Search results for: quality evaluation indicator

Authors: Prakash Singh

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Far-reaching organizational and structural changes are required to address the severe imbalances in the provision and strong bureaucratic controls in many organizations at all levels. Transformational collegial leadership (TCL) is a collective action generated by transforming leadership which empowers all individuals who participate in this process, whether it is in business or education, or in any other organization. Recent research is strongly supportive of collegiality as a key factor in transforming traditional bureaucratic management practices (TBMPs) in organizations. The primary objective of this study was therefore to gauge the extent to which organizations have affected a shift from TBMPs towards TCL and how this can affect the development of human resources. This qualitative study investigated the impact of TCL on developing human resources in two organizations which were purposively selected to participate in this study. The findings of this study affirm that human resource development and TCL embrace the values of collaboration, confrontation, authenticity, trust, support and openness. In order to overcome TBMPs, a clear sense of direction must be communicated by collegial leaders throughout their organizations so that lower-level employees can initiate actions without the same degree of vulnerability. The TCL approach must respond to needs amongst followers and must look for motives, extrinsic and intrinsic, to satisfy those needs by enhancing opportunities, empowering people and giving more freedom, performance evaluation and the full support of the leader. Evidently, the collegial model emphasizes the valuing of individuals where there is a breadth of leadership and an absence of hierarchy.

Keywords: bureaucratic management model, human resource development, transformational collegial leadership model, transforming leader

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Authors: Sélima Baccar, Ephraim Clark

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This paper can be considered as a new perspective to analyse credit spreads. A comprehensive empirical analysis of conditional variance of credit spreads indices is performed using various GARCH models. Based on a comparison between traditional and asymmetric GARCH models with alternative functional forms of the conditional density, we intend to identify what macroeconomic and financial factors have driven daily changes in the US Dollar credit spreads in the period from January 2011 through January 2013. The results provide a strong interdependence between credit spreads and the explanatory factors related to the conditions of interest rates, the state of the stock market, the bond market liquidity and the exchange risk. The empirical findings support the use of asymmetric GARCH models. The AGARCH and GJR models outperform the traditional GARCH in credit spreads modelling. We show, also, that the leptokurtic Student-t assumption is better than the Gaussian distribution and improves the quality of the estimates, whatever the rating or maturity.

Keywords: corporate bonds, default risk, credit spreads, asymmetric garch models, student-t distribution

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Authors: Abubakar Ibrahim, Muhammad Garba, Adelusi Oluwaseyi Abiodun

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Website development and administration has already become a very critical issue in many organisations due to the fact that most of the organisations have embraced the use of the internet to deliver their services and products seamlessly but even with huge advantages of being present on the internet, and website are very difficult and expensive to develop and maintain. In recent years, a number of open-source web Contents Management System (CMS) have been developed to allow organisations to internally develop and maintain their websites without the need to hire professional web developers to provide such services for them. This study aimed at performing a comparative analysis of the two most widely used open source CMS Joomla and wordpress, based on the following criteria: intuitiveness, responsiveness richness in features, meeting expectation, fill secured, ease of navigation, structure, and performance. Two identical applications were developed using the said CMS. In this study, a purposive sampling technique was adopted to administer the questionnaires, and a total of 50 respondents were selected to surf sites and fill out a questionnaire based on their experience on the two sites. Gt-matrix was used to carry out further analysis of the applications. The result shows that Joomla is the best for developing an e-commerce site due to the fact that it is best in terms of performance, better structure, meeting user expectations, rich features, and functionality. Even though Wordpress is intuitive and easy for navigation. One can still argue that Joomla is superior.

Keywords: open source, content management system, Joomla, WordPress

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Authors: Nadjib Melkemi, Salah Belaidi

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Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship (QSAR) studies have been performed on nineteen molecules of 1,2-dithiole-3-thione analogues. The compounds used are the potent inducers of enzymes involved in the maintenance of reduced glutathione pools as well as phase-2 enzymes important to electrophile detoxication. A multiple linear regression (MLR) procedure was used to design the relationships between molecular descriptor and detoxication properties of the 1,2-dithiole-3-thione derivatives. The predictivity of the model was estimated by cross-validation with the leave-one-out method. Our results suggest a QSAR model based of the following descriptors: qS2, qC3, qC5, qS6, DM, Pol, log P, MV, SAG, HE and EHOMO for the specific activity of quinone reductase; qS1, qS2, qC3, qC4, qC5, qS6, DM, Pol, logP, MV, SAG, HE and EHOMO for the production of growth hormone. To confirm the predictive power of the models, an external set of molecules was used. High correlation between experimental and predicted activity values was observed, indicating the validation and the good quality of the derived QSAR models.

Keywords: QSAR, quinone reductase activity, production of growth hormone, MLR

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Authors: Jonathan D. Moore, Mark G. Reith, David S. Long

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Serious games (SGs) have been shown to be an effective teaching tool in many contexts. Because of the success of SGs, several design frameworks have been created to expedite the process of making original serious games to teach specific learning objectives (LOs). Even with these frameworks, the time required to create a custom SG from conception to implementation can range from months to years. Furthermore, it is even more difficult to design a game framework that allows an instructor to create customized game variants supporting multiple LOs within the same field. This paper proposes a refactoring methodology to apply the theoretical principles from well-established design frameworks to a pre-existing serious game. The expected result is a generalized game that can be quickly customized to teach LOs not originally targeted by the game. This methodology begins by describing the general components in a game, then uses a combination of two SG design frameworks to extract the teaching elements present in the game. The identified teaching elements are then used as the theoretical basis to determine the range of LOs that can be taught by the game. This paper evaluates the proposed methodology by presenting a case study of refactoring the serious game Battlespace Next (BSN) to teach joint military capabilities. The range of LOs that can be taught by the generalized BSN are identified, and examples of creating custom LOs are given. Survey results from users of the generalized game are also provided. Lastly, the expected impact of this work is discussed and a road map for future work and evaluation is presented.

Keywords: serious games, learning objectives, game design, learning theory, game framework

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Authors: Nadzira Yahaya, Saunah Zainon, Marshita Hashim, Ruhaya Atan

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Non-profit organizations (NPOs) in Malaysia are diverse in their origins, structures, objectives, and stakeholders. The largest category of NPOs is from charity and religious category while many other categories such as youth, professionals, women, education and mutual benefits either operate independently or controlled by governments. NPOs have stewardship obligations to their stakeholders and other users of their annual reports, including the public at large. The existing accounting practices without the proper framework of the preparation and presentation of annual reports resulted in a lack of uniformity in the preparation and presentation of NPOs annual reports. Furthermore, a lack of awareness of the applicability of accounting standards and the adoption of different bases of accounting resulted in the need for framework in the preparation and presentation of financial statements for true and fair view of the state of affairs and the operating result of the NPOs activities. This study presents the proposed framework for the preparation and presentation of NPOs annual reports to help the organizations provide high-quality reporting for them to be accountable for good stewardship.

Keywords: annual reports, framework, NPOs, preparation and presentation

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Authors: Ngoc T. B. Hoang

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With a young population showing a greatly entrepreneurial spirit, Vietnam has become a potential land for a growing knowledge-based entrepreneurial ecosystem (KBEE). KBEE is the key to new job formation, and well solution for the crisis of unemployment of higher education graduates and powerful engine for knowledge-based development and building the knowledge based economy in Vietnam. Consequently, Vietnam is attempting to build a healthy KBEE, giving local entrepreneurs more opportunities to develop their businesses. The purpose of the research article is to sketch up a general map to show the current situation of Vietnam's startup ecosystem in the beginning of a startup nation and take into consideration the influence of socio-cultural norms, institutional landscape and socio-economic factors on motivation to develop a KBEE. This paper also proposes a qualitative approach to explore the relationship between these and other elements of Vietnamese entrepreneurial ecosystems. Eventually, viable recommendations are drawn for Vietnamese entrepreneurs and policymakers to improve the quality of the knowledge-based entrepreneurial ecosystem in Vietnam.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, knowledge-based entrepreneurial ecosystem, startup ecosystem, Vietnam

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Authors: Hechmi Saidi, Noureddine Hamdi

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The performance of Decode and Forward (DF) multihop Free Space Optical ( FSO) scheme deploying Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) configuration under Gamma-Gamma (GG) statistical distribution, that adopts M-ary Pulse Position Modulation (MPPM) coding, is investigated. We have extracted exact and estimated values of Symbol-Error Rates (SERs) respectively. A closed form formula related to the Probability Density Function (PDF) is expressed for our designed system. Thanks to the use of DF multihop MIMO FSO configuration and MPPM signaling, atmospheric turbulence is combatted; hence the transmitted signal quality is improved.

Keywords: free space optical, multiple input multiple output, M-ary pulse position modulation, multihop, decode and forward, symbol error rate, gamma-gamma channel

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Authors: Minjin Kim, Jihwan Kim, Bongsoo Kim, Junho Suh

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We demonstrate nanomechanical resonators constructed with synthetic nanowires (NWs) and study their electro-mechanical properties at millikelvin temperatures. Nanomechanical resonators are fabricated using single-crystalline Au NWs and InAs NWs. The mechanical resonance signals are acquired by either magnetomotive or capacitive detection methods. The Au NWs are synthesized by chemical vapor transport method at 1100 °C, and they exhibit clean surface and single-crystallinity with little defects. Due to pristine surface quality, these Au NW mechanical resonators could provide an ideal model system for studying surface-related effects on the mechanical systems. The InAs NWs are synthesized by molecular beam epitaxy or metal organic chemical vapor deposition method. The InAs NWs show electronic conductance modulation resembling Coulomb blockade, which also manifests in the mechanical resonance signals in the form of damping and resonance frequency shift. Our result provides an evidence of strong electro-mechanical coupling in synthetic NW nanomechanical resonators.

Keywords: Au nanowire, InAs nanowire, nanomechanical resonator, synthetic nanowires

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Authors: Fathonah Siti, Ardiana Irma

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Indonesia is currently on its track to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by 2019. The program aims to address issues on disintegration in the implementation and coverage of various health insurance schemes and fragmented fund pooling. Family planning service is covered as one of benefit packages under preventive care. However, little has been done to examine how family planning program are appropriately managed across levels of governments and how family planning services are delivered to the end user. The study is performed through focus group discussion to related policy makers and selected programmers at central and district levels. The study is also benefited from relevant studies on family planning in the UHC scheme and other supporting data. The study carefully investigates some programmatic implications when family planning is integrated in the UHC program encompassing the need to recalculate contraceptive logistics for beneficiaries (eligible couple); policy reformulation for contraceptive service provision including supply chain management; establishment of family planning standard of procedure; and a call to update Management Information System. The study confirms that there is a significant increase in the numbers of contraceptive commodities needs to be procured by the government. Holding an assumption that contraceptive prevalence rate and commodities cost will be as expected increasing at 0.5% annually, the government need to allocate almost IDR 5 billion by 2019, excluded fee for service. The government shifts its focus to maintain eligible health facilities under National Population and Family Planning Board networks. By 2019, the government has set strategies to anticipate the provision of family planning services to 45.340 health facilities distributed in 514 districts and 7 thousand sub districts. Clear division of authorities has been established among levels of governments. Three models of contraceptive supply planning have been developed and currently in the process of being institutionalized. Pre service training for family planning services has been piloted in 10 prominent universities. The position of private midwives has been appreciated as part of the system. To ensure the implementation of quality and health expenditure control, family planning standard has been established as a reference to determine set of services required to deliver to the clients properly and types of health facilities to conduct particular family planning services. Recognition to individual status of program participation has been acknowledged in the Family Enumeration since 2015. The data is precisely recorded by name by address for each family and its members. It supplies valuable information to 15.131 Family Planning Field Workers (FPFWs) to provide information and education related to family planning in an attempt to generate demand and maintain the participation of family planning acceptors who are program beneficiaries. Despite overwhelming efforts described above, some obstacles remain. The program experiences poor socialization and yet removes geographical barriers for those living in remote areas. Family planning services provided for this sub population conducted outside the scheme as a complement strategy. However, UHC program has brought remarkable improvement in access and quality of family planning services.

Keywords: beneficiary, family planning services, national population and family planning board, universal health coverage

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Authors: M. Mourad, K. Abdelgawwad

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This experimental investigation aimed to determine the influence of using different types of alcohol and gasoline blends such as ethanol - butanol - propanol on the performance of spark ignition engine. The experimental work studied the effect of various fuel blends such as ethanol – butanol/gasoline and propanol/gasoline with two rates of 15% and 20%, at different operating conditions (engine speed and loads), on engine performance emission characteristics. Laboratory experiments are carried out on a four-cylinder spark ignition (SI) engine. In this practical study, all considerations and precautions are taken into account to ensure the quality and accuracy of practical experiments and different measurements. The results show that the performance of the engine improved significantly in the case of ethanol/butanol-gasoline blends. The results also indicated that the engine emitted pollutants such as CO, hydrocarbon (HC) for alcohol fuel blends compared to base gasoline NOx emission increased for different fuel blends either ethanol/butanol-gasoline or propanol-gasoline fuel blend.

Keywords: gasoline engine, performance, emission, fuel blends

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Authors: Siti Hajar Ya’acob, Nor Sayzwani Sukri, Farah Khaliz Kedri, Rozidaini Mohd Ghazi, Nik Raihan Nik Yusoff, Aweng A/L Eh Rak

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Flood event that occurred in mid-December 2014 in East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia has driven attention from the public nationwide. Apart from loss and damage of properties and belongings, the massive flood event has introduced environmental disturbances on surface water resources in such flood affected area. A study has been conducted to measure the physical and chemical composition of Galas River and Pergau River prior to identification the flood impact towards environmental deterioration in surrounding area. Samples that have been collected were analyzed in-situ using YSI portable instrument and also in the laboratory for acid digestion and heavy metals analysis using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS). Results showed that range of temperature (0C), DO (mg/L), Ec (µs/cm), TDS (mg/L), turbidity (NTU), pH, and salinity were 25.05-26.65, 1.51-5.85, 0.032-0.054, 0.022-0.035, 23.2-76.4, 3.46-7.31, and 0.01-0.02 respectively. The results from this study could be used as a primary database to evaluate the status of water quality of the respective river after the massive flood.

Keywords: flood, river, heavy metals, AAS

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Authors: José Luis Lorenzo Bayona, Ljiljana Medic-Pejic, Isabel Amez Arenillas, Blanca Castells Somoza

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The communication presents the study results carried out by the Official Laboratory J. M. Madariaga (LOM) of the Polytechnic University of Madrid to analyze the reliability of methane detection systems used in underground mining. Poor firedamp control in work can cause from production stoppages to fatal accidents and since there is currently a great variety of equipment with different functional characteristics, a study is needed to indicate which measurement principles have the highest degree of confidence. For the development of the project, a series of fixed, transportable and portable methane detectors with different measurement principles have been selected to subject them to laboratory tests following the methods described in the applicable regulations. The test equipment has been the one usually used in the certification and calibration of these devices, subject to the LOM quality system, and the tests have been carried out on detectors accessible in the market. The conclusions establish the main advantages and disadvantages of the equipment according to the measurement principle used; catalytic combustion, interferometry and infrared absorption.

Keywords: ATEX standards, gas detector, methane meter, mining safety

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Authors: Afolabi K. Esther, Kuye Tolulope, Babafemi, L. Olayemi, Omikunle Yemisi

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Background: Cervical cancer is a potentially preventable disease of public significance. All sexually active women are at risk of cervical cancer; however, the uptake and coverage are low in low-middle resource countries. Hence, the programme explored the feasibility of demonstrating an innovative and low-cost system approach to cervical cancer screening service delivery among reproductive-aged women in low–resource settings in Southwestern Nigeria. This was to promote the uptake and quality improvement of cervical cancer screening services. Methods: This study was an intervention project in three senatorial districts in Osun State that have primary, secondary and tertiary health facilities. The project was in three phases; Pre-intervention, Intervention, and Post-intervention. The study utilised the existing infrastructure, facilities and staff in project settings. The study population was nurse-midwives, community health workers and reproductive-aged women (30-49 years). The intervention phase entailed using innovative, culturally appropriate strategies to create awareness of cervical cancer and preventive health-seeking behaviour among women in the reproductive-aged group (30-49) years. Also, the service providers (community health workers, Nurses, and Midwives) were trained on screening methods and treatment of pre-cancerous lesions, and there was the provision of essential equipment and supplies for cervical cancer screening services at health facilities. Besides, advocacy and engagement were made with relevant stakeholders to integrate the cervical cancer screening services into related reproductive health services and greater allocation of resources. The expected results compared the pre and post-intervention using the baseline and process indicators and the effect of the intervention phase on screening coverage using a plausibility assessment design. The project lasted 12 months; visual Inspection with Acetic acid (VIA) screening for the women for six months and follow-up in 6 months for women receiving treatment. Results: The pre-intervention phase assessed baseline service delivery statistics in the previous 12 months drawn from the retrospective data collected as part of the routine monitoring and reporting systems. The uptake of cervical cancer screening services was low as the number of women screened in the previous 12 months was 156. Service personnel's competency level was fair (54%), and limited availability of essential equipment and supplies for cervical cancer screening services. At the post-intervention phase, the level of uptake had increased as the number of women screened was 1586 within six months in the study settings. This showed about a 100-%increase in the uptake of cervical cancer screening services compared with the baseline assessment. Also, the post-intervention level of competency of service delivery personnel had increased to 86.3%, which indicates quality improvement of the cervical cancer screening service delivery. Conclusion: the findings from the study have shown an effective approach to strengthening and improving cervical cancer screening service delivery in Southwestern Nigeria. Hence, the intervention promoted a positive attitude and health-seeking behaviour among the target population, significantly influencing the uptake of cervical cancer screening services.

Keywords: cervical cancer, screening, nigeria, health system strengthening

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Authors: Aliyu Maje Bello, Yaowaluck Maprang Roshorm

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Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) is a highly contagious viral infection affecting mostly infants and children. Although the Enterovirus A71 (EV71) is usually the major causative agent of HFMD, other enteroviruses such as coxsackievirus A16, A10, and A6 are also found in some of the recent outbreaks. The commercially available vaccines have demonstrated their effectiveness against only EV71 infection but no protection against other enteroviruses. To address the limitation of the monovalent EV71 vaccine, the present study thus designed a tetravalent vaccine against the four major enteroviruses causing HFMD and primarily evaluated the designed vaccine using an immunoinformatics approach. The immunogen was designed to contain the EV71 VP1 protein and multiple reported epitopes from all four distinct enteroviruses and thus designated a tetravalent vaccine. The 3D structure of the designed tetravalent vaccine was modeled, refined, and validated. Epitope screening showed the presence of B-cell, CTL, CD4 T cell, and IFN epitopes with vast application among the Asian population. Docking analysis confirmed the stable and strong binding interactions between the immunogen and immune receptor B-cell receptor (BCR). In silico cloning and immune simulation analyses guaranteed high efficiency and sufficient expression of the vaccine candidate in humans. Overall, the promising results obtained from the in-silico studies of the proposed tetravalent vaccine make it a potential candidate worth further experimental validation.

Keywords: enteroviruses, coxsackieviruses, hand foot and mouth disease, immunoinformatics, tetravalent vaccine

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Authors: Yunus Emre Karakaya, Sebahattin Devecioglu, Bilal Coban

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Today, information technology’s presence is felt in every field of life. Fields of education and sports sciences have their own share too. Especially developments in informatics technologies changed the perspectives of these fields. The altered technological conditions made distance education argumentative in these fields. Due to advantages distance education provides to students, they can access the desired education without concerns about time and place. Education facilities are seen to head for distance education in this manner and expedite the process. Distance education applications, which was first started to be applied in the mid-1800s, have been implemented in Turkey since 1970s and still continues today. In this study, the historical development of distance education in the world and Turkey and the problems athletes face in education were discussed. Accordingly, suggestions were made evaluating the importance and requirements of distance education in sports education facilities at higher education level. Additionally, Questions of “Is distance education important in sports education in Turkey?”, “What are the problems of athletes in the education field in Turkey?” and similar questions were attempted to be answered. Finally, in Turkey, distance sports education applications in universities should be launched to ensure that athletes’ educations are not deficit and unfinished. Within this framework, legal regulations should be implemented by “Council of Higher Education” to develop the distance sports education in Turkey and utilize distance education efficiently in solving the sports education problems. By ensuring the advancement of athletes with this method, it is expected for athletes to contribute to sports in the country in both government and the private sector in the medium and long terms. Individuals who participated in the distance sports education will set an example in extending the country’s youth to national and international fields.

Keywords: athletes, distance education, higher education, sports education, Turkey

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Authors: Tayirjan Taylor Isimjan, Essam Jamea, Muien Qaryouti

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The demand for efficient greenhouse production is escalating, necessitating continuous improvements in controlled plant growth environments. Central to maximizing growth are critical light-related factors, including quantity, quality, and geometric distribution of intercepted radiation. This becomes particularly crucial in regions like the Middle East, characterized by high solar radiation and dusty atmospheric conditions. Existing greenhouse technologies often rely on additional expensive equipment to manage light conditions effectively. In this study, we propose a distinct approach employing functional coatings to mitigate dust and block UV and IR radiation, thereby conserving energy and enhancing productivity. By combining UV-IR reflective coatings with dust mitigation strategies, we aim to address both environmental challenges and energy consumption issues faced by greenhouse agriculture in Saudi Arabia.

Keywords: greenhouse, UV-IR reflective coatings, dust mitigation, energy efficiency, productivity

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Authors: Chandra Sekhar Singh, P. Chakrapani, B. Arun Jyothi, A. Roja Rani

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The green synthesis of metallic nanoparticles (NPs) involves biocompatible ingredients under physiological conditions of temperature and pressure. Moreover, the biologically active molecules involved in the green synthesis of NPs act as functionalizing ligands, making these NPs more suitable for biomedical applications. Among the most important bioreductants are plant extracts, which are relatively easy to handle, readily available, low cost, and have been well explored for the green synthesis of other nanomaterials. Various types of metallic NPs have already been synthesized using plant extracts. They have wide applicability in various areas such as electronics, catalysis, chemistry, energy, and medicine. Metallic nanoparticles are traditionally synthesized by wet chemical techniques, where the chemicals used are quite often toxic and flammable. In our study, we were described a cost effective and environment friendly technique for green synthesis of silver nanoparticles from 1mM AgNO3 solution through the aqueous extract of Erythrina indica as reducing as well as capping agent. Nanoparticles were characterized using UV–Vis absorption spectroscopy, FTIR, XRD, X-ray diffraction, SEM and TEM analysis showed the average particle size of 30 nm as well as revealed their spherical structure. Further these biologically synthesized nanoparticles were found to be highly toxic against different human pathogens viz. two Gram positive namely Klebsiella pneumonia and Bacillus subtilis bacteria and two were Gram negative bacteria namely Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli (E. coli). This is for the first time reporting that Erythrina indica plant extract was used for the synthesis of nanoparticles.

Keywords: silver nanoparticles, green synthesis, antibacterial activity, FTIR, TEM, SEM

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Authors: Soufiene Ilahi, Noureddine Yacoubi

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GaInAsSb grown on GaSb substrate is an interesting material employed as an active layer in vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) operating in mid-infrared emission. This material presents some advantages like highs optical absorption coefficient and good thermal conductivity, which is very desirable for VCSEL application. In this paper, we have investigated the effects of thermal annealing on optical properties and thermal conductivity of GaInAsSb/GaSb. The studies are carried out by means of the photo thermal deflection spectroscopy technique (PDS). In fact, optical absorption spectrum and thermal conductivity have been determined by a comparison between the experimental and theoretical phases of the PDS signal. We have found that thermal conductivity increased significantly to 13 W/m.K for GaInAsSb annealed during 60 min. In addition, we have found that bandgap energy is blue-shifted around 30 meV. The amplitudes signal of PDS reveals multiple reflections as a function of annealing time, which reflect the high crystalline quality of the layer.

Keywords: thermal conductivity, bandgap energy of GaInAsSb, GaInAsSb active layer, optical absorption

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Authors: Pedro Pablo Ramírez Sánchez, Alassane Ballé Ndiaye, Roberto Rendeiro Martín-Cejas

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The aim of this paper is to analyse the different environmental policies adopted in Europe for car emissions, to comment on some of the possible perverse effects generated and point out these policies which are considered more efficient under the environmental perspective. This paper is focused on passenger cars as this category is the most significant in road transport. The utility of this research lies in this being the first step or basis to improve and optimise actual policies. The methodology applied in this paper refers to a comparative analysis from a practical and theoretical point of view of European environmental policies in road transport. This work describes an overview of the road transport industry in Europe pointing out some relevant aspects such as the contribution of road transport to total emissions and the vehicle fleet in Europe. Additionally, we propose a brief practice guide with the combined policies in order to optimise their aim.

Keywords: air quality, climate change, emission, environment, perverse effect, road transport, tax policy

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Authors: Hualter Barbosa, Bruno Bonifacio

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The process of globalization and new business has transformed the dynamics of software development. To meet the new demands, the software industry has adapted new methodologies that can shorten development cycles to ensure greater competitiveness. Given this scenario, Global Software Development (GSD) has become a strategic element for new products' success. However, the reliability, opportunity, and perceived value can be influenced substantially with the automation of steps in the development process activities. In this sense, the development of new technologies can help developers and managers to improve the quality of development. This paper presents a report on improving one of the release process activities of Sidia's mobile product area using software technology. The objective is to present the improvement of the CLCATCH tool developed based on experimental studies and qualitative analysis on the points of improvement for the release process in Android update projects for Samsung mobile devices. The results show improvement for the new version and approach of the tool, with points that can facilitate new features of the proposed technology.

Keywords: Android updated, empirical studies, GSD, process improvement

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Authors: Jonathan Kissi, Baozhen Dai, Wisdom W. K. Pomegbe, Abdul-Basit Kassim

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Protecting patient’s digital information is a growing concern for healthcare institutions as people nowadays perpetually live their lives through telemedicine services. These telemedicine services have been confronted with several determinants that hinder their successful implementations, especially in developing countries. Identifying such determinants that influence the acceptance of telemedicine services is also a problem for healthcare professionals. Despite the tremendous increase in telemedicine services, its adoption, and use has been quite slow in some healthcare settings. Generally, it is accepted in today’s globalizing world that the success of telemedicine services relies on users’ satisfaction. Satisfying health professionals and patients are one of the crucial objectives of telemedicine success. This study seeks to investigate the determinants that influence health professionals’ intention to utilize telemedicine services in clinical activities in a sub-Saharan African country in West Africa (Ghana). A hybridized model comprising of health adoption models, including technology acceptance theory, diffusion of innovation theory, and protection of motivation theory, were used to investigate these quandaries. The study was carried out in four government health institutions that apply and regulate telemedicine services in their clinical activities. A structured questionnaire was developed and used for data collection. Purposive and convenience sampling methods were used in the selection of healthcare professionals from different medical fields for the study. The collected data were analyzed based on structural equation modeling (SEM) approach. All selected constructs showed a significant relationship with health professional’s behavioral intention in the direction expected from prior literature including perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, management strategies, financial sustainability, communication channels, patients security threat, patients privacy risk, self efficacy, actual service use, user satisfaction, and telemedicine services systems securities threat. Surprisingly, user characteristics and response efficacy of health professionals were not significant in the hybridized model. The findings and insights from this research show that health professionals are pragmatic when making choices for technology applications and also their willingness to use telemedicine services. They are, however, anxious about its threats and coping appraisals. The identified significant constructs in the study may help to increase efficiency, quality of services, quality patient care delivery, and satisfactory user satisfaction among healthcare professionals. The implantation and effective utilization of telemedicine services in the selected hospitals will aid as a strategy to eradicate hardships in healthcare services delivery. The service will help attain universal health access coverage to all populace. This study contributes to empirical knowledge by identifying the vital factors influencing health professionals’ behavioral intentions to adopt telemedicine services. The study will also help stakeholders of healthcare to formulate better policies towards telemedicine service usage.

Keywords: telemedicine service, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, management strategies, security threats

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Authors: Hossein Barri Ghazani

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Transfusion-related acute lung injury is the main reason of transfusion-related death, and it’s assigned to white blood cell reactive antibodies present in the blood product (anti-HLA class I and class II or anti granulocyte antibodies). TRALI may occur in the COVID-19 patients who are treated by convalescent plasma. The rate of TRALI’s reactions is the same in both males and females and can happen in all age groups. TRALI’s occurrence is higher for people who receive plasma from female donors because the parous female donors have multiple HLA antibodies in their plasma. Patients with chronic liver disease have an augmented risk of transfusion-related acute lung injuries from plasma containing blood products like FFP and PRP. The condition of TRALI suddenly starts with a non‐cardiogenic pulmonary Edema, often accompanied by marked systemic hypovolemic and hypotension. The conditions occur during or within a few hours of transfusion. Chest X-ray shows a nodular penetration or bats’ wing pattern of Edema which can be seen in acute respiratory distress syndrome as well. TRALI can occur with any type of blood products and can occur with as little as one unit. The blood donor center should be informed of the suspected TRALI reactions when the symptoms of TRALI are observed. After a review of the clinical data, the donors must be screened for granulocyte and HLA antibodies. The diagnosis and management of TRALI is not simple and is best done with a professional team and a specialty skilled nurse experienced with the upkeep of these patients.

Keywords: TRALI, transfusion-related death, anti-granulocyte antibodies, anti-HLA antibodies, COVID-19

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Authors: Jenson George, Thoa Nguyen, Garth Sanewski, Craig Hardner, Heather Eunice Smyth

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Pineapple (Ananas comosus), with its unique sweet flavour, is one of the most popular tropical, non-climacteric fruits consumed worldwide. It is also the third most important tropical fruit in world production. In Australia, 99% of the pineapple production is from the Queensland state due to the favourable subtropical climatic conditions. The flavourful fruit is known to contain around 500 volatile organic compounds (VOC) at varying concentrations and greatly contribute to the flavour quality of pineapple fruit by providing distinct aroma sensory properties that are sweet, fruity, tropical, pineapple-like, caramel-like, coconut-like, etc. The aroma of pineapple is one of the important factors attracting consumers and strengthening the marketplace. To better understand the aroma of Australian-grown pineapples, the matrix-matched Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS), Head Space - Solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME), Stable-isotope dilution analysis (SIDA) method was developed and validated. The developed method represents a significant improvement over current methods with the incorporation of multiple external reference standards, multiple isotopes labeled internal standards, and a matching model system of pineapple fruit matrix. This method was employed to quantify 28 key aroma compounds in more than 200 genetically diverse pineapple varieties from a breeding program. The Australian pineapple cultivars varied in content and composition of free volatile compounds, which were predominantly comprised of esters, followed by terpenes, alcohols, aldehydes, and ketones. Using selected commercial cultivars grown in Australia, and by employing the sensorial analysis, the appearance (colour), aroma (intensity, sweet, vinegar/tang, tropical fruits, floral, coconut, green, metallic, vegetal, fresh, peppery, fermented, eggy/sulphurous) and texture (crunchiness, fibrousness, and juiciness) were obtained. Relationships between sensory descriptors and volatiles were explored by applying multivariate analysis (PCA) to the sensorial and chemical data. The key aroma compounds of pineapple exhibited a positive correlation with corresponding sensory properties. The sensory and volatile data were also used to explore genetic diversity in the breeding population. GWAS was employed to unravel the genetic control of the pineapple volatilome and its interplay with fruit sensory characteristics. This study enhances our understanding of pineapple aroma (flavour) compounds, their biosynthetic pathways and expands breeding option for pineapple cultivars. This research provides foundational knowledge to support breeding programs, post-harvest and target market studies, and efforts to optimise the flavour of commercial pineapple varieties and their parent lines to produce better tasting fruits for consumers.

Keywords: Ananas comosus, pineapple, flavour, volatile organic compounds, aroma, Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS), Head Space - Solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME), Stable-isotope dilution analysis (SIDA).

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Authors: Şule Turhan, Özlem Turan

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Permanence in the international markets for many global companies is about being known as having effective logistics which targets customer satisfaction management and lower costs. Under competitive conditions, the necessity of providing the products to customers quickly and on time for the companies which constantly aim to improve their profitability increased the strategic importance of the logistics concept. Food logistic is one of the most difficult areas in logistics. In the process from manufacturer to final consumer, quality and hygiene standards must be provided constantly. In food logistics, reliable and extensive service network has great importance and on time delivery is the target. Developing logistics industry provide the supply of foods in the country and the development of export markets more quickly and has an important role in providing added value to the country's economy. Turkey that creates a bridge between the east and the west is an attractive market for logistics companies. In this study, by examining both the place and the importance of logistics in Turkish food sector, recommendations will be made for the food industry.

Keywords: logistics, Turkish food industry, competition, food industry

Procedia PDF Downloads 354

Authors: Luis Castiella, Mariano Rueda, Catalina Palacio

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The world’s rapid urbanisation represents an excellent opportunity to implement initiatives that are oriented towards a country’s general development. However, this phenomenon has created considerable pressure on current urban models, pushing them nearer to a crisis. As a result, several factors usually associated with underdevelopment have been steadily rising. Moreover, actions taken by public authorities have not been able to keep up with the speed of urbanisation, which has impeded them from meeting the demands of society, responding with reactionary policies instead of with coordinated, organised efforts. In contrast, the concept of a Smart City which emerged around two decades ago, in principle, represents a city that utilises innovative technologies to remedy the everyday issues of the citizen, empowering them with the newest available technology and information. This concept has come to adopt a wider meaning, including human and social capital, as well as productivity, economic growth, quality of life, environment and participative governance. These developments have also disrupted the management of institutions such as academia, which have become key in generating scientific advancements that can solve pressing problems, and in forming a specialised class that is able to follow up on these breakthroughs. In this light, the Ministry of Modernisation of the Argentinian Nation has created a model that is rooted in the concept of a ‘Smart City’. This effort considered all the dimensions that are at play in an urban environment, with careful monitoring of each sub-dimensions in order to establish the government’s priorities and improving the effectiveness of its operations. In an attempt to ameliorate the overall efficiency of the country’s economic and social development, these focused initiatives have also encouraged citizen participation and the cooperation of the private sector: replacing short-sighted policies with some that are coherent and organised. This process was developed gradually. The first stage consisted in building the model’s structure; the second, at applying the method created on specific case studies and verifying that the mechanisms used respected the desired technical and social aspects. Finally, the third stage consists in the repetition and subsequent comparison of this experiment in order to measure the effects on the ‘treatment group’ over time. The first trial was conducted on 717 municipalities and evaluated the dimension of Governance. Results showed that levels of governmental maturity varied sharply with relation to size: cities with less than 150.000 people had a strikingly lower level of governmental maturity than cities with more than 150.000 people. With the help of this analysis, some important trends and target population were made apparent, which enabled the public administration to focus its efforts and increase its probability of being successful. It also permitted to cut costs, time, and create a dynamic framework in tune with the population’s demands, improving quality of life with sustained efforts to develop social and economic conditions within the territorial structure.

Keywords: composite index, comprehensive model, smart cities, strategic framework

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Authors: Amal Khalifa, Nicolas Vana Santos

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Steganography has been known for centuries as an efficient approach for covert communication. Due to its popularity and ease of access, image steganography has attracted researchers to find secure techniques for hiding information within an innocent looking cover image. In this research, we propose a novel deep-learning approach to digital image steganography. The proposed method, DeepWaveletFusion, uses convolutional neural networks (CNN) to hide a secret image into a cover image of the same size. Two CNNs are trained back-to-back to merge the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) of both colored images and eventually be able to blindly extract the hidden image. Based on two different image similarity metrics, a weighted gain function is used to guide the learning process and maximize the quality of the retrieved secret image and yet maintaining acceptable imperceptibility. Experimental results verified the high recoverability of DeepWaveletFusion which outperformed similar deep-learning-based methods.

Keywords: deep learning, steganography, image, discrete wavelet transform, fusion

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Authors: Ana-Maria Gheldiu, Bianca M. Abrudan, Maria A. Neag, Laurian Vlase, Dana M. Muntean

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Background information: The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of multiple-dose fluvoxamine on the pharmacokinetic profile of single-dose carvedilol in rats, in order to evaluate this possible drug-drug pharmacokinetic interaction. Methods: A preclinical study, in 28 white male Wistar rats, was conducted. Each rat was cannulated on the femoral vein, prior to being connected to BASi Culex ABC®. Carvedilol was orally administrated in rats (3.57 mg/kg body mass (b.m.)) in the absence of fluvoxamine or after a pre-treatment with multiple oral doses of fluvoxamine (14.28 mg/kg b.m.). The plasma concentrations of carvedilol were estimated by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The pharmacokinetic parameters of carvedilol were analyzed by non-compartmental method. Results: After carvediol co-administration with fluvoxamine, an approximately 2-fold increase in the exposure of carvedilol was observed, considering the significantly elevated value of the total area under the concentration versus time curve (AUC₀₋∞). Moreover, an increase by approximately 145% of the peak plasma concentration was found, as well as an augmentation by approximately 230% of the half life time of carvedilol was observed. Conclusion: Fluvoxamine co-administration led to a significant alteration of carvedilol’s pharmacokinetic profile in rats, these effects could be explained by the existence of a drug-drug interaction mediated by CYP2D6 inhibition. Acknowledgement: This work was supported by CNCS Romania – project PNII-RU-TE-2014-4-0242.

Keywords: carvedilol, fluvoxamine, drug-drug pharmacokinetic interaction, rats

Procedia PDF Downloads 260

Authors: Majid Arvan, Peyman Beygi, Sina Rokhsati

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In-time detection of fire in buildings is of great importance. Employing intelligent methods in data processing in fire detection systems leads to a significant reduction of fire damage at lowest cost. In this paper, the raw data obtained from the fire detection sensor networks in buildings is processed by using intelligent methods based on neural networks and the likelihood of fire happening is predicted. In order to enhance the quality of system, the noise in the sensor data is reduced by analyzing wavelets and applying SVD technique. Meanwhile, the proposed neural network is trained using particle swarm optimization (PSO). In the simulation work, the data is collected from sensor network inside the room and applied to the proposed network. Then the outputs are compared with conventional MLP network. The simulation results represent the superiority of the proposed method over the conventional one.

Keywords: intelligent fire detection, neural network, particle swarm optimization, fire sensor network

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Authors: Jitka Hroudová, Martin Sedlmajer, Jiří Zach

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Problems insulation of building structures is often closely connected with the problem of moisture remediation. In the case of historic buildings or if only part of the redevelopment of envelope of structures, it is not possible to apply the classical external thermal insulation composite systems. This application is mostly effective thermal insulation plasters with high porosity and controlled capillary properties which assures improvement of thermal properties construction, its diffusion openness towards the external environment and suitable treatment capillary properties of preventing the penetration of liquid moisture and salts thereof toward the outer surface of the structure. With respect to the current trend of reducing the energy consumption of building structures and reduce the production of CO2 is necessary to develop capillary-active materials characterized by their low density, low thermal conductivity while maintaining good mechanical properties. The aim of researchers at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Brno University of Technology is the development and study of hygrothermal behaviour of optimal materials for thermal insulation and rehabilitation of building structures with the possible use of alternative, less energy demanding binders in comparison with conventional, frequently used binder, which represents cement. The paper describes the evaluation of research activities aimed at the development of thermal insulation and repair materials using lightweight aggregate and alternative binders such as metakaolin and finely ground fly ash.

Keywords: thermal insulating plasters, rehabilitation materials, thermal conductivity, lightweight aggregate, alternative binders.

Procedia PDF Downloads 290