Search results for: cost impact

Authors: Bharatendra Rai

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Predictive data analysis and modeling involving machine learning techniques become challenging in presence of too many explanatory variables or features. Presence of too many features in machine learning is known to not only cause algorithms to slow down, but they can also lead to decrease in model prediction accuracy. This study involves housing dataset with 79 quantitative and qualitative features that describe various aspects people consider while buying a new house. Boruta algorithm that supports feature selection using a wrapper approach build around random forest is used in this study. This feature selection process leads to 49 confirmed features which are then used for developing predictive random forest models. The study also explores five different data partitioning ratios and their impact on model accuracy are captured using coefficient of determination (r-square) and root mean square error (rsme).

Keywords: housing data, feature selection, random forest, Boruta algorithm, root mean square error

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Authors: Lebogang L. R. Mphahlele, Bruce B. Sithole

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Chicken meat is the highest consumed meat in south Africa, with a per capita consumption of >33 kg yearly. Hence, South Africa produces over 250 million kg of waste chicken feathers each year, the majority of which is landfilled or incinerated. The discarded feathers have caused environmental pollution and natural protein resource waste. Therefore, the valorisation of waste chicken feathers is measured as a more environmentally friendly and cost-effective treatment. Feather contains 91% protein, the main component being beta-keratin, a fibrous and insoluble structural protein extensively cross linked by disulfide bonds. Keratin is usually converted it into nanofibers via electrospinning for a variety of applications. keratin nanofiber composites have many potential biomedical applications for their attractive features, such as high surface-to-volume ratio and very high porosity. The application of nanofibers in the biomedical wound dressing requires antimicrobial properties for materials. One approach is incorporating inorganic nanoparticles, among which silver nanoparticles played an important alternative antibacterial agent and have been studied against many types of microbes. The objective of this study is to combine synthetic polymer, chicken feather keratin, and antibacterial nanoparticles to develop novel electrospun antibacterial nanofibrous composites for possible wound dressing application. Furthermore, this study will converting a two-dimensional electrospun nanofiber membrane to three-dimensional fiber networks that resemble the structure of the extracellular matrix (ECM)

Keywords: chicken feather keratin, nanofibers, nanoparticles, nanocomposites, wound dressing

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Authors: Adeleke Omolade

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The study investigated the impacts of capital goods' import and human capital on the economic growth of the Sub Sahahra Africa (SSA). 30 countries were used in the Panel- ARDL analysis where economic growth is the dependent variables and capital goods' import, human capital, primary export, investment exchange rate, among others were used as the independent variables. The result from the panel analysis indicates that capital goods' import will significantly and positively influence economic growth but human capital fails to have significant positive impact on economic growth of the SSA. Earlier the trend analysis and the correlation results have shown that there is a weak association between capital goods' import and human capital in the SSA. The results offer an expository analysis that reveals that the quality of the human capital is very germane to the effective utilization of capital goods' import for the purpose of growth in a primary goods' export dominated region like the SSA.

Keywords: capital goods import, economic growth, human capital, Sub-Sahara Africa

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Authors: Shama Urooj

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The present work investigates the relationship among financial inclusion, modernization, and energy performance in SCO member countries during the years 2011–2021. PCA is used to create composite indexes of financial inclusion, modernization, and energy performance. We used panel regression models that are both reliable and heteroscedasticity-consistent to look at the relationship among variables. The findings indicate that financial inclusion (FI) and modernization, along with the increased FDI, all appear to contribute to the energy performance in the SCO member countries. However, per capita GDP has a negative impact on energy performance. These results are unbiased and consistent with the robust results obtained by applying different econometric models. Feasible Generalized Least Square (FGLS) estimation is also used for checking the uniformity of the main model results. This research work concludes that there has been no policy coherence in SCO member countries regarding the coordination of growing financial inclusion and modernization for energy sustainability in recent years. In order to improve energy performance with modern development, policies regarding financial inclusion and modernization need be integrated both at national as well as international levels.

Keywords: financial inclusion, energy performance, modernization, technological development, SCO.

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Authors: A. Chennai, M. Yahia, H. Boussenan

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Our study was designed to highlight changes in certain biochemical parameters such as (CH, TG, HDL, TGO, TGP, LDL, and CRP), hormones (FSH, LH, PRL, TSH, and leptin), in women who suffer from over weight and fertile controls as well as the research for potential pathophysiological link between obesity and infertility in this population of women. This practical work has been focused on a population of 24 over weight infertile women, compared to control subjects without any pathology causing disturbance parameters to be studied to determine the contribution of obesity in the etiology of infertility. The assay results revealed a highly significant difference between the two groups in the serum levels of CH, TG, HDL, and TGO TGP (P <0.0001) as well as the rate of LDL (p=0.0017) and CRP (p=0.02). Hormonal profile also shows a significant difference between the two groups (P<0.0001) for LH and leptin but no difference was found for serum TSH. A significant correlation between leptin and FSH, LH, and FSH, age and LH, PRL and age and between HDL and CRP. The present study suggests that obesity is associated with infertility, but no direct pathophysiological link between obesity and infertility has been determined. More in-depth studies are needed to determine the exact mechanism by which overweight leads to female infertility.

Keywords: fertility, obesity, hormones, biochemical, pathophysiological

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Authors: Badiossadat Hassanpour, Reza Sirjani, Nangkuala Utaberta

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The avant-garde educational systems are striving to find a life long learning methods. Different fields and majors have test variety of proposed models, and found their difficulties and strengths. Architecture as a critical stage of education due to its characteristics which are learning by doing and critique based education and evaluation is out of this study procedure. Learning contracts is a new alternative form of evaluation of students’ achievements, while it acts as agreement about learning goals. Obtained results from studies in different fields which confirm its positive impact on students' learning in those fields and positively affected students' motivation and confidence in meeting their own learning needs, prompted us to implement this model in architecture design studio. In this implemented contract to the studio, students were asked to use the existing possibility of contract to have self assessment and examine their professional development to identify whether they are deficient or they would like to develop more expertise. The evidences of this research as well indicate that students feel positive about the learning contract and see it accommodating their individual learning needs.

Keywords: contract (LC), architecture design studio, education, student-centered learning

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Authors: R. O. Osaseri, A. R. Usiobaifo

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The power transformer which is responsible for the voltage transformation is of great relevance in the power system and oil-immerse transformer is widely used all over the world. A prompt and proper maintenance of the transformer is of utmost importance. The dissolved gasses content in power transformer, oil is of enormous importance in detecting incipient fault of the transformer. There is a need for accurate prediction of the incipient fault in transformer oil in order to facilitate the prompt maintenance and reducing the cost and error minimization. Study on fault prediction and diagnostic has been the center of many researchers and many previous works have been reported on the use of artificial intelligence to predict incipient failure of transformer faults. In this study machine learning technique was employed by using gradient decent algorithms and Support Vector Machine (SVM) in predicting incipient fault diagnosis of transformer. The method focuses on creating a system that improves its performance on previous result and historical data. The system design approach is basically in two phases; training and testing phase. The gradient decent algorithm is trained with a training dataset while the learned algorithm is applied to a set of new data. This two dataset is used to prove the accuracy of the proposed model. In this study a transformer fault diagnostic model based on Support Vector Machine (SVM) and gradient decent algorithms has been presented with a satisfactory diagnostic capability with high percentage in predicting incipient failure of transformer faults than existing diagnostic methods.

Keywords: diagnostic model, gradient decent, machine learning, support vector machine (SVM), transformer fault

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Authors: N. S. Achour, M. Hamdaoui, S. Ben Nasrallah

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Wicking and evaporation of water in porous knitted fabrics is investigated by combining experimental and analytical approaches: The standard wicking model from Lucas and Washburn is enhanced to account for evaporation and gravity effects. The goal is to model the effect of gravity and evaporation on wicking using simple analytical expressions and investigate the influence of fabrics geometrical parameters, such as porosity and thickness on evaporation impact on maximum reachable height values. The results show that fabric properties have a significant influence on evaporation effect. In this paper, an experimental study of determining water kinetics from different knitted fabrics were gravimetrically investigated permitting the measure of the mass and the height of liquid rising in fabrics in various atmospheric conditions. From these measurements, characteristic pore parameters (capillary radius and permeability) can be determined.

Keywords: evaporation, experimental study, geometrical parameters, model, porous knitted fabrics, wicking

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Authors: Paul Onyegbule, Harjit Singh

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Vacuum glazing is an innovative transparent thermal insulator that has application in high performance window, especially in renewable energy. Different materials as well as sealing methods have been adopted to seal windows with different temperatures. The impact of temperatures on sealing layers has been found to have significant effects on the microstructure of the seal. This paper seeks to investigate the effects of sealing materials specifically glass powder and flux compound (borax) for vacuum glazing. The findings of the experiment conducted show that the sealing material was rigid with some leakage around the edge, and we found that this could be stopped by enhancing the uniformity of the seal within the periphery. Also, we found that due to the intense tensile stress from the oven surface temperature of the seal at 200 ⁰C, a crack was observed at the side of the glass. Based on the above findings, this study concludes that a glass powder with a lower melting temperature of below 250 ⁰C with the addition of an adhesive (borax flux) should be used for future vacuum seals.

Keywords: double glazed windows, U-value, heat loss, borax powder, edge seal

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Authors: R. M. P. C. Bandara, M. L. L. Weerasinghe, K. T. C. R. Kumari, A. G. D. R. Hansika, D. I. De Silva, D. M. T. H. Dias

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Software testing is an essential process in software development that aims to identify defects and ensure that software is functioning as intended. Various testing techniques are employed to achieve this goal, but the effectiveness of these techniques varies. This research paper analyzes the effectiveness of different testing techniques in ensuring software quality. The paper explores different testing techniques, including manual and automated testing, and evaluates their effectiveness in terms of identifying defects, reducing the number of defects in software, and ensuring that software meets its functional and non-functional requirements. Moreover, the paper will also investigate the impact of factors such as testing time, test coverage, and testing environment on the effectiveness of these techniques. This research aims to provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of different testing techniques, enabling software development teams to make informed decisions about the testing approach that is best suited to their needs. By improving testing techniques, the number of defects in software can be reduced, enhancing the quality of software and ultimately providing better software for users.

Keywords: software testing life cycle, software testing techniques, software testing strategies, effectiveness, software quality

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Authors: Aymen Sassi

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The equipment of vehicles with wireless communication capabilities is expected to be the key to the evolution to next generation intelligent transportation systems (ITS). The IEEE community has been continuously working on the development of an efficient vehicular communication protocol for the enhancement of Wireless Access in Vehicular Environment (WAVE). Vehicular communication systems, called V2X, support vehicle to vehicle (V2V) and vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) communications. The efficiency of such communication systems depends on several factors, among which the surrounding environment and mobility are prominent. Accordingly, this study focuses on the evaluation of the real performance of vehicular communication with special focus on the effects of the real environment and mobility on V2X communication. It starts by identifying the real maximum range that such communication can support and then evaluates V2I and V2V performances. The Arada LocoMate OBU transmission system was used to test and evaluate the impact of the transmission range in V2X communication. The evaluation of V2I and V2V communication takes the real effects of low and high mobility on transmission into account.

Keywords: IEEE 802.11p, V2I, V2X, mobility, PLR, Arada LocoMate OBU, maximum range

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Authors: Sahar S. Tabrizi, Dogan Ibrahim

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Cloud Computing is a convenient model for on-demand networks that uses shared pools of virtual configurable computing resources, such as servers, networks, storage devices, applications, etc. The cloud serves as an environment for companies and organizations to use infrastructure resources without making any purchases and they can access such resources wherever and whenever they need. Cloud computing is useful to overcome a number of problems in various Information Technology (IT) domains such as Geographical Information Systems (GIS), Scientific Research, e-Governance Systems, Decision Support Systems, ERP, Web Application Development, Mobile Technology, etc. Companies can use Cloud Computing services to store large amounts of data that can be accessed from anywhere on Earth and also at any time. Such services are rented by the client companies where the actual rent depends upon the amount of data stored on the cloud and also the amount of processing power used in a given time period. The resources offered by the cloud service companies are flexible in the sense that the user companies can increase or decrease their storage requirements or the processing power requirements at any time, thus minimizing the overall rental cost of the service they receive. In addition, the Cloud Computing service providers offer fast processors and applications software that can be shared by their clients. This is especially important for small companies with limited budgets which cannot afford to purchase their own expensive hardware and software. This paper is an overview of the Cloud Computing, giving its types, principles, advantages, and disadvantages. In addition, the paper gives some example engineering applications of Cloud Computing and makes suggestions for possible future applications in the field of engineering.

Keywords: cloud computing, cloud systems, cloud services, IaaS, PaaS, SaaS

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Authors: Serkan Kocapinar, Gülay Altay

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This study investigates the efficiency of two different industrial intumescent coatings which have different types of certifications, in the fire protection performance in steel beams in the case of ISO 834 fire for 2 hours. A better understanding of industrial intumescent coatings, which assure structural integrity and prevent a collapse of steel structures, is needed to minimize the fire risks in steel structures. A comparison and understanding of different fire protective intumescent coatings, which are Product A and Product B, are used as a thermal barrier between the steel components and the fire. Product A is tested according to EN 13381-8 and BS 476-20,22 and is certificated by ISO Standards. Product B is tested according to EN 13381-8 and ASTM UL-94 and is certificated by the Turkish Standards Institute (TSE). Generally, fire tests to evaluate the fire performance of steel components are done numerically with commercial software instead of experiments due to the high cost of an ISO 834 fire test in a furnace. Hence, there is a gap in the literature about the comparisons of different certificated intumescent coatings for fire protection in the case of ISO 834 fire in a furnace experiment for 2 hours. The experiment was carried out by using two 1-meter UPN 200 steel sections. Each one was coated by different industrial intumescent coatings. A furnace was used by the Turkish Standards Institute (TSE) for the experiment. The temperature of the protected steels and the inside of the furnace was measured with the help of 24 thermocouples which were applied before the intumescent coatings during the two hours for the performance of intumescent coatings by getting a temperature-time curve of steel components. FIN EC software was used to determine the critical temperatures of protected steels, and Abaqus was used for thermal analysis to get theoretical results to compare with the experimental results.

Keywords: fire safety, structural steel, ABAQUS, thermal analysis, FIN EC, intumescent coatings

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Authors: Ali Shubbar, Hassnen M. Jafer, Anmar Dulaimi, William Atherton, Ali Al-Rifaie

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This research represents experimental work for investigation of the influence of utilising Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS) and High Calcium Fly Ash (HCFA) as a partial replacement for Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) and produce a low carbon cementitious material with comparable compressive strength to OPC. Firstly, GGBS was used as a partial replacement to OPC to produce a binary blended cementitious material (BBCM); the replacements were 0, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 and 50% by the dry mass of OPC. The optimum BBCM was mixed with HCFA to produce a ternary blended cementitious material (TBCM). The replacements were 0, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 and 50% by the dry mass of BBCM. The compressive strength at ages of 7 and 28 days was utilised for assessing the performance of the test specimens in comparison to the reference mixture using 100% OPC as a binder. The results showed that the optimum BBCM was the mix produced from 25% GGBS and 75% OPC with compressive strength of 32.2 MPa at the age of 28 days. In addition, the results of the TBCM have shown that the addition of 10, 15, 20 and 25% of HCFA to the optimum BBCM improved the compressive strength by 22.7, 11.3, 5.2 and 2.1% respectively at 28 days. However, the replacement of optimum BBCM with more than 25% HCFA have showed a gradual drop in the compressive strength in comparison to the control mix. TBCM with 25% HCFA was considered to be the optimum as it showed better compressive strength than the control mix and at the same time reduced the amount of cement to 56%. Reducing the cement content to 56% will contribute to decrease the cost of construction materials, provide better compressive strength and also reduce the CO₂ emissions into the atmosphere.

Keywords: cementitious material, compressive strength, GGBS, HCFA, OPC

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Authors: Quoc Van Nguyen, Behzad Fatahi, Aslan S. Hokmabadi

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Performance based seismic design is a modern approach to earthquake-resistant design shifting emphasis from “strength” to “performance”. Soil-Structure Interaction (SSI) can influence the performance level of structures significantly. In this paper, a fifteen storey moment resisting frame sitting on a shallow foundation (footing) with different sizes is simulated numerically using ABAQUS software. The developed three dimensional numerical simulation accounts for nonlinear behaviour of the soil medium by considering the variation of soil stiffness and damping as a function of developed shear strain in the soil elements during earthquake. Elastic-perfectly plastic model is adopted to simulate piles and structural elements. Quiet boundary conditions are assigned to the numerical model and appropriate interface elements, capable of modelling sliding and separation between the foundation and soil elements, are considered. Numerical results in terms of base shear, lateral deformations, and inter-storey drifts of the structure are compared for the cases of soil-structure interaction system with different foundation sizes as well as fixed base condition (excluding SSI). It can be concluded that conventional design procedures excluding SSI may result in aggressive design. Moreover, the size of the foundation can influence the dynamic characteristics and seismic response of the building due to SSI and should therefore be given careful consideration in order to ensure a safe and cost effective seismic design.

Keywords: soil-structure-interaction, seismic response, shallow foundation, abaqus, rayleigh damping

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Authors: Lucie Novakova, Petr Homola, Vaclav Kafka

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Asymmetric incremental sheet forming (AISF) could significantly reduce costs incurred by the fabrication of complex industrial components with a minimal environmental impact. The AISF experiments were carried out on commercially pure titanium (Ti-Gr2), Timetal (15-3-3-3) alloy, and Ti-6Al-4V (Ti-Gr5) alloy. A special testing geometry was used to characterize the titanium alloys properties from the point of view of the forming zone and titanium structure effect. The structure and properties of the materials were assessed by means of metallographic analyses and microhardness measurements.The highest differences in the parameters assessed as a function of the sampling zone were observed in the case of alpha-phase Ti-Gr2at the expense of the most substantial sheet thinning occurrence. A springback causes a smaller stored deformation in Timetal (β alloy) resulting in less pronounced microstructure refinement and microhardness increase. Ti-6Al-4V alloy exhibited early failure due to its poor formability at ambient temperature.

Keywords: incremental forming, metallography, hardness, titanium alloys

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Authors: Sumiti Saharan, Pallav Patankar, Lily W. Lee

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Understanding the health-seeking behaviors and attitudes of women towards maternal health in the context of gender roles and family dynamics is tremendously crucial for designing effective and impactful interventions aimed at improving maternal and child health outcomes. Further, as the digital world becomes more accessible and affordable, it is imperative to scope the potential of digital technology in enabling access to maternal health information in different socio-economic groups (SEGs). In the summer of 2017, we conducted a study with 500 women across different SEGs in urban India who were pregnant or had had a delivery in the last year. The study was undertaken to assess their maternal health information seeking behavior with a particular focus on probing their use of digital technology for health-related information. The study also measured women's decision-making autonomy in the context of maternal health, awareness of their rights to quality and respectful maternal healthcare, and agency to voice their rights. We probed the impact of key variables including education, age, and socioeconomic status on all outcome variables. In terms of health-seeking behaviors, we found that women heavily relied on medical professionals and/or their mothers and mothers-in-law for all maternal health advice. Digital adoption was found to be high across all SEGs, with around 70% of women from all populations using the internet several times a week. On the other hand, use of the internet for both accessing maternal health information and choosing maternity hospitals were both significantly dependent on SEG. The key reasons reported for not using the internet for health purposes were lack of awareness and lack of trust on content accuracy. Decisions around health practices and type of delivery were found to be jointly made by women and other family members. Almost all women reported their husbands to play a key role in all maternal health decisions and for decisions with a clear financial implication like choice of hospital for delivery, husbands were reported to be the sole decision maker by a majority of women. The agency of women was also found to be low in interactions with maternal healthcare providers with a third of respondents not comfortable with voicing their opinions and preferences to their doctors. Interestingly, we find that this relatively low agency was prominent in both lower middle class and middle-class SEGs. Recognition of the sociocultural determinants of behavior is the first step in developing actionable strategies for improving maternal health outcomes. Our study quantifies the agency and autonomy of women in urban India and the variables that impact them. Our findings emphasize the value of gender normative approaches that factor in the key role husbands play in guiding maternal health decisions. They also highlight the power of digital approaches for catalyzing access to maternal health information. These insights into the attitude and behaviors of mothers in context of their sociocultural environments—and their relationship with digital technology—can help pave the way towards designing effective, scalable maternal and child health programs in developing nations like India.

Keywords: access to healthcare information, behavior, digital health, maternal health

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Authors: Raoul Ouambo Tobou, Alexis Kuitche, Marcel Edoun

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The FWM (Finite Window Method) is a new numerical meshfree technique for solving problems defined either in terms of PDEs (Partial Differential Equation) or by a set of conservation/equilibrium laws. The principle behind the FWM is that in such problem each element of the concerned domain is interacting with its neighbors and will always try to adapt to keep in equilibrium with respect to those neighbors. This leads to a very simple and robust problem solving scheme, well suited for transfer problems. In this work, we have applied the FWM to an unsteady scalar convection-diffusion equation. Despite its simplicity, it is well known that convection-diffusion problems can be challenging to be solved numerically, especially when convection is highly dominant. This has led researchers to set the scalar convection-diffusion equation as a benchmark one used to analyze and derive the required conditions or artifacts needed to numerically solve problems where convection and diffusion occur simultaneously. We have shown here that the standard FWM can be used to solve convection-diffusion equations in a robust manner as no adjustments (Upwinding or Artificial Diffusion addition) were required to obtain good results even for high Peclet numbers and coarse space and time steps. A comparison was performed between the FWM scheme and both a first order implicit Finite Volume Scheme (Upwind scheme) and a third order implicit Finite Volume Scheme (QUICK Scheme). The results of the comparison was that for equal space and time grid spacing, the FWM yields a much better precision than the used Finite Volume schemes, all having similar computational cost and conditioning number.

Keywords: Finite Window Method, Convection-Diffusion, Numerical Technique, Convergence

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Authors: Razan Farah, Siham Ballah

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Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and other social media applications have become an integral component of everyone’s social life, particularly among younger generations and adolescences. These social apps have been changing a lot of conceptions and believes in the population by representing public figures and celebrities as role models. The social comparison theory, which says that people self-evaluate based on comparisons with similar others, is commonly used to explore the impact of social media on body image. There is a need to study the influence of those social platforms on the body image as there have been an increase in body dissatisfaction in the recent years. This cross sectional study used a self administered questionnaire on a simple random sample of 133 female medical students of the first year. Finding shows that the response rate was 75%. There was an association between social media usage and noticing how the person look(p value = .022), but no significant association between social media use and body image influence or dissatisfaction was found. This study implies more research under this topic in Sudan as the literature are scarce.

Keywords: body image, body dissatisfaction, social media, adolescences

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Authors: Sara Subhan

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Married couples tend to experience various bio-psycho-social issues that may eventually impact the quality of their marital relationship and mental wellbeing. This study aimed to find out the comparison between the single and dual-career couples’ personality, burnout and marital satisfaction. For that purpose Big Five Inventory, Couple Satisfaction Inventory, and Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey was used to measure the relationship between variables. The main study was carried out on 200 samples of single and dual-earner couples with the age range of 23-52 (mean= 34.58; standard deviation= 6.51) by using a purposive sampling strategy. The results showed that burnout tendencies like exhaustion, cynicism and professional efficacy are playing a mediation role between the personality and marital satisfaction of both single and dual career couples. Also, the results revealed that dual-career couples are more likely to have marital satisfaction as compared to single career couples. The results were further discussed in the light of its implications in its cultural context and counseling areas.

Keywords: dual career couples, marital satisfaction, burnout tendencies, personality

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Authors: Anjela Koblischka-Veneva, Michael R. Koblischka

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To increase the flux pinning performance of bulk YBa2Cu3O7-δ (YBCO or Y-123) superconductors, it is common to employ secondary phase particles, either Y2BaCuO5 (Y-211) particles created during the growth of the samples or additionally added (nano)particles of various types, embedded in the superconducting Y-123 matrix. As the crystallographic parameters of all the particles indicate a misfit to Y-123, there will be residual strain within the Y-123 matrix around such particles. With a dedicated analysis of electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) data obtained on various bulk, Y-123 superconductor samples, the strain distribution around such embedded secondary phase particles can be revealed. The results obtained are presented in form of Kernel Average Misorientation (KAM) mappings. Around large Y-211 particles, the strain can be so large that YBCO subgrains are formed. Therefore, it is essential to properly control the particle size as well as their distribution within the bulk sample to obtain the best performance. The impact of the strain distribution on the flux pinning properties is discussed.

Keywords: Bulk superconductors, EBSD, Strain, YBa2Cu3Oy

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Authors: M. Khasro Miah, Chowdhury Hossan Golam, Muhammed Siddique Hossain

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Recently, financial institution brand image is turning out to be pretty weak due to the presence of strong local competitors and this in term is affecting their firm performance also. In this study, four major HR practices, namely employee commitment, empowerment, loyalty, and engagement are considered in order to measure its effects on the brand and financial performance of banking organization. This study finds that the banking institutions of Bangladesh are more customer oriented rather than internal employee oriented, which makes it quite obvious that the internal HR practices will have little or no effect on the banks brand performance. Employee Commitment has emerged out to be the most important predictor, followed by employee loyalty and empowerment. The employees are well-empowered, engaged, and shows loyalty towards the organization, but their activities are not well linked with the brand. Firms should concentrate to create a congenial working atmosphere and employees should feel like a part of the organization.

Keywords: HR in bank, employee commitment, empowerment, finance, employee commitment, loyalty and engagement

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Authors: Uyi Kizito Ehigiamusoe

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The paper examines the impact of money market on economic growth in Nigeria using data for the period 1980-2012. Econometrics techniques such as Ordinary Least Squares Method, Johanson’s Co-integration Test and Vector Error Correction Model were used to examine both the long-run and short-run relationship. Evidence from the study suggest that though a long-run relationship exists between money market and economic growth, but the present state of the Nigerian money market is significantly and negatively related to economic growth. The link between the money market and the real sector of the economy remains very weak. This implies that the market is not yet developed enough to produce the needed growth that will propel the Nigerian economy because of several challenges. It was therefore recommended that government should create the appropriate macroeconomic policies, legal framework and sustain the present reforms with a view to developing the market so as to promote productive activities, investments, and ultimately economic growth.

Keywords: economic growth, investments, money market, money market challenges, money market instruments

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Authors: Laura N. Bolivar T.

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The tourism importance for regional development is mainly highlighted by the collaborative, cooperating and competitive relationships of the involved agents. The fostering of associativity processes, in particular, the cluster approach emphasizes the beneficial outcomes from the concentration of enterprises, where innovation and entrepreneurship flourish and shape the dynamics for tourism empowerment. Considering the department of Huila, it is located in the south-west of Colombia and holds the biggest coffee production in the country, although it barely contributes to the national GDP. Hence, its economic development strategy is looking for more dynamism and Huila could be consolidated as a leading destination for cultural, ecological and heritage tourism, if at least the public policy making processes for the tourism management of La Tatacoa Desert, San Agustin Park and Bambuco’s National Festival, were implemented in a more efficient manner. In this order of ideas, this study attempts to address the potential restrictions and beneficial factors for the consolidation of the tourism sector of Huila-Colombia as a cluster and how could it impact its regional development. Therefore, a set of theoretical frameworks such as the Tourism Routes Approach, the Tourism Breeding Environment, the Community-based Tourism Method, among others, but also a collection of international experiences describing tourism clustering processes and most outstanding problematics, is analyzed to draw up learning points, structure of proceedings and success-driven factors to be contrasted with the local characteristics in Huila, as the region under study. This characterization involves primary and secondary information collection methods and comprises the South American and Colombian context together with the identification of involved actors and their roles, main interactions among them, major tourism products and their infrastructure, the visitors’ perspective on the situation and a recap of the related needs and benefits regarding the host community. Considering the umbrella concepts, the theoretical and the empirical approaches, and their comparison with the local specificities of the tourism sector in Huila, an array of shortcomings is analytically constructed and a series of guidelines are proposed as a way to overcome them and simultaneously, raise economic development and positively impact Huila’s well-being. This non-exhaustive bundle of guidelines is focused on fostering cooperating linkages in the actors’ network, dealing with Information and Communication Technologies’ innovations, reinforcing the supporting infrastructure, promoting the destinations considering the less known places as well, designing an information system enabling the tourism network to assess the situation based on reliable data, increasing competitiveness, developing participative public policy-making processes and empowering the host community about the touristic richness. According to this, cluster dynamics would drive the tourism sector to meet articulation and joint effort, then involved agents and local particularities would be adequately assisted to cope with the current changing environment of globalization and competition.

Keywords: innovative strategy, local development, network of tourism actors, tourism cluster

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Authors: Pawel Sowa, Joachim Bargiel, Bogdan Mol, Katarzyna Luszcz

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The article raises the issue of the development of local renewable energy sources and the production of distributed energy in context of improving the reliability of the Polish Power System and the beneficial impact on local and national energy security. The paper refers to the current problems of local governments in the process of investment in the area of distributed energy projects, and discusses the issues of the future role and cooperation within the local power plants and distributed energy. Attention is paid to the local communities the chance to raise their own resources and management of energy fuels (biomass, wind, gas mining) and improving the local energy balance. The material presented takes the issue of the development of the energy potential of municipalities and future cooperation with professional energy. As an example, practical solutions used in one of the communes in Silesia.

Keywords: distributed generation, mini centers energy, renewable energy sources, reliability of supply of rural commune

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Authors: Dimitrie Marinceu, Alan Murchison

Abstract:

The Canadian Used Fuel Container (UFC) is a mid-size hemispherical headed copper coated steel container measuring 2.5 meters in length and 0.5 meters in diameter containing 48 used fuel bundles. The contained used fuel produces significant gamma radiation requiring automated assembly processes to complete the assembly. The design throughput of 2,500 UFCs per year places constraints on equipment and hot cell design for repeatability, speed of processing, robustness and recovery from upset conditions. After UFC assembly, the UFC is inserted into a Buffer Box (BB). The BB is made from adequately pre-shaped blocks (lower and upper block) and Highly Compacted Bentonite (HCB) material. The blocks are practically ‘sandwiching’ the UFC between them after assembly. This paper identifies one possible approach for the BB automatic assembly cell and processes. Automation of the BB assembly will have a significant positive impact on nuclear safety, quality, productivity, and reliability.

Keywords: used fuel packing plant, automatic assembly cell, used fuel container, buffer box, deep geological repository

Procedia PDF Downloads 268

Authors: M. L. Moyo

Abstract:

Concerns about climate change, food productivity, and the ever-increasing cost of commercial fertilizer products is forcing have spurred interest in the production of alternatives or substitutes for commercial fertilizer products. In this study, the potential of pyrolytic tire char (PT-char) to improve soil productivity was investigated. The use of carbonized biomass, which is commonly termed biochar or biofertilizer and exhibits similar properties to PT-char in agriculture is not new, with historical evidence pointing to the use of charcoal for soil improvement by indigenous Amazon people for several centuries. Due to minimal market value or use of PT-char, huge quantities are currently stockpiled in South Africa. This successively reduces revenue and decreases investments in waste tire recycling efforts as PT-char constitutes 40 % weight of the total waste tire pyrolysis products. The physicochemical analysis results reported in this study showed that PT-char contains a low concentration of essential plant elements (P and K) and, therefore, cannot be used for increasing nutrient availability in soils. A low presence of heavy metals (Ni, Pb, and Cd), which may be harmful to the environment at high application rates was also observed. In addition, the results revealed that PT-char contains very high levels of Zn, a widely known phytotoxicity causing agents in plants. However, the study also illustrated that PT-char is made up of a highly aromatic and condensed carbon structure. PT-char is therefore highly stable, less prone to microbial degradation, and has a low chemical reactivity in soils. Considering these characteristics, PT-char meets the requirements for use as a carbon sequestration agent, which may be useful in mitigating climate change.

Keywords: agriculture, carbon sequestration, physicochemical analysis, pyrolytic tire char, soil amendment.

Procedia PDF Downloads 116

Authors: Vasileios Floros

Abstract:

This article delves into the intricate interplay between leadership styles and teacher satisfaction within the Greek educational framework, underscoring the pivotal role of school leadership in shaping educational success and fostering a conducive school culture. Through a comprehensive analysis, the study explores various leadership theories, the psychological contract between teachers and leaders, and the impact of leadership on teacher job satisfaction and group dynamics within educational institutions. It highlights how leadership efficacy can significantly influence the organizational climate, teacher motivation, and, ultimately, educational outcomes. The findings suggest that effective leadership, characterized by a deep understanding of teacher psychology, thoughtful engagement with the school culture, and strategic application of leadership styles, can lead to heightened teacher satisfaction and enhanced educational performance. This research offers valuable insights for educational policymakers, school leaders, and the broader academic community interested in optimizing leadership practices to foster an enriching educational environment in Greece.

Keywords: educational leadership, teacher satisfaction, school culture, leadership styles, Greek education

Procedia PDF Downloads 41

Authors: P. Hajyalikhani, E. Gilmore, C. Petty, J. Duron

Abstract:

Wood framed construction is the most popular method of construction for residential buildings. The typical roof framing for wood-framed buildings is sloped and consists of several structural members, such as rafters, hips, and valleys that link to the ridge and ceiling joists. The most common type of wood framing used is platform framing, also known as stick framing. Failures of the wood framing structures are among the most common types of wind damage in densely populated regions. Wood-framed buildings are under uplift during tornadoes and hurricanes which cause the failure in the roof. The bracing long structure members such as hip and valley have a large impact on the resilience of wood-framed buildings. As a result, the common failures in wood-framed buildings are reviewed, and the critical support locations for lengthy hips and valleys with various slopes are analyzed and recommended.

Keywords: rafters, hips, valleys, hip, ceiling joist, roof failures, residential and commercial structures, hurricane, tornadoes, building codes

Procedia PDF Downloads 60

Authors: Ying Zhou, Jian-Hua Wang

Abstract:

Based upon the self-determination theory and self-regulated learning theory, this study examined the predictiveness of goal orientation and self-regulated learning strategies on academic achievement of adult students in distance learning. The results show a positive relation between goal orientation and the use of self-regulated strategies, and academic achievements. A significant and positive indirect relation of mastery goal orientation through self-regulated learning strategies was also found. In addition, results pointed to a positive indirect impact of performance-approach goal orientation on academic achievement. The effort regulation strategy fully mediated this relation. The theoretical and instructional implications are discussed. Interventions can be made to motivate students’ mastery or performance approach goal orientation and help them manage their time or efforts.

Keywords: goal orientation, self-regulated strategies, achievement, adult distance students

Procedia PDF Downloads 267