Search results for: positive behavior recognition

Authors: H. P. Kerry

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Drone technology has become a significant discourse in a nation’s national security, while this technology could constitute a danger to national security on the one hand, on the other hand, it is used in developed and developing countries for border security, and in some cases, for protection of security agents and migrants. In the case of Nigeria, drones are used by the military to monitor and tighten security around the borders. However, terrorist groups have devised a means to utilize the technology to their advantage. Therefore, the potential danger in the widespread proliferation of this technology has become a myriad of risks. The research on the effects of cross-border use of drones in Nigerian national security looks at the negative and positive consequences of using drone technology. The study employs the use of interviews and relevant documents to obtain data while the study applied the Just War theory to justify the reason why countries use force; it further buttresses the points with what the realist theory thinks about the use of force. In conclusion, the paper recommends that the Nigerian government through the National Assembly should pass a bill for the establishment of a law that will guide the use of armed and unarmed drones in Nigeria enforced by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority and the office of the National Security Adviser.

Keywords: armed drones, drones, cross-border, national security

Procedia PDF Downloads 162

Authors: Andrew T. Hendrickson, Liven De Marez, Marijn Martens, Gytha Muller, Tudor Paisa, Koen Ponnet, Catherine Schweizer, Megan Van Meer, Mariek Vanden Abeele

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Quantifying and understanding the myriad ways people use their phones and how that impacts their relationships, cognitive abilities, mental health, and well-being is increasingly important in our phone-centric society. However, most studies on the patterns of phone use have focused on theory-driven tests of specific usage hypotheses using self-report questionnaires or analyses of smaller datasets. In this work we present a series of analyses from a large corpus of over 3000 users that combine data-driven and theory-driven analyses to identify reliable smartphone usage patterns and clusters of similar users. Furthermore, we compare the stability of user clusters across user- and system-initiated sessions, as well as during the hypothesized ritualized behavior times directly before and after sleeping. Our results indicate support for some hypothesized usage patterns but present a more complete and nuanced view of how people use smartphones.

Keywords: data mining, experience sampling, smartphone usage, health and well being

Procedia PDF Downloads 168

Authors: Nabia Siddiqui, Tahira Mohsin Ali, Tanveer Abbas, Abid Hasnain

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The present study proposed the use of different onion peel extracts in a South Asian snacks called ‘sew’. The polyphenols extracted from peels were initially analyzed for their antimicrobial potential and bioactive components following three different extraction systems. A relatively higher level of total phenolic content (TP), total flavonoid (TF) and antioxidant activity was observed for EWE (ethanol and water based) extracts followed by EAAE (ethanol and acetic acid) and WE (water extract) sample. Onion extracts showed ability to inhibit gram-positive as well as gram-negative bacteria. The incorporation of onion peel extracts in sew showed a marked increase in bioactive components. Besides bioactivity, sensory attributes, textural characteristics and storage stability of these snacks containing onion peel extract also significantly improved during the shelf study at ambient temperature for up to two months. Thus, these results justify the utilization of these plant polyphenols in fried snacks.

Keywords: onion peels extract, South Asian snacks, antioxidant capacity, bioactivity

Procedia PDF Downloads 249

Authors: Esmael Makarian, Ayub Elyasi, Fatemeh Saberi, Olusegun Stanley Tomomewo

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Rock mechanical investigation is one of the most crucial activities in underground operations, especially in surveys related to hydrocarbon exploration and production, geothermal reservoirs, energy storage, mining, and geotechnics. There is a wide range of traditional methods for driving, collecting, and analyzing rock mechanics data. However, these approaches may not be suitable or work perfectly in some situations, such as fractured zones. Cutting-edge technologies have been provided to solve and optimize the mentioned issues. Internet of Things (IoT), Edge, and Cloud Computing technologies (ECt & CCt, respectively) are among the most widely used and new artificial intelligence methods employed for geomechanical studies. IoT devices act as sensors and cameras for real-time monitoring and mechanical-geological data collection of rocks, such as temperature, movement, pressure, or stress levels. Structural integrity, especially for cap rocks within hydrocarbon systems, and rock mass behavior assessment, to further activities such as enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and underground gas storage (UGS), or to improve safety risk management (SRM) and potential hazards identification (P.H.I), are other benefits from IoT technologies. EC techniques can process, aggregate, and analyze data immediately collected by IoT on a real-time scale, providing detailed insights into the behavior of rocks in various situations (e.g., stress, temperature, and pressure), establishing patterns quickly, and detecting trends. Therefore, this state-of-the-art and useful technology can adopt autonomous systems in rock mechanical surveys, such as drilling and production (in hydrocarbon wells) or excavation (in mining and geotechnics industries). Besides, ECt allows all rock-related operations to be controlled remotely and enables operators to apply changes or make adjustments. It must be mentioned that this feature is very important in environmental goals. More often than not, rock mechanical studies consist of different data, such as laboratory tests, field operations, and indirect information like seismic or well-logging data. CCt provides a useful platform for storing and managing a great deal of volume and different information, which can be very useful in fractured zones. Additionally, CCt supplies powerful tools for predicting, modeling, and simulating rock mechanical information, especially in fractured zones within vast areas. Also, it is a suitable source for sharing extensive information on rock mechanics, such as the direction and size of fractures in a large oil field or mine. The comprehensive review findings demonstrate that digital transformation through integrated IoT, Edge, and Cloud solutions is revolutionizing traditional rock mechanical investigation. These advanced technologies have empowered real-time monitoring, predictive analysis, and data-driven decision-making, culminating in noteworthy enhancements in safety, efficiency, and sustainability. Therefore, by employing IoT, CCt, and ECt, underground operations have experienced a significant boost, allowing for timely and informed actions using real-time data insights. The successful implementation of IoT, CCt, and ECt has led to optimized and safer operations, optimized processes, and environmentally conscious approaches in underground geological endeavors.

Keywords: rock mechanical studies, internet of things, edge computing, cloud computing, underground surveys, geological operations

Procedia PDF Downloads 67

Authors: Rahma Adinda Sartika

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The use of technology in learning mathematics has received a positive response from both students and teachers, so many researchers have conducted research on this theme. Based on the findings carried out in this study, 807 documents relevant to this theme have been published in Scopus from 1995-2024. After going through the stages of identification, screening, eligibility, and including, the documents that meet the criteria are 227 documents. These documents are then analyzed using the bibliometric method so that it can be seen that the most published documents in the Scopus database occurred in 2020, with 38 documents, and the lowest was from 1996 to 2000 and 2004 to 2007, namely, no documents published. The highest number of citations is in documents published in 2018, with a total of 349 citations, so the h-index is higher than the others. The country that published the most documents relevant to this theme is Indonesia with a total of 91 documents. The second largest is the United States, with a total of 28 published documents, and the third largest is China, with a total of 15 documents. Indonesia and the United States have the most working relationships between countries compared to other countries. The focus of research related to this theme is 1) mathematics learning, 2) learning systems, 3) engineering education, 4) technology and 5) mathematical concepts.

Keywords: technology, bibliometric, mathematics learning, mathematical concepts

Procedia PDF Downloads 66

Authors: Karolína Vozková, Matěj Kuc

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Net fee and commission income is one of the key elements of a bank’s core income. In the current low-interest rate environment, this type of income is gaining importance relative to net interest income. This paper analyses the effects of bank and country specific determinants of net fee and commission income on a set of cooperative banks from European countries in the 2007-2014 period. In order to do that, dynamic panel data methods (system Generalized Methods of Moments) were employed. Subsequently, alternative panel data methods were run as robustness checks of the analysis. Strong positive impact of bank concentration on the share of net fee and commission income was found, which proves that cooperative banks tend to display a higher share of fee income in less competitive markets. This is probably connected with the fact that they stick with their traditional deposit-taking and loan-providing model and fees on these services are driven down by the competitors. Moreover, compared to commercial banks, cooperatives do not expand heavily into non-traditional fee bearing services under competition and their overall fee income share is therefore decreasing with the increased competitiveness of the sector.

Keywords: cooperative banking, dynamic panel data models, net fee and commission income, system GMM

Procedia PDF Downloads 338

Authors: Tomas Menard

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The synthesis of output-feedback control law has been investigated by many researchers since the last century. While many results exist for the case of Linear Time Invariant systems whose measurements are continuously available, nowadays, control laws are usually implemented on micro-controller, then the measurements are discrete-time by nature. This fact has to be taken into account explicitly in order to obtain a satisfactory behavior of the closed-loop system. One considers here a general class of systems corresponding to an observability normal form and which is subject to uncertainties in the dynamics and sampling of the output. Indeed, in practice, the modeling of the system is never perfect, this results in unknown uncertainties in the dynamics of the model. We propose here an output feedback algorithm which is based on a linear state feedback and a continuous-discrete time observer. The main feature of the proposed control law is that only discrete-time measurements of the output are needed. Furthermore, it is formally proven that the state of the closed loop system exponentially converges toward the origin despite the unknown uncertainties. Finally, the performances of this control scheme are illustrated with simulations.

Keywords: dynamical systems, output feedback control law, sampling, uncertain systems

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Authors: Mona Hajirasouli

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Abstract: introduction: Antimicrobial compounds are important in the first line of the host defense system of many animal species. Material and methods: In the present study antibacterial activity of crude and proteins precipitate of hemolymph and crude hepatopancreas extracts from Portunus segnis and Grapsus albolineatus against a range of 6 different bacterial strains evaluated. Amoxicillin as a positive control were also used. Results: Maximum activity (15.9 mm) was recorded in male haemolymph of p.segnis against Entrobacter and minimum activity (7 mm) was recorded against Serratia marcescens, Enterobacter sp. and Proteus mirabilis from different extracts of Grapsus albolineatus. Data were analyzed using independent-t in SPSS version 16, and results indicate that there were not any significant differences between hemolymph and hepatopancreas extracts of 2 species. Discussion: Antimicrobial activity has been reported earlier in the hemolymph of some brachyuran crabs such as: blue crab Callinectes sapidus, mud crab Scylla serrata, Ocypode macrocera and Carcinus maenas. This study shows that hemolymph and hepatopancreas of Portunus segnis and Grapsus albolineatus may potential antibiotics.

Keywords: brachyuran, Portunus segnis, Grapsus albolineatus, hemolymph, hepatopancreas, antibacterial

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Authors: A. Şahin Zaimoglu

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A number of studies have been conducted recently to investigate the influence of randomly oriented fibers on some engineering properties of cohesive and cohesionless soils. However, few studies have been carried out on freezing-thawing behavior of fine-grained soils modified with discrete fiber inclusions and additive materials. This experimental study was performed to investigate the effect of randomly distributed polypropylene fibers (PP) and some additive materials [e.g.., borogypsum (BG), fly ash (FA) and cement (C)] on freezing-thawing durability (mass losses) of a fine-grained soil for 6,12 and 18 cycles. The Taguchi method was applied to the experiments and a standard L9 orthogonal array (OA) with four factors and three levels were chosen. A series of freezing-thawing tests were conducted on each specimen. 0-20 % BG, 0-20 % FA, 0-0.25 % PP and 0-3 % of C by total dry weight of mixture were used in the preparation of specimens. Experimental results showed that the most effective materials for the freezing-thawing durability (mass losses) of the samples were borogypsum and fly ash. The values of mass losses for 6, 12 and 18 cycles in optimum conditions were 16.1%, 5.1% and 3.6%, respectively.

Keywords: freezing-thawing, additive materials, reinforced soil, optimization

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Authors: Azrul Azlan Iskandar Mirza

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The purpose of Funds Transfer Pricing (FTP) for Islamic Bank is to promote prudent liquidity risk-taking behavior of business units. The acquirer of stable deposits will be rewarded whilst a business unit that generates long-term assets will be charged for added liquidity funding risks. In the end, it promotes risk-adjusted pricing by incorporating profit rate risk and liquidity risk component in the product pricing. However, in the event of Shariah non-compliant (SNCE), FTP components will be examined in the rectification plan especially when Islamic banks need to purify the non-compliance income. The finding shows that the determination between actual and provision cost will defer the decision among Shariah committee in Islamic banks. This paper will review each of FTP components to ensure the classification of actual and provision costs reflect the decision on rectification process on SNCE. This will benefit future decision and its consistency of Islamic banks.

Keywords: fund transfer pricing, Islamic banking, Islamic finance, shariah non-compliant event

Procedia PDF Downloads 200

Authors: Maria Spanoudaki, Pauldy C. J. Otermans, Dev Aditya

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Relationships form an integral part of our everyday wellbeing. In this study, the focus is on Inner Wellbeing which can be described as an individuals' thoughts and feelings about what they can do and be. Relationships can come in many forms and can be divided into Social Connections (thoughts and feelings about the social network people can establish and rely on), and Close Relationships (thoughts and feeling about the emotional support people can receive from significant others or their close, intimate circle). The purpose of this study is to compare the Social Connections and Close Relationship dimensions of Inner Wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic between the UK and India. 392 participants in the UK and 205 participants India completed an online questionnaire using the Inner Wellbeing scale. Factor analyses showed that the construct of Inner Wellbeing can be described as one factor for the UK sample whereas it can be described as two factors (one focusing on positive items and one focusing on negative items) for the Indian sample. Results showed that Social Connections were significantly during COVID-19 in the UK compared to India, whereas there is no significant difference for Close Relationships. The implications on relationships and wellbeing are discussed in detail.

Keywords: social networks, relationship maintenance, relationship satisfaction, COVID-19

Procedia PDF Downloads 168

Authors: Zhongde Wang, Fanwei Meng, Ling Yang

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Today, social media deeply engages in urban spatial production in a ‘Disembedding’ form, allowing the public to ‘foresight’ physical spaces through online platforms and subsequently engage in corresponding ‘sight’ and visits, thus leading to the emergence of ‘Internet Celebrity Spots’. This paper delves into the laws of action of online media, focusing on experiences. From the perspectives of the public, space, and media, it thoroughly analyzes the experiential design strategies of Chongqing's Liziba Light Rail Station, including the construction of the experiential mainline capturing the matrix of public behavior, the creation of experiential sidelines leveraging spatial advantages, and the deepening of experiential touchpoints to promote media resonance. This analysis aims to provide insights and references for similar urban spaces to transition from ‘internet-famous’ to ‘real-famous’ attractions.

Keywords: online media, urban space, disembedding, internet celebrity spots, experience design

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Authors: Mohammad Y. Abualhoul, Edgar Talavera Munoz, Fawzi Nashashibi

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The new emerging Visible Light Communication (VLC) technology has been subjected to intensive investigation, evaluation, and lately, deployed in the context of convoy-based applications for Intelligent Transportations Systems (ITS). The technology limitations were defined and supported by different solutions proposals to enhance the crucial alignment and mobility limitations. In this paper, we propose the incorporation of VLC technology and Lane-Centering (LC) technique to assure the VLC-connectivity by keeping the autonomous vehicle aligned to the lane center using vision-based lane detection in a convoy-based formation. Such combination can ensure the optical communication connectivity with a lateral error less than 30 cm. As soon as the road lanes are detectable, the evaluated system showed stable behavior independently from the inter-vehicle distances and without the need for any exchanged information of the remote vehicles. The evaluation of the proposed system is verified using VLC prototype and an empirical result of LC running application over 60 km in Madrid M40 highway.

Keywords: visible light communication, lane-centerin, platooning, intelligent transportation systems, road safety applications

Procedia PDF Downloads 176

Authors: Jingya You, Yongqiang Chen, Yuanyuan Hua, Wenqian Wang

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Conflict is commonplace in construction projects, and construction projects always involve designing contracts between the owner and the contractor. However, how the contract affects the level of conflict between the owner and the contractor has not been elaborated. The purpose of this paper is to explain the effects of contractual complexity on the level of conflict, including task conflict and relationship conflict, and then to demonstrate the moderating role played by the interdependence between the owner and the contractor. Using data from owners and general contractors in the Chinese construction industry, this research reveals that contractual control will reduce relationship conflict. Contractual coordination will also reduce relationship conflict by the mediating effect of task conflict. Besides, under high joint interdependence, the positive relationship between task conflict and relationship conflict is strengthened, while high interdependence asymmetry has effects on weakening the relationship between task conflict and relationship conflict. The findings provide guidance for contract designers to draft suitable contracts in order to effectively deal with conflict. Additionally, this research implies that project managers should highlight the importance of contract in conflict management.

Keywords: construction projects, contract governance, interdependence, relationship conflict, task conflict

Procedia PDF Downloads 221

Authors: Christine Myunghee Ahn, Sung Eun Baek, Sun Young Park

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The purpose of this study was to evaluate the cross-cultural validity of the Korean version of the Behavioral Assessment System for Children 2nd Edition, Parent Rating Scales - Adolescent Form (K BASC-2, PRS-A). The 150-item K BASC-2, PRS-A questionnaire was administered to a total of 690 Korean parents or caregivers (N=690) of adolescent children in middle school and high school. Results from the confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses indicate that the K BASC-2, PRS-A yielded a 3-factor solution similar to the factor structure found in the original version of the BASC-2. The internal consistencies using the Cronbach’s alpha of the composite scale scores were in the .92~ .98 range. The overall reliability and validity of the K BASC-2, PRS-A seem adequate. Structural equation modeling was used to verify the theoretical relationship among the scales of Adaptability, Withdrawal, Somatization, Depression, and Anxiety, to render additional support for internal validity. Other relevant findings, practical implications regarding the use of the KBASC-2, PRS-A and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Keywords: behavioral assessment system, cross-cultural validity, parent report, screening

Procedia PDF Downloads 490

Authors: Akhmad F. K. Khitam, Yi Tai, Hsin-Yun Lee

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In the modern research of construction management, the goals of scheduling are not only to finish the project within the limited duration, but also to improve the impact of people and environment. Especially for the impact to the pedestrian and vehicles, the considerable social cost should be estimated in the total performance of a construction project. However, the site environment has many differences between projects. These interactions affect the requirement and goal of scheduling. It is difficult for schedule planners to quantify these interactions. Therefore, this study use 3D dynamic simulation technology to plan the schedule of the construction engineering projects that affect the current space users (i.e., the pedestrians and vehicles). The proposed model can help the project manager find out the optimal schedule to minimize the inconvenience brought to the space users. Besides, a roadwork project and a building renovation project were analyzed for the practical situation of engineering and operations. Then this study integrates the proper optimization algorithms and computer technology to establish a decision support model. The proposed model can generate a near-optimal schedule solution for project planners.

Keywords: scheduling, simulation, optimization, pedestrian and vehicle behavior

Procedia PDF Downloads 144

Authors: Amin Sedighfar, M. R. Moniri

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Determination of state of charge (SOC) in today’s world becomes an increasingly important issue in all the applications that include a battery. In fact, estimation of the SOC is a fundamental need for the battery, which is the most important energy storage in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs), smart grid systems, drones, UPS and so on. Regarding those applications, the SOC estimation algorithm is expected to be precise and easy to implement. This paper presents an online method for the estimation of the SOC of Valve-Regulated Lead Acid (VRLA) batteries. The proposed method uses the well-known Kalman Filter (KF), and Neural Networks (NNs) and all of the simulations have been done with MATLAB software. The NN is trained offline using the data collected from the battery discharging process. A generic cell model is used, and the underlying dynamic behavior of the model has used two capacitors (bulk and surface) and three resistors (terminal, surface, and end), where the SOC determined from the voltage represents the bulk capacitor. The aim of this work is to compare the performance of conventional integration-based SOC estimation methods with a mixed algorithm. Moreover, by containing the effect of temperature, the final result becomes more accurate. 

Keywords: Kalman filter, neural networks, state-of-charge, VRLA battery

Procedia PDF Downloads 195

Authors: Jong Kook Lee, Sangcheol Eum, Jaehong Kim

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Wollastonite/hydroxyapatite composite coatings on zirconia were obtained by room temperature spray process. Wollastonite powder was synthesized by solid-state reaction between calcite and silica powder. Hydroxyapatite powder was prepared from bovine bone by the calcination at 1200oC 1h. From two starting raw powders, three kinds of powder mixture were obtained by the ball milling for 24h. By using these powders, wollastonite/hydroxyapatite coatings were fabricated on zirconia substrates by a room temperature spray process, and their microstructure and biological behavior were investigated and compared with pure wollastonite and hydroxyapatite coatings. Wollastonite/hydroxyapatite coatings on zirconia substrates were homogeneously formed in microstructure and had a nanoscaled grain size. The phase composition of the resultant wollastonite/hydroxyapatite coatings was similar to that of the starting powders, however, the grain size of the wollastonite or hydroxyapatite particles was reduced to about 100 nm due to their formation by particle impaction and fracture. The wollastonite/hydroxyapatite coating layer exhibited bioactivity in a stimulated body fluid and forming ability of new hydroxyapatite precipitates of 25 nm during in vitro test in SBF solution, which was enhanced by the increasing wollastonite content.

Keywords: wollastonite, hydroxyapatite composite coatings, room temperature spay process, zirconia

Procedia PDF Downloads 478

Authors: H. Özkan Gülsoy, Antonyraj Arockiasamy

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The application of powder injection molding technology for the fabrication of metallic and non-metallic components is of growing interest as the process considerably saves time and cost. Utilizing this fabrication method, full dense components are being prepared in various sizes. In this work, our effort is focused to study the densification behavior of the parts made using different size 316L stainless steel powders. The metal powders were admixed with an adequate amount of polymeric compounds and molded as standard tensile bars. Solvent and thermal debinding was carried out followed by sintering in ultra pure hydrogen atmosphere based on the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) cycle. Mechanical property evaluation and microstructural characterization of the sintered specimens was performed using universal Instron tensile testing machine, Vicker’s microhardness tester, optical (OM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and X-ray diffraction were used. The results are compared and analyzed to predict the strength and weakness of the test conditions.

Keywords: powder injection molding, sintering, particle size, stainless steels

Procedia PDF Downloads 369

Authors: S. Cherif, A. Medjahed, M. Bouafia, A. Manallah

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A light wave is characterized by 4 characteristics: its amplitude, its frequency, its phase and the direction of polarization of its luminous vector (the electric field). It is in this last characteristic that we will be interested. The polarization of the light was introduced in order to describe the vectorial behavior of the light; it describes the way in which the electric field evolves in a point of space. Our work consists in studying diffusing mediums. Different types of biological fluids were selected to study the evolution of each with increasing scattering power of the medium, and in the same time to make a comparison between them. When crossing these mediums, the light undergoes modifications and/or deterioration of its initial state of polarization. This phenomenon is related to the properties of the medium, the idea is to compare the characteristics of the entering and outgoing light from the studied medium by a white light. The advantage of this model is that it is experimentally accessible workable intensity measurements with CCD sensors and allows operation in 2D. The latter information is used to discriminate some physical properties of the studied areas. We chose four types of milk to study the evolution of each with increasing scattering power of the medium.

Keywords: light polarization, Mueller matrix, Mueller images, diffusing medium, milk

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Authors: Lule Basha, Eralda Gjika

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The exchange rate is one of the most important economic variables, especially for a small, open economy such as Albania. Its effect is noticeable in one country's competitiveness, trade and current account, inflation, wages, domestic economic activity, and bank stability. This study investigates the fluctuation of Albania’s exchange rates using monthly average foreign currency, Euro (Eur) to Albanian Lek (ALL) exchange rate with a time span from January 2008 to June 2021, and the macroeconomic factors that have a significant effect on the exchange rate. Initially, the Random Forest Regression algorithm is constructed to understand the impact of economic variables on the behavior of monthly average foreign currencies exchange rates. Then the forecast of macro-economic indicators for 12 months was performed using time series models. The predicted values received are placed in the random forest model in order to obtain the average monthly forecast of the Euro to Albanian Lek (ALL) exchange rate for the period July 2021 to June 2022.

Keywords: exchange rate, random forest, time series, machine learning, prediction

Procedia PDF Downloads 108

Authors: A. Sebti Bouzid, S. Igoud, L. Aoudjit, H. Lebik

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Mathematical modeling and numerical simulation have emerged over the past two decades as one of the key tools for design and optimize performances of physical and chemical processes intended to water disinfection. Water photolysis is an efficient and economical technique to reduce bacterial contamination. It exploits the germicidal effect of solar ultraviolet irradiation to inactivate pathogenic microorganisms. The design of photo-reactor operating in continuous disinfection system, required tacking in account the hydrodynamic behavior of water in the reactor. Since the kinetic of disinfection depends on irradiation intensity distribution, coupling the hydrodynamic and solar radiation distribution is of crucial importance. In this work we propose a numerical simulation study for hydrodynamic and solar irradiation distribution in a tubular photo-reactor. We have used the Computational Fluid Dynamic code Fluent under the assumption of three-dimensional incompressible flow in unsteady turbulent regimes. The results of simulation concerned radiation, temperature and velocity fields are discussed and the effect of inclination angle of reactor relative to the horizontal is investigated.

Keywords: solar water disinfection, hydrodynamic modeling, solar irradiation modeling, CFD Fluent

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Authors: Mangesh Govindrao Acharya

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It’s a matter of regret that rule began by causing social divisions in slave India. Even after independence, gender inequality persisted in Indian society; however, as social consciousness, awareness of governance, and political participation increased, this disparity gradually decreased. Technological advancement played an important role in awakening women. Today, a large number of women are able to address their problems in relevant places. The sense of honour for women in the family has also increased. Education, health, and food are indispensable for a strong society. Society's attitude towards the education of women and girls has become positive. Today, women have set their records in many important places. Women still face many challenges. Health awareness among rural women is a big challenge. Equality between men and women is the biggest social reform campaign implemented in our country. It has been going on endlessly for years, but the expected success does not seem to have been achieved. On the contrary, the issue of equality between men and women keeps coming before society in a new form. An attempt has been made in the present research essay to give an account of India's performance in this regard at the global level.

Keywords: gender sensitization, gender equality, women's dignity, women's safety

Procedia PDF Downloads 143

Authors: Camila da Silva, Simone Belorte de Andrade, Vitor Augusto dos Santos Garcia, Vladimir Ferreira Cabral, J. Vladimir Oliveira Lúcio Cardozo-Filho

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In the present study, the non-catalytic transesterification of soybean oil in continuous mode using supercritical ethanol were investigated. Experiments were performed in a packed-bed tubular reactor (PBTR) and variable studied were reaction temperature (523 K to 598 K), pressure (10 MPa to 20 MPa), oil to ethanol molar ratio (1:10 to 1:40) and water concentration (0 wt% to 10 wt% in ethanol). Results showed that ethyl esters yields obtained in the PBTR were higher (> 20 wt%) than those verified in a tubular reactor (TR), due to improved mass transfer conditions attained in the PBTR. Results demonstrated that temperature, pressure, oil to ethanol molar ratio and water concentration had a positive effect on fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEE) production in the experimental range investigated, with appreciable reaction yields (90 wt%) achieved at 598 K, 20 MPa, oil to ethanol molar ratio of 1:40 and 10 wt% of water concentration.

Keywords: packed bed reactor, ethyl esters, continuous process, catalyst-free process

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Authors: Şebnem Aslan, Demet Akarçay

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The objective of this study is to investigate the feelings of health employees occurred by bullying and the relationships between these feelings at work place. In this context, the relationships between bullying and the feelings of self-esteem, employee silence, anger, self- blame and shame. This study was conducted among 512 health employees in three hospitals in Konya by using survey method and simple random sampling. The scales of bullying, self-esteem, employee silence, anger, self-blame, and shame were performed within the study. The obtained data were analyzed with descriptive analysis, correlation, confirmative factor analysis, structural equation modeling and path analysis. The results of the study showed that while bullying had a positive effect on self-esteem (.61), employee silence (.41), anger (.18), a negative effect on self-blame and shame (-.26) was observed. Employee silence affected self-blame and shame (.83) as positively. Besides, self-esteem impacted on self- blame and shame (.18), employee silence (.62) positively and self-blame and shame was observed as negatively affecting on anger (-.20). Similarly, self-esteem was found as negatively affected on anger (-.13).

Keywords: bullying, self-esteem, employee silence, anger, shame and guilt, healthcare employee

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Authors: Mohammad Ali Karimi, Hossein Tavallali, Abdolhamid Hatefi-Mehrjardi

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Pollen extract of in vitro plants raised of Citrus aurantium as reducer and stabilizer was assessed for the green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). The synthesis of AgNPs was performed at room temperature assisting in solutions by reduction takes place rapidly for 10 min. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) peaks in UV–Vis spectra indicated the formation of polydispersive AgNPs. Silver ions concentration, pH, temperature and reaction time were optimized in the synthesis of AgNPs. The nanoparticles obtained were characterized by UV-Vis spectrophotometer, transmission electron microscopy (TEM). X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy techniques. The synthesized AgNPs were mostly spherical in shape with an average size of 15 nm. XRD study shows that the AgNPs are crystalline in nature with face-centered cubic (fcc) geometry. It shows the significant antibacterial efficacy against Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli) by disk diffusion method using Mueller-Hinton Agar.

Keywords: green synthesis, Citrus aurantium, silver nanoparticles, antibacterial activity

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Authors: Siavash Salamatpoor, Hossein Motaghedi, Jr., Mehrdad Nategh

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In this study, undrained triaxial tests under anisotropic consolidation were conducted on the reconstituted samples of Ramsar sand, which underlies a densely populated, seismic region of the southern coast of Caspian Sea in Mazandaran province, Iran. Ramsar costal city is regularly visited by many tourists. Accordingly, many tall building and heavy structures are going to be constructed over this coastal area. This region is overlaid by poorly graded clean sand and because of high water level, is susceptible to liquefaction. The specimens were consolidated anisotropically to simulate initial shear stress which is mobilized due to surface constructions. Different states of soil behavior were obtained by applying different levels of initial relative density, shear stress, and effective stress. It is shown that Ramsar clean sand can experience the whole possible states of liquefiable soils i.e. fully liquefaction, limited liquefaction, and dilation behaviors. It would be shown that by increasing the shear parameter in high confine pressure, the liquefaction susceptibility has increased while for low confine pressure it would be vice versa.

Keywords: anisotropic, triaxial test, shear parameter, static liquefaction

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Authors: Manojkumar Sabanayagam

Abstract:

The Riemann hypothesis is an unsolved millennium problem and the search for a solution to the Riemann hypothesis is to study the pattern of prime number distribution. The scope of this paper is to identify the solution for the critical strip and the critical line axis, which has the non-trivial zero solutions using complex plane functions. The Riemann graphical plot is constructed using a linear complex variable function (X+iY) and is applicable only when X>1. But the investigation shows that complex variable behavior has two zones. The first zone is the transformation zone, where the definition of the complex plane should be a non-linear variable which is the critical strip zone in the graph (X=0 to 1). The second zone is the transformed zone (X>1) defined using linear variables conventionally. This paper deals with the Non-linear function in the transformation zone derived using cosine and sinusoidal time lag w.r.t imaginary number ‘i’. The alternate complex variable (Cosθ+i Sinθ) is used to understand the variables in the critical strip zone. It is concluded that the non-trivial zeros present in the Real part 0.5 are because the linear function is not the correct approach in the critical strip. This paper provides the solution to Reimann's hypothesis.

Keywords: Reimann hypothesis, critical strip, complex plane, transformation zone

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Authors: Swati Gautam, Salman Akhtar, S. P. Jaiswar, Amita Jain

Abstract:

Background: FGTB is now a major global health problem mostly in developing countries including India. In humans, Mycobacterium Tuberculosis (M.tb) is a causating agent of infection. High index of suspicion is required for early diagnosis due to asymptomatic presentation of FGTB disease. In macrophages Toll Like Receptor-2 (TLR-2) is one which mediated host’s immune response to M.tb. The expression of TLR-2 on macrophages is important to determine the fate of innate immune responses to M.tb. TLR-2 have two work. First its high expression on macrophages worsen the outer of infection and another side, it maintains M.tb to its dormant stage avoids activation of M.tb from latent phase. Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) of TLR-2 gene plays an important role in susceptibility to TB among different populations and subsequently, in the development of infertility. Methodology: This Case-Control study was done in the Department of Obs and Gynae and Department of Microbiology at King George’s Medical University, U.P, Lucknow, India. Total 300 subjects (150 Cases and 150 Controls) were enrolled in the study. All subjects were enrolled only after fulfilling the given inclusion and exclusion criteria. Inclusion criteria: Age 20-35 years, menstrual-irregularities, positive on Acid-Fast Bacilli (AFB), TB-PCR, (LJ/MGIT) culture in Endometrial Aspiration (EA). Exclusion criteria: Koch’s active, on ATT, PCOS, and Endometriosis fibroid women, positive on Gonococal and Chlamydia. Blood samples were collected in EDTA tubes from cases and healthy control women (HCW) and genomic DNA extraction was carried out by salting-out method. Genotyping of TLR2 genetic variants (Arg753Gln and Arg677Trp) were performed by using single amplification refractory mutation system (ARMS) PCR technique. PCR products were analyzed by electrophoresis on 1.2% agarose gel and visualized by gel-doc. Statistical analysis of the data was performed using the SPSS 16.3 software and computing odds ratio (OR) with 95% CI. Linkage Disequiliribium (LD) analysis was done by SNP stats online software. Results: In TLR-2 (Arg753Gln) polymorphism significant risk of FGTB observed with GG homozygous mutant genotype (OR=13, CI=0.71-237.7, p=0.05), AG heterozygous mutant genotype (OR=13.7, CI=0.76-248.06, p=0.03) however, G allele (OR=1.09, CI=0.78-1.52, p=0.67) individually was not associated with FGTB. In TLR-2 (Arg677Trp) polymorphism a significant risk of FGTB observed with TT homozygous mutant genotype (OR= 0.020, CI=0.001-0.341, p < 0.001), CT heterozygous mutant genotype (OR=0.53, CI=0.33-0.86, p=0.014) and T allele (OR=0.463, CI=0.32-0.66, p < 0.001). TT mutant genotype was only found in FGTB cases and frequency of CT heterozygous more in control group as compared to FGTB group. So, CT genotype worked as protective mutation for FGTB susceptibility group. In haplotype analysis of TLR-2 genetic variants, four possible combinations, i.e. (G-T, A-C, G-C, and A-T) were obtained. The frequency of haplotype A-C was significantly higher in FGTB cases (0.32). Control group did not show A-C haplotype and only found in FGTB cases. Conclusion: In conclusion, study showed a significant association with both genetic variants of TLR-2 of FGTB disease. Moreover, the presence of specific associated genotype/alleles suggest the possibility of disease severity and clinical approach aimed to prevent extensive damage by disease and also helpful for early detection of disease.

Keywords: ARMS, EDTA, FGTB, TLR

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Authors: Julie De Pril, Cécile Godfroid

Abstract:

Nowadays, achieving double bottom line has become a widely recognized objective for microfinance institutions (MFIs). They would like to be financially sustainable or even profitable while continuing to focus on their social mission. In order to rise their financial performance, MFIs tend to grant financial bonuses to loan officers so that they increase their performance and efficiency. However, as argued by motivation crowding theory, monetary rewards may not have only positive effects but can also erode intrinsic motivation. Since MFIs pursue social objectives in addition to their financial ones, their employees’ intrinsic motivations may include the willingness to help others, like in many non-profit organizations. This is called pro-social motivation in the psychology literature. Particularly, this type of motivation should be highly reflected among microfinance loan officers as a part of their role consists in improving clients’ welfare. Therefore, it seems to be crucial for MFIs to find an equilibrium between the efficiency benefits obtained thanks to the granting of financial incentives and the deterioration of social performance that may result from the reduction of the loan officers’ pro-social motivation. This paper attempts to suggest, with a mathematical model, an optimal incentive scheme MFIs could rely on.

Keywords: loan officers, microfinance, prosocial motivation, rewards

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