Search results for: illegal wildlife trade

Authors: P. Mambanga, T. G. Tshitangano, H. Akinsola

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Background: Unintended pregnancies constitute a most serious public health challenge to women to an extent that they sometimes end in illegal abortions resulting in adverse consequences. However, the introduction of emergency contraception has served as the last chance for women to avoid unintended pregnancies, though, in countries like Zimbabwe the cause for underutilisation of emergency contraception has been hardly investigated. Purpose: The main purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of female students regarding emergency contraception among in preventing unintended pregnancy. Methodology: A quantitative approach using descriptive cross-sectional survey design was conducted among 319 stratified random sampled female university students of Midland State University, Zimbabwe. Self-administered close-ended questionnaire was used to collect the data. To ensure validity, the development of the instrument was guided by a wide range of literature and the inputs of experts. The instrument was retested for reliability and the responses will be comparing using Cronbach’s alpha which yielded high reliability alpha (α) value of 0.84. Data was coded and entered into a computer using Microsoft Excel 2010 and analysed using Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) version 22.0. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse data in the form of cross tabulation and the results were presented in table, graphs and pie charts. Results: The results indicated that apart from all sources of information about EC, mass media has shown to be the most famous. Although female students knows about EC, the knowledge about effective level and correct use of EC poor. The attitudes of female students at MSU are unfavourable for EC as they gave reasons like EC promotes promiscuity and it can pose risk. The practice of EC at MSU is low with only 47% of respondents said they have once use EC. Conclusion and recommendation: The study concluded the lack of actual knowledge about EC which has directly influenced attitudes and practices. The study concluded that there MSU female students has fair knowledge about EC which has resulted in negative and attitudes towards EC with few EC practices. The study, therefore, recommends the adoption and use of Health Belief Model approach in promoting the young to use EC to prevent unwanted pregnancies.

Keywords: emergency contraception, knowledge, attitude, practice, female students

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Authors: Pi-Lan Yang

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It is controversial which type of gloss condition (i.e., gloss language or gloss position) is more effective in second or foreign language (L2) vocabulary learning. The present study compared the performance on learning ten English words in the conditions of L2 English reading with no glosses and with glosses of Chinese equivalents/translations and L2 English definitions at the side of a page and at an attached sheet for low-intermediate Chinese-speaking learners of English, who were technology university students in Taiwan. It is found first that the performances on the immediate posttest and the delayed posttest were overall better in the gloss condition than those in the no-gloss condition. Next, it is found that the glosses of Chinese translations were more effective and sustainable than those of L2 English definitions. Finally, the effects of L2 English glosses at the side of a page were observed to be less sustainable than those at an attached sheet. In addition, an opinion questionnaire used also showed a preference for the glosses of Chinese translations in L2 English reading. These results would be discussed in terms of automated lexical access, sentence processing mechanisms, and the trade-off nature of storage and processing functions in working memory system, proposed by the capacity theory of language comprehension.

Keywords: glosses of Chinese equivalents/translations, glosses of L2 English definitions, L2 vocabulary learning, L2 English reading

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Authors: Hosein Hamisheh Bahar, Mohammad Hossein Fazel Zarandi, Akbar Esfahanipour

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In this paper, a hybrid expert system is developed by using fuzzy genetic network programming with reinforcement learning (GNP-RL). In this system, the frame-based structure of the system uses the trading rules extracted by GNP. These rules are extracted by using technical indices of the stock prices in the training time period. For developing this system, we applied fuzzy node transition and decision making in both processing and judgment nodes of GNP-RL. Consequently, using these method not only did increase the accuracy of node transition and decision making in GNP's nodes, but also extended the GNP's binary signals to ternary trading signals. In the other words, in our proposed Fuzzy GNP-RL model, a No Trade signal is added to conventional Buy or Sell signals. Finally, the obtained rules are used in a frame-based system implemented in Kappa-PC software. This developed trading system has been used to generate trading signals for ten companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE). The simulation results in the testing time period shows that the developed system has more favorable performance in comparison with the Buy and Hold strategy.

Keywords: fuzzy genetic network programming, hybrid expert system, technical trading signal, Tehran stock exchange

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Authors: Talaat Ahmed, Amna Babssail

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Mangroves are evergreen trees and grow along the coastal areas of Qatar. The largest and oldest area of mangroves can be found around Al-Thakhira and Al-Khor. Other mangrove areas originate from fairly recent plantings by the government, although unfortunately the picturesque mangrove lake in Al-Wakra has now been uprooted. Avicinnia marina is the predominant mangrove species found in the region. Mangroves protect and stabilize low lying coastal land, and provide protection and food sources for estuarine and coastal fishery food chains. They also serve as feeding, breeding and nursery grounds for a variety of fish, crustaceans, reptiles, birds and other wildlife. A total of 21 individuals of A. marina, representing seven diverse Natural and artificial populations, were sampled throughout its range in Qatar. Leaves from 2-3 randomly selected trees at each location were collected. The locations are as follows: Al-Rawis, Ras-Madpak, Fuwairt, Summaseima, Al-khour, AL-Mafjar and Zekreet. Total genomic DNA was extracted using commercial DNeasy Plant System (Qiagen, Inc., Valencia, CA) kit to be used for genetic diversity analysis. Total of 12 (Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat) ISSR primers were used to amplify DNA fragments using genomic DNA. The 12 ISSR primers amplified polymorphic bands among mangrove samples in different areas as well as within each area indicating the existing of variation within each area and among the different areas of mangrove in Qatar. The results could characterize Avicinnia marina populations exist in different areas of Qatar and establish DNA fingerprint documentations for mangrove population to be used in further studies. Moreover, existing of genetic variation within and among Avicinnia marina populations is a strong indication for the ability of such populations to adapt different environmental conditions in Qatar. This study could be a warning to save mangrove in Qatar and save the environment as well.

Keywords: DNA fingerprint, Avicinnia marina, genetic analysis, Qatar

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Authors: Heike Pintor Pirzkall

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The positive economic evolution of many countries in the Latin American Continent, mainly in South America, has changed the geopolitical position of the region in the world. It is no longer the Hinterland or backyard of the United States, now it has become the Heartland for Europe and Asia. This position has favored the interest of countries like China or India, who are combining trade agreements with special assistance and aid agreements in many fields like agriculture, alternative energy resources, defense and mining. As many countries in the region are no longer low income countries, a more equal relationship in development aid has been created were the donor and the recipient have become partners and where new actors intervene in a triangular relationship that promotes new alternative aid structures. Triangular co-operation brings together the best of different actors who are providers of development co-operation, partners in SouthSouth co-operation and international organizations. The objective is to share knowledge and implement projects that support the common goal of reducing poverty and promoting development. The intention of this paper is to explain the reasons for Latin America´s “virage” to the east and to give examples of projects and agreements between Latin American countries, China and India which will help to understand the intensification of south-east relations in recent years.

Keywords: development cooperation, China, Latin America, triangular cooperation, natural resources, partnership

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Authors: Menelik Tilahun Alemu

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Customs administrations are now increasingly regarded as the key border agencies responsible for all transactions related to issues arising from the border crossings of goods and people. Raising revenue has traditionally been high on the agenda of governments, represented by the Ministry of Finance (MOF), because of the critical importance of import duties as a source of budget revenue for many developing countries. Most of these functions are undertaken in close cooperation with other national agencies. Due to the need to make structural reforms that consider the nature of business activities in the world and the needs of consumers, the institution was previously divided into the Ministry of Revenue and the Customs Commission. Accordingly, the Ministry of Revenue is primarily responsible for administering and collecting local taxes, while the Customs Commission is responsible for administering customs matters; It supports exports and collects revenue from it. The National Import and Export Trade Service System is working to make the world more transparent and standardized and adapt to the current situation by formulating various guidelines, rules and procedures to provide a clear, simple, predictable and accessible service to customers. As a result, the commission will be able to streamline the business process by enabling Paperless customer service to support the service delivery technology and eliminate the customer iteration without having to incur unnecessary costs and inconveniences.

Keywords: business, consumers, adapt, transparent

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Authors: C. M. Cebola, V. H. Ferreira

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In the past decade mediation has been legally implemented in European legal systems, especially after the publication by the European Union of the Directive 2008/52/EC on certain aspects of mediation in civil and mercantile matters. Developments in international trade and globalization in this new century have led to an increase of the number of litigations, often cross-border, and the courts have failed to respond adequately. We do not advocate that mediation should be promoted as the solution for all justice problems, but as a means with its own specificities that the parties may choose to consider as the best way to resolve their disputes. Thus, the implementation of mediation should be based on the advantages of its application. From the economic point of view, competitive negotiation can generate negative external effects in social terms. A solution reached in a court of law is not always the most efficient one considering all elements of society (economic social benefit). On the other hand, the administration of justice adds in economic terms transaction costs that can be mitigated by the application of other forms of conflict resolution, such as mediation. In this paper, the economic benefits of mediation will be analysed in the light of various studies on the functioning of justice. Several theoretical arguments will be confronted with empirical studies to demonstrate that mediation has significant positive economic effects. The objective is to contribute to the dissemination of mediation between companies and citizens, but also to demonstrate the cost to governments and states of still limited use of mediation, particularly in the current economic crisis and propose actions to develop the application of mediation.

Keywords: economic impact, litigation costs, mediation, solutions

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Authors: Mohammed Bashir Uddin

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Human trafficking remains as a persistent problem in many parts of the world. It is considered by many countries as an issue of a threat to national security. Border enforcement to prevent trafficking has been the main incentive, which eventually causes human insecurity for vulnerable people, especially for women. This research argues that focus needs to be placed on the political economy of trafficking, hence on the supply and demand sides of trafficking from a broader socio-economic perspective. Trafficking is a global phenomenon with its contemporary origins in the international capitalist market system. This research investigates particularly the supply-demand nexus on the backdrop of globalization and its impact on human security. It argues that the nexus varies across the countries, particularly the demand side. While prostitution has been the sole focus of the demand side in all countries in Asia, the paper argues that organ trade, bonded labor, cheap and exploitable labor through false recruitment (male trafficking) and adoption are some of the rising demands that explore new trends of trafficking, which could be better explained through international political economy (IPE). Following a qualitative research method, the paper argues that although demands vary in destination countries, they are the byproducts of IPE which have different socio-economic impacts both on trafficked individuals and the states.

Keywords: globalization, human security, human trafficking, political economy

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Authors: Ahmed Shinkafi, Craig Lawson

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There is a great advancement towards the All-Electric Aircraft (AEA) technology. The AEA concept assumes that all aircraft systems will be integrated into one electrical power source in the future. The principle of the electro-thermal system is to transfer the energy required for anti/de-icing to the protected areas in electrical form. However, powering a large aircraft anti-icing system electrically could be quite excessive in cost and system weight. Hence, maximising the anti/de-icing efficiency of the electro-thermal system in order to minimise its power demand has become crucial to electro-thermal de-icing system sizing. In this work, an enhanced methodology has been developed for conceptual sizing of aircraft electro-thermal de-icing System. The work factored those critical terms overlooked in previous studies which were critical to de-icing energy consumption. A case study of a typical large aircraft wing de-icing was used to test and validate the model. The model was used to optimise the system performance by a trade-off between the de-icing peak power and system energy consumption. The optimum melting surface temperatures and energy flux predicted enabled the reduction in the power required for de-icing. The weight penalty associated with electro-thermal anti-icing/de-icing method could be eliminated using this method without under estimating the de-icing power requirement.

Keywords: aircraft, de-icing system, electro-thermal, in-flight icing

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Authors: Marek Halenár, Eva Tvrdá, Tomáš Slanina, Ľubomír Ondruška, Eduard Kolesár, Peter Massányi, Adriana Kolesárová

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The present in vitro study was designed to reveal whether amygdalin (AMG) is able to cause changes to the motility, viability and mitochondrial activity of rabbit spermatozoa. New Zealand White rabbits (n = 10) aged four months were used in the study. Semen samples were collected from each animal and used for the in vitro incubation. The samples were divided into five equal parts and diluted with saline supplemented with 0, 0.5, 1, 2.5 and 5 mg/mL AMG. At times 0h, 3h and 5h spermatozoa motion parameters were assessed using the SpermVision™ computer-aided sperm analysis (CASA) system, cell viability was examined with the metabolic activity (MTT) assay, and the eosin-nigrosin staining technique was used to evaluate the viability of rabbit spermatozoa. All AMG concentrations exhibited stimulating effects on the spermatozoa activity, as shown by a significant preservation of the motility (P<0.05 with respect to 0.5 mg/mL and 1 mg/mL AMG; Time 5 h) and mitochondrial activity (P< 0.05 in case of 0.5 mg/mL AMG; P< 0.01 in case of 1 mg/mL AMG; P < 0.001 with respect to 2.5 mg/mL and 5 mg/mL AMG; Time 5 h). None of the AMG doses supplemented had any significant impact of the spermatozoa viability. In conclusion, the data revealed that short-term co-incubation of spermatozoa with AMG may result in a higher preservation of the sperm structural integrity and functional activity.

Keywords: amygdalin, CASA, mitochondrial activity, motility, rabbits, spermatozoa, viability

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Authors: Sonali Agarwal

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The investor perception about investment avenues is affected to a great degree by the current happenings, within the country, and on the global stage. The influencing events can range from government policies, bilateral trade agreements, election agendas, to changing exchange rates, appreciation and depreciation of currency, recessions, meltdowns, bankruptcies etc. The current research attempts to discover and unravel the effect of various macroeconomic variables (crude oil price, gold price, silver price and USD exchange rate) on the Indian mutual fund industry in general and the chosen funds (Axis Gold Fund, BSL Gold Fund, Kotak Gold Fund & SBI gold fund) in particular. Cointegration tests and Vector error correction equations prove that the chosen variables have strong effect on the NAVs (net asset values) of the mutual funds. However, the greatest influence is felt from the fund’s own past and current information and it is found that when an innovation of fund’s own lagged NAVs is given, variance caused is high that changes the current NAVs markedly. The study helps to highlight the interplay of macroeconomic variables and their repercussion on mutual fund industry.

Keywords: cointegration, Granger causality, impulse response, macroeconomic variables, mutual funds, stationarity, unit root test, variance decomposition, VECM

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Authors: Rosine Angelique Uwacu

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Poor household sanitation is rife in Uganda, especially in Kampala. This study was carried out with he goal of establishing the main causes and effects of poor household sanitation in Kansanga parish. The study objectively sought to: To identify various ways through which wastes are generated and disposed of in Kansanga parish, identify different hygiene procedures/behaviors of waste handling in Kansanga parish and assess health effects of poor household sanitation and suggest the recommended appropriate measures of addressing cases of lack of hygiene in Kansanga parish. The study used a survey method where cluster sampling was employed. This is because there is no register of population or sufficient information, or geographic distribution of individuals is widely scattered. Data was collected through the use of interviews accompanied by observation and questionnaires. The study involved a sample of 100 households. The study revealed that; some households use wheeled bin collection, skip hire and roll on/off contained others take their wastes to refuse collection vehicles. Surprisingly, majority of the households submitted that they use polythene bags 'Kavera' and at times plastic sacs to dispose of their wastes which are dumped in drainage patterns or dustbins and other illegal dumping site. The study showed that washing hands with small jerrycans after using the toilet was being adopted by most households as there were no or few other alternatives. The study revealed that the common health effects that come as a result of poor household sanitation in Kansanga Parish are diseases outbreaks such as malaria, typhoid and diarrhea. Finally, the study gave a number of recommendations or suggestions on maintaining and achieving an adequate household sanitation in Kansanga Parish such as sensitization of community members by their leaders like Local Counselors could help to improve the situation, establishment of community sanitation days for people to collectively and voluntarily carry out good sanitation practices like digging trenches, burning garbage and proper waste management and disposal. Authorities like Kampala Capital City Authority should distribute dumping containers or allocate dumping sites where people can dispose of their wastes preferably at a minimum cost for proper management.

Keywords: household sanitation, kansanga parish, Uganda, waste

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Authors: Frankie Burgos, Emely Munar, Conrado Basa

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This paper aimed at developing an artificial neural network (ANN) model specifically for the Philippine Stock Exchange index closing value. The inputs to the ANN are US Dollar and Philippine Peso(USD-PHP) exchange rate, GDP growth of the country, quarterly inflation rate, 10-year bond yield, credit rating of the country, previous open, high, low, close values and volume of trade of the Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi), gold price of the previous day, National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ), Standard and Poor’s 500 (S & P 500) and the iShares MSCI Philippines ETF (EPHE) previous closing value. The target is composed of the closing value of the PSEi during the 627 trading days from November 3, 2011, to May 30, 2014. MATLAB’s Neural Network toolbox was employed to create, train and simulate the network using multi-layer feed forward neural network with back-propagation algorithm. The results satisfactorily show that the neural network developed has the ability to model the PSEi, which is affected by both internal and external economic factors. It was found out that the inputs used are the main factors that influence the movement of the PSEi closing value.

Keywords: artificial neural networks, artificial intelligence, philippine stocks exchange index, stocks trading

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Authors: Linus O. Asuquo

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Mining in Nigeria and development effort of metallurgical technologies at National Metallurgical Development Centre Jos has been addressed in this paper. The paper has looked at the history of mining in Nigeria, the impact of mining on social and industrial development, and the contribution of the mining sector to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The paper clearly stated that Nigeria’s mining sector only contributes 0.5% to the nation’s GDP unlike Botswana that the mining sector contributes 38% to the nation’s GDP. Nigeria Bureau of Statistics has it on record that Nigeria has about 44 solid minerals awaiting to be exploited. Clearly highlighted by this paper is the abundant potentials that exist in the mining sector for investment. The paper made an exposition on the extensive efforts made at National Metallurgical Development Center (NMDC) to develop metallurgical technologies in various areas of the metals sector; like mineral processing, foundry development, nonferrous metals extraction, materials testing, lime calcination, ANO (Trade name for powder lubricant) wire drawing lubricant, refractories and many others. The paper went ahead to draw a conclusion that there is a need to develop the mining sector in Nigeria and to give a sustainable support to the efforts currently made at NMDC to develop metallurgical technologies which are capable of transforming the metals sector in Nigeria, which will lead to industrialization. Finally the paper made some recommendations which traverse the topic for the best expectation.

Keywords: mining, minerals, technologies, value addition

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Authors: Mingaile Jurkute, Vilnius University

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The memory of the Lithuanian partisan war (1944-1953) underwent extremely dramatic transformations. During this war, the image of the resistance and a partisan was one of the key elements of Lithuanian identity. Its importance is evidenced by the extremely large legacy of songs about partisans, no other topic has collected so much folklore in Lithuania. In the Soviet years, this resistance was practically forced to be forgotten. Terror and Soviet laws have forced people to stop talking about the events, even in the family circle. In addition, the Soviets created their own propaganda story, reinterpreting the Lithuanian partisan war, presenting partisans as bandits who brutally tortured and murdered locals. But even in the Soviet years, the memory could neither be completely suppressed, nor completely transformed into wishful shape. The analysis of fiction and cinema shows that the traumatic memory of real events rushed to the surface, thus transforming the very propagandistic narrative. After the restoration of the Republic of Lithuania in 1990, the Lithuanian partisan war was gradually returned to the central place of Lithuanian history. After 2014 the nationalist heroic narrative about Lithuanian partisans became the central narrative of modern Lithuanian history. Nevertheless, interviews I conducted in Lithuanian villages reveal that the memory of local communities and families preserves quite different experiences that do not fit into neither the Soviet narrative nor the heroic one. Such experiences include, for example, partisan violence against local families. This paper is about the efforts of two political ideologies (the Soviet and the Lithuanian patriotic) to use the history of the Lithuanian partisans for their own needs, and the attempts of small communities (mostly families) to resist these efforts. The research reveals that family memory, even when opposed to aggressive state memory policies, can preserve counter-narratives by exploiting unexpected objects beyond the control of the state, such as nature and wildlife. Basically, the paper analyses the limits of the instrumentalization of memory, even by extremely aggressive political regimes.

Keywords: collective memory, post-memory, violence, military conflict, family memory

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Authors: David Quevedo, Diana Coronel

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The present article carries out an evaluation of the drinking water system in the Bellavista sector of the city of Azogues, with the purpose of determining the appropriate equipment to record the actual consumption flows of the inhabitants in said sector. Taking into account that the study area is located in a rural and economically disadvantaged area, there is an urgent need to establish a control system for the consumption of drinking water in order to conserve and manage the vital resource in the best possible way, considering that the water source supplying this sector is approximately 9km away. The research began with the collection of cartographic, demographic, and statistical data of the sector, determining the coverage area, population projection, and a provision that guarantees the supply of drinking water to meet the water needs of the sector's inhabitants. By using hydraulic modeling through the United States Environmental Protection Agency Application for Modeling Drinking Water Distribution Systems EPANET 2.0 software, theoretical hydraulic data were obtained, which were used to design and justify the most suitable measuring equipment for the Bellavista drinking water system. Taking into account a minimum service life of the drinking water system of 30 years, future flow rates were calculated for the design of the macro-measuring device. After analyzing the network, it was evident that the Bellavista sector has an average consumption of 102.87 liters per person per day, but considering that Ecuadorian regulations recommend a provision of 180 liters per person per day for the geographical conditions of the sector, this value was used for the analysis. With all the collected and calculated information, the conclusion was reached that the Bellavista drinking water system needs to have a 125mm electromagnetic macro-measuring device for the first three quinquenniums of its service life and a 150mm diameter device for the following three quinquenniums. The importance of having equipment that provides real and reliable data will allow for the control of water consumption by the population of the sector, measured through micro-measuring devices installed at the entrance of each household, which should match the readings of the macro-measuring device placed after the water storage tank outlet, in order to control losses that may occur due to leaks in the drinking water system or illegal connections.

Keywords: macrometer, hydraulics, endowment, water

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Authors: Qian Liu, Steve Furber

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To explore how the brain may recognize objects in its general,accurate and energy-efficient manner, this paper proposes the use of a neuromorphic hardware system formed from a Dynamic Video Sensor~(DVS) silicon retina in concert with the SpiNNaker real-time Spiking Neural Network~(SNN) simulator. As a first step in the exploration on this platform a recognition system for dynamic hand postures is developed, enabling the study of the methods used in the visual pathways of the brain. Inspired by the behaviours of the primary visual cortex, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) are modeled using both linear perceptrons and spiking Leaky Integrate-and-Fire (LIF) neurons. In this study's largest configuration using these approaches, a network of 74,210 neurons and 15,216,512 synapses is created and operated in real-time using 290 SpiNNaker processor cores in parallel and with 93.0% accuracy. A smaller network using only 1/10th of the resources is also created, again operating in real-time, and it is able to recognize the postures with an accuracy of around 86.4% -only 6.6% lower than the much larger system. The recognition rate of the smaller network developed on this neuromorphic system is sufficient for a successful hand posture recognition system, and demonstrates a much-improved cost to performance trade-off in its approach.

Keywords: spiking neural network (SNN), convolutional neural network (CNN), posture recognition, neuromorphic system

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Authors: Saeid Rabiei Majd, Motahareh Alvandi, Mehrad Rabiei

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The rapid economic and technological development of any country depends on access to cheap sources of energy. Competition for access to petroleum resources is always accompanied by numerous environmental risks. These factors have caused more attention to environmental issues and sustainable development in petroleum contracts and activities. Nowadays, a sign of developed countries is adhering to the principles and rules of international environmental law and sustainable development of commercial contracts. China has entered into play through the massive project plan, One Belt, One Road. China is becoming a new emerging power in the world. China's bilateral investment treaties have an impact on environmental rights and sustainable development through regional and international foreign direct investment. The aim of this research is to examine China's key position to promote and improve environmental principles and international law and sustainable development in the energy sector in the world through the initiative, One Belt, One Road. Based on this hypothesis, it seems that in the near future, China's investment bilateral investment treaties will become popular investment model used in global trade, especially in the field of energy and sustainable development. They will replace the European and American models. The research method is including literature review, analytical and descriptive methods.

Keywords: principles of sustainable development, oil and gas law, Chinas BITs, One Belt One Road, environmental rights

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Authors: Sherine Shahat Abdelnour Bastourous

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Banking and monetary offerings are rapidly transitioning from being monolithic structures focusing simply on their personal economic services to becoming integrated gamers in a couple of customer journeys and delivery chains. Banks themselves are refocusing on being liquidity carriers and underwriters in those networks, whilst the overall idea of ‘embeddedness’ builds on the market conveniently available API (software Programming Interface) architectures to flexibly supply services to numerous requestors, i.e., online shops who want finance and insurance products to better serve their clients, respectively. With this flexibility come new necessities for more advantageous cybersecurity. API structures are greater decentralized and inherently vulnerable to trade. lamentably, this has now not been comprehensively addressed inside the literature. This paper attempts to fill this hole through looking at security tactics and technology relevant to API architectures found in embedded finance. After offering the research method implemented and introducing the essential bodies of understanding worried, the paper will speak six dominating era developments shaping excessive-degree monetary services architectures. Ultimately, embedded finance and the respective usage of API techniques might be described. building in this, safety concerns for APIs in monetary and insurance offerings will be elaborated on earlier than concluding with a few ideas for viable similar studies.

Keywords: finance, non-interest, sustainability, enlightenment health, out of pocket expenditure, universal healthcare

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Authors: Sharon Q. Yang, Robert J. Congleton

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Information security is a broad concept that covers any issues and concerns about the proper access and use of information on the Internet, including measures and procedures to protect intellectual property and private data from illegal access and online theft; the act of hacking; and any defensive technologies that contest such cybercrimes. As more research and commercial activities are conducted online, cybercrimes have increased significantly, putting sensitive information at risk. Information security has become critically important for organizations and private citizens alike. Hackers scan for network vulnerabilities on the Internet and steal data whenever they can. Cybercrimes disrupt our daily life, cause financial losses, and instigate fear in the public. Since the start of the pandemic, most data related cybercrimes targets have been either financial or health information from companies and organizations. Libraries also should have a high interest in understanding and adopting information security methods to protect their patron data and copyrighted materials. But according to information security professionals, higher education and cultural organizations, including their libraries, are the least prepared entities for cyberattacks. One recent example is that of Steven’s Institute of Technology in New Jersey in the US, which had its network hacked in 2020, with the hackers demanding a ransom. As a result, the network of the college was down for two months, causing serious financial loss. There are other cases where libraries, colleges, and universities have been targeted for data breaches. In order to build an effective defense, we need to understand the most common types of cybercrimes, including phishing, whaling, social engineering, distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, malware and ransomware, and hacker profiles. Our research will focus on each hacking technique and related defense measures; and the social background and reasons/purpose of hacker and hacking. Our research shows that hacking techniques will continue to evolve as new applications, housing information, and data on the Internet continue to be developed. Some cybercrimes can be stopped with effective measures, while others present challenges. It is vital that people understand what they face and the consequences when not prepared.

Keywords: cybercrimes, hacking technologies, higher education, information security, libraries

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Authors: Mario Gómez, Won Ho Kim, Ángel Licona, José Carlos Rodríguez

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This article analyzes innovation activity in Mexico and South Korea. It develops an econometric model to test for structural breaks in the number of patent applications filed by residents and nonresidents in these countries during the period of 1965 to 2012. These changes may suggest that firms’ innovative capabilities have changed because of implementing different science, technology and innovation (STI) policies in Mexico and South Korea. Two important features characterize this research from others already developed by these authors. First, the theoretical research framework in this research is the debate between the assimilation view of growth and the accumulation view of growth. This characteristic suggests that trade liberalization should be accompanied by an adequate STI policy to boost competitiveness among indigenous firms. Second, the analysis in this research stresses the importance of key actors (e.g. governments) to successfully develop innovation capabilities among indigenous firms. Therefore, the question conducting this research is how STI policies in Mexico and South Korea contributed to develop firms’ innovation capabilities in these countries during last decades? The results from this research suggests that STI policy in South Korea was more suitable to boost innovation firms to compete in markets. Data to develop this research was released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Keywords: innovation, Mexico, South Korea, science, technology and innovation policy

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Authors: Fateme Mazbanpoor, Sayed Mohammad Amiri

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In this article, we will examine the Persian words in Quran and study the reasons of their presence in this holy book. Writers of this paper extracted about 70 Persian words of Quran by referring to resources. (Alalfaz ol Moarab ol Farsieh Edishir, Almoarabol Javalighi, Almahzab va Etghan Seuti; Vocabulary involved in Quran Arthur Jeffry;, and etc…), some of these words are: ‘Abarigh, ‘Estabragh’,’Barzakh’, ‘Din’,’Zamharir, ‘Sondos’ ‘Sejil’,’ Namaregh’, ‘Fil’ etc. These Persian words have entered Arabic and finally entered Quran in two ways: 1) directly from Persian language, 2) via other languages. The first way: because of the Iranian dominance on Hira, Yemen, whole Oman and Bahrein land in Sasanian period, there were political, religious, linguistic, literary, and trade ties between these Arab territories causing the impact of Persian on Arabic; giving way to many Persian-loan words into Arabic in this period of time. The second way: Since the geographical and business conditions of the areas were dominated by Iran, Hejaz had lots of deals and trades with Mesopotamia and Yemen. On the other hand, Arabic language which was relatively a young language at that time, used to be impressed by Semitic languages in order to expand its vocabulary (Syrian and Aramaic were influenced by the languages of Iran). Consequently, due to the long relationship between Iranian and Arabs, some of the Persian words have taken longer ways through Aramaic and Syrian to find their way into Quran.

Keywords: Quran, Persian word, Arabic language, Persian

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Authors: Esra Cebeci

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As a result of acceleration of globalization in the 21st century economic boundaries are removed. With liberalization of capital and foreign trade, not only developed countries but also developing countries get into rapid growth efforts. In developing countries, one of the most important problem is insufficient capital accumulation. For reduce this deficit, one of the general approaches that is offered increasing amount of foreign direct investments. Also, in developing countries saving rates are low. So, foreign direct investments make possible an increase for domestic savings. In this regard, the multinational corporations are capable of these investments have importance. By providing micro-macro effects for countries, demand for these firms are many. These effects in general positive, some negative effects may able to come into being especially for developing countries. Foreign direct investments are performed buying an existing corporation, merging or greenfield investments. In recent, foreign direct investments are performed as a green field investments for developing countries. The study aims to analysis foreign direct investment trends for 2000-2013 years. In the first part of this study, the importance of foreign direct investments and their determinants are explained. In the second part, the article also shows that comparative analysis of the inward and outward investments for developing and developed countries. In conclusion, while developed countries can stand competition against other countries with these investments, developing countries can provide a sustainable growth with capital inflows.

Keywords: foreign direct investments, multinational corporations, determinants of FDI, FDI trend

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Authors: Erick R. Bandala, Kebret Kebede, Nicole Johnson, Rebecca Murray, Destiny Green, John Mejia, Polioptro Martinez-Austria

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Summertemperature data from Clark County was collected and used to estimate two different heat-related indexes: the heat index (HI) and excess heat factor (EHF). These two indexes were used jointly with data of health-related deaths in Clark County to assess the effect of extreme heat on the exposed population. The trends of the heat indexes were then analyzed for the 2007-2016 decadeandthe correlation between heat wave episodes and the number of heat-related deaths in the area was estimated. The HI showed that this value has increased significantly in June, July, and August over the last ten years. The same trend was found for the EHF, which showed a clear increase in the severity and number of these events per year. The number of heat wave episodes increased from 1.4 per year during the 1980-2016 period to 1.66 per yearduring the 2007-2016 period. However, a different trend was found for heat-wave-event duration, which decreasedfrom an average of 20.4 days during the trans-decadal period (1980-2016) to 18.1 days during the most recent decade(2007-2016). The number of heat-related deaths was also found to increase from 2007 to 2016, with 2016 with the highest number of heat-related deaths. Both HI and the number of deaths showeda normal-like distribution for June, July, and August, with the peak values reached in late July and early August. The average maximum HI values better correlated with the number of deaths registered in Clark County than the EHF, probably because HI uses the maximum temperature and humidity in its estimation,whereas EHF uses the average medium temperature. However, it is worth testing the EHF of the study zone because it was reported to fit properly in the case of heat-related morbidity. For the overall period, 437 heat-related deaths were registered in Clark County, with 20% of the deaths occurring in June, 52% occurring in July, 18% occurring in August,and the remaining 10% occurring in the other months of the year. The most vulnerable subpopulation was people over 50 years old, for which 76% of the heat-related deaths were registered.Most of the cases were associated with heart disease preconditions. The second most vulnerable subpopulation was young adults (20-50), which accounted for 23% of the heat-related deaths. These deathswere associated with alcoholic/illegal drug intoxication.

Keywords: heat, health, hazards, workforce

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Authors: Monika Ksiezopolska-Gocalska, Pawel Albrycht, Robert Holyst

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Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) is a technique used to analyze very low concentrations of substances in solutions, even in aqueous solutions - which is its advantage over IR. This technique can be used in the pharmacy (to check the purity of products); forensics (whether at a crime scene there were any illegal substances); or medicine (serving as a medical test) and lots more. Due to the high potential of this technique, its increasing popularity in analytical laboratories, and simultaneously - the absence of appropriate platforms enhancing the SERS signal (crucial to observe the Raman effect at low analyte concentration in solutions (1 ppm)), we decided to invent our own SERS platforms. As an enhancing layer, we have chosen gold and silver nanoparticles, because these two have the best SERS properties, and each has an affinity for the other kind of particles, which increases the range of research capabilities. The next step was to commercialize them, which resulted in the creation of the company ‘SERSitive.eu’ focusing on production of highly sensitive (Ef = 10⁵ – 10⁶), homogeneous and reproducible (70 - 80%) substrates. SERStive SERS substrates are made using the electrodeposition of silver or silver-gold nanoparticles technique. Thanks to a very detailed analysis of data based on studies optimizing such parameters as deposition time, temperature of the reaction solution, applied potential, used reducer, or reagent concentrations using a standardized compound - p-mercaptobenzoic acid (PMBA) at a concentration of 10⁻⁶ M, we have developed a high-performance process for depositing precious metal nanoparticles on the surface of ITO glass. In order to check a quality of the SERSitive platforms, we examined the wide range of the chemical compounds and the biological substances. Apart from analytes that have great affinity to the metal surfaces (e.g. PMBA) we obtained very good results for those fitting less the SERS measurements. Successfully we received intensive, and what’s more important - very repetitive spectra for; amino acids (phenyloalanine, 10⁻³ M), drugs (amphetamine, 10⁻⁴ M), designer drugs (cathinone derivatives, 10⁻³ M), medicines and ending with bacteria (Listeria, Salmonella, Escherichia coli) and fungi.

Keywords: nanoparticles, Raman spectroscopy, SERS, SERS applications, SERS substrates, SERSitive

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Authors: N. Balamurugan, N. V. Mahalakshmi

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Compression ignition (CI) engines are known for their high thermal efficiency in comparison with spark-ignited (SI) engines. This makes CI engines a potential candidate for the future prime source of power for transportation sector to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to shrink carbon footprint. However, CI engines produce high levels of NOx and soot emissions. Conventional methods to reduce NOx and soot emissions often result in the infamous NOx-soot trade-off. The injection parameters are one of the most important factors in the working of CI engines. The engine performance, power output, economy etc., is greatly dependent on the effectiveness of the injection parameters. The injection parameter has their direct impact on combustion process and pollutant formation. The injection parameter’s values are required to be optimised according to the application of the engine. Control of fuel injection mode is one method for reduction of NOx and soot emissions that is achievable. This study aims to assess, compare and analyse the influence of the effect of injection characteristics that is SOI timing studied on combustion and emissions in in-cylinder combustion processes with that of conventional DI Diesel Engine system using the commercial Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) package STAR- CD ES-ICE.

Keywords: variation of injection timing, compression ignition engine, spark-ignited, Computational Fluid Dynamic

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Authors: Qing Wu, Fei-Yan Li, Heng-Chang Zhang

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Multitask learning support vector machines (SVMs) have recently attracted increasing research attention. Given several related tasks, the single-task learning methods trains each task separately and ignore the inner cross-relationship among tasks. However, multitask learning can capture the correlation information among tasks and achieve better performance by training all tasks simultaneously. In addition, the asymmetric squared loss function can better improve the generalization ability of the models on the most asymmetric distributed data. In this paper, we first make two assumptions on the relatedness among tasks and propose two multitask learning proximal support vector machine algorithms, named MTL-a-PSVM and EMTL-a-PSVM, respectively. MTL-a-PSVM seeks a trade-off between the maximum expectile distance for each task model and the closeness of each task model to the general model. As an extension of the MTL-a-PSVM, EMTL-a-PSVM can select appropriate kernel functions for shared information and private information. Besides, two corresponding special cases named MTL-PSVM and EMTLPSVM are proposed by analyzing the asymmetric squared loss function, which can be easily implemented by solving linear systems. Experimental analysis of three classification datasets demonstrates the effectiveness and superiority of our proposed multitask learning algorithms.

Keywords: multitask learning, asymmetric squared loss, EMTL-a-PSVM, classification

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Authors: Edna Gnomblerou

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Given the current scale of corruption epidemic in West African economies, governments are seeking for immediate and effective measures to reduce the likelihood of the plague within the region. Generally, accountants and auditors are expected to help organizations in detecting illegal practices. However, their role in the fight against corruption is sometimes limited due to the collusive nature of corruption. The Denmark anti-corruption model shows that the implementation of additional controls over public accounts and independent efficient audits improve transparency and increase the probability of detection. This study is aimed at reviewing the existing anti-corruption policies of the Economic Commission of West African States (ECOWAS) as to observe the role attributed to accounting, auditing and other managerial practices in their anti-corruption drive. It further discusses the usefulness of accounting and auditing in helping anti-corruption commissions in controlling misconduct and increasing the perception to detect irregularities within public administration. The purpose of this initiative is to identify and assess the relevance of accounting and auditing in curbing corruption. To meet this purpose, the study was designed to answer the questions of whether accounting and auditing processes were included in the reviewed anti-corruption strategies, and if yes, whether they were effective in the detection process. A descriptive research method was adopted in examining the role of accounting and auditing in West African anti-corruption strategies. The analysis reveals that proper recognition of accounting standards and implementation of financial audits are viewed as strategic mechanisms in tackling corruption. Additionally, codes of conduct, whistle-blowing and information disclosure to the public are among the most common managerial practices used throughout anti-corruption policies to effectively and efficiently address the problem. These observations imply that sound anti-corruption strategies cannot ignore the values of including accounting and auditing processes. On one hand, this suggests that governments should employ all resources possible to improve accounting and auditing practices in the management of public sector organizations. On the other hand, governments must ensure that accounting and auditing practices are not limited to the private sector, but when properly implemented constitute crucial mechanisms to control and reduce corrupt incentives in public sector.

Keywords: accounting, anti-corruption strategy, auditing, ECOWAS

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Authors: Fatemeh Noughani, Seyd Mehdi Sadat

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Medical tourism or travel therapy is travelling from one country to another to be under medical treatment, utilizing the health factors of natural sector like mineral water springs and so on. From 1990s medical tourism around the world developed and grew because of different factors like globalization and free trade in the fields of health services, changes in exchange rates in the world economy (which caused the desirability of Asian countries as a medical tourist attraction) in a way that currently there is a close competition in this field among famous countries in medical services to make them find a desirable place in medical tourism market of the world as a complicated and growing industry in a short time. Perhaps tourism is an attractive industry and a good support for the economy of Iran, if we try to merge oil earnings and tourism industry it would be better and more constructive than putting them in front of each other. Moving from oil toward tourism economy especially medical tourism, must be one of the prospects of Iran's government for the oil industry to provide a few percent of the yearly earnings of the country. Among the achievements in medical tourism we can name the prevention of brain drain to other countries and an increase in employment rate for healthcare staff, increase in foreign exchange earnings of the country because of the tourists' staying and followed by increasing the quality of life and cultural transmission as well as empowering the medical human resources.

Keywords: developing countries, health tourism, quality of life, cultural transmission

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Authors: Olanrewaju B. Lasisi

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The position of Ijebu-Ode, the historical capital of the Ijebu Kingdom, at the center of gravity of Ijebu land is enclosed by the 180-km-long earthwork and suggests a centrally controlled project. This paper reflects on the first stratigraphic drawing of the banks and ditches of this earthwork, and place its construction mechanism in a chronological framework. Nine radiocarbon dates obtained at the site suggest that the earthwork was built in the late 14th or early 15th century. This suggests a relationship with the Ijebu Kingdom, which pre-existed the opening of the Atlantic trade but first became visible only in the Portuguese records in the 1480s. In June 2017, more earthworks were found but within the core of Ijebu Land. This most recent finding points to an extension of territory from the center to the outlying villages. One central question about this discovery of monumental architectures that was functional around the 14th century or before is in its mode of construction. Apparently, iron tools must have been used in the construction of ‘a 20m deep ditch that runs 180km in circumference.’ Thus, the discovery of iron-working sites around the vicinity of the earthwork is a pointer to this building process that is up till now shrouded in mystery. By comparing the chronology of Ijebu earthworks with the evidence of Iron working in south western Nigeria around the first half of the first millennium AD, it can be thought that the rise in polity triggered the knowledge of metallurgy in the region.

Keywords: archaeology, earthworks, Ijebu, metallurgy

Procedia PDF Downloads 251