Search results for: management skills and values

Authors: Mabrouka Al-Werfalli

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This paper aims to highlight reasons beyond the prevalence of “culture of corruption” amongst Libyans. One of the most prominent reason for the Libyan revolution in February 2011 was the pervasiveness of corruption. Corruption in Libya remained a significant problem despite harsh legislation and a robust anti-corruption discourse undertaken by the previous regime. The long-standing political corruption in Libya has offered ample opportunity for the evolution of a structure of negative values and morals. This has formed what is termed as a “culture of corruption”, which has induced people to accept and justify corrupt behaviour. The paper is a part of a study concerns the phenomenon of political alienation in Libya which was based on a survey conducted in 2001 in the city of Benghazi. The finding shows that abuse of power looms large within all activities. Embezzlement and misuse of public funds for personal enrichment is thought to be rife within public bodies, institutions, companies, factories, banks and enterprises owned entirely or partially by the state.

Keywords: corruption, culture of corruption, participation in corruption, abuse of power, embezzlement, political alienation, anti-corruption

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Authors: M. Bassas, J. Grané-Morcillo, J. Segura, J. M. Soldevila

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Mental health prevention is key in a society where, according to the World Health Organization, the fourth leading cause of death worldwide is suicide. Compassion is closely linked to personal growth. It shows once again that therapies based on prevention remain an urgency and a social need. In this sense, a growing body of research demonstrates how cultivating a compassionate mind can help alleviate and prevent a variety of psychological problems. In the early 21st century there has been a boom in third-generation compassion-based therapies, although there is a lack of empirical evidence of their efficacy. This study proposes a new psychotherapy method (“Being Method”), whose central axis revolves around emotional management through the cultivation of self-compassion and compassion. Therefore, the objective of this research was to analyze the effectiveness of this method; with regards to the emotional changes experienced when we focus on what we are concerned about through the filter of self-compassion and compassion. The Being Method was born from the influence of Buddhist philosophy and contemporary psychology based mainly on Western rationalist currents. A quantitative cross-sectional study has been carried out in a sample of women between 18 and 53 years old (n=47; Mage=36.02; SDage= 11.86) interested in personal growth in which the following 6 measuring instruments were administered: Peace of mind Scale (PoM), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES; Rosenberg, 1965), Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS), 2 Sacles of the Self-Compassionate and Compassionate Action and Engagement Scales (CAES), Coping Response Inventory for Adults (CRI-A) and Cognitive-Behavioral Strategies Evaluation Scale (MOLDES). Following an experimental method approach, participants were divided into an experimental and control group. Longitudinal analysis was also carried out, through a pre-post program comparison. Pre-post comparison outcomes indicated significant differences (p<.05) between before and after the therapy in the variables Peace of Mind, Self-esteem, Happiness, Self-compassion (A-B), Compassion (A-B), in several mental molds, as well as in several coping strategies. Also, between-groups tests proved significantly higher means obtained in the experimental group. Thus, these outcomes highlighted the effectiveness of the therapy improving all the analyzed dimensions. The social, clinical and research implications are discussed.

Keywords: being method, compassion, effectiveness, emotional management, intervention program, personal growth therapy

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Authors: Abigaba Sophia

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Artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed the education sector by revolutionizing educational frameworks by providing new opportunities and innovative advanced platforms for language translation during the teaching and learning process. In today's education sector, the primary key to scholarly communication is language; therefore, translation between different languages becomes vital in the process of communication. KIU-T being an International University, admits students from different nations speaking different languages, and English is the official language; some students find it hard to grasp a word during teaching and learning. This paper explores the practical aspect of using artificial intelligence technologies in an advanced language translation manner during teaching and learning. The impact of this technology is reflected in the education strategies to equip students with the necessary knowledge and skills for professional activity in the best way they understand. The researcher evaluated the demand for this practice since students have to apply the knowledge they acquire in their native language to their countries in the best way they understand. The main objective is to improve student's language competence and lay a solid foundation for their future professional development. A descriptive-analytic approach was deemed best for the study to investigate the phenomena of language translation intelligence alongside Microsoft Office during the teaching and learning process. The study analysed the responses of 345 students from different academic programs. Based on the findings, the researcher recommends using the artificial intelligence language translation technique during teaching, and this requires the wisdom of human content designers and educational experts. Lecturers and students will be trained in the basic knowledge of this technique to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning to meet the student’s needs.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, language translation technique, teaching and learning process, Microsoft Office

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Authors: Seyed Mehran Kazemi, Bahare Fatemi

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Sudoku is a logic-based combinatorial puzzle game which is popular among people of different ages. Due to this popularity, computer softwares are being developed to generate and solve Sudoku puzzles with different levels of difficulty. Several methods and algorithms have been proposed and used in different softwares to efficiently solve Sudoku puzzles. Various search methods such as stochastic local search have been applied to this problem. Genetic Algorithm (GA) is one of the algorithms which have been applied to this problem in different forms and in several works in the literature. In these works, chromosomes with little or no information were considered and obtained results were not promising. In this paper, we propose a new way of applying GA to this problem which uses more-informed chromosomes than other works in the literature. We optimize the parameters of our GA using puzzles with different levels of difficulty. Then we use the optimized values of the parameters to solve various puzzles and compare our results to another GA-based method for solving Sudoku puzzles.

Keywords: genetic algorithm, optimization, solving Sudoku puzzles, stochastic local search

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Authors: Farzaneh Sasanpour, Saeed Amini Varaki

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Resilience is an important goal for cities as urban areas face an increasing range of challenges in the 21st century; therefore, according to the characteristics of risks, adopting an approach that responds to sensitive conditions in the risk management process is the resilience of cities. In the meantime, most of the resilience assessments have dealt with natural hazards and less attention has been paid to pandemics.In the covid-19 pandemic, the country of Iran and especially the metropolis of Tehran, was not immune from the crisis caused by its effects and consequences and faced many challenges. One of the methods that can increase the resilience of Tehran's metropolis against possible crises in the future is future studies. This research is practical in terms of type. The general pattern of the research will be descriptive-analytical and from the point of view that it is trying to communicate between the components and provide urban resilience indicators with pandemic crises and explain the scenarios, its future studies method is exploratory. In order to extract and determine the key factors and driving forces effective on the resilience of Tehran's urban areas against pandemic crises (Covid-19), the method of structural analysis of mutual effects and Micmac software was used. Therefore, the primary factors and variables affecting the resilience of Tehran's urban areas were set in 5 main factors, including physical-infrastructural (transportation, spatial and physical organization, streets and roads, multi-purpose development) with 39 variables based on mutual effects analysis. Finally, key factors and variables in five main areas, including managerial-institutional with five variables; Technology (intelligence) with 3 variables; economic with 2 variables; socio-cultural with 3 variables; and physical infrastructure, were categorized with 7 variables. These factors and variables have been used as key factors and effective driving forces on the resilience of Tehran's urban areas against pandemic crises (Covid-19), in explaining and developing scenarios. In order to develop the scenarios for the resilience of Tehran's urban areas against pandemic crises (Covid-19), intuitive logic, scenario planning as one of the future research methods and the Global Business Network (GBN) model were used. Finally, four scenarios have been drawn and selected with a creative method using the metaphor of weather conditions, which is indicative of the general outline of the conditions of the metropolis of Tehran in that situation. Therefore, the scenarios of Tehran metropolis were obtained in the form of four scenarios: 1- solar scenario (optimal governance and management leading in smart technology) 2- cloud scenario (optimal governance and management following in intelligent technology) 3- dark scenario (optimal governance and management Unfavorable leader in intelligence technology) 4- Storm scenario (unfavorable governance and management of follower in intelligence technology). The solar scenario shows the best situation and the stormy scenario shows the worst situation for the Tehran metropolis. According to the findings obtained in this research, city managers can, in order to achieve a better tomorrow for the metropolis of Tehran, in all the factors and components of urban resilience against pandemic crises by using future research methods, a coherent picture with the long-term horizon of 2050, from the path Provide urban resilience movement and platforms for upgrading and increasing the capacity to deal with the crisis. To create the necessary platforms for the realization, development and evolution of the urban areas of Tehran in a way that guarantees long-term balance and stability in all dimensions and levels.

Keywords: future research, resilience, crisis, pandemic, covid-19, Tehran

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Authors: Ibrahim Cicek, Melike Nikbay

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Electrically propelled vehicles, either road or aerial vehicles are studied on contemporarily for their robust maneuvers and cost-efficient transport operations. The main power generating systems of such vehicles electrified by selecting proper components and assembled as e-powertrain. Generally, e-powertrain components selected considering the target performance requirements. Since the main component of propulsion is the drive unit, e-motor control system is subjected to achieve the performance targets. In this paper, the optimization of e-motor control parameters studied by Integral Squared Method (ISE). The overall aim is to minimize power consumption of such vehicles depending on mission profile and maintaining smooth maneuvers for passenger comfort. The sought-after values of control parameters are computed using the Optimal Control Theory. The system is modeled as a closed-loop linear control system with calibratable parameters.

Keywords: optimization, e-powertrain, optimal control, electric vehicles

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Authors: L. N. A. Chandana Jayawardena, Ales Gregar

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Occupational Self Efficacy (OSE) reflects the conviction of a person’s ability to fulfill his job related behavior at a perfectly acceptable level to the employer. Transformational leadership improves followers’ commitment by influencing their needs, values, and self-esteem. Employees also develop a dyadic relationship with their immediate superiors. Study was conducted amongst one hundred and twenty two (122) bank managers in Sri Lanka. They were selected based on multi-stage (seniority in the hierarchy, gender, department-wise etc.) stratified random sampling. Major objectives of this study were to analyze the impact of transformational leadership style, and OSE along with socio-demographic factors, and career, job and organizational experience, to the career satisfaction of managers. SPSS software was used for parametric and non-parametric statistical analyses. Career satisfaction had positive impacts on their transformational leadership style, and their relationships with the immediate superior. Impact of socio-demographic factors, and career exposure to career satisfaction was assessed.

Keywords: career success, relationship with immediate superior, transformational leadership, occupational self efficacy (OSE)

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Authors: Mary Ann Cristine R. Olgado

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This tracer study aimed to track down the TVL-ICT and EIM graduates of Las Piñas City Technical-Vocational High School as they pursue their career path and incorporated the evidence-based insights from this study as the basis for informed career pathing program and the implementation of placement exams for incoming senior high school students. The researcher utilized a graduate tracer study (GTS) using a descriptive research method employing a quanti-qualitative research design to gather data on the demographic and academic profiles of the respondents, chosen career paths, and the relevance and significance of their senior high school (SHS) track/strand to their chosen career paths. Findings revealed a diverse range of career paths pursued by SHS graduates, with a majority opting for higher education. However, there was a notable mismatch between SHS tracks/strands and higher education programs, highlighting the need for improved career paths and guidance. The study also assessed the relevance of SHS education to graduates' current jobs, with mixed results indicating areas for improvement. Despite challenges, graduates generally perceived their SHS education positively, particularly in providing hands-on experiences and relevant skills. The study concluded by emphasizing the importance of aligning SHS tracks/strands with future career paths by enhancing career pathing and guidance services to better support students in making informed decisions about their careers and incorporating assessments for personal interests and aptitudes could assist students in making more informed decisions about their career paths.

Keywords: career pathing, EIM, graduate tracer study, ICT, placement exam, TVL

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Authors: Florence A. Undiyaundeye, Aniashie Akpanke

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Early identification of developmental disorders in infants and toddlers is critical for the well being of children. It is also an integral function of the primary care medical provider and the early care given in the home or crèche. This paper is focused at providing information on special need infants and toddlers and strategies to support them in developmental concern to cope with the challenges in and out of the classroom and to interact with their peers without stigmatization and inferiority complex. The target children are from birth through three years of age. There is a strong recommendation for developmental surveillance to be incorporated at every well child preventive care program in training and practical stage of formal school settings. The paper posits that any concerns raised during surveillance should be promptly addressed with standardized developmental screening by appropriate health service providers. In addition screening tests should be administered regularly at age 9+, 19+ and 30 months of these infants. The paper also establishes that the early identification of these developmental challenges of the infants and toddlers should lead to further developmental and medical evaluation, diagnosis and treatment, including early developmental school intervention, control and teaching and learning integration and inclusion for proper career build up. Children diagnosed with developmental disorders should be identified as children with special needs so that management is initiated and its underlying etiology may also drive a range of treatment of the child, to parents. Conselling and school integration as applicable to the child’s specific need and care for sustenance in societal functioning.

Keywords: care, special need, support, infants and toddlers, management and developmental disorders

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Authors: Bo Ning Lyu

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Blog assisted language learning (BALL) has been trialed by educators in language teaching with the development of Web 2.0 technology. Understanding the development trend of related research helps grasp the whole picture of the use of blog in language education. This paper reviews current research related to blogs enhanced language learning based on bibliometric analysis, aiming at (1) identifying the most frequently used keywords and their co-occurrence, (2) clustering research topics based on co-citation analysis, (3) finding the most frequently cited studies and authors and (4) constructing the co-authorship network. 330 articles were searched out in Web of Science, 225 peer-viewed journal papers were finally collected according to selection criteria. Bibexcel and VOSviewer were used to visualize the results. Studies reviewed were published between 2005 to 2016, most in the year of 2014 and 2015 (35 papers respectively). The top 10 most frequently appeared keywords are learning, language, blog, teaching, writing, social, web 2.0, technology, English, communication. 8 research themes could be clustered by co-citation analysis: blogging for collaborative learning, blogging for writing skills, blogging in higher education, feedback via blogs, blogging for self-regulated learning, implementation of using blogs in classroom, comparative studies and audio/video blogs. Early studies focused on the introduction of the classroom implementation while recent studies moved to the audio/video blogs from their traditional usage. By reviewing the research related to BALL quantitatively and objectively, this paper reveals the evolution and development trends as well as identifies influential research, helping researchers and educators quickly grasp this field overall and conducting further studies.

Keywords: blog, bibliometric analysis, language learning, literature review

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Authors: Awadh O. Al-Anazi

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As part of the organizational needs toward successful maintaining activities, a proper management system need to be put in place, ensuring the effectiveness of maintenance activities. The management system shall clearly describes the process of identifying, prioritizing, planning, scheduling, execution, and providing valuable feedback for all maintenance activities. Completion and accuracy of the system with proper implementation shall provide the organization with a strong platform for effective maintenance activities that are resulted in efficient outcomes toward business success. The purpose of this research was to introduce a practical tool for measuring the maintenance efficiency level within Saudi organizations. A comprehensive study was launched across many maintenance professionals throughout Saudi leading organizations. The study covered five main categories: work process, identification, planning and scheduling, execution, and performance monitoring. Each category was evaluated across many dimensions to determine its current effectiveness through a five-level scale from 'process is not there' to 'mature implementation'. Wide participation was received, responses were analyzed, and the study was concluded by highlighting major gaps and improvement opportunities within Saudi organizations. One effective implementation of the efficiency enhancement efforts was deployed in Saudi Kayan (one of Sabic affiliates). Below details describes the project outcomes: SK overall maintenance wrench time was measured at 20% (on average) from the total daily working time. The assessment indicates the appearance of several organizational gaps, such as a high amount of reactive work, poor coordination and teamwork, Unclear roles and responsibilities, as well as underutilization of resources. Multidiscipline team was assigned to design and implement an appropriate work process that is capable to govern the execution process, improve the maintenance workforce efficiency, and maximize wrench time (targeting > 50%). The enhanced work process was introduced through brainstorming and wide benchmarking, incorporated with a proper change management plan and leadership sponsorship. The project was completed in 2018. Achieved Results: SK WT was improved to 50%, which resulted in 1) reducing the Average Notification completion time. 2) reducing maintenance expenses on OT and manpower support (3.6 MSAR Actual Saving from Budget within 6 months).

Keywords: efficiency, enhancement, maintenance, work force, wrench time

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Authors: Pia Ulvenblad, Henrik Barth, Jennie Cederholm BjöRklund, Maya Hoveskog, Per-Ola Ulvenblad

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The importance of business model innovation (BMI) is widely recognized. This is also valid for firms in the agri-food industry, closely connected to global challenges. Worldwide food production will have to increase 70% by 2050 and the United Nations’ sustainable development goals prioritize research and innovation on food security and sustainable agriculture. The firms of the agri-food industry have opportunities to increase their competitive advantage through BMI. However, the process of BMI is complex and the implementation of new business models is associated with high degree of risk and failure. Thus, managers from all industries and scholars need to better understand how to address this complexity. Therefore, the research presented in this paper (i) explores different categories of barriers in research literature on business models in the agri-food industry, and (ii) illustrates categories of barriers with empirical cases. This study is addressing the rather limited understanding on barriers for BMI in the agri-food industry, through a systematic literature review (SLR) of 570 peer-reviewed journal articles that contained a combination of ‘BM’ or ‘BMI’ with agriculture-related and food-related terms (e.g. ‘agri-food sector’) published in the period 1990-2014. The study classifies the barriers in several categories and illustrates the identified barriers with ten empirical cases. Findings from the literature review show that barriers are mainly identified as outcomes. It can be assumed that a perceived barrier to growth can often be initially exaggerated or underestimated before being challenged by appropriate measures or courses of action. What may be considered by the public mind to be a barrier could in reality be very different from an actual barrier that needs to be challenged. One way of addressing barriers to growth is to define barriers according to their origin (internal/external) and nature (tangible/intangible). The framework encompasses barriers related to the firm (internal addressing in-house conditions) or to the industrial or national levels (external addressing environmental conditions). Tangible barriers can include asset shortages in the area of equipment or facilities, while human resources deficiencies or negative willingness towards growth are examples of intangible barriers. Our findings are consistent with previous research on barriers for BMI that has identified human factors barriers (individuals’ attitudes, histories, etc.); contextual barriers related to company and industry settings; and more abstract barriers (government regulations, value chain position, and weather). However, human factor barriers – and opportunities - related to family-owned businesses with idealistic values and attitudes and owning the real estate where the business is situated, are more frequent in the agri-food industry than other industries. This paper contributes by generating a classification of the barriers for BMI as well as illustrating them with empirical cases. We argue that internal barriers such as human factors barriers; values and attitudes are crucial to overcome in order to develop BMI. However, they can be as hard to overcome as for example institutional barriers such as governments’ regulations. Implications for research and practice are to focus on cognitive barriers and to develop the BMI capability of the owners and managers of agri-industry firms.

Keywords: agri-food, barriers, business model, innovation

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Authors: C. M. Choi, H. C. Tsang, W. K. Fong, Y. K. Cheng, T. K. Chui, L. Y. Chan, K. W. Lee, C. K. Yuen, P. W. Lau, Y. L. To, K. C. Chow

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Six-minute walk test (6MWT) is a sub-maximal exercise test to assess aerobic capacity and exercise tolerance of patients with chronic respiratory disease and heart failure. This has been proven to be a reliable and valid tool and commonly used in clinical situations. Traditional 6MWT is labour-intensive and time-consuming especially for patients who require assistance in ambulation and oxygen use. When performing the test with these patients, one staff will assist the patient in walking (with or without aids) while another staff will need to manually record patient’s oxygen saturation, heart rate and walking distance at every minute and/or carry oxygen cylinder at the same time. Physiotherapist will then have to document the test results in bed notes in details. With the use of electronic 6MWT (E-6MWT), patients wear a wireless oximeter that transfers data to a tablet PC via Bluetooth. Real-time recording of oxygen saturation, heart rate, and distance are displayed. No manual work on recording is needed. The tablet will generate a comprehensive report which can be directly attached to the patient’s bed notes for documentation. Data can also be saved for later patient follow up. This study was carried out in North District Hospital. Patients who followed commands and required 6MWT assessment were included. Patients were assigned to study or control groups. In the study group, patients adopted the E-6MWT while those in control group adopted the traditional 6MWT. Manpower and time consumed were recorded. Physiotherapists also completed a questionnaire about the use of E-6MWT. Total 12 subjects (Study=6; Control=6) were recruited during 11-12/2017. An average number of staff required and time consumed in traditional 6MWT were 1.67 and 949.33 seconds respectively; while in E-6MWT, the figures were 1.00 and 630.00 seconds respectively. Compared to traditional 6MWT, E-6MWT required 67.00% less manpower and 50.10% less in time spent. Physiotherapists (n=7) found E-6MWT is convenient to use (mean=5.14; satisfied to very satisfied), requires less manpower and time to complete the test (mean=4.71; rather satisfied to satisfied), has better data management (mean=5.86; satisfied to very satisfied) and is recommended to be used clinically (mean=5.29; satisfied to very satisfied). It is proven that E-6MWT requires less manpower input with higher efficiency and better data management. It is welcomed by the clinical frontline staff.

Keywords: electronic, physiotherapy, six-minute walk test, 6MWT

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Authors: Muhammad Saad Aslam

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In 2021, our organization has launched our proprietary mobile App i.e. Farm Intelligence platform, an industrial-first precision agriculture solution, to Pakistan. It was piloted at 47 locations (spanning around 1,200 hectares of land), addressing growers’ pain points by bringing the benefits of precision agriculture to their doorsteps. This year, we have extended its reach by more than 10 times (nearly 130,000 hectares of land) in almost 600 locations across the country. The project team selected highly infested areas to set up traps, which then enabled the sales team to initiate evidence-based conversations with the grower community about preventive crop protection products that includes pesticides and insecticides. Mega farmer meeting field visits and demonstrations plots coupled with extensive marketing activities, were setup to include farmer community. With the help of App real-time pest monitoring (using heat maps and infestation prediction through predictive analytics) we have equipped our growers with on spot insights that will help them optimize pesticide applications. Heat maps allow growers to identify infestation hot spots to fine-tune pesticide delivery, while predictive analytics enable preventive application of pesticides before the situation escalates. Ultimately, they empower growers to keep their crops safe for a healthy harvest.

Keywords: precision pest management, precision agriculture, real time pest tracking, pest forecasting

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Authors: Camille Alexis-Garsee, Nicola Payne

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One consequence of the pandemic has been the debilitating health impact that some people experience over a longer period of time, known as long-COVID. This has been predominately researched in adults; however, there is emerging evidence on the effects of long-COVID in children. Research has indicated over half of children who contracted COVID-19 experienced persistent symptoms four months after a confirmed diagnosis. There is little research on the impact of this on children and their families. This study aimed to explore the experiences of children with long-COVID, to enable further understanding of the impacts and needs within this group. Semi-structured interviews, facilitated by children’s drawings, were conducted with 15 children (aged 9-16, 9 females). Inductive thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. The findings tell a story of loss, change and of resilience. Many children were unable to engage in normal daily activities and were unable to attend school, however, all employed self-management techniques to cope with symptoms and were positive for the future. Four main themes were identified: (1) Education challenges: although some schools tried to accommodate the child’s new limitations with provision of flexi-attendance, online classes and a reduced timetable, children struggled to keep up with their schoolwork and needed more support; (2) Disrupted relationships: children felt socially isolated; they were forced to give up co and extra-curricular activities, were no longer in contact with friendship groups and missed out on key experiences with friends and family; (3) Diverse health-related challenges: children’s symptoms affected daily functioning but were also triggers for changes in thoughts and mood; (4) Coping and resilience: children actively engaged in symptom management and were able to ‘self-pace’ and/or employ distraction activities to cope. They were also focused on living a ‘normal’ life and looked to the future with great positivity. A key challenge of the long-term effects of COVID is recognizing and treating the illness in children and the subsequent impact on multiple aspects of their lives. Even though children described feeling disconnected in many ways, their life goals were still important. A multi-faceted approach is needed for management of this illness, with a focus on helping these children successfully reintegrate into society and achieve their dreams.

Keywords: children’s illness experience, COVID-19, long-COVID in children, long-COVID kids, qualitative research

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Authors: Waqas Ahmed Khan, Faheem Khokhaar

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Air pollution is one of the main perpetrators of climate change. GHGs cause melting of glaciers and cause change in temperature and heavy rain fall many gasses like Formaldehyde is not direct precursor that damage ozone like CO2 or Methane but Formaldehyde (HCHO) form glyoxal (CHOCHO) that has effect on ozone. Countries around the globe have unique air quality monitoring protocols to describe local air pollution. Formaldehyde is a colorless, flammable, strong-smelling chemical that is used in building materials and to produce many household products and medical preservatives. Formaldehyde also occurs naturally in the environment. It is produced in small amounts by most living organisms as part of normal metabolic processes. Pakistan lacks the monitoring facilities on larger scale to measure the atmospheric gasses on regular bases. Formaldehyde is formed from Glyoxal and effect mountain biodiversity and livelihood. So its monitoring is necessary in order to maintain and preserve biodiversity. Objective: Present study is aimed to measure atmospheric HCHO vertical column densities (VCDs) obtained from ground-base and compute HCHO data in Punjab and elevated areas (Rawalpindi & Islamabad) by satellite observation during the time period of 2014-2015. Methodology: In order to explore the spatial distributing of H2CO, various fields campaigns including international scientist by using car Max-Doas. Major focus was on the cities along national highways and industrial region of Punjab Pakistan. Level 2 data product of satellite instruments OMI retrieved by differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) technique are used. Spatio-temporal distribution of HCHO column densities over main cities and region of Pakistan has been discussed. Results: Results show the High HCHO column densities exceeding permissible limit over the main cities of Pakistan particularly the areas with rapid urbanization and enhanced economic growth. The VCDs value over elevated areas of Pakistan like Islamabad, Rawalpindi is around 1.0×1016 to 34.01×1016 Molecules’/cm2. While Punjab has values revolving around the figure 34.01×1016. Similarly areas with major industrial activity showed high amount of HCHO concentrations. Tropospheric glyoxal VCDs were found to be 4.75 × 1015 molecules/cm2. Conclusion: Results shows that monitoring site surrounded by Margalla hills (Islamabad) have higher concentrations of Formaldehyde. Wind data shows that industrial areas and areas having high economic growth have high values as they provide pathways for transmission of HCHO. Results obtained from this study would help EPA, WHO and air protection departments in order to monitor air quality and further preservation and restoration of mountain biodiversity.

Keywords: air quality, formaldehyde, Max-Doas, vertical column densities (VCDs), satellite instrument, climate change

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Authors: Mahmut Genc, Seda Genc

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Wine is the most popular alcoholic drink in the World with 274.4 million of hectoliter annual production in the year of 2015. The wine industry is very important for some regions as well as creating significant value in their economies. This industry is very sensitive to the global warming since viticulture highly depends on climate and geographical region. Sustainability concept is a crucial issue for the wine industry and sustainability performances of wine production processes should be determined. Although wine production industry is an energy intensive sector as a whole, the most energy intensive products are widely used both in the viti and vinicultural process. In this study, gate-to-gate LCA approach in energy resource utilization and global warming potential impacts for white wine production line were attempted and carbon footprint and exergy destruction footprint were calculated, accordingly. As a result, carbon footprint and exergy destruction footprint values were calculated to be 1.75 kg CO2eq and 365.3kW, respectively.

Keywords: carbon footprint, exergy analysis, exergy destruction footprint, white wine

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Authors: Utkan Mutman, Cihan Dirlik

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Kocaeli/TURKEY district in which wastewater held in a chosen field increased property has made piling in order to improve the ground under the aeration basin. In this study, the degree of improvement the ground after bored piling held in the field were investigated. In this context, improving the ground before and after the investigation was carried out and that the solution values obtained by the finite element method analysis using Plaxis program have been made. The diffuses in the aeration basin whose treatment is to aide is influenced with and without geogrid on the ground. On the ground been improved, for the purpose of control of manufactured bored piles, pile continuity, and pile load tests were made. Taking into consideration both the data in the field as well as dynamic loads in the aeration basic, an analysis was made on Plaxis program and compared the data obtained from the analysis result and data obtained in the field.

Keywords: geogrid, bored pile, soil improvement, plaxis

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Authors: Javier De La Torre Costa, Belen Rubio Ballester, Martina Maier, Paul F. M. J. Verschure

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After a stroke, a great number of patients experience persistent motor impairments such as hemiparesis or weakness in one entire side of the body. As a result, the lack of use of the paretic limb might be one of the main contributors to functional loss after clinical discharge. We aim to reverse this cycle by promoting the use of the paretic limb during activities of daily living (ADLs). To do so, we describe the key components of a system that is composed of a wearable bracelet (i.e., a smartwatch) and a mobile phone, designed to bring a set of neurorehabilitation principles that promote acquisition, retention and generalization of skills to the home of the patient. A fundamental question is whether the loss in motor function derived from learned–non–use may emerge as a consequence of decision–making processes for motor optimization. Our system is based on well-established rehabilitation strategies that aim to reverse this behaviour by increasing the reward associated with action execution as well as implicitly reducing the expected cost associated with the use of the paretic limb, following the notion of the reinforcement–induced movement therapy (RIMT). Here we validate an accelerometer–based measure of arm use, and its capacity to discriminate different activities that require increasing movement of the arm. We also show how the system can act as a personalized assistant by providing specific goals and adjusting them depending on the performance of the patients. The usability and acceptance of the device as a rehabilitation tool is tested using a battery of self–reported and objective measurements obtained from acute/subacute patients and healthy controls. We believe that an extension of these technologies will allow for the deployment of unsupervised rehabilitation paradigms during and beyond the hospitalization time.

Keywords: stroke, wearables, learned non use, hemiparesis, ADLs

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Authors: Enrique Nunez L., Maria Cortes L., Sandra Laffon L., Ana M. Cupul V.

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The phytoplankton community composition was studied in a tropical coastal lagoon of Mexico and relationships with environmental variables were evaluated. Six sites inside the tropical Terminos Lagoon were sampled in order to determine abundances and ecological indexes for phytoplankton from May to December 2017. Water samples were also collected to determine the values of pigments, nutrients, and water solids. Results showed that the composition and abundance of the phytoplankton community were influenced by physicochemical factors, nutrients, water solids, and climate seasons. Sixty-six species were identified as potential HAB producers (44.29% from total). However, abundances were not related to the occurrence of HAB during the study. Multidimensional ANOVA indicated no significant differences between sites while some months revealed significant differences. The canonical analysis suggested that environmental variables explained 49% of community variation of potential phytoplankton species producers of HAB.

Keywords: phytoplankton, environment, lagoon, biodiversity

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Authors: Shraddha Digole, Swarali Hingse, Uday Annapure

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Mycophenolic acid (MPA) is an immunosuppressant; produced by Penicillium Sp. Box-Behnken statistical experimental design was employed to optimize the condition of Penicillium brevicompactum NRRL 2011 for mycophenolic acid (MPA) production. Initially optimization of various physicochemical parameters and media components was carried out using one factor at a time approach and significant factors were screened by Taguchi L-16 orthogonal array design. Taguchi design indicated that glucose, KH2PO4 and MgSO4 had significant effect on MPA production. These variables were selected for further optimization studies using Box-Behnken design. Optimised fermentation condition, glucose (60 g/L), glycine (28 g/L), L-leucine (1.5g/L), KH2PO4 (3g/L), MgSO4.7H2O (1.5g/L), increased the production of MPA from 170 mg/L to 1032.54 mg/L. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed a high value of coefficient of determination R2 (0.9965), indicating a good agreement between experimental and predicted values and proves validity of the statistical model.

Keywords: Box-Behnken design, fermentation, mycophenolic acid, Penicillium brevicompactum

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Authors: Yasmin Hussein Embaby

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Introduction: Athletic Training has its essentials, rules, and methods that help individual in reaching the maximum possible athletic level during the exercised physical activity, therefore; it is important for those working in athletic field to recognize and understand what is going on inside our bodies. This will show the close relationship between physiology and athletic training as the science that explains the various changes that happen to respond to the practice of physical activities. Swimming is one of the water sports that play a major role in influencing the full compatibility of body parts and its systems during the practice of different swimming methods, which uses aqueous to move. It is the initial nucleus in swimming learning and through which the beginner gain a sense of security, safety and the ability to move in aqueous by learning basic skills. Research Methodology: The researcher used the experimental methodology by using pre and post measurement on two equal groups (experimental – control) because it is appropriate for the research. Conclusions: Through the results and information found by the researcher, and in light of the related studies, theoretical readings and the statistical treatments of data; the researcher reached the following conclusions: 1. Muscle relaxation exercises have a positive effect on performance level in crawl swimming and on endorphin hormone as it helps in increasing its normal rater in body, the improvement percentage for experimental group in the relaxation ability, level of endorphin hormone exceeds those of control group. 2. The validity of muscle relaxation exercises proposed for the application, which achieved its objectives, namely increasing the level of endorphin hormone in the body; where research results showed a statistically significant difference in the level of endorphin hormone in favor of the experimental sample.

Keywords: beginners, endorphin hormone, relaxing exercises, swimming

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Authors: M. Firoz Kalam, Wilfried Schuetz, Jan Hendrik Bredehoeft

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Thiophene sulfur compounds' removal from diesel oil by batch adsorption process using commercial powdered activated carbon was designed and optimized in two-level factorial design method. This design analysis was used to find out the effects of operating parameters directing the adsorption process, such as amount of adsorbent, temperature and stirring time. The desulfurization efficiency was considered the response or output variable. Results showed that the stirring time had the largest effects on sulfur removal efficiency as compared with other operating parameters and their interactions under the experimental ranges studied. A regression model was generated to observe the closeness between predicted and experimental values. The three-dimensional plots and contour plots of main factors were generated according to the regression results to observe the optimal points.

Keywords: activated carbon, adsorptive desulfurization, factorial design, process optimization

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Authors: J. Sahari, S. M. Sapuan

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Eco-friendly composites have been successfully prepared by using sugar palm tree as a sources. The effect of fibre content on mechanical properties of (SPF/SPS) biocomposites have been done and the experimentally tensile properties (tensile strength and modulus) of biocomposites have been compared with the existing theories of reinforcement. The biocomposites were prepared with different amounts of fibres (i.e. 10%, 20% and 30% by weight percent). The mechanical properties of plasticized SPS improved with the incorporation of fibres. Both approaches (experimental and theoretical) show that the young’s modulus of the biocomposites is consistently increased when the sugar palm fibre (SPF) are placed into the sugar palm starch matrix (SPS). Surface morphological study through scanning electron microscopy showed homogeneous distribution of fibres and matrix with good adhesion which play an important role in improving the mechanical properties of biocomposites. The observed deviations between the experimental and theoretical values are explained by the simplifying model assumptions applied for the configuration of the composites, in particular the sugar palm starch composites.

Keywords: eco-friendly, biocomposite, mechanical, experimental, theoretical

Procedia PDF Downloads 447

Authors: Jessica Neri, Elena Faccio

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In Europe, except for Denmark and Malta, the legal gender change and the stages of the possible process of gender transition are bound to the diagnosis of a gender identity disorder. The requirement of the evaluation of a mental disorder might have many implications on trans people’s self-representations, interpersonal relations in different social contexts and the therapeutic relations with clinicians during the transition. Psychopathological language may contribute to define the individual’s reality from normative presuppositions with value implications related to the dominant cultural principles. In an effort to mark the boundaries between sanity and pathology, it concurs to the definition of the management procedures of the constructed diversities and deviances, legitimizing the operational practices of particular professional figures. The aim of this research concerns the analysis of the diagnostic category of gender dysphoria contained in the last edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. In particular, this study focuses on the relationship between the implicit and explicit assumptions related to the expressions of gender non-conformity, that sustain the language and the criteria characterizing the Manual, and the possible implications on people’s narratives of transition. In order to achieve this objective two main research methods were used: historical reconstruction of the diagnostic category in the different versions of the Manual and content analysis of that category in the present version. From the historical analysis, in the medical and psychiatric field gender non-conformity has been predominantly explicated by naturalistic perspectives, naming it ‘transsexualism’ and collocating it in the category of gender identity disorder. Currently, pathological judged experiences are represented by gender dysphoria, described in the DSM-5 as the distress that may accompany the incongruence between one's experienced or expressed gender and one's assigned gender, specifying that there must be ‘evidence’ of this. Implicit theories about gender binary, parallelism between gender identity, sex and sexuality and the understanding of the mental health and the subject’s agency as subordinated to the expert knowledge, can be found in the process of designation of the category. A lack of awareness of the historical, social and political aspects connected to the cultural and normative dimensions at the basis of these implicit theories, can be noticed and data given by culture and data given by supposed -biological or psychological- nature, are often confused. This reductionist interpretation of gender and its presumed diversities legitimize the clinician to assume the role of searching and orienting, in a correctional perspective, the biographical elements that correspond to him specific expectations, with no space for other possibilities and identity configurations for people in transition. This research may contribute to the current critical debate about the epistemological foundation of the psychodiagnosis, emphasizing the pragmatic effects on the individuals and on the psychological practice in its wider social context. This work also permits to underline the risks due to the lack of awareness of the processes of social construction of the diagnostic system and its essential role of defence of the values that hold up the symbolic universe of reference.

Keywords: diagnosis, gender dysphoria, narratives, social constructionism

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Authors: Areej Isam Barham

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Developing students’ number sense is an essential element in the learning of mathematics. Number sense is one of the foundational ideas in mathematics where students need to understand numbers, representing them in different ways, and realize the relationships among numbers. Number sense also reflects students’ understanding of the meaning of operations, how they related to one another, how to compute fluently and make reasonable estimates. Developing students’ number sense in the mathematics classroom requires good preparation for mathematics teachers, those who will direct their students towards the real understanding of numbers and its implementation in the learning of mathematics. This study describes the development of elementary prospective mathematics teachers’ number sense through a mathematics teaching methods course at Qatar University. The study examined the effect of using the Lesh model in enhancing mathematics prospective teachers’ number sense. Thirty-nine elementary prospective mathematics teachers involved in the current study. The study followed an experimental research approach, and quantitative research methods were used to answer the research questions. Pre-post number sense test was constructed and implemented before and after teaching by using the Lesh model. Data were analyzed using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS). Descriptive data analysis and t-test were used to examine the impact of using the Lesh model in enhancing prospective teachers’ number sense. Finding of the study indicated poor number sense and limited numeracy skills before implementing the use of the Lesh model, which highly demonstrate the importance of the study. The results of the study also revealed a positive impact on the use of the Lesh model in enhancing prospective teachers’ number sense with statistically significant differences. The discussion of the study addresses different features and issues related to the participants’ number sense. In light of the study, the research presents recommendations and suggestions for the future development of mathematics prospective teachers’ number sense.

Keywords: number sense, Lesh model, prospective mathematics teachers, development of number sense

Procedia PDF Downloads 144

Authors: Olonade, K. A., Jaji, M. B., Rasak, S. A., Ojo, B. A., Adefuye, O. E.

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Different brands of cement are used in Nigeria by local contractors for various works without prior knowledge of their performance. Qualities of common cement brands in Southwestern Nigeria were investigated. Elephant, Dangote, Gateway, Purechem, Burham and Five Star cements were selected for the study. Fineness, setting times, chemical composition, compressive and flexural strengths of each of the cement brands were determined. The results showed that all the cement brands contained major oxides in amount within the acceptable values except that the sulphite content of Gateway fell outside the range. Strength comparison indicated that Burham had highest flexural and compressive strength, followed by Elephant and then Dangote while Gateway had the lowest strength at 28 days. It was observed that Dangote cement set earlier than other cement brands. The study has shown that there were differences in performance of the selected cement brands and concluded that the choice of cement brand should be based on the expected performance.

Keywords: cement brand, compressive strength, flexural strength, local construction industries

Procedia PDF Downloads 492

Authors: J. Junk, M. Eickermann

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The Small Hive Beetle, Aethina tumida (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) is a parasite for honey bee colonies, Apis mellifera, and was recently introduced to the European continent, accidentally. Based on the literature, a model was developed by using regional meteorological variables (daily values of minimum, maximum and mean air temperature as well as mean soil temperature at 50 mm depth) to calculate the time-point of hive invasion by A. tumida in springtime, the development duration of pupae as well as the number of generations of A. tumida per year. Luxembourg was used as a test region for our model for 2005 to 2013. The model output indicates a successful surviving of the Small Hive Beetle in Luxembourg with two up to three generations per year. Additionally, based on our meteorological data sets a first migration of SHB to apiaries can be expected from mid of March up to April. Our approach can be transferred easily to other countries to estimate the risk potential for a successful introduction and spreading of A. tumida in Western Europe.

Keywords: Aethina tumida, air temperature, larval development, soil temperature

Procedia PDF Downloads 117

Authors: Thinh Ngo, Paul Rad, Brian Kelley

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Noise estimation is essential in today wireless systems for power control, adaptive modulation, interference suppression and quality of service. Deep learning (DL) has already been applied in the physical layer for modulation and signal classifications. Unacceptably low accuracy of less than 50% is found to undermine traditional application of DL classification for SNR prediction. In this paper, we use divide-and-conquer algorithm and classifier fusion method to simplify SNR classification and therefore enhances DL learning and prediction. Specifically, multiple CNNs are used for classification rather than a single CNN. Each CNN performs a binary classification of a single SNR with two labels: less than, greater than or equal. Together, multiple CNNs are combined to effectively classify over a range of SNR values from −20 ≤ SNR ≤ 32 dB.We use pre-trained CNNs to predict SNR over a wide range of joint channel parameters including multiple Doppler shifts (0, 60, 120 Hz), power-delay profiles, and signal-modulation types (QPSK,16QAM,64-QAM). The approach achieves individual SNR prediction accuracy of 92%, composite accuracy of 70% and prediction convergence one order of magnitude faster than that of traditional estimation.

Keywords: classification, CNN, deep learning, prediction, SNR

Procedia PDF Downloads 137

Authors: Monique Somma

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As special education service delivery models are shifting in order to better meet the academic and social rights of students with exceptionalities, teaching practices must also align with these goals. This phenomenological case study explored the change experiences of special education teachers who have transitioned from teaching in a self-contained special education class to an inclusive class setting. Ten special educators who had recently changed their teaching roles to inclusive classrooms, completed surveys and participated in a focus group. Of the original ten educators, five chose to participate further in individual interviews. Data collected from the three methods was examined and compared for common themes. Emergent themes included, support and training, attitudes and perceptions, inclusive practice, growth and change, and teaching practice. The overall findings indicated that despite their special education training, these educators were challenged by their own beliefs and expectations, the attitudes of others and systematic barriers in the education system. They were equally surprised by the overall social and academic performance of students with exceptionalities in inclusive classes, as well as, the social and academic growth and development of the other students in the class. Over the course of their careers, they all identified an overall personal pedagogical shift, to some degree or another, which they contributed to the successful experiences of inclusion they had. They also recognized that collaborating with others was essential for inclusion to be successful. The findings from this study suggest several implications for professional development and training needs specific to special education teachers moving into inclusive settings. Maximizing the skills of teachers with special education experience in a Professional Learning Community (PLC) and mentorship opportunities would be beneficial to all staffs working toward creating inclusive classrooms and schools.

Keywords: attitudes and perceptions, inclusion of students with exceptionalities, special education teachers, teacher change

Procedia PDF Downloads 236