Search results for: sustainable quality of life

Authors: V. Ziegler, F. Schneider, M. Pesch

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With the EDM264, GRIMM offers a solution for mobile short- and long-term measurements in outdoor areas and at production sites. For research as well as permanent areal observations on a near reference quality base. The model EDM264 features a powerful and robust measuring cell based on optical particle counting (OPC) principle with all the advantages that users of GRIMM's portable aerosol spectrometers are used to. The system is embedded in a compact weather-protection housing with all-weather sampling, heated inlet system, data logger, and meteorological sensor. With TSP, PM10, PM4, PM2.5, PM1, and PMcoarse, the EDM264 provides all fine dust fractions real-time, valid for outdoor applications and calculated with the proven GRIMM enviro-algorithm, as well as six additional dust mass fractions pm10, pm2.5, pm1, inhalable, thoracic and respirable for IAQ and workplace measurements. This highly versatile instrument performs real-time monitoring of particle number, particle size and provides information on particle surface distribution as well as dust mass distribution. GRIMM's EDM264 has 31 equidistant size channels, which are PSL traceable. A high-end data logger enables data acquisition and wireless communication via LTE, WLAN, or wired via Ethernet. Backup copies of the measurement data are stored in the device directly. The rinsing air function, which protects the laser and detector in the optical cell, further increases the reliability and long term stability of the EDM264 under different environmental and climatic conditions. The entire sample volume flow of 1.2 L/min is analyzed by 100% in the optical cell, which assures excellent counting efficiency at low and high concentrations and complies with the ISO 21501-1standard for OPCs. With all these features, the EDM264 is a world-leading dust monitor for precise monitoring of particulate matter and particle number concentration. This highly reliable instrument is an indispensable tool for many users who need to measure aerosol levels and air quality outdoors, on construction sites, or at production facilities.

Keywords: aerosol research, aerial observation, fence line monitoring, wild fire detection

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Authors: Tzu-Ping Lin, Shing-Ru Yang

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Climate change has a significant impact on human living environment, while the traditional settlement may suffer extreme thermal stress due to its specific building type and living behavior. This study selected Lutaoyang, which is the largest settlement in mountainous areas of Tainan County, for the investigation area. The microclimate parameters, such as air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and mean radiant temperature. The micro climate parameters were also simulated by the ENVI-met model. The results showed the banyan tree area providing good thermal comfort condition due to the shading. On the contrary, the courtyard (traditionally for the crops drying) surrounded by low rise building and consisted of artificial pavement contributing heat stress especially in summer noon. In the climate change simulations, the courtyard will become very hot and are not suitable for residents activities. These analytical results will shed light on the sustainability related to thermal environment in traditional settlements and develop adaptive measure towards sustainable development under the climate change challenges.

Keywords: thermal environment, traditional settlement, ENVI-met, Taiwan

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Authors: Soiduate Ogoye-Atanga

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During funeral ceremonies, it has become common for attendees to jostle for burial programs in some southern Nigerian towns. Beginning from ordinary typewritten text only sheets of paper in the 1980s to their current digitally formatted multicolor magazine style, burial programs continue to be collected and kept in homes where they remain as archival documents of family photo histories and as a veritable form of leveraging family status and visibility in a social economy through the inclusion of lots of choreographically arranged photographs and text. The biographical texts speak of idealized and often lofty and aestheticized accomplishments of deceased peoples, which are often corroborated by an accompanying section of tributes from first the immediate family members, and then from affiliations as well as organizations deceased people belonged, in the form of scanned letterheaded corporate tributes. Others speak of modest biographical texts when the deceased accomplished little. Usually, in majority of the cases, the display of photographs and text in these programs follow a trajectory of historical compartmentalization of the deceased, beginning from parentage to the period of youth, occupation, retirement, and old age as the case may be, which usually drives from black and white historical photographs to the color photography of today. This compartmentalization follows varied models but is designed to show the deceased in varying activities during his lifetime. The production of these programs ranges from the extremely expensive and luscious full colors of near fifty-eighty pages to bland and very simplified low-quality few-page editions in a single color and no photographs, except on the cover. Cost and quality, therefore, become determinants of varying family status and social visibility. By a critical selection of photographs and text, family members construct an idealized image of deceased people and themselves, concentrating on mutuality based on appropriate sartorial selections, socioeconomic grade, and social temperaments that are framed to corroborate the public’s perception of them. Burial magazines, therefore, serve purposes beyond their primary use; they symbolize an orchestrated social site for image-making and the validation of the social status of families, shaped by prior family histories.

Keywords: biographical texts, burial programs, compartmentalization, magazine, multicolor, photo-histories, social status

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Authors: Frantisek Mosna

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E-learning has become an efficient and widespread means in process of education at all branches of human activities. Statistics is not an exception. Unfortunately the main focus in the statistics teaching is usually paid to the substitution to formulas. Suitable web-sites can simplify and automate calculation and provide more attention and time to the basic principles of statistics, mathematization of real-life situations and following interpretation of results. We introduce our own web-sites for hypothesis testing. Their didactic aspects, technical possibilities of individual tools for their creating, experience and advantages or disadvantages of them are discussed in this paper. These web-sites do not substitute common statistical software but significantly improve the teaching of the statistics at universities.

Keywords: e-learning, hypothesis testing, PHP, web-sites

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Authors: May A. Massoud, R. Harissi

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The fundamental principle and overall goal of an Environmental Management System is the concept of continual improvement. The implementation of such a system reveals a commitment to compliance and sustainable development. This research project aims at identifying and evaluating the prospects and challenges facing the adoption of ISO 14001 standard in the higher education system of Lebanon. It examines the corresponding barriers, drivers and incentives associated with the implementation of the standard. For this purpose, primary data were collected using quantitative method. The results revealed a significant lack of knowledge and sense of responsibility towards ISO 14001 standard and environmental accountability. Improving educational and social responsibility, improving environmental performance and enhancing institution image are the most noticeable drivers to adopt ISO 14001. The main perceived barriers for acquiring the standard are unclear benefits of ISO 14001, the lack of government support and the fact that the standard is not seen as a priority by top management. Lebanese Higher Education institutions are far likely to consider ISO 14001 before having proper accreditation programs or until ISO 14001 become widely-known in the Lebanese economic sectors.

Keywords: ISO 14001, higher education institution, environmental management, system

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Authors: Lucie Litvack, Malaz Elsaddig, Kevin Jones

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There is strong evidence to support the efficacy of the World Health Organization (WHO) Surgical Safety Checklist in improving patient safety; however, its use can be associated with difficulties. This study uses qualitative data collected in Kitovu Healthcare Complex, a rural Ugandan hospital, to identify factors that may influence the use of the checklist in a low-income setting. Potential barriers to and motivators for the hospital’s use of this checklist are identified and explored through observations of current patient safety practices; semi-structured interviews with theatre staff; a focus group with doctors; and trial implementation of the checklist. Barriers identified include the institutional context; knowledge and understanding; patient safety culture; resources and checklist contents. Motivators for correct use include prior knowledge; team attitudes; and a hospital advocate. Challenges are complex and unique to this socioeconomic context. Stepwise change to improve patient safety practices, local champions, whole team training, and checklist modification may assist the implementation and sustainable use of the checklist in an effective way.

Keywords: anaesthesia, patient safety, Uganda, WHO surgical safety checklist

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Authors: Tomasz Holecki, Hanna Dobrowolska

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In the Polish health care system, nurses and midwives are obliged to regularly update their professional knowledge. It is all regulated by the Law on the nurse and midwife’s profession and the code of ethics. The professional self-governing body (County Chamber of Nurses and Midwives) is obliged to organize ongoing training for them so that maintaining accessibility and availability to the high quality of educational services could be possible at all levels of post-graduate education. The aim of this study is an analysis of post-graduate education organized by the County Chamber of Nurses and Midwives in the city of Katowice, Poland, as a professional self-governing body operating in the area of Silesian province inhabited by almost 5 million citizens which bring together more than 30 thousand professionally active nurses and midwives. In the years 2000-2017, the self-government of nurses and midwives trained over 50,000 people. The education and supervision system over the labour of nurses and midwives establishes exercising control by a self-governing body. In practice, this means that conducting activities aimed at creating legal regulations and organizational conditions, as well as the practical implementation of courses, belongs to the professional self-government of nurses and midwives. The most of specialization courses that were provided from their own funds came from membership fees. The biggest group was participants of specializations in the fields of cardiac, anesthesia, and preventive nursing. The smallest group of people participated in such specializations as neonatal, emergency, and obstetrics nursing. The most popular specialist courses were in the fields of the electrocardiogram and cardiopulmonary resuscitation, whereas the least popular were the ones in the fields of protective vaccinations of neonates. So-called 'soft training-courses' in the fields of improvement of social skills and management were also provided. The research shows that a vast majority of nurses and midwives are interested in raising their professional qualifications. Specialist courses and selected fields of qualification courses received the most concrete attention. In light of conducted research, one can assert that cooperation inside the community of nurses and midwives provides access to high-quality education and training services regularly used by a wide circle of them. The presented results exemplify a level of real interest in specialist and qualification training-courses and also show sources of financing them.

Keywords: nurses and midwives, ongoing training, postgraduate education, specialist training-courses

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Authors: Alex Vakaloudis, Juan Manuel Escano-Gonzalez

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Setting up a system to broadcast live lectures on the web is a procedure which on the surface does not require any serious technical skills mainly due to the facilities provided by popular learning management systems and their plugins. Nevertheless, producing a system of outstanding quality is a multidisciplinary and by no means a straightforward task. This complicatedness may be responsible for the delivery of an overall poor experience to the learners, and it calls for a formal rating framework that takes into account the diverse aspects of an architecture for synchronous video e-learning systems. We discuss the specifications of such a framework which at its final stage employs fuzzy logic technique to transform from qualitative to quantitative results.

Keywords: synchronous video, fuzzy logic, rating framework, e-learning

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Authors: Julie De Pril, Cécile Godfroid

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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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Authors: Jiang Niu, Yue Jiang

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With the ultimate goal to automatically generate translated texts with high quality, machine translation has made tremendous improvements. However, its translations of literary works are still plagued with problems in coherence, esp. the translation between distant language pairs. One of the causes of the problems is probably the lack of linguistic knowledge to be incorporated into the training of machine translation systems. In order to enable readers to better understand the problems of machine translation in coherence, to seek out the potential knowledge to be incorporated, and thus to improve the quality of machine translation products, this study applies Theme-Rheme structure to examine how a machine-translated literary text is organized and developed in terms of coherence. Theme-Rheme structure in Systemic Functional Linguistics is a useful tool for analysis of textual coherence. Theme is the departure point of a clause and Rheme is the rest of the clause. In a text, as Themes and Rhemes may be connected with each other in meaning, they form thematic and rhematic progressions throughout the text. Based on this structure, we can look into how a text is organized and developed in terms of coherence. Methodologically, we chose Chinese and English as the language pair to be studied. Specifically, we built a comparable corpus with two modes of English translations, viz. machine translation (MT) and human translation (HT) of one Chinese literary source text. The translated texts were annotated with Themes, Rhemes and their progressions throughout the texts. The annotated texts were analyzed from two respects, the different types of Themes functioning differently in achieving coherence, and the different types of thematic and rhematic progressions functioning differently in constructing texts. By analyzing and contrasting the two modes of translations, it is found that compared with the HT, 1) the MT features “pseudo-coherence”, with lots of ill-connected fragments of information using “and”; 2) the MT system produces a static and less interconnected text that reads like a list; these two points, in turn, lead to the less coherent organization and development of the MT than that of the HT; 3) novel to traditional and previous studies, Rhemes do contribute to textual connection and coherence though less than Themes do and thus are worthy of notice in further studies. Hence, the findings suggest that Theme-Rheme structure be applied to measuring and assessing the coherence of machine translation, to being incorporated into the training of the machine translation system, and Rheme be taken into account when studying the textual coherence of both MT and HT.

Keywords: coherence, corpus-based, literary translation, machine translation, Theme-Rheme structure

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Authors: J. K. Alhassan, C. S. Actsu

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This study is on the prediction of feature performance of undergraduate students with Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). With the growing decline in the quality academic performance of undergraduate students, it has become essential to predict the students’ feature academic performance early in their courses of first and second years and to take the necessary precautions using such prediction-based information. The feed forward multilayer neural network model was used to train and develop a network and the test carried out with some of the input variables. A result of 80% accuracy was obtained from the test which was carried out, with an average error of 0.009781.

Keywords: academic performance, artificial neural network, prediction, students

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Authors: Cansu Kandemir, Marco Franchino

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To attain sustainability goals, the manufacturing industries must assess and improve their processes, adopt the latest technologies, and ensure minimal environmental impact. Ongoing debates claim that the definition of sustainability and its assessment is vague. Companies struggle with understanding which processes they should prioritise and necessitate a methodology to aid decision-making. For that reason, our investigation focused on defining a prioritisation guide to help to manufacture engineers identify areas of a facility to prioritise de-carbonisation efforts based on existing sources of data. The authors at the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) worked with a range of major businesses, including Food and Drink (Moy Park), Automotive (Nissan), Aerospace and Defence (BAE, Meggitt, Leonardo, and GKN) and Technology (Accenture and Intellium AI). Collected information has been integrated into a prioritisation guide framework that helps process comparison and decision-making. The framework developed in this study aims to ensure that companies have guidance on where to focus their efforts whilst striving to fulfil their environmental and societal obligations.

Keywords: decision making, sustainability, carbon emissions, manufacturing

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Authors: Bangaly Kaba

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In the global information society, the importance of the Internet cannot be overemphasized. Africa needs access to the powerful information and communication tools of the Internet in order to obtain the resources and efficiency essential for sustainable development. Unfortunately, in 2013, the data from Internetworldstats showed only 15% of African populations have access to Internet. This relative low Internet penetration rate signals a problem that may threaten the economic development, governmental efficiency, and ultimately the global competitiveness of African countries. Many initiatives were undertaken to bring the benefits of the global information revolution to the people of Africa, through connection to the Internet and other Global Information Infrastructure technologies. The purpose is to understand differences between socio-economically advantaged and disadvantaged internet users. From that, we will determine what prevents disadvantaged groups from benefiting from Internet usage. Data were collected through a survey from Internet users in Ivory Coast. The results reveal that Personal network exposure, Self-efficacy and Availability are the key drivers of continued use intention for the socio-economically disadvantaged group. The theoretical and practical implications are also described.

Keywords: digital inequality, internet, integrative model, socio-economically advantaged and disadvantaged, use continuance, Africa

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Authors: Mengjiao Fan, Thomson W. L. Wong

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It is unavoidable that older adults may have to deal with aging-related motor problems. Aging is highly likely to affect motor learning and control as well. For example, older adults may suffer from poor motor function and quality of life due to age-related eye changes. These adverse changes in vision results in impairment of movement automaticity. Reaching is a fundamental component of various complex movements, which is therefore beneficial to explore the changes and adaptation in visuomotor behaviors. The current study aims to explore how aging affects visuomotor behaviors by comparing motor performance and gaze behaviors between two age groups (i.e., young and older adults). Visuomotor behaviors in reaching under providing or blocking online visual feedback (simulated visual deficiency) conditions were investigated in 60 healthy young adults (Mean age=24.49 years, SD=2.12) and 37 older adults (Mean age=70.07 years, SD=2.37) with normal or corrected-to-normal vision. Participants in each group were randomly allocated into two subgroups. Subgroup 1 was provided with online visual feedback of the hand-controlled mouse cursor. However, in subgroup 2, visual feedback was blocked to simulate visual deficiency. The experimental task required participants to complete 20 times of reaching to a target by controlling the mouse cursor on the computer screen. Among all the 20 trials, start position was upright in the center of the screen and target appeared at a randomly selected position by the tailor-made computer program. Primary outcomes of motor performance and gaze behaviours data were recorded by the EyeLink II (SR Research, Canada). The results suggested that aging seems to affect the performance of reaching tasks significantly in both visual feedback conditions. In both age groups, blocking online visual feedback of the cursor in reaching resulted in longer hand movement time (p < .001), longer reaching distance away from the target center (p<.001) and poorer reaching motor accuracy (p < .001). Concerning gaze behaviors, blocking online visual feedback increased the first fixation duration time in young adults (p<.001) but decreased it in older adults (p < .001). Besides, under the condition of providing online visual feedback of the cursor, older adults conducted a longer fixation dwell time on target throughout reaching than the young adults (p < .001) although the effect was not significant under blocking online visual feedback condition (p=.215). Therefore, the results suggested that different levels of visual feedback during movement execution can affect gaze behaviors differently in older and young adults. Differential effects by aging on visuomotor behaviors appear on two visual feedback patterns (i.e., blocking or providing online visual feedback of hand-controlled cursor in reaching). Several specific gaze behaviors among the older adults were found, which imply that blocking of visual feedback may act as a stimulus to seduce extra perceptive load in movement execution and age-related visual degeneration might further deteriorate the situation. It indeed provides us with insight for the future development of potential rehabilitative training method (e.g., well-designed errorless training) in enhancing visuomotor adaptation for our aging population in the context of improving their movement automaticity by facilitating their compensation of visual degeneration.

Keywords: aging effect, movement automaticity, reaching, visuomotor behaviors, visual degeneration

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Authors: M. Saard, A. Kolk, K. Sepp, L. Pertens, L. Reinart, C. Kööp

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Introduction: Social competence is often impaired in children with acquired brain injury (ABI), but evidence-based rehabilitation for social skills has remained undeveloped. Modern technology-based methods create effective and safe learning environments for pediatric social skills remediation. The aim of the study was to implement our structured model of neuro rehab for socio-cognitive deficit using multitouch-multiuser tabletop (MMT) computer-based platforms and virtual reality (VR) technology. Methods: 40 children aged 8-13 years (yrs) have participated in the pilot study: 30 with ABI -epilepsy, traumatic brain injury and/or tic disorder- and 10 healthy age-matched controls. From the patients, 12 have completed the training (M = 11.10 yrs, SD = 1.543) and 20 are still in training or in the waiting-list group (M = 10.69 yrs, SD = 1.704). All children performed the first individual and paired assessments. For patients, second evaluations were performed after the intervention period. Two interactive applications were implemented into rehabilitation design: Snowflake software on MMT tabletop and NoProblem on DiamondTouch Table (DTT), which allowed paired training (2 children at once). Also, in individual training sessions, HTC Vive VR device was used with VR metaphors of difficult social situations to treat social anxiety and train social skills. Results: At baseline (B) evaluations, patients had higher deficits in executive functions on the BRIEF parents’ questionnaire (M = 117, SD = 23.594) compared to healthy controls (M = 22, SD = 18.385). The most impaired components of social competence were emotion recognition, Theory of Mind skills (ToM), cooperation, verbal/non-verbal communication, and pragmatics (Friendship Observation Scale scores only 25-50% out of 100% for patients). In Sentence Completion Task and Spence Anxiety Scale, the patients reported a lack of friends, behavioral problems, bullying in school, and social anxiety. Outcome evaluations: Snowflake on MMT improved executive and cooperation skills and DTT developed communication skills, metacognitive skills, and coping. VR, video modelling and role-plays improved social attention, emotional attitude, gestural behaviors, and decreased social anxiety. NEPSY-II showed improvement in Affect Recognition [B = 7, SD = 5.01 vs outcome (O) = 10, SD = 5.85], Verbal ToM (B = 8, SD = 3.06 vs O = 10, SD = 4.08), Contextual ToM (B = 8, SD = 3.15 vs O = 11, SD = 2.87). ToM Stories test showed an improved understanding of Intentional Lying (B = 7, SD = 2.20 vs O = 10, SD = 0.50), and Sarcasm (B=6, SD = 2.20 vs O = 7, SD = 2.50). Conclusion: Neurorehabilitation based on the Structured Model of Neurorehab for Socio-Cognitive Deficit in children with ABI were effective in social skills remediation. The model helps to understand theoretical connections between components of social competence and modern interactive computerized platforms. We encourage therapists to implement these next-generation devices into the rehabilitation process as MMT and VR interfaces are motivating for children, thus ensuring good compliance. Improving children’s social skills is important for their and their families’ quality of life and social capital.

Keywords: acquired brain injury, children, social skills deficit, technology-based neurorehabilitation

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Authors: Asiye Ciftci, Zeki Kaya

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Populus nigra is one of the most economically and ecologically important forest trees in Turkey, well known for its rapid growth, good ability to vegetative propagation and the extreme uses of its wood. Due to overexploitation, loss of natural distribution area and extreme hybridization and introgression, Populus nigra is one of the most threatened tree species in Turkey and Europe. Using 20 nuclear microsatellite loci, the genetic structure of European black poplar populations along the two largest rivers of Turkey was analyzed. All tested loci were highly polymorphic, displaying 5 to 15 alleles per locus. Observed heterozygosity (overall Ho = 0.79) has been higher than the expected (overall He = 0.58) in each population. Low level of genetic differentiation among populations (FST= 0,03) and excess of heterozygotes for each river were found. Human-mediated dispersal, phenotypic selection, high level of gene flow and extensive circulations of clonal materials may cause those situations. The genetic data obtained from this study could provide the basis for efficient in situ and ex-situ conservation and restoration of species natural populations in its natural habitat as well as having sustainable breeding and poplar plantations in the future.

Keywords: populus, clonal, loci, ex situ

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Authors: Kelly Danielly Da Silva Alcantara, Daniel Fernando Molina Junqueira, Graziella Colato Antonio

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The Law No. 12,305/10, established by the National Solid Waste Policy (PNRS), provides major changes in the management and managing scenario of solid waste in Brazil. The PNRS established since changes from population behavior as environmental and the consciousness and commitment of the companies with the waste produced. The objective of this project is to conduct a benchmarking study of the management models of Waste Management Municipal Solid (MSW) in national and international levels emphasizing especially in the European Union (Portugal, France and Germany), which are reference countries in energy development, sustainability and consequently recovery of waste generated. The management that encompasses all stages that are included in this sector will be analyzed by benchmarking, as the collection, transportation, processing/treatment and final disposal of waste. Considering the needs to produce clean energy in Brazil, this study will allow the determination to the best treatment of the waste in order to reduce the amount of waste and increase the lifetime of the landfill. Finally, it intends to identify the energy recovery potential through a study analysis of economic viability, energy and sustainable based on a holistic approach.

Keywords: benchmarking, energy recovery, landfill, municipal solid waste

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Authors: Opeyemi Awau Adepoju

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The task of nation-building for Nigeria, like other developing nations, has continued to be riddled with audacious challenges that kept threatening to consume the state itself. Among the destabilizing factors that are sometimes mutually reinforcing are poverty and insecurity. Nigeria has been bedeviled with poverty since the onset of the 1980s when the country metamorphosed from an agricultural to an oil-based economy coupled with unbridled political corruption and wasteful management of resources by successive governments. The crippling poverty started manifesting in the scourge of criminalities and a general state of insecurity. Poverty gradually becomes the breeder of insecurity and threats to human life in Nigeria. Interestingly, successive governments tended to recognize the destructive tendencies of poverty and took several interventionist initiatives towards abating or slowing down the spate of poverty so as to reverse the trend of insecurity, but none of those initiatives can be adjudged good or enduring legacies. The emergence of the Buhari administration in 2015 provided a new opportunity to tackle poverty and, in turn, insecurity that had permeated every aspect of national life before that year’s presidential elections. Expectedly, the government took ambitious steps through its innovative ideas of intervention through its National Social Intervention Programmes (NSIP). Therefore, this paper is an assessment of the Buhari administration’s initiatives in poverty eradication in Nigeria as one of its strategies to fight insecurity, and the paper adopted a qualitative approach. The theoretical arguments put up by this paper are with respect to the connection between poverty and insecurity sourced from the theory of Relative Deprivation. The paper found that the Buhari administration has done better than any government since 1999 in inventing a social intervention program and that the poverty of the people has been addressed to a notable extent. However, the problem of politicization of intervention programs has continued to be the practice under the administration, and if this is not abated, the post-Buhari era may as well be like the eras before it. The paper recommends legislation that can make poverty ameliorating programs permanent, at least for some years to come, so as to avoid the usual policy summersault at every instance of political transition, which has limited the sustainability of public policies and indeed hindered nation-building efforts in Nigeria.

Keywords: insecurity, poverty alleviation, public policies, social intervention

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Authors: Antoni Grau, Yolanda Bolea, Alberto Sanfeliu

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Embedding Sustainability in technological curricula has become a crucial factor for educating engineers with competences in sustainability. The Technical University of Catalonia UPC, in 2008, designed the Sustainable Technology Excellence Program STEP 2015 in order to assure a successful Sustainability Embedding. This Program takes advantage of the opportunity that the redesign of all Bachelor and Master Degrees in Spain by 2010 under the European Higher Education Area framework offered. The STEP program goals are: to design compulsory courses in each degree; to develop the conceptual base and identify reference models in sustainability for all specialties at UPC; to create an internal interdisciplinary network of faculty from all the schools; to initiate new transdisciplinary research activities in technology-sustainability-education; to spread the know/how attained; to achieve international scientific excellence in technology-sustainability-education and to graduate the first engineers/architects of the new EHEA bachelors with sustainability as a generic competence. Specifically, in this paper authors explain their experience in leading the STEP program, and two examples are presented: Industrial Robotics subject and the curriculum for the School of Architecture.

Keywords: sustainability, curricula improvement, robotics, STEP program

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Authors: Jingyu Zhou, Hongfang Ma, Haitao Zhang, Weiyong Ying

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High surface area MgAl2O4 supported Nickel catalysts with PVA loadings varying from 0% to 15% were prepared by precipitation and impregnation method. The catalysts were characterized by low temperature N2 adsorption/desorption, X-ray diffraction and H2 temperature programmed reduction. Compared with Ni/γ-Al2O3 catalyst, Ni/MgAl2O4 catalysts exhibited higher activity and selectivity in high temperature. Among the catalysts, Ni/MgAl2O4-5P with 5 wt% PVA showed the best performance, and achieved 95% CO conversion and 96% CH4 selectivity at 600°C, 2.0 MPa, and a WHSV of 12,000 mL·g⁻¹.h⁻¹. It also maintained good stability in 50h life test.

Keywords: methanation, MgAl2O4 support, PVA, high surface area

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Authors: G. Dottavio, M. F. Andrade, F. Renard, V. Cheutet, A.-L. Ladier, S. Vercraene, P. Hoang, S. Briet, R. Dachicourt, Y. Baizet

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An important number of technological equipment and high-skilled workers over long periods of time have to be mobilized during nuclear decommissioning processes. The related operations generate complex flows of waste and high inventory levels, associated to information flows of heterogeneous types. Taking into account that more than 10 decommissioning operations are on-going in France and about 50 are expected toward 2025: A big challenge is addressed today. The management of decommissioning and dismantling of nuclear installations represents an important part of the nuclear-based energy lifecycle, since it has an environmental impact as well as an important influence on the electricity cost and therefore the price for end-users. Bringing new technologies and new solutions into decommissioning methodologies is thus mandatory to improve the quality, cost and delay efficiency of these operations. The purpose of our project is to improve decommissioning management efficiency by developing a decision-support framework dedicated to plan nuclear facility decommissioning operations and to optimize waste evacuation by means of a logistic approach. The target is to create an easy-to-handle tool capable of i) predicting waste flows and proposing the best decommissioning logistics scenario and ii) managing information during all the steps of the process and following the progress: planning, resources, delays, authorizations, saturation zones, waste volume, etc. In this article we present our results from waste nuclear flows simulation during decommissioning process, including discrete-event simulation supported by FLEXSIM 3-D software. This approach was successfully tested and our works confirms its ability to improve this type of industrial process by identifying the critical points of the chain and optimizing it by identifying improvement actions. This type of simulation, executed before the start of the process operations on the basis of a first conception, allow ‘what-if’ process evaluation and help to ensure quality of the process in an uncertain context. The simulation of nuclear waste flows before evacuation from the site will help reducing the cost and duration of the decommissioning process by optimizing the planning and the use of resources, transitional storage and expensive radioactive waste containers. Additional benefits are expected for the governance system of the waste evacuation since it will enable a shared responsibility of the waste flows.

Keywords: nuclear decommissioning, logistical optimization, decision-support framework, waste management

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Authors: Grzegorz Sierpiński, Ireneusz Celiński, Marcin Staniek

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The article discusses multi modal mobility in contemporary societies as a main planning and organization issue in the functioning of administrative bodies, a problem which really exists in the space of contemporary cities in terms of shaping modern transport systems. The article presents classification of available resources and initiatives undertaken for developing multi modal mobility. Solutions can be divided into three groups of measures–physical measures in the form of changes of the transport network infrastructure, organizational ones (including transport policy) and information measures. The latter ones include in particular direct support for people travelling in the transport network by providing information about ways of using available means of transport. A special measure contributing to this end is a trip planner. The article compares several selected planners. It includes a short description of the Green Travelling Project, which aims at developing a planner supporting environmentally friendly solutions in terms of transport network operation. The article summarizes preliminary findings of the project.

Keywords: mobility, modal split, multimodal trip, multimodal platforms, sustainable transport

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Authors: Allagui Mohamed

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The study of the concentrations of atmospheric pollutants is analyzed during two days of sea breeze (April 26, 2010, and January 11, 2008) on the Mediterranean coasts, just in front of Gabès (33 ° 53 'N, 10 ° 07' E), Tunisia. During these two cases, we found that Gabès was contaminated by a coastal sea breeze. On April 26, 2010, the terrestrial synoptic wind admitted a maximum speed of about 6 m / s and was approximately perpendicular to the coast and making the breeze easier. On January 11, 2008, the terrestrial wind was local. Under these conditions, O3 and, therefore, the concentrations were multiplied by the factors 0.1 and 2, respectively. The episodes of ozone concentrations faithfully follow the sea breeze circulation. These sea breeze events can be responsible for high concentrations of NO, NO2, and SO2 as air pollutants in this area.

Keywords: sea breeze, O3, cost town, air quality

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Authors: Grâce Chidikofan, François Pinta, A. Benoist, G. Volle, J. Valette

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Statement of the Problem: biomass gasification systems may be relevant for decentralized power generation from recoverable agricultural and wood residues available in rural areas. In recent years, many systems have been implemented in all over the world as especially in Cambodgia, India. Although they have many positive effects, these systems can also affect the environment and human health. Indeed, during the process of biomass gasification, black wastewater containing tars are produced and generally discharged in the local environment either into the rivers or on soil. However, in most environmental assessment studies of biomass gasification systems, the impact of these releases are underestimated, due to the difficulty of identification of their chemical substances. This work deal with the analysis of the environmental impacts of tars from wood gasification in terms of human toxicity cancer effect, human toxicity non-cancer effect, and freshwater ecotoxicity. Methodology: A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach was adopted. The inventory of tars chemicals substances was based on experimental data from a downdraft gasification system. The composition of six samples from two batches of raw materials: one batch made of tree wood species (oak+ plane tree +pine) at 25 % moisture content and the second batch made of oak at 11% moisture content. The tests were carried out for different gasifier load rates, respectively in the range 50-75% and 50-100%. To choose the environmental impacts assessment method, we compared the methods available in SIMAPRO tool (8.2.0) which are taking into account most of the chemical substances. The environmental impacts for 1kg of tars discharged were characterized by ILCD 2011+ method (V.1.08). Findings Experimental results revealed 38 important chemical substances in varying proportion from one test to another. Only 30 are characterized by ILCD 2011+ method, which is one of the best performing methods. The results show that wood species or moisture content have no significant impact on human toxicity noncancer effect (HTNCE) and freshwater ecotoxicity (FWE) for water release. For human toxicity cancer effect (HTCE), a small gap is observed between impact factors of the two batches, either 3.08E-7 CTUh/kg against 6.58E-7 CTUh/kg. On the other hand, it was found that the risk of negative effects is higher in case of tar release into water than on soil for all impact categories. Indeed, considering the set of samples, the average impact factor obtained for HTNCE varies respectively from 1.64 E-7 to 1.60E-8 CTUh/kg. For HTCE, the impact factor varies between 4.83E-07 CTUh/kg and 2.43E-08 CTUh/kg. The variability of those impact factors is relatively low for these two impact categories. Concerning FWE, the variability of impact factor is very high. It is 1.3E+03 CTUe/kg for tars release into water against 2.01E+01 CTUe/kg for tars release on soil. Statement concluding: The results of this study show that the environmental impacts of tars emission of biomass gasification systems can be consequent and it is important to investigate the ways to reduce them. For environmental research, these results represent an important step of a global environmental assessment of the studied systems. It could be used to better manage the wastewater containing tars to reduce as possible the impacts of numerous still running systems all over the world.

Keywords: biomass gasification, life cycle analysis, LCA, environmental impact, tars

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Authors: Kholod J. Alotaibi, Andrew M. Gravell

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Usability is an important software quality that is often neglected at the design stage. Although methods exist to incorporate elements of usability engineering, there is a need for more balanced usability focused methods that can enhance the experience of software usability for users. In this regard, the potential for Usage-Centered Design is explored with respect to requirements gathering and is shown to lead to high software usability besides other benefits. It achieves this through its focus on usage, defining essential use cases, by conducting task modeling, encouraging user collaboration, refining requirements, and so on. The requirements gathering process in UgCD is described in detail.

Keywords: requirements gathering, usability, usage-centred design, computer science

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Authors: Samiksha Raviraja, Junaid Arif

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One of the most important abilities in species is the ability to communicate. This paper proposes steps to take when and if aliens came in contact with humans, and how humans would communicate with them. The situation would be a time-sensitive scenario, meaning that communication is at the utmost importance if such an event were to happen. First, humans would need to establish mutual peace by conveying that there is no threat to the alien race. Second, the aliens would need to acknowledge this understanding and reciprocate. This would be extremely difficult to do regardless of their intelligence level unless they are very human-like and have similarities to our way of communicating. The first step towards understanding their mind is to analyze their level of intelligence - Level 1-Low intelligence, Level 2-Human-like intelligence or Level 3-Advanced or High Intelligence. These three levels go hand in hand with the Kardashev scale. Further, the Barrow scale will also be used to categorize alien species in hopes of developing a common universal language to communicate in. This paper will delve into how the level of intelligence can be used toward achieving communication with aliens by predicting various possible scenarios and outcomes by proposing an intensive categorization system. This can be achieved by studying their Emotional and Intelligence Quotient (along with technological and scientific knowledge/intelligence). The limitations and capabilities of their intelligence must also be studied. By observing how they respond and react (expressions and senses) to different kinds of scenarios, items and people, the data will help enable good categorisation. It can be hypothesised that the more human-like aliens are or can relate to humans, the more likely it is that communication is possible. Depending on the situation, either human can teach aliens a human language, or humans can learn an alien language, or both races work together to develop a mutual understanding or mode of communication. There are three possible ways of contact. Aliens visit Earth, or humans discover aliens while on space exploration or through technology in the form of signals. A much rarer case would be humans and aliens running into each other during a space expedition of their own. The first two possibilities allow a more in-depth analysis of the alien life and enhanced results compared. The importance of finding a method of talking with aliens is important in order to not only protect Earth and humans but rather for the advancement of Science through the shared knowledge between the two species.

Keywords: intelligence, Kardashev scale, Barrow scale, alien civilizations, emotional and intelligence quotient

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Authors: Chia-Yu Lin, Yu-Hsiang Shen, Cing-Ciao Ke, Chia-Hao Chang, Fan-Pin Tseng, Yu-Ching Ni, Sheng-Pin Tseng

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Tomosynthesis is an imaging system that generates a 3D image by scanning in a limited angular range. It could provide more depth information than traditional 2D X-ray single projection. Radiation dose in tomosynthesis is less than computed tomography (CT). Because of limited angular range scanning, there are many properties depending on scanning direction. Therefore, non-coplanar imaging technique was developed to improve image quality in traditional tomosynthesis. The purpose of this study was to establish the non-coplanar imaging technique of tomosynthesis system and evaluate this technique by the reconstructed image. INER prototype tomosynthesis system contains an X-ray tube, a flat panel detector, and a motion machine. This system could move X-ray tube in multiple directions during the acquisition. In this study, we investigated three different imaging techniques that were 2D X-ray single projection, traditional tomosynthesis, and non-coplanar tomosynthesis. An anthropopathic chest phantom was used to evaluate the image quality. It contained three different size lesions (3 mm, 5 mm and, 8 mm diameter). The traditional tomosynthesis acquired 61 projections over a 30 degrees angular range in one scanning direction. The non-coplanar tomosynthesis acquired 62 projections over 30 degrees angular range in two scanning directions. A 3D image was reconstructed by iterative image reconstruction algorithm (ML-EM). Our qualitative method was to evaluate artifacts in tomosynthesis reconstructed image. The quantitative method was used to calculate a peak-to-valley ratio (PVR) that means the intensity ratio of the lesion to the background. We used PVRs to evaluate the contrast of lesions. The qualitative results showed that in the reconstructed image of non-coplanar scanning, anatomic structures of chest and lesions could be identified clearly and no significant artifacts of scanning direction dependent could be discovered. In 2D X-ray single projection, anatomic structures overlapped and lesions could not be discovered. In traditional tomosynthesis image, anatomic structures and lesions could be identified clearly, but there were many artifacts of scanning direction dependent. The quantitative results of PVRs show that there were no significant differences between non-coplanar tomosynthesis and traditional tomosynthesis. The PVRs of the non-coplanar technique were slightly higher than traditional technique in 5 mm and 8 mm lesions. In non-coplanar tomosynthesis, artifacts of scanning direction dependent could be reduced and PVRs of lesions were not decreased. The reconstructed image was more isotropic uniformity in non-coplanar tomosynthesis than in traditional tomosynthesis. In the future, scan strategy and scan time will be the challenges of non-coplanar imaging technique.

Keywords: image reconstruction, non-coplanar imaging technique, tomosynthesis, X-ray imaging

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Authors: Miguel Ramirez, Ivan Lizarazo

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The emergence of various interpretations of sustainability, including weak and strong paradigms, can be traced back to the definition of sustainable development provided in the 1987 Brundtland report and the subsequent evolution of the sustainability concept. However, there has been limited scholarly attention given to clarifying the concept of sustainability within the theoretical and conceptual framework of geography. The discipline has predominantly been focused on understanding the diverse conceptions of sustainability within its epistemological boundaries, resulting in tensions between sustainability paradigms and their associated dimensions, including the incorporation of political perspectives, with particular emphasis on environmental geography's epistemology. In response to this gap, a conceptual framework for sustainability is proposed, effectively integrating spatial and territorial concepts. This framework aims to enhance geography's role in contributing to sustainability by utilizing the land system theory, which is based on the dynamics of land use change. Such an integrated conceptual framework enables incorporating methodological tools such as remote sensing, encompassing various earth observations and fusion methods, and supervised classification techniques. Additionally, it looks for better integration of socioecological information, thereby capturing essential population-related features.

Keywords: geography, sustainability, land change science, territorial sustainability

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Authors: Azar Baghtaghi

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Financial risk management is critically important as it enables companies to maintain stability and profitability amidst market fluctuations and unexpected events. It involves the precise identification of risks that could impact investments, assets, and potential revenues. By implementing effective risk management strategies, companies can insure themselves against adverse market changes and prevent potential losses. In today's era, where markets are highly complex and influenced by various factors such as macroeconomic policies, exchange rate fluctuations, and natural disasters, the need for meticulous planning to cope with these uncertainties is more pronounced. Ultimately, financial risk management means being prepared for the future and the ability to sustain business in changing environments. A company capable of managing its risks not only achieves sustainable profitability but also gains the confidence of shareholders, investors, and business partners, enhancing its competitive position in the market. In this article, the types of financial risk and risk management strategies for improving financial performance were investigated. By identifying the risks stated in this article and their evaluation techniques, it is possible to improve the organization's financial performance.

Keywords: strategy, risk, risk management, financial performance

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Authors: Michael Wagner, Philipp Steinbauer, Andrea Katharina Lietz, Alexander Hoffelner, Johannes Fessler

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Background: Cardiopulmonary resuscitations are stressful situations in which vital decisions must be made within seconds. Lack of routine due to the infrequency of pediatric emergencies can lead to serious medical and communication errors. Virtual reality can fundamentally change the way simulation training is conducted in the future. It appears to be a useful learning tool for technical and non-technical skills. It is important to investigate the use of VR in providing a strong sense of presence within simulations. Methods: In this randomized study, we will enroll doctors and medical students from the Medical University of Vienna, who will receive learning material regarding the resuscitation of a one-year-old child. The study will be conducted in three phases. In the first phase, 20 physicians and 20 medical students from the Medical University of Vienna will be included. They will perform simulation-based training with a standardized scenario of a critically ill child with a hypovolemic shock. The main goal of this phase is to establish a baseline for the following two phases to generate comparative values regarding cognitive load and stress. In phase 2 and 3, the same participants will perform the same scenario in a VR setting. In both settings, on three set points of progression, one of three predefined events is triggered. For each event, three different stress levels (easy, medium, difficult) will be defined. Stress and cognitive load will be analyzed using the NASA Task Load Index, eye-tracking parameters, and heart rate. Subsequently, these values will be compared between VR training and traditional simulation-based training. Hypothesis: We hypothesize that the VR training and the traditional training groups will not differ in physiological response (cognitive load, heart rate, and heart rate variability). We further assume that virtual reality training can be used as cost-efficient additional training. Objectives: The aim of this study is to measure cognitive load and stress level during a real-life simulation training and compare it with VR training in order to show that VR training evokes the same physiological response and cognitive load as real-life simulation training.

Keywords: virtual reality, cognitive load, simulation, adaptive virtual reality training

Procedia PDF Downloads 100