication Technology Scale (HPALMIS, r=.73), and an unstructured interview were used for data collection. Thematic analysis, frequency counts and percentages, t-tests, and analysis of variance were used for data analysis. The perception level of the pre-service science teachers on heightening their attitude towards learning and metacognitive learning through ICT is above average, with the majority perceiving that ICT can enhance their thinking about their learning. The perception was significant (mean=92.68, SD=10.86, df=249, t=134.91, p<.05). The perception was significantly differentiated by gender (t=2.10, df= 248, p<.05) in favour of the female pre-service teachers and based on the first time of ICTs use (F(5,244)= 9.586, p<.05). Lecturers of science and science related courses should therefore imbibe the use of ICTs in heightening pre-service teachers’ attitude towards learning and metacognitive learning. Government should organize workshops, seminars, lectures, and symposia along with professional bodies for the science education lecturers to keep abreast of the trending ICT.

Keywords: pre-service teachers’ attitude towards learning, metacognitive learning, ICT, pre-service teachers’ perspectives

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Authors: Messaoud Eljamai, Sami Hidouri

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Massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) is an emerging technology for new cellular networks such as 5G systems. Its principle is to use many antennas per cell in order to maximize the network's spectral efficiency. Inter-cellular interference remains a fundamental problem. The use of massive MIMO will not derogate from the rule. It improves performances only when the number of antennas is significantly greater than the number of users. This, considerably, limits the networks spectral efficiency. In this paper, a coordinated detector for an uplink massive MIMO system is proposed in order to mitigate the inter-cellular interference. The proposed scheme combines the coordinated multipoint technique with an interference-cancelling algorithm. It requires the serving cell to send their received symbols, after processing, decision and error detection, to the interfered cells via a backhaul link. Each interfered cell is capable of eliminating intercellular interferences by generating and subtracting the user’s contribution from the received signal. The resulting signal is more reliable than the original received signal. This allows the uplink massive MIMO system to improve their performances dramatically. Simulation results show that the proposed detector improves system spectral efficiency compared to classical linear detectors.

Keywords: massive MIMO, COMP, interference canceling algorithm, spectral efficiency

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Authors: Juland D. Salayo

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With numerous innovations introduced in the Philippine educational system, the country’s struggle of materializing its national goal of transforming lives ends with great loss. Many agree that the failure to emerge the integral values of the program, framework and the implementers impedes realization. Employing a descriptive-correlational method, it aimed to determine the value clusters of the Grade 9 teachers as assessed by themselves and by the students, the significant difference of the assessed values and the significant difference on the values based on their profile. Respondents were composed of sixty-nine (69) teachers and three hundred forty (340) students using simple random sampling. Through a survey-questionnaire, the study revealed that the teachers have high regards on their self-reliance, honesty and trustworthiness, obedience, politeness and respect and self-discipline and spirituality. In contrast, they have ranked the following values fairly: justice and fairness, courage, responsibility and punctuality and nationalism and patriotism. Having assessed by the students, they have highly regarded their teachers’ self-reliance, responsibility and punctuality, obedience, politeness and respect and fair play and sportsmanship. On the other hand, the student-respondents made a low assessment on the level of the teachers’ justice and fairness, nationalism and patriotism, honesty and trustworthiness and excellence. Using t-test, it showed that there is a significant difference between the assessments of the respondents. Finally, among the demographic profiles, only civil status and age rejected the hypothesis. The following were recommended: provide educators value-enhancement trainings and conferences, organize value-oriented organizations and activities, and make intensive value-campaigns heightening the low-assessed values. Thus, a Revised Values Education Program (RVEP) was made to further meet the objectives of the program, address the needs of its clienteles, and responding to the demands of both education and society towards excellence in service, social and economic revolution, and constructive national goals which are based from integral values.

Keywords: values, value clusters, values education program, values education, teachers' assessed values

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Authors: Ilse Kreme

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To the best of this author’s knowledge, no studies have been identified on the connection between a refusal to engage in health-protective behaviors and a basic understanding of viral biology among community college students, faculty, and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lack of scientific knowledge could prevent understanding of why these behaviors are important to prevent the community spread of COVID-19, even when they are not shown to offer much individual protection. In this study, a possible correlation was examined between a basic knowledge level of viral disease that comes from having taken a college biology course and disease perceptions of COVID-19. In particular, disease risk perception, disease severity percept and mask-wearing behaviors were examined as they correlated with having taken an undergraduate biology course. The effect of covariates of age, gender, and education level were investigated along with the main dependent variables. A representative sample of the population included students, faculty, and staff at Paradise Valley Community College (PVCC) in Phoenix, Arizona. Participants were recruited by an email sent to all students, faculty, and staff at PVCC using an all-college email distribution. Disease risk and severity perception were assessed with the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire 5 (BIP-Q5), which was modified to include questions measuring participant age, education level, and whether they took or ever took a college biology course. Two additional questions measured compliance of willingness to wear a face mask. The results showed an effect of gender on mask-wearing behavior and a correlation between having taken a biology course and disease severity perception. No differences were seen in mask-wearing behavior and disease risk perception as a result of having taken a biology course. These findings suggest that taking an undergraduate biology course leads to a greater awareness of COVID-19 disease severity through an understanding of the basic biological principles of viral disease transmission. The results can be used to modify existing health education strategies. Further research is needed on how to best reach target audiences in all education brackets.

Keywords: COVID-19, education, gender, mask wearing, disease risk perception, disease severity perception

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Authors: Khan R. Rahaman, Quazi K. Hassan

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Global changes in climate, environment, economies, populations, governments, institutions, and cultures converge in localities. Changes at a local scale, in turn, contribute to global changes as well as being affected by them. Our hypothesis is built on a consideration that temperature does vary at local level (i.e., termed as local warming) in comparison to the predicted models at the regional and/or global scale. To date, the bulk of the research relating local places to global climate change has been top-down, from the global toward the local, concentrating on methods of impact analysis that use as a starting point climate change scenarios derived from global models, even though these have little regional or local specificity. Thus, our focus is to understand such trends over the southern Alberta, which will enable decision makers, scientists, researcher community, and local people to adapt their policies based on local level temperature variations and to act accordingly. Specific objectives in this study are: (i) to understand the local warming (temperature in particular) trend in context of temperature normal during the period 1961-2010 at point locations using meteorological data; (ii) to validate the data by using specific yearly data, and (iii) to delineate the spatial extent of the local warming trends and understanding influential factors to adopt situation by local governments. Existing data has brought the evidence of such changes and future research emphasis will be given to validate this hypothesis based on remotely sensed data (i.e. MODIS product by NASA).

Keywords: local warming, climate change, urban area, Alberta, Canada

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Authors: Maheshwari Payal, Shapurkar Mayaan

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The present research aimed at studying the awareness and attitudes of teachers towards inclusive education. The sample consisted of 60 teachers, teaching in the primary section (1st – 4th) of regular schools affiliated to the SSC board in Mumbai. The sample was selected by Multi-stage cluster sampling technique. A semi-structured self-constructed interview schedule and a self-constructed attitude scale were used to study the awareness of teachers about disability and Inclusive education, and their attitudes towards inclusive education respectively. Themes were extracted from the interview data and quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS package. Results revealed that teachers had some amount of awareness but an inadequate amount of information on disabilities and inclusive education. Disability to most (37) teachers meant “an inability to do something”. The difference between disability and handicap was stated by most as former being cognitive while handicap being physical in nature. With regard to Inclusive education, a large number (46) stated that they were unaware of the term and did not know what it meant. The majority (52) of them perceived maximum challenges for themselves in an inclusive set up, and emphasized on the role of teacher training courses in the area of providing knowledge (49) and training in teaching methodology (53). Although, 83.3% of teachers held a moderately positive attitude towards inclusive education, a large percentage (61.6%) of participants felt that being in inclusive set up would be very challenging for both children with special needs and without special needs. Though, most (49) of the teachers stated that children with special needs should be educated in a regular classroom, but they further clarified that only those should be in a regular classroom who have physical impairments of mild or moderate degree.

Keywords: attitude, awareness, inclusive education, teachers

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Authors: R. Stoyanova, R. Dimova, M. Tarnovska, T. Boeva, R. Dimov, I. Doykov

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Patient safety culture (PSC) is an essential component of quality of healthcare. Improving PSC is considered a priority in many developed countries. Specialized software platform for registration and evaluation of hospital patient safety culture has been developed with the support of the Medical University Plovdiv Project №11/2017. The aim of the study is to assess the status of PSC in Bulgarian hospitals and to compare it to that in USA and Croatian hospitals. Methods: The study was conducted from June 01 to July 31, 2018 using the web-based Bulgarian Version of the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture Questionnaire (B-HSOPSC). Two hundred and forty-eight medical professionals from different hospitals in Bulgaria participated in the study. To quantify the differences of positive scores distributions for each of the 42 HSOPSC items between Bulgarian, Croatian and USA samples, the x²-test was applied. The research hypothesis assumed that there are no significant differences between the Bulgarian, Croatian and US PSCs. Results: The results revealed 14 significant differences in the positive scores between the Bulgarian and Croatian PSCs and 15 between the Bulgarian and the USA PSC, respectively. Bulgarian medical professionals provided less positive responses to 12 items compared with Croatian and USA respondents. The Bulgarian respondents were more positive compared to Croatians on the feedback and communication of medical errors (Items - C1, C4, C5) as well as on the employment of locum staff (A7) and the frequency of reported mistakes (D1). Bulgarian medical professionals were more positive compared with their USA colleagues on the communication of information at shift handover and across hospital units (F5, F7). The distribution of positive scores on items: ‘Staff worries that their mistakes are kept in their personnel file’ (RA16), ‘Things ‘fall between the cracks’ when transferring patients from one unit to another’ (RF3) and ‘Shift handovers are problematic for patients in this hospital’ (RF11) were significantly higher among Bulgarian respondents compared with Croatian and US respondents. Conclusions: Significant differences of positive scores distribution were found between Bulgarian and USA PSC on one hand and between Bulgarian and Croatian on the other. The study reveals that distribution of positive responses could be explained by the cultural, organizational and healthcare system differences.

Keywords: patient safety culture, healthcare, HSOPSC, medical error

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Authors: Narava Manose

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Distillation is a very old separation technology for separating liquid mixtures that can be traced back to the chemists in Alexandria in the first century A. D. Today distillation is the most important industrial separation technology. By the eleventh century, distillation was being used in Italy to produce alcoholic beverages. At that time, distillation was probably a batch process based on the use of just a single stage, the boiler. The word distillation is derived from the Latin word destillare, which means dripping or trickling down. By at least the sixteenth century, it was known that the extent of separation could be improved by providing multiple vapor-liquid contacts (stages) in a so called Rectifactorium. The term rectification is derived from the Latin words rectefacere, meaning to improve. Modern distillation derives its ability to produce almost pure products from the use of multi-stage contacting. Throughout the twentieth century, multistage distillation was by far the most widely used industrial method for separating liquid mixtures of chemical components.The basic principle behind this technique relies on the different boiling temperatures for the various components of the mixture, allowing the separation between the vapor from the most volatile component and the liquid of other(s) component(s). •Developed a simple non-linear model of a binary distillation column using Skogestad equations in Simulink. •We have computed the steady-state operating point around which to base our analysis and controller design. However, the model contains two integrators because the condenser and reboiler levels are not controlled. One particular way of stabilizing the column is the LV-configuration where we use D to control M_D, and B to control M_B; such a model is given in cola_lv.m where we have used two P-controllers with gains equal to 10.

Keywords: modelling, distillation column, control, binary distillation

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Authors: Shanorfizah Mohd Safar, Shaizatulaqma Kamalul Ariffin

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Internationalization of halal small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is necessary for SMEs to become more involved in regional trade and business cooperation. By internationalization, SMEs' profit can increase, and market expansion of SMEs is basic for rising economies of countries to contend all around in the halal industry globally. There are several modes of internationalization; exporting is one of the first steps for internationalization with less capital needed. The study examines the influential factors of export performance amongst halal SMEs in Malaysia. Specifically, this study examines the positive and significant relationships amongst human capital, managerial capability, Halal Assurance Management System (HAMS), digital transformation, government support, and networking capability on halal SMEs' export performance toward SMEs' competitive advantage. In addition, this study will examine innovation capabilities as a moderator in the relationship between independence variables and competitive advantage. Competitive advantage is the most compelling perspective that drives the export performance of halal SMEs in Malaysia. A quantitative method will be used: an online questionnaire survey distributed through emails and face-to-face toward selected halal-certificated SMEs registered in JAKIM, MATRADE website and SME Corp Malaysia website. Nevertheless, whether the halal SMEs practice global business, they will still be the potential respondents. The data were examined and obtained using the statistical software Smart PLS. The analysis used is reliability, correlation, and regression analysis to meet the research objectives. This study contributes significantly to the theory by integrating Resource Based View (RBV) theory, Technology–Organization–Environment (TOE) framework and Networking theory. In addition, this research extends the RBV by extending a variable, the Halal Assurance Management System. This study also examines a moderating role of innovation capabilities in the framework and competitive advantage as a mediator. This research aims to analyze the factors that will impact the internationalization of halal SMEs.

Keywords: internationalization, halal SMEs, competitive advantage, export performance

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Authors: A. Sreedevi, G. Anantaramu

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The present space research organizations are striving towards the development of lighter, smaller, more efficient, low cost, and highly reliable power supply. Switch mode power supplies (SMPS) overcome the demerits of linear power supplies such as low efficiency, difficulties in thermal management, and in boosting the output voltage. Space applications require a constant DC voltage to supply its load. As the load varies, the battery terminal voltage tends to vary accordingly. To avoid this variation in the load terminal voltage, a DC-DC regulator is required. The conventional regulator for space applications is isolated boost topology. The proposed topology uses an interleaved push-pull converter with a current doubler secondary to reduce the EMI issues and increase efficiency. The proposed topology uses a floating technique where the converter derives power from the battery and generates only the voltage that is required to fill the gap between the bus and the battery voltage. The direct voltage sense and current loop provide tight regulation of output and better stability. Converter is designed with 50 kHz switching frequency using UC 1825 PWM controller employing both voltage and peak current mode control. Experimental tests have been carried out on the converter under different input and load conditions to validate the design. The experimental results showed that the efficiency was greater than 91%. Stability analysis is done using venable stability analyzer.

Keywords: push pull converter, current doubler, converter, PWM control

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Authors: Amjad Almunyif, Amra Alhassni, Sultan Alhassan, Maryam Al Huwayz, Saud Alotaibi, Abdulaziz Almalki, Mohamed Henini

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The effect of rapid thermal annealing (RTA) on the optical properties of InAs quantum dots (QDs) grown at an As overpressure of 2x 10⁻⁶ Torr by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on (100) and (311)B GaAs substrates was investigated using photoluminescence (PL) technique. PL results showed that for the as-grown samples, the QDs grown on the high index plane (311)B have lower PL intensity and lower full width at half maximum (FWHM) than those grown on the conventional (100) plane. The latter demonstrates that the (311)B QDs have better size uniformity than (100) QDs. Compared with as-grown samples, a blue-shift was observed for all samples with increasing annealing temperature from 600°C to 700°C. For (100) samples, a narrowing of the FWHM was observed with increasing annealing temperature from 600°C to 700°C. However, in (311)B samples, the FWHM showed a different behaviour; it slightly increased when the samples were annealed at 600°C and then decreased when the annealing temperature increased to 700°C. As expected, the PL peak intensity for all samples increased when the laser excitation power increased. The PL peak energy temperature dependence showed a strong redshift when the temperature was increased from 10 K to 120 K. The PL peak energy exhibited an abnormal S-shape behaviour as a function of temperature for all samples. Most samples exhibited a significant enhancement in their activation energies when annealed at 600°C and 700°C, suggesting that annealing annihilated defects created during sample growth.

Keywords: RTA, QDs, InAs, MBE

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Authors: Chandra Sekhar Singh, P. Chakrapani, B. Arun Jyothi, A. Roja Rani

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The green synthesis of metallic nanoparticles (NPs) involves biocompatible ingredients under physiological conditions of temperature and pressure. Moreover, the biologically active molecules involved in the green synthesis of NPs act as functionalizing ligands, making these NPs more suitable for biomedical applications. Among the most important bioreductants are plant extracts, which are relatively easy to handle, readily available, low cost, and have been well explored for the green synthesis of other nanomaterials. Various types of metallic NPs have already been synthesized using plant extracts. They have wide applicability in various areas such as electronics, catalysis, chemistry, energy, and medicine. Metallic nanoparticles are traditionally synthesized by wet chemical techniques, where the chemicals used are quite often toxic and flammable. In our study, we were described a cost effective and environment friendly technique for green synthesis of silver nanoparticles from 1mM AgNO3 solution through the aqueous extract of Erythrina indica as reducing as well as capping agent. Nanoparticles were characterized using UV–Vis absorption spectroscopy, FTIR, XRD, X-ray diffraction, SEM and TEM analysis showed the average particle size of 30 nm as well as revealed their spherical structure. Further these biologically synthesized nanoparticles were found to be highly toxic against different human pathogens viz. two Gram positive namely Klebsiella pneumonia and Bacillus subtilis bacteria and two were Gram negative bacteria namely Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli (E. coli). This is for the first time reporting that Erythrina indica plant extract was used for the synthesis of nanoparticles.

Keywords: silver nanoparticles, green synthesis, antibacterial activity, FTIR, TEM, SEM

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Authors: S. Alsubari, M. Y. M. Zuhri, S. M. Sapuan, M. R. Ishaks

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Sandwich structures based on cellular cores are increasingly being utilized as energy-absorbing components in the industry. However, determining ideal structural configurations remains challenging. This chapter compares the compression properties of flax fiber-reinforced polylactic acid (PLA) of empty honeycomb core, foam-filled honeycomb and double cell wall square interlocking core sandwich structure under quasi-static compression loading. The square interlocking core is fabricated through a slotting technique, whereas the honeycomb core is made using a corrugated mold that was initially used to create the corrugated core composite profile, which is then cut into corrugated webs and assembled to form the honeycomb core. The sandwich structures are tested at a crosshead displacement rate of 2 mm/min. The experimental results showed that honeycomb outperformed the square interlocking core in terms of their strength capability and SEA by around 14% and 34%, respectively. It is observed that the foam-filled honeycomb collapse in a progressive mode, exhibiting noticeable advantages over the empty honeycomb; this is attributed to the interaction between the honeycomb wall and foam filler. Interestingly, the average SEAs of foam-filled and empty honeycomb cores have no significant difference, around 8.7kJ/kg and 8.2kJ/kg, respectively. In contrast, its strength capability is clearly pronounced, in which the foam-filled core outperforms the empty counterparts by around 33%. Finally, the results for empty and foam-filled cores were significantly superior to aluminum cores published in the literature.

Keywords: compressive strength, flax, honeycomb core, specific energy absorption

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Authors: Mohd Fadzly Yahya, Matthew Teo Yong Chang

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Globally, the increasing life expectancy of human beings has brought more issues with non-communicable diseases, especially work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMDs). WMSD also is one of the leading causes of health-related absence from work restricted work time in Malaysia. WMDs are cumulative disorders, resulting from repeated exposure to high or low-intensity loads over a long period. Evidence from a previous study showed that office workers in government and private sectors were showing high WRMDs prevalence in Malaysia. The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of MSDs among Malaysian office workers in Klang Valley and to identify the association between MSDs pain and working experience among office workers. This is a cross-sectional study focusing on officer workers in the Klang Valley area. The questionnaires consisted of the subject’s demographics, Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire, and The Numeric Pain Rating Scale were distributed online via google forms to all consenting participants. The data were analyzed for descriptive analysis, parametric test, and student T-test using IBM SPSS Statistics Version 27. From a total of 244 participants, 95 (38.9%) were male and 149 (61.1%) were female. 57.8% of the total samples were government staff while private-sector workers were 42.2%. The highest MSDs prevalence was neck pain during the last 12 months which contributed to 69.3% (n=169) of total participants, which is male 38.5% (n=65) and female 61.5% (n=104). Our study revealed that female office workers have a higher prevalence of WMDs and there is a significant difference in elbow pain, wrist, and hands pain, and lower back pain across four different working experience groups. Office workers in this study were highly exposed to MSDs due to poor ergonomics implementation at the workplace. It is crucial to advocate preventative measures to employers such as workplace ergonomics and changes to work practices to reduce the incidence of MSDs cases in office settings.

Keywords: musculoskeletal disorders, pain, prevalence rate, office workers, risks

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Authors: Taju Abdela Mohammed

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Introduction: There has been a rise in awareness of violence against young women and girls, particularly when it occurs in educational environments. Gender-based violence in schools is a significant barrier. Therefore, it would be a threat to the achievement of the sustainable development goals, strive for gender equality in all our programs, right from the planning stages, to make sure we are as equitable as possible. Research on the causes, attitudes, and perceptions of gender-based violence was scant. Furthermore, there aren't many studies done on female students attending private colleges. Thus, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the frequency of gender-based violence and related variables among female students attending private colleges in Harar City, Ethiopia. Methodology: A facility-based mixed method concurrent triangulation study design was conducted among 500 randomly selected Private college female students in Harar City. Self-administered questionnaire and an in-depth interview were used to collect the data. The collected data were cleaned and analyzed using a statistical package for social science. Descriptive statistics were conducted and the results were reported using frequency, and percentile. Bivariate logistic regression was performed to identify associated factors. Adjusted odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals and p values < 0.05 were used to explain statistically significant associations. Thematic analysis was used to manually translate, transcribe, and analyze qualitative data. Result: The study showed the prevalence of gender-based violence was 338 (67.6%) (CI 0.432–0.721) Private college female students in Harar city Administration. Age less than 20 years and 20–24 years, [AOR = 0.21, 95% CI (0.03–0.81)] and [AOR = 0.12, 95% CI (0.03–0.51)], tight family control, [AOR = 5.12, 95% CI (1.43–6.9)], Witnessed father abuse mother at childhood; [AOR = 4.04, 95% CI (1.36–12.1)], had drunkenness female or boyfriend; [AOR = 2.12, 95% CI (1.60–14.05)] had significant association with gender-based violence. Conclusion: Our study shows the prevalence of gender-based violence among Private college female students is significant. This is due to the fact that gender-based violence, such as school dropout, unintended pregnancy, abortion, STDs, and psychological disorders, is abandoning young girls' lives and lowering their productivity.

Keywords: female students, gender-violence, harar, Ethiopia

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Authors: Sabina Klimek

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In general, entrepreneurs are viewed as agents of change whose goal is to ensure that resources are efficiently utilized. They are very important in the global economy; they create wealth and provide jobs. At the same time, many policymakers say that women entrepreneurs are a ‘special group’ worthy of their own research and policies. The status of Polish women has been changing as well, even though, to a large extent, it is still defined by the double role that women are expected to fill according to the dominant stereotypical model of family life. However, in the past decade, Polish women’s economic activities have experienced rapid growth and today are at a high level. In the article, the author presents the results of a survey conducted among women entrepreneurs in Poland concerning the functioning of their enterprises, motivation in setting up a company, and barriers that hinder them in business. The questionnaire (300 questionnaires were provided) and case studies carried out by the author have proven that female entrepreneurs in Poland are characterized by commonalities. Mostly they run small or micro-enterprises, operate in larger cities, are well-educated, and run service companies. Their main motivation to run their own business is mostly indicated by their need for independence. However, one of their biggest barriers and hesitations is the apprehension of non-payment. Entrepreneurs want to develop their companies, go to foreign markets and implement new solutions. They are not afraid of the future; they are only trying to create it. Detailed hypothesis, which reads as follows. The author additionally conducted a macroeconomic analysis calculating what part of GDP in Poland is produced by female entrepreneurs. The results of the study presented in this article prove that female entrepreneurship in Poland has a stable impact on the economy of the country, and women entrepreneurs produce over 13% of the national GDP. After years of growth in the number of female entrepreneurs in Poland, there has been a period of stabilization. However, there has also been a reduction in the number of self-employed people as well as the number of women in total employment. In the article, the author analyses the reasons for decreasing number of self-employed women and the total employment of women in Poland and provides suggestions for steps and incentives that should be made in order to encourage female entrepreneurship to grow in the country.

Keywords: women entrepreneurship, women in business, women entrepreneurship in Poland, Poland, GDP of Poland

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Authors: Pukhtoon Yar

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Peshawar City is experiencing a rapid spatial urban growth primarily as a result of high rate of urbanization along with economic development. This paper was designed to understand the impacts of urbanization on agriculture land use change by particularly focusing on land use change trajectories from the past (1991-2014). We used Landsat imageries (30 meters) for1991along with Spot images (2.5 meters) for year 2014. . The ground truthing of the satellite data was performed by collecting information from Peshawar Development Authority, revenue department, real estate agents and interviews with the officials of city administration. The temporal satellite images were processed by applying supervised maximum likelihood classification technique in ArcGIS 9.3. The procedure resulted into five main classes of land use i.e. built-up area, farmland, barren land, cultivable-wasteland and water bodies. The analysis revealed that, in Peshawar City the built-up environment has been doubled from 8.1 percent in 1991 to over 18.2 percent in 2014 by predominantly encroaching land producing food. Furthermore, the CA-Markov Model predicted that the area under impervious surfaces would continue to flourish during the next three decades. This rapid increase in built-up area is accredited to the lack of proper land use planning and management, which has caused chaotic urban sprawl with detrimental social and environmental consequences.

Keywords: Urban Expansion, Land use, GIS, Remote Sensing, Markov Model, Peshawar City

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Authors: Julia Desiree Velastegui Caceres, Luis Alejandro Velastegui Caceres, Oswaldo Padilla, Eduardo Kirby, Francisco Guerrero, Theofilos Toulkeridis

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It is fundamental to conserve sites of natural and cultural heritage with any available technique or existing methodology of preservation in order to sustain them for the following generations. We propose a further skill to protect the actual view of such sites, in which with high technology instrumentation we are able to digitally preserve natural and cultural heritages applied in Ecuador. In this project the use of laser technology is presented for three-dimensional models, with high accuracy in a relatively short period of time. In Ecuador so far, there are not any records on the use and processing of data obtained by this new technological trend. The importance of the project is the description of the methodology of the laser scanner system using the Faro Laser Scanner Focus 3D 120, the method for 3D modeling of geospatial data and the development of virtual environments in the areas of Cultural and Natural Heritage. In order to inform users this trend in technology in which three-dimensional models are generated, the use of such tools has been developed to be able to be displayed in all kinds of digitally formats. The results of the obtained 3D models allows to demonstrate that this technology is extremely useful in these areas, but also indicating that each data campaign needs an individual slightly different proceeding starting with the data capture and processing to obtain finally the chosen virtual environments.

Keywords: laser scanner system, 3D model, cultural heritage, natural heritage

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Authors: Mariana Gomez Gomez, Maria Elena Sanchez Vergara

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Many sustainable approaches to generate electric energy have emerged in the last few decades; one of them is through solar cells. Yet, this also has the disadvantage of highly polluting inorganic semiconductor manufacturing processes. Therefore, the use of molecular semiconductors must be considered. In this work, allene compounds C24H26O4 and C24H26O5 were used as dopants to manufacture semiconductors films based on PbPc by high-vacuum evaporation technique. IR spectroscopy was carried out to determine the phase and any significant chemical changes which may occur during the thermal evaporation. According to UV-visible spectroscopy and Tauc’s model, the deposition process generated thin films with an activation energy range of 1.47 to 1.55 eV for direct transitions and 1.29 to 1.33 eV for indirect transitions. These values place the manufactured films within the range of low bandgap semiconductors. The flexible devices were manufactured: polyethylene terephthalate (PET), Indium tin oxide (ITO)/organic semiconductor/ Cubic Close Packed (CCP). The characterization of the devices was carried out by evaluating electrical conductivity using the four-probe collinear method. I-V curves were obtained under different lighting conditions at room temperature. OS1 (PbPc/C24H26O4) showed an Ohmic behavior, while OS2 (PbPc/C24H26O5) reached higher current values ​​at lower voltages. The results obtained show that the semiconductors devices doped with allene compounds can be used in the manufacture of optoelectronic devices.

Keywords: electrical properties, optical gap, phthalocyanine, thin film.

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Authors: Musthaya Patchanee

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This research aimed to study form of traffic distribution and environmental factors of road that affect traffic accidents in Dusit District, only areas responsible of Samsen Police Station. Data used in this analysis is the secondary data of traffic accident case from year 2011. Observed area units are 15 traffic lines that are under responsible of Samsen Police Station. Technique and method used are the Cartographic Method, the Correlation Analysis, and the Multiple Regression Analysis. The results of form of traffic accidents show that, the Samsen Road area had most traffic accidents (24.29%), second was Rachvithi Road (18.10%), third was Sukhothai Road (15.71%), fourth was Rachasrima Road (12.38%), and fifth was Amnuaysongkram Road (7.62%). The result from Dusit District, only areas responsible of Samsen police station, has suggested that the scale of accidents have high positive correlation with statistic significant at level 0.05 and the frequency of travel (r=0.857). Traffic intersection point (r=0.763)and traffic control equipments (r=0.713) are relevant factors respectively. By using the Multiple Regression Analysis, travel frequency is the only one that has considerable influences on traffic accidents in Dusit district only Samsen Police Station area. Also, a factor in frequency of travel can explain the change in traffic accidents scale to 73.40 (R2 = 0.734). By using the Multiple regression summation from analysis was Y ̂=-7.977+0.044X6.

Keywords: form of traffic distribution, environmental factors of road, traffic accidents, Dusit district

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Authors: Mzamani Aaron Mabasa

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The research study examines the reality that the Language Services Directorate can be considered a language repository hub. The study postulates that multilingual education guided by language policy implementation can improve student performance and pass rate. Various documents in the form of style guides, glossaries and tutorial letters may be used to enable students to understand complex words, sentences, phrases and paragraphs when technical vocabularies are used. This paper addresses the way in which quality assurance can transform South African official languages, including Sign Language, as mandated by the Language Policy for Higher Education. The paper further emphasizes that Language Services is unique in the sense that it involves all South African officials as tools for student support and facilitation of learning. This is in line with the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996) and the Unisa Language Policy of 2023, which declares the status, parity and esteem of these official languages regarding usage in formal function domains, namely education, economy, social and politics. The aim of this paper is to ensure that quality assurance is ultimately accomplished in terms of teaching and learning standards. Eventually, all South African languages can be used for official domains to achieve functional multilingualism. This paper furthermore points out that content analysis as a research instrument as far as a qualitative approach is concerned may be used as a data collection technique.

Keywords: repository, multilingualism, policy, education

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Authors: Tochukwu Timothy Okoli, Devi Datt Tewari

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The high rate of Fintech adoption has not transmitted to greater financial inclusion and development in Africa. This problem is attributed to poor Fintech diversification and usefulness in the continent. This concept is referred to as the Fintech depth of penetration in this study. The study, therefore, assessed its determinants and growth process in a panel of three emergings, twenty-four frontiers and five fragile African economies disaggregated with dummies over the period 2004-2018 to allow for heterogeneity between groups. The System Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) technique reveals that the average depth of Mobile banking and automated teller machine (ATM) is a dynamic heterogeneity process. Moreover, users' previous experiences/compatibility, trial-ability/income, and financial development were the major factors that raise its usefulness, whereas perceived risk, financial openness, and inflation rate significantly limit its usefulness. The growth rate of Mobile banking, ATM, and Internet banking in 2018 is, on average 41.82, 0.4, and 20.8 per cent respectively greater than its average rates in 2004. These greater averages after the 2009 financial crisis suggest that countries resort to Fintech as a risk-mitigating tool. This study, therefore, recommends greater Fintech diversification through improved literacy, institutional development, financial liberalization, and continuous innovation.

Keywords: depth of fintech, emerging Africa, financial technology, internet banking, mobile banking

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Authors: Hee-Young Song

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Background and objectives: In 2011, the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) recommendations proposed a multidimensional assessment of patients’ conditions that included both functional parameters and patient-reported outcomes, with the aim to provide a comprehensive assessment of the disease, thus meeting both the needs of the patient and the role of the physician. However, few studies have evaluated patient-reported outcomes as well as objective functional assessments among individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in clinical practice in Korea. This study was undertaken to explore the relationship between functional status assessed by the 6-minute walking distance (MWD) test and subjective health status reported by stable patients with COPD residing in community. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted with 118 stable COPD patients aged 69.4 years old and selected by a convenient sampling from an outpatient department of pulmonology in a tertiaryhospitals. The 6-MWD test was conducted according to standardized instructions. Participants also completed a constructed questionnaire including general characteristics, smoking history, dyspnea by modified medical research council (mMRC) scale, and health status by COPD assessment test (CAT). Anthropometric measurements were performed for body mass index (BMI). Medical records were reviewed to obtain disease-related characteristics including duration of the disease and forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1). Data were analyzed using PASW statistics 20.0. Results: Mean FEV1% of participants was 63.51% and mean 6-MWD and CAT scores were 297.54m and 17.7, respectively. The 6-MWD and CAT showed significant negative correlations (r= -.280, p=.002); FEV1 and CAT did as well correlations (r= -.347, p < .001). Conclusions: Findings suggest that the better functional status an individual with COPD has, the better subjective health status is, and provide the support for using patient-reported outcomes along with functional parameters to facilitate comprehensive assessment of COPD patients in real clinical practices.

Keywords: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, COPD assessment test, functional status, patient-reported outcomes

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Authors: Blanca Fatela Cantillo, Silvia Iglesias Cerrato, Guadalupe Garrido Ceca

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Purpose: Bleb dysfunction is a late complication following glaucoma filtration surgery. We describe our surgical technique for excision and reconstruction of a hypertrophic bleb complication using bovine pericardium patch graft (Tutopatch®) and amniotic membrane. Material and methods: The case report presents a hypertrophic bleb over the cornea with good intraocular pressure control. The hanging bleb without leak caused dysesthesia and high irregular astigmatism. Bleb reconstruction involved the excision of corneal fibrous material and avascular conjunctiva, preserving the original scleral and tennon. Bovine pericardium patch graft (Tutopatch®) was sited over these with fixed sutures, reinforcing the underlying scleral, and the conjunctiva advanced. The superior epithelium corneal defect was covered using an amniotic membrane. Conclusion: Repair of bleb dysfunction with varied techniques has been reported, including conjunctival advancement, use of scleral patch graft, dural patch graft, or pericardium. Additional use of amniotic membrane promotes epithelialization and exhibits anti-fibrotic and anti-inflammatory features. Reconstruction with bovine pericardium patch graft and amniotic membrane resulted in pain relief, visual rehabilitation, and good aesthetic results, with preservation of bleb function.

Keywords: reconstruction, hypertrophic bleb, bovine pericardium, amniotic membrane, dysesthesia of the bleb

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Authors: S. Visetpotjanakit, N. Nakkaew

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Determination of ⁹⁰Sr in environmental samples has been widely developed with several radioanlytical methods and radiation measurement techniques since ⁹⁰Sr is one of the most hazardous radionuclides produced from nuclear reactors. Liquid extraction technique using di-(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid (HDEHP) to separate and purify ⁹⁰Y and Cherenkov counting using liquid scintillation counter to determine ⁹⁰Y in secular equilibrium to ⁹⁰Sr was developed and performed at our institute, the Office of Atoms for Peace. The approach is inexpensive, non-laborious, and fast to analyse ⁹⁰Sr in environmental samples. To validate our analytical performance for the accurate and precise criteria, determination of ⁹⁰Sr using the IAEA-TEL-2016-04 ALMERA proficiency test samples were performed for statistical evaluation. The experiment used two spiked tap water samples and one naturally contaminated spruce needles sample from Austria collected shortly after the Chernobyl accident. Results showed that all three analyses were successfully passed in terms of both accuracy and precision criteria, obtaining “Accepted” statuses. The two water samples obtained the measured results of 15.54 Bq/kg and 19.76 Bq/kg, which had relative bias 5.68% and -3.63% for the Maximum Acceptable Relative Bias (MARB) 15% and 20%, respectively. And the spruce needles sample obtained the measured results of 21.04 Bq/kg, which had relative bias 23.78% for the MARB 30%. These results confirm our analytical performance of ⁹⁰Sr determination in water and spruce needles samples using the same developed method.

Keywords: ALMERA proficiency test, Cerenkov counting, determination of 90Sr, environmental samples

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Authors: Bărbuță Alina

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The inter-causal relationship between social inequalities and the digital divide raises the relation issue of gender and information and communication technologies (ICT) - a key element in achieving sustainable development. In preparing generations as future digital citizens and for active socio-economic participation, ICT plays a key role in respecting gender equality. Although several studies over the years have shown that gender plays an important role in digital exclusion, in recent years, many studies with a focus on economically developed or developing countries identify an improvement in these aspects and a gap narrowing. By measuring students' digital competencies level, this paper aims to identify and analyse the existing gender digital inequalities among students. Our analyses are based on a sample of 1526 middle school students residing in rural areas from Republic of Moldova (54.2% girls, mean age 14,00, SD = 1.02). During the online survey they filled in a questionnaire adapted from the (yDSI) ”The Youth Digital Skills Indicator”. The instrument measures the level of five digital competence areas indicated in The European Digital Competence Framework (DigiCom 2.3.). Our results, based on t-test, indicate that depending on gender, there are no statistically significant differences regarding the levels of digital skills in 3 areas: Information navigation and processing; Communication and interaction; Problem solving. However, were identified significant differences in the level of digital skills in the area of ”Digital content creation” [t(1425) = 4.20, p = .000] and ”Safety” [t(1421) = 2.49, p = .000], with higher scores recorded by girls. Our results contradicts the general stereotype regarding the low level of digital competence among girls, in our sample girls scores being on pear with boys and even bigger in knowledge related to digital content creation and online safety skills. Additional investigations related to boys competence on digital safety are necessary as the implication of their low scores on this dimension may suggest boys exposure to digital threats.

Keywords: digital divide, education, gender digital divide, digital literacy, remote learning

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Authors: Lee Waters, Itay Basevitch, Matthew Timmis

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Objectives: Eye tracking technology is a valuable method of assessing individuals gaze behaviour, but it does not unveil why they are engaging in certain practices. To address limitations in sport eye tracking research the present paper aims to investigate the gaze behaviours soccer officials engage in during successful and unsuccessful offside decisions, but also why. Methods: 20 male active amateur qualified (Level 4-7) soccer officials (Mage 22.5 SD 4.61 yrs) with an average experience of 41-50 games wore eye tracking technology during an applied attack versus defence drill. While reviewing the eye tracking footage, retrospective semi-structured interviews were conducted (M=20.4 min; SD=6.2; Range 11.7 – 26.8 min) and once transcribed inductive thematic analysis was performed. Findings and Discussion: To improve the understanding of gaze behaviours and how officials make sense of the environment, during the interview’s key constructs of offside, decision making, obstacles and emotions were summarised as the higher order themes while making offside decisions. Gaze anchoring was highlighted to be a successful technique to allow officials to see all relevant information, whereas the type of offside was emphasised to be a key factor in correct interpretation. Furthermore, specific decision-making training was outlined to be inconsistent and not always applicable. Conclusions: Key constructs have been identified and explained, which can be shared with soccer officials through training regimes. Eye tracking technology has also been shown to be a useful and innovative reflective tool to assist in the understanding of individuals gaze behaviours.

Keywords: eye tracking, gaze behvaiour, decision making, reflection

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Authors: Hadi Rouhi Belvirdi

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The construction of underground structures using the traditional method, which begins with excavation and the implementation of the foundation of the underground structure, continues with the construction of the main structure from the ground up, and concludes with the completion of the final ceiling, is known as the Bottom-Up Method. In contrast to this method, there is an advanced technique called the Top-Down Method, which has practically replaced the traditional construction method in large projects in industrialized countries in recent years. Unlike the traditional approach, this method starts with the construction of surrounding walls, columns, and the final ceiling and is completed with the excavation and construction of the foundation of the underground structure. Some of the most significant advantages of this method include the elimination or minimization of formwork surfaces, the removal of temporary bracing during excavation, the creation of some traffic facilities during the construction of the structure, and the possibility of using it in limited and high-traffic urban spaces. Despite these numerous advantages, unfortunately, there is still insufficient awareness of this method in our country, to the extent that it can be confidently stated that most stakeholders in the construction industry are unaware of the existence of such a construction method. However, it can be utilized as a very important execution option alongside other conventional methods in the construction of underground structures. Therefore, due to the extensive practical capabilities of this method, this article aims to present a methodology for constructing underground structures based on the aforementioned advanced method to the scientific community of the country, examine the advantages and limitations of this method and their impacts on time and costs, and discuss its application in urban spaces. Finally, some underground structures executed in the Ahvaz urban rail, which are being implemented using this advanced method to the best of our best knowledge, will be introduced.

Keywords: top-down method, bottom-up method, underground structure, construction method

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Authors: Sapan Tiwari, Namrata Ghosh

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In urban mass transit, crew scheduling always plays a significant role. It deals with the formulation of work timetables for its staff so that an organization can meet the demand for its products or services. The efficient schedules of a specified timetable have an enormous impact on staff demand. It implies that an urban mass transit company's financial outcomes are strongly associated with planning operations in the region. The research aims to demonstrate the state of the crew scheduling studies and its practical implementation in mass transit businesses in metropolitan areas. First, there is a short overview of past studies in the field. Subsequently, the restrictions and problems with crew scheduling and some models, which have been developed to solve the related issues with their mathematical formulation, are defined. The comments are completed by a description of the solution opportunities provided by computer-aided scheduling program systems for operational use and exposures from urban mass transit organizations. Furthermore, Bus scheduling is performed using the Hungarian technique of problem-solving tasks and mathematical modeling. Afterward, the crew scheduling problem, which consists of developing duties using predefined tasks with set start and end times and places, is resolved. Each duty has to comply with a set line of work. The objective is to minimize a mixture of fixed expenses (number of duties) and varying costs. After the optimization of cost, the outcome of the research is that the same frequency can be provided with fewer buses and less workforce.

Keywords: crew scheduling, duty, optimization of cost, urban mass transit

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Authors: Amir Alani, Mojtaba Mahmoodian, Anna Romanova, Asaad Faramarzi

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Pipelines are extensively used engineering structures which convey fluid from one place to another. Most of the time, pipelines are placed underground and are encumbered by soil weight and traffic loads. Corrosion of pipe material is the most common form of pipeline deterioration and should be considered in both the strength and serviceability analysis of pipes. The study in this research focuses on concrete pipes in sewage systems (concrete sewers). This research firstly investigates how to involve the effect of corrosion as a time dependent process of deterioration in the structural and failure analysis of this type of pipe. Then three probabilistic time dependent reliability analysis methods including the first passage probability theory, the gamma distributed degradation model and the Monte Carlo simulation technique are discussed and developed. Sensitivity analysis indexes which can be used to identify the most important parameters that affect pipe failure are also discussed. The reliability analysis methods developed in this paper contribute as rational tools for decision makers with regard to the strengthening and rehabilitation of existing pipelines. The results can be used to obtain a cost-effective strategy for the management of the sewer system.

Keywords: reliability analysis, service life prediction, Monte Carlo simulation method, first passage probability theory, gamma distributed degradation model

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