Search results for: human resource practices

Authors: Rabbia Idrees, Ananda Maiti, Saurabh Garg, Muhammad Bilal Amin

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IoT devices are the basic building blocks of IoT network that generate enormous volume of real-time and high-speed data to help organizations and companies to take intelligent decisions. To integrate this enormous data from multisource and transfer it to the appropriate client is the fundamental of IoT development. The handling of this huge quantity of devices along with the huge volume of data is very challenging. The IoT devices are battery-powered and resource-constrained and to provide energy efficient communication, these IoT devices go sleep or online/wakeup periodically and a-periodically depending on the traffic loads to reduce energy consumption. Sometime these devices get disconnected due to device battery depletion. If the node is not available in the network, then the IoT network provides incomplete, missing, and inaccurate data. Moreover, many IoT applications, like vehicle tracking and patient tracking require the IoT devices to be mobile. Due to this mobility, If the distance of the device from the sink node become greater than required, the connection is lost. Due to this disconnection other devices join the network for replacing the broken-down and left devices. This make IoT devices dynamic in nature which brings uncertainty and unreliability in the IoT network and hence produce bad quality of data. Due to this dynamic nature of IoT devices we do not know the actual reason of abnormal data. If data are of poor-quality decisions are likely to be unsound. It is highly important to process data and estimate data quality before bringing it to use in IoT applications. In the past many researchers tried to estimate data quality and provided several Machine Learning (ML), stochastic and statistical methods to perform analysis on stored data in the data processing layer, without focusing the challenges and issues arises from the dynamic nature of IoT devices and how it is impacting data quality. A comprehensive review on determining the impact of dynamic nature of IoT devices on data quality is done in this research and presented a data quality model that can deal with this challenge and produce good quality of data. This research presents the data quality model for the sensors monitoring water quality. DBSCAN clustering and weather sensors are used in this research to make data quality model for the sensors monitoring water quality. An extensive study has been done in this research on finding the relationship between the data of weather sensors and sensors monitoring water quality of the lakes and beaches. The detailed theoretical analysis has been presented in this research mentioning correlation between independent data streams of the two sets of sensors. With the help of the analysis and DBSCAN, a data quality model is prepared. This model encompasses five dimensions of data quality: outliers’ detection and removal, completeness, patterns of missing values and checks the accuracy of the data with the help of cluster’s position. At the end, the statistical analysis has been done on the clusters formed as the result of DBSCAN, and consistency is evaluated through Coefficient of Variation (CoV).

Keywords: clustering, data quality, DBSCAN, and Internet of things (IoT)

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Authors: Elisha Kyirem

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Undoubtedly, climate change is a major global challenge that could threaten the very foundation upon which life on earth is anchored, with its impacts on human mobility attracting the attention of policy makers and researchers. There is an increasing body of literature and case studies suggesting that migration could be a way through which the vulnerable move away from areas exposed to climate extreme events to improve their lives and that of their families. This presents migration as a way through which people voluntarily move to seek opportunities that could help reduce their exposure and avoid danger from climate events. Thus, migration is seen as a proactive adaptation strategy aimed at building resilience and improving livelihoods to enable people to adapt to future changing events. However, there has not been any mathematical equation linking migration and climate change adaptation. Drawing from literature in development studies, this paper develops an equation that seeks to link the relationship between migration and climate change adaptation. The mathematical equation establishes the linkages between migration, resilience, poverty reduction and vulnerability, and these the paper maintains, are the key variables for conceptualizing the migration-climate change adaptation nexus. The paper then tests the validity of the equation using the sustainable livelihood framework and publicly available data on migration and tourism in Ghana.

Keywords: migration, adaptation, climate change, adaptation, poverty reduction

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Authors: Feng Zhang

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Kashin-Beck disease (KBD) is a chronic osteochondropathy. The mechanism of hand growth and development failure of KBD remains elusive now. In this study, we conducted a two-stage genome-wide association study (GWAS) of palmar length-width ratio (LWR) of KBD, totally involving 493 Chinese Han KBD patients. Affymetrix Genome Wide Human SNP Array 6.0 was applied for SNP genotyping. Association analysis was conducted by PLINK software. Imputation analysis was performed by IMPUTE against the reference panel of the 1000 genome project. In the GWAS, the most significant association was observed between palmar LWR and rs2071358 of COL2A1 gene (P value = 4.68×10-8). Imputation analysis identified 3 SNPs surrounding rs2071358 with significant or suggestive association signals. Replication study observed additional significant association signals at both rs2071358 (P value = 0.017) and rs4760608 (P value = 0.002) of COL2A1 gene after Bonferroni correction. Our results suggest that COL2A1 gene was a novel susceptibility gene involved in the growth and development failure of hand of KBD.

Keywords: Kashin-Beck disease, genome-wide association study, COL2A1, hand

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Authors: Radhe Tado, Ashish B. Deoghare, K. M. Pandey

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The aim of this study is to estimate the effect of blood flow through the coronary artery in human heart so as to assess the coronary artery disease.Velocity, wall shear stress (WSS), strain rate and wall pressure distribution are some of the important hemodynamic parameters that are non-invasively assessed with computational fluid dynamics (CFD). These parameters are used to identify the mechanical factors responsible for the plaque progression and/or rupture in left coronary arteries (LCA) in coronary arteries.The initial step for CFD simulations was the construction of a geometrical model of the LCA. Patient specific artery model is constructed using computed tomography (CT) scan data with the help of MIMICS Research 19.0. For CFD analysis ANSYS FLUENT-14.5 is used.Hemodynamic parameters were quantified and flow patterns were visualized both in the absence and presence of coronary plaques. The wall pressure continuously decreased towards distal segments and showed pressure drops in stenotic segments. Areas of high WSS and high flow velocities were found adjacent to plaques deposition.

Keywords: angiography, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), time-average wall shear stress (TAWSS), wall pressure, wall shear stress (WSS)

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Authors: Siti Nurma Hanim Hadie, Asma’ Hassan, Zul Izhar Ismail, Ahmad Fuad Abdul Rahim, Mohd. Zarawi Mat Nor, Hairul Nizam Ismail

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Anatomy is a medical subject, which contributes to high cognitive load during learning. Despite its complexity, anatomy remains as the most important basic sciences subject with high clinical relevancy. Although anatomy knowledge is required for safe practice, many medical students graduated without having sufficient knowledge. In fact, anatomy knowledge among the medical graduates was reported to be declining and this had led to various medico-legal problems. Applying cognitive load theory (CLT) in anatomy teaching particularly lecture would be able to address this issue since anatomy information is often perceived as cognitively challenging material. CLT identifies three types of loads which are intrinsic, extraneous and germane loads, which combine to form the total cognitive load. CLT describe that learning can only occur when the total cognitive load does not exceed human working memory capacity. Hence, managing these three types of loads with the aim of optimizing the working memory capacity would be beneficial to the students in learning anatomy and retaining the knowledge for future application.

Keywords: cognitive load theory, intrinsic load, extraneous load, germane load

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Authors: M. P. Sebastian

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Health for all is considered as a sign of well-being and inclusive growth. New healthcare technologies are contributing to the quality of human lives by promoting health education and awareness, leading to the prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of the symptoms of diseases. Healthcare technologies have now migrated from the medical and institutionalized settings to the home and everyday life. This paper explores these new technologies and investigates how they contribute to health education and awareness, promoting the objective of high-value health system for all. The methodology used for the research is literature review. The paper also discusses the opportunities and challenges with futuristic healthcare technologies. The combined advances in genomics medicine, wearables and the IoT with enhanced data collection in electronic health record (EHR) systems, environmental sensors, and mobile device applications can contribute in a big way to high-value health system for all. The promise by these technologies includes reduced total cost of healthcare, reduced incidence of medical diagnosis errors, and reduced treatment variability. The major barriers to adoption include concerns with security, privacy, and integrity of healthcare data, regulation and compliance issues, service reliability, interoperability and portability of data, and user friendliness and convenience of these technologies.

Keywords: big data, education, healthcare, information communication technologies (ICT), patients, technologies

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Authors: Kalpana Rajouriya, Ajay Taneja

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Particulates are ubiquitous in the air environment and cause serious threats to human beings, such as lung cancer, Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and Asthma. Particulates mainly arise from industrial effluent, vehicular emission, and other anthropogenic activities. In the glass industrial city Firozabad, real-time monitoring (mass as well as a number) of size segregated Particulate Matter (PM) and black carbon was done by Aerosol Black Carbon Detector (ABCD) and GRIMM portable aerosol Spectrometer at two different sites in which one site is urban, and another is rural. The average mass concentration of size segregated PM during the study period (March & April 2022) was recorded as PM₁₀ (223.73 g/m-³), PM₅.₀ (44.955 g/m-³), PM₂.₅ (59.275 g/m-³), PM₁.₀ (33.02 g/m-³), PM₀.₅ (2.05 g/m-³), and PM₀.₂₅ (2.99 g/m- ³). In number mode, PM concentration was found as PM₁₀ (27.46g/m-³), PM₅.₀ (233.48g/m-³), PM₂.₅ (646.61g/m-³), PM₁.₀ (1134.94 g/m-³), PM₀.₅ (14056.04g/m-³), and PM₀.₂₅ (182906.4 g/m-³). The highest concentration of BC was found in Urban due to the emissions from diesel engines and wood burning while NO2 was highest at the rural sites. The concentrations of PM₁₀ and PM₂.₅ exceeded the NAAQS and WHO guidelines. The sensitive, exposed population may be at risk of developing health-related problems from exposure to size-segregated PM and BC.

Keywords: particulate matter, black carbon, NO2, health risk

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Authors: Peter Baji

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In recent years, a growing body of literature emphasizes the increasingly negative impacts of urban road congestion in the everyday life of citizens. Although there are different responses from the public sector to decrease traffic congestion in urban regions, the most effective public intervention is using congestion charges. Because travel is an economic asset, its consumption can be controlled by extra taxes or prices effectively, but this demand-side intervention is often unpopular. Measuring traffic flows with the help of different methods has a long history in transport sciences, but until recently, there was not enough sufficient data for evaluating road traffic flow patterns on the scale of an entire road system of a larger urban area. European cities (e.g., London, Stockholm, Milan), in which congestion charges have already been introduced, designated a particular zone in their downtown for paying, but it protects only the users and inhabitants of the CBD (Central Business District) area. Through the use of Google Maps data as a resource for revealing urban road traffic flow patterns, this paper aims to provide a solution for a fairer and smarter congestion pricing method in cities. The case study area of the research contains three bordering districts of Budapest which are linked by one main road. The first district (5th) is the original downtown that is affected by the congestion charge plans of the city. The second district (13th) lies in the transition zone, and it has recently been transformed into a new CBD containing the biggest office zone in Budapest. The third district (4th) is a mainly residential type of area on the outskirts of the city. The raw data of the research was collected with the help of Google’s Distance Matrix API (Application Programming Interface) which provides future estimated traffic data via travel times between freely fixed coordinate pairs. From the difference of free flow and congested travel time data, the daily congestion patterns and hot spots are detectable in all measured roads within the area. The results suggest that the distribution of congestion peak times and hot spots are uneven in the examined area; however, there are frequently congested areas which lie outside the downtown and their inhabitants also need some protection. The conclusion of this case study is that cities can develop a real-time and place-based congestion charge system that forces car users to avoid frequently congested roads by changing their routes or travel modes. This would be a fairer solution for decreasing the negative environmental effects of the urban road transportation instead of protecting a very limited downtown area.

Keywords: Budapest, congestion charge, distance matrix API, application programming interface, pilot study

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Authors: Thomas J. Bell III

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This paper explores the value of assimilating certification training within a traditional course curriculum. This innovative approach is believed to increase stakeholder value within the Computer Information System program at Texas Wesleyan University. Stakeholder value is obtained from increased job marketability and critical thinking skills that create employment-ready graduates. This paper views value as first developing the capability to earn an industry-recognized certification, which provides the student with more job placement compatibility while allowing the use of critical thinking skills in a liberal arts business program. Graduates with industry-based credentials are often given preference in the hiring process, particularly in the information technology sector. And without a pioneering curriculum that better prepares students for an ever-changing employment market, its educational value is dubiously questioned. Since certifications are trending in the hiring process, academic programs should explore the viability of incorporating certification training into teaching pedagogy and courses curriculum. This study will examine the use of the balanced scorecard across four performance dimensions (financial, customer, internal process, and innovation) to measure the stakeholder value of certification training within a traditional course curriculum. The balanced scorecard as a strategic management tool may provide insight for leveraging resource prioritization and decisions needed to achieve various curriculum objectives and long-term value while meeting multiple stakeholders' needs, such as students, universities, faculty, and administrators. The research methodology will consist of quantitative analysis that includes (1) surveying over one-hundred students in the CIS program to learn what factor(s) contributed to their certification exam success or failure, (2) interviewing representatives from the Texas Workforce Commission to identify the employment needs and trends in the North Texas (Dallas/Fort Worth) area, (3) reviewing notable Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act publications on training trends across several local business sectors, and (4) analyzing control variables to identify specific correlations between industry alignment and job placement to determine if a correlation exists. These findings may provide helpful insight into impactful pedagogical teaching techniques and curriculum that positively contribute to certification credentialing success. And should these industry-certified students land industry-related jobs that correlate with their certification credential value, arguably, stakeholder value has been realized.

Keywords: certification exam teaching pedagogy, exam preparation, testing techniques, exam study tips, passing certification exams, embedding industry certification and curriculum alignment, balanced scorecard performance evaluation

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Authors: Rakesh Namdeti

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Toxic dyes found in industrial effluent must be treated before being disposed of due to their harmful impact on human health and aquatic life. Thus, Musa acuminata (Banana Leaves) was employed in the role of a biosorbent in this work to get rid of methylene blue derived from a synthetic solution. The effects of five process parameters, such as temperature, pH, biosorbent dosage, and initial methylene blue concentration, using a central composite design (CCD), and the percentage of dye clearance were investigated. The response was modelled using a quadratic model based on the CCD. The analysis of variance revealed the most influential element on experimental design response (ANOVA). The temperature of 44.30C, pH of 7.1, biosorbent dose of 0.3 g, starting methylene blue concentration of 48.4 mg/L, and 84.26 percent dye removal were the best conditions for Musa acuminata (Banana leave powder). At these ideal conditions, the experimental percentage of biosorption was 76.93. The link between the estimated results of the developed ANN model and the experimental results defined the success of ANN modeling. As a result, the study's experimental results were found to be quite close to the model's predicted outcomes.

Keywords: Musa acuminata, central composite design, methylene blue, artificial neural network

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Authors: Hongliang Zhang

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The use of chance procedures and randomizers in poetry-writing can be traced back to surrealist works, which, by appealing to Sigmund Freud's theories, were still logocentrism. In the 1960s, random permutation and combination were extensively used by the Oulipo, John Cage and Jackson Mac Low, which further deconstructed the metaphysical presence of writing. Today, the randomly-generated digital poetry has emerged as a genre of cybertext which should be co-authored by readers. At the same time, the classical theories have now been updated by cybernetics and media theories. N· Katherine Hayles put forward the concept of ‘the floating signifiers’ by Jacques Lacan to be the ‘the flickering signifiers’ , arguing that the technology per se has become a part of the textual production. This paper makes a historical review of the computer-generated poetry in the perspective of semiotics, emphasizing that the randomly-generated digital poetry which hands over the dual tasks of both interpretation and writing to the readers demonstrates the intervention of media technology in literature. With the participation of computerized algorithm and programming languages, poems randomly generated by computers have not only blurred the boundary between encoder and decoder, but also raises the issue of human-machine. It is also a significant feature of the cybertext that the productive process of the text is full of randomness.

Keywords: cybertext, digital poetry, poetry generator, semiotics

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Authors: Tal Braverman Uriel, Tal Litvak Hirsch

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Background and Objectives: Little or only partial emphasis has been placed on exploring the complexity of consensual non-monogamous relationships. The term "polyamory" refers to consensual non-monogamy, and it is defined as having emotional and/or sexual relations simultaneously with two or more people, the consent and knowledge of all the partners concerned. Managing multiple romantic relationships with different people evokes more emotions, leads to more emotional conflicts arising from different interests, and demands practical strategies. An individual's transition from a monogamous lifestyle to a consensual non-monogamous lifestyle yields new challenges, accompanied by stress, uncertainty, and question marks, as do other life-changing events, such as divorce or transition to parenthood. The study examines both the process of transition and adaptation to a consensually non-monogamous relationship, as well as the coping mechanism involved in the daily conduct of this lifestyle. The research focuses on understanding the consequences, challenges, and coping methods from a personal, marital, and familial point of view and focuses on 40 middle-aged individuals (20 men and 20 women ages 40-60). The research sheds light on a way of life that has not been previously studied in Israel and is still considered unacceptable. Theories of crisis (e.g., as Folkman and Lazarus) were applied, and as a result, a deeper understanding of the subject was reached, all while focusing on multiple aspects of dealing with stress. The basic research question examines the consequences of entering a polyamorous life from a personal point of view as an individual, partner, and parent and the ways of coping with these consequences. Method: The research is conducted with a narrative qualitative approach in the interpretive paradigm, including semi-structured in-depth interviews. The method of analysis is thematic. Results: The findings indicate that in most cases, an individual's motivation to open the relationship is mainly a longing for better sexuality and for an added layer of excitement to their lives. Most of the interviewees were assisted by their spouses in the process, as well as by social networks and podcasts on the subject. Some of them therapeutic professionals from the field are helpful. It also clearly emerged that among those who experienced acute emotional crises with the primary partner or painful separations from secondary partners, all believed polyamory to be the adequate way of life for them. Finally, a key resource for managing tension and stress is the ability to share and communicate with the primary partner. Conclusions: The study points to the challenges and benefits of a non-monogamous lifestyle as well as the use of coping mechanisms and resources that are consistent with the existing theory and research in the field in the context of life changes. The study indicates the need to expand the research canvas in the future in the context of parenting and the consequences for children.

Keywords: a-monogamy, consent, family, stress, tension

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Authors: Mahshid TalebianKiakalayeh

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As AI technologies can be used by both civilians and soldiers, it is vital to consider the consequences emanating from AI military as well as civilian use. Indeed, many of the same technologies can have a dual-use. This paper will explore the military uses of AI and assess its compliance with international legal norms. AI developments not only have changed the capacity of the military to conduct complex operations but have also increased legal concerns. The existence of a potential legal vacuum in legal principles on the military use of AI indicates the necessity of more study on compliance with International Humanitarian Law (IHL), the branch of international law which governs the conduct of hostilities. While capabilities of new means of military AI continue to advance at incredible rates, this body of law is seeking to limit the methods of warfare protecting civilian persons who are not participating in an armed conflict. Implementing AI in the military realm would result in potential issues, including ethical and legal challenges. For instance, when intelligence can perform any warfare task without any human involvement, a range of humanitarian debates will be raised as to whether this technology might distinguish between military and civilian targets or not. This is mainly because AI in fully military systems would not seem to carry legal and ethical judgment, which can interfere with IHL principles. The paper will take, as a case study, Canada’s compliance with IHL in the area of AI and the related legal issues that are likely to arise as this country continues to develop military uses of AI.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, military use, international humanitarian law, the Canadian perspective

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Authors: M. Novak, E. Munoz, A. Jana, M. Nelemans

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Cities and local governments the world over are interested to employ circular strategies as a means to bring about food security, create employment and increase resilience. The selection and implementation of circular strategies is facilitated by modeling the effects of strategies locally and understanding the impacts such strategies have had in other (comparable) cities and how that would translate locally. Urban areas are heterogeneous because of their geographic, economic, social characteristics, governance, and culture. In order to better understand the effect of circular strategies on urban systems, we create a dataset for over 300 cities around the world designed to facilitate circular strategy scenario modeling. This new dataset integrates data from over 20 prominent global national and urban data sources, such as the Global Human Settlements layer and International Labour Organisation, as well as incorporating employment data from over 150 cities collected bottom up from local departments and data providers. The dataset is made to be reproducible. Various clustering techniques are explored in the paper. The result is sets of clusters of cities, which can be used for further research, analysis, and support comparative, regional, and national policy making on circular cities.

Keywords: data integration, urban innovation, cluster analysis, circular economy, city profiles, scenario modelling

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Authors: Meirav Eshkol, Miri Blaufeld, Rinat Basal

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Aim: The working environment in rural clinics is often isolated and distant from major health centers. In these circumstances, rural health care faces numerous challenges. The hope is that, in the immediate future and in the medium and long range, the rural nursing staff will realize their full professional and personal potential to their own satisfaction and to the health and welfare of their patients. Background: Rural nurses work mostly alone or with very few colleagues, and have the authority to make professional decisions, a fact which often requires them to make critical decisions in pressure situations. In addition, the expectations set for these nurses are extremely high, a fact which requires them to be extremely skilled and to fulfill their professional potential. They are required to provide high-quality and comprehensive care to the individual, the family, and the community and to maintain close interaction with the community. Work in a rural setting requires the flexibility to perform multiple tasks in an isolated setting, often far removed from major health centers. In order to maintain professional satisfaction for the rural nurse, expanded direction and training are required in professional know-how, and in the development of new and existing skills, toward the goal of treating a diverse population and to obtain a comprehensive view of the components of a diagnosis for treatment and to develop an understanding appropriate to the presented reality. Objective: To provide knowledge and to expand and develop professional skills in the prevention and advancement of health in the care of a diverse patient population. The development of strategies and skills for work under pressure alone instills expertise in performing multiple tasks in diverse disciplines. To reduce feelings of stress and burnout. Methodology: This course is the first and one of a kind in Clalit - the biggest health organisation in Israel. Observing and identifying the needs of the nurses in the field relating to the development of professional and personal skills defining goals and objectives, and determining the content of a course designed for rural nurses and kibbutz nurses who are not Clalit employees. Results: 43 nurses participated and 30 answered the feedback questionnaire. The rating of their experience was 4.33 (on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the highest ranking). 92% indicated the importance of meeting with additional nurses to teach their colleagues. 83% of the nurses indicated an increased sense of organizational belonging. 60% indicated that the course helped to reduce feelings of stress and burnout in becoming a better rural nurse. 80% indicated that the course helped them establish intra-organizational professional cooperation and initiating processes. Conclusion: The course is an instrument which aids in increasing the feeling of organizational belonging, reducing feelings of stress and burnout, creation of relationships and cooperation both within and outside of the organization, increased the realization of the potential of the village nurse.

Keywords: rural nurse, alone, burnout, multiple tasks

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Authors: M. Kastek, M. Kowalski, M. Szustakowski, H. Polakowski, T. Sosnowski

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Development of highly efficient security systems is one of the most urgent topics for science and engineering. There are many kinds of threats and many methods of prevention. It is very important to detect a threat as early as possible in order to neutralize it. One of the very challenging problems is detection of dangerous objects hidden under human’s clothing. This problem is particularly important for safety of airport passengers. In order to develop methods and algorithms to detect hidden objects it is necessary to determine the thermal signatures of such objects of interest. The laboratory measurements were conducted to determine the thermal signatures of dangerous tools hidden under various clothes in different ambient conditions. Cameras used for measurements were working in spectral range 0.6-12.5 μm An infrared imaging Fourier transform spectroradiometer was also used, working in spectral range 7.7-11.7 μm. Analysis of registered thermograms and hyperspectral datacubes has yielded the thermal signatures for two types of guns, two types of knives and home-made explosive bombs. The determined thermal signatures will be used in the development of method and algorithms of image analysis implemented in proposed monitoring systems.

Keywords: hyperspectral detection, nultispectral detection, image processing, monitoring systems

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Authors: Margarida Porfírio Tomás, Paula Pereira, José Palma Oliveira

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Robotic grasping is advancing rapidly, but transferring techniques from rigid to deformable objects remains a challenge. Deformable and flexible items, such as food containers, demand nuanced handling due to their changing shapes. Bridging this gap is crucial for applications in food processing, surgical robotics, and household assistance. AGILEHAND, a Horizon project, focuses on developing advanced technologies for sorting, handling, and packaging soft and deformable products autonomously. These technologies serve as strategic tools to enhance flexibility, agility, and reconfigurability within the production and logistics systems of European manufacturing companies. Key components include intelligent detection, self-adaptive handling, efficient sorting, and agile, rapid reconfiguration. The overarching goal is to optimize work environments and equipment, ensuring both efficiency and safety. As new technologies emerge in the food industry, there will be some implications, such as labour force, safety problems and acceptance of the new technologies. To overcome these implications, AGILEHAND emphasizes the integration of social sciences and humanities, for example, the application of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The project aims to create a change management manual, that will outline strategies for developing digital skills and managing health and safety transitions. It will also provide best practices and models for organizational change. Additionally, AGILEHAND will design effective training programs to enhance employee skills and knowledge. This information will be obtained through a combination of case studies, structured interviews, questionnaires, and a comprehensive literature review. The project will explore how organizations adapt during periods of change and identify factors influencing employee motivation and job satisfaction. This project received funding from European Union’s Horizon 2020/Horizon Europe research and innovation program under grant agreement No101092043 (AGILEHAND).

Keywords: change management, technology acceptance model, organizational change, health and safety

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Authors: Para Jansuwan, Kerstin K. Zander

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Most people in rural Thailand still depend on agriculture. The rural areas are undergoing changes in their demographic structures with an increasing older population, out migration of younger people and a shift away from work in the agricultural sector towards manufacturing and service provisioning. These changes may lead to a decline in agricultural productivity and food insecurity. Our research aims to examine perceptions of older farmers on how rural demographic change affects them, to investigate how farmers may change their agricultural practices to cope with their ageing and to explore the factors affecting these changes, including the opportunities and challenges arising from them. The data were collected through a household survey with 368 farmers in the Prachin Buri province in central Thailand, the main area for agricultural production. A series of binomial logistic regression models were applied to analyse the data. We found that most farmers suffered from age-related diseases, which compromised their working capacity. Most farmers attempted to reduce labour intense work, by either stopping farming through transferring farmland to their children (41%), stopping farming by giving the land to the others (e.g., selling, leasing out) (28%) and continuing farming with making some changes (e.g., changing crops, employing additional workers) (24%). Farmers’ health and having a potential farm successor were positively associated with the probability of stopping farming by transferring the land to the children. Farmers with a successor were also less likely to stop farming by giving the land to the others. Farmers’ age was negatively associated with the likelihood of continuing farming by making some changes. The results show that most farmers base their decisions on the hope that their children will take over the farms, and that without successor, farmers lease out or sell the land. Without successor, they also no longer invest in expansion and improvement of their farm production, especially adoption of innovative technologies that could help them to maintain their farm productivity. To improve farmers’ quality of life and sustain their farm productivity, policies are needed to support the viability of farms, the access to a pension system and the smooth and successful transfer of the land to a successor of farmers.

Keywords: rural demographic change, older farmer, stopping farming, continuing farming, health and age, farm successor, Thailand

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Authors: Juan Pablo Botero Torres, Alba Avila, Luis Felipe Giraldo

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Independent navigation and mobility through unknown spaces pose a challenge for the autonomy of visually impaired people (VIP), who have relied on the use of traditional assistive tools like the white cane and trained dogs. However, emerging visually assistive technologies (VAT) have proposed several human-machine interfaces (HMIs) that could improve VIP’s ability for self-guidance. Hereby, we introduce the design and implementation of a visually assistive device, Anajaa – Visual Substitution System (AVSS). This system integrates ultrasonic sensors with custom electronics, and computer vision models (convolutional neural networks), in order to achieve a robust system that acquires information of the surrounding space and transmits it to the user in an intuitive and efficient manner. AVSS consists of two modules: the sensing and the actuation module, which are fitted to a chest mount and belt that communicate via Bluetooth. The sensing module was designed for the acquisition and processing of proximity signals provided by an array of ultrasonic sensors. The distribution of these within the chest mount allows an accurate representation of the surrounding space, discretized in three different levels of proximity, ranging from 0 to 6 meters. Additionally, this module is fitted with an RGB-D camera used to detect potentially threatening obstacles, like staircases, using a convolutional neural network specifically trained for this purpose. Posteriorly, the depth data is used to estimate the distance between the stairs and the user. The information gathered from this module is then sent to the actuation module that creates an HMI, by the means of a 3x2 array of vibration motors that make up the tactile display and allow the system to deliver haptic feedback. The actuation module uses vibrational messages (tactones); changing both in amplitude and frequency to deliver different awareness levels according to the proximity of the obstacle. This enables the system to deliver an intuitive interface. Both modules were tested under lab conditions, and the HMI was additionally tested with a focal group of VIP. The lab testing was conducted in order to establish the processing speed of the computer vision algorithms. This experimentation determined that the model can process 0.59 frames per second (FPS); this is considered as an adequate processing speed taking into account that the walking speed of VIP is 1.439 m/s. In order to test the HMI, we conducted a focal group composed of two females and two males between the ages of 35-65 years. The subject selection was aided by the Colombian Cooperative of Work and Services for the Sightless (COOTRASIN). We analyzed the learning process of the haptic messages throughout five experimentation sessions using two metrics: message discrimination and localization success. These correspond to the ability of the subjects to recognize different tactones and locate them within the tactile display. Both were calculated as the mean across all subjects. Results show that the focal group achieved message discrimination of 70% and a localization success of 80%, demonstrating how the proposed HMI leads to the appropriation and understanding of the feedback messages, enabling the user’s awareness of its surrounding space.

Keywords: computer vision on embedded systems, electronic trave aids, human-machine interface, haptic feedback, visual assistive technologies, vision substitution systems

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Authors: Marzieh Eshaghi Koupaei

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By cultivating mealworm, we reduce greenhouse gases and avoid the use of transgenic products such as soybeans, and we provide food resources rich in protein, amino acids, minerals, etc. for humans and animals, and it has created employment and entrepreneurship. We serve the environment by producing oil from mealworm in the cosmetic industry, using its waste as organic fertilizer and its powder in bodybuilding, and by breaking down plastic by mealworm. The production and breeding of mealworm requires very little infrastructure and does not require much trouble, and requires very little food, and reproduces easily and quickly, and a mealworm production workshop is noiseless, odorless, and pollution-free And the costs are very low. It is possible to use third grade fruits and unsalable fruits of farmers to feed the mealworms, which is completely economical and cost-effective. Mealworms can break down plastic in their intestines and turn it into carbon dioxide. . This process was done in only 16 days, which is a very short time compared to several centuries for plastic to decompose. By producing mealworm, we have helped to preserve the environment and provided the source of protein needed by humans and animals. This industrial insect has the ability and value of commercialization and creates employment and helps the economy of the society.

Keywords: breeding, production of insects, mealworms, research, animal feed, human feed

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Authors: Paolo Pilloni, Fabrizio Mulas, Salvatore Carta

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Nowadays, several research studies point up that an active lifestyle is essential for physical and mental health benefits. Mobile phones have greatly influenced people’s habits and attitudes also in the way they exercise. Our research work is mainly focused on investigating how to exploit mobile technologies to favour people’s exertion experience. To this end, we developed an exertion framework users can exploit through a real world mobile application, called BLINDED, designed to act as a virtual personal trainer to support runners during their trainings. In this work, inspired by both previous findings in the field of interaction design for people with visual impairments, feedback gathered from real users of our framework, and positive results obtained from two experimentations, we present some new interaction facilities we designed to enhance the interaction experience during a training. The positive obtained results helped us to derive some interaction design recommendations we believe will be a valid support for designers of future mobile systems conceived to be used in circumstances where there are limited possibilities of interaction.

Keywords: human computer interaction, interaction design guidelines, persuasive mobile technologies for sport and health

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Authors: Mohamed Attia, Vissarion Papadopoulos

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There is no doubt that there is a continuous deterioration of structures as a result of multiple hazards which can be divided into natural hazards (e.g., earthquakes, floods, winds) and other hazards due to human behavior (e.g., ship collisions, excessive traffic, terrorist attacks). There have been numerous attempts to address the catastrophic consequences of these hazards and traditional solutions through structural design and safety factors within the design codes, but there has not been much research addressing solutions through the use of new materials that have high performance and can be more effective than usual materials such as reinforced concrete and steel. To illustrate the effect of one of the new high-performance materials, carbon nanotube-reinforced polymer (CNT/polymer) bearings with different weight fractions were simulated as structural components of seismic isolation using ABAQUS in the connection between a bridge superstructure and the substructure. The results of the analyzes showed a significant increase in the time period of the bridge and a clear decrease in the bending moment at the base of the bridge piers at each time step of the time-history analysis in the case of using CNT/polymer bearings compared to the case of direct contact between the superstructure of the bridge and the substructure.

Keywords: seismic isolation, bridges damage, earthquake hazard, earthquake resistant structures

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Authors: Gerald Steyn

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Sub-Saharan Africa is the world's fastest urbanizing region, but approximately 60 to 70 percent of urban African households are poor and living in slums. Although influential global institutions such as the World Bank propagate a new approach to housing and land policies, sustainable African urban concepts have yet to be applied significantly or even convincingly conceptualized. Most African city planners, urban designers, architects, policymakers, and developers have been trained in Western curriculums and continue to practice and plan according to such formal paradigms. Only a few activists promote Post-Colonial Afrocentric urbanism, recognizing the imperative of foregrounding the needs of low-income people. There is a vast body of authoritative literature on analyzing poverty and slums in sub-Saharan Africa and on promoting the need for land and city planning reform. However, of the latter, only a few venture beyond advising and sometimes outlining policy changes. The current study moves beyond a purely theoretical discourse into the realm of practice by designing replicable diagrammatic concepts at different urban scales. The guiding philosophy was that land-use concepts and urban requirements favoring low-income households must be fully integrated into the larger conurbation. Information was derived from intensive research over two decades, involving literature surveys and observations during regular travels into East and Southern Africa. Appropriate existing urban patterns, particularly vernacular and informal, were subsequently analyzed and reimagined as precedents to inform and underpin the represented design concepts. Five interrelated concepts are proposed, ranging in scale from (1) regional to (2) cities and (3) urban villages to (4) neighborhoods and (5) streets. Each concept is described, first in terms of its context and associated issues of concern, followed by a discussion of the patterns available to inform a possible solution, and finally, an explanation and graphic illustration of the proposal. Since each of the five concepts is unfolded from existing informal and vernacular practices studied in situ, the approach is entirely bottom-up. Contrary to an idealized vision of the African city, this study proposes actual concepts for critical assessment by peers in the tradition of architectural research in design.

Keywords: african urban concepts, post-colonial afrocentric urbanism, sub-saharan africa, sustainable african urban design

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Authors: Konstantina Georgali

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The present study explores Greek teachers’ understandings of typical language development and of language difficulties. Its core aim was to highlight that teachers need to have a thorough understanding of educational linguistics, that is of how language figures in education. They should also be aware of how language should be taught so as to promote language development for all students while at the same time support the needs of children with language difficulties in an inclusive ethos. The study, thus argued that language can be a dynamic learning mechanism in the minds of all children and a powerful teaching tool in the hands of teachers and provided current research evidence to show that structural and morphological particularities of native languages- in this case, of the Greek language- can be used by teachers to enhance children’s understanding of language and simultaneously improve oral language skills for children with typical language development and for those with language difficulties. The research was based on a Sequential Exploratory Mixed Methods Design deployed in three consecutive and integrative phases. The first phase involved 18 exploratory interviews with teachers. Its findings informed the second phase involving a questionnaire survey with 119 respondents. Contradictory questionnaire results were further investigated in a third phase employing a formal testing procedure with 60 children attending Y1, Y2 and Y3 of primary school (a research group of 30 language impaired children and a comparison group of 30 children with typical language development, both identified by their class teachers). Results showed both strengths and weaknesses in teachers’ awareness of educational linguistics and of language difficulties. They also provided a different perspective of children’s language needs and of language teaching approaches that reflected current advances and conceptualizations of language problems and opened a new window on how best they can be met in an inclusive ethos. However, teachers barely used teaching approaches that could capitalize on the particularities of the Greek language to improve language skills for all students in class. Although they seemed to realize the importance of oral language skills and their knowledge base on language related issues was adequate, their practices indicated that they did not see language as a dynamic teaching and learning mechanism that can promote children’s language development and in tandem, improve academic attainment. Important educational implications arose and clear indications of the generalization of findings beyond the Greek educational context.

Keywords: educational linguistics, inclusive ethos, language difficulties, typical language development

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Authors: Rana Bazaid, Debajyoti Pati

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Purpose: The aim of this research is to explore and discuss innovative workspaces, and how the design of the space has the potential to facilitate the work process and employees’ satisfaction which can lead to innovative results. Background: The relationship between the workforce and the work environment has a strong potential to enhance human capabilities associated with innovation outcomes. The need for innovation in workplaces can benefit employees’ satisfaction, health, and performance. To understand this complicated relationship, this research explores and comprehends innovative work environments. Methods: A review of 26 peer-reviewed articles, seven books, and 23 companies’ websites was conducted, along with analysis for five case studies on successful types of research and development fields to detect appropriate examples for the study. Results: The analysis of the five case studies showed the similarity-characteristics of innovation work environments among those five fields and observed what is unique about each field that makes them stand out in their industries. Conclusion: Understanding the psychological, cultural, physiological, and social needs of workers, physical workplaces, and issues found in the work environment may help enhance multifaceted innovation and productivity.

Keywords: innovation, productivity , work environment, workers satisfaction

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Authors: Christopher Muhawe, Masooda Bashir

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With increased Internet Communication Technology(ICT), the virtual world has become the new normal. At the same time, there is an unprecedented collection of massive amounts of data by both private and public entities. Unfortunately, this increase in data collection has been in tandem with an increase in data misuse and data breach. Regrettably, the majority of data breach and data misuse claims have been unsuccessful in the United States courts for the failure of proof of direct injury to physical or economic interests. The requirement to express data privacy harms from an economic or physical stance negates the fact that not all data harms are physical or economic in nature. The challenge is compounded by the fact that data breach harms and risks do not attach immediately. This research will use a descriptive and normative approach to show that not all data harms can be expressed in economic or physical terms. Expressing privacy harms purely from an economic or physical harm perspective negates the fact that data insecurity may result into harms which run counter the functions of privacy in our lives. The promotion of liberty, selfhood, autonomy, promotion of human social relations and the furtherance of the existence of a free society. There is no economic value that can be placed on these functions of privacy. The proposed approach addresses data harms from a psychological and social perspective.

Keywords: data breach and misuse, economic harms, privacy harms, psychological harms

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Authors: Tshilidzi C. Manyanya, Nthaduleni S. Nethengwe, Edmore Kori

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The UNFCCC, FAO, GCF, IPCC and other global structures advocate for agro-ecology do address food security and sovereignty. However, most of the expected outcomes concerning agro-ecological were not empirically tested for universal application. Agro-ecology is theorised to increase crop health over ago-ecological farms and decrease over conventional farms. Increased crop health means increased carbon sequestration and thus less CO2 in the atmosphere. This is in line with the view that global warming is anthropogenically enhanced through GHG emissions. Agro-ecology mainly affects crop health, soil carbon content and yield on the cultivated land. Economic sustainability is directly related to yield capacity, which is theorized to increase by 3-10% in a space of 3 - 10 years as a result of agro-ecological implementation. This study aimed to empirically assess the practicality and validity of these assumptions. The study utilized mainly GIS and RS techniques to assess the effectiveness of agro-ecology in crop health improvement from satellite images. The assessment involved a longitudinal study (2013 – 2015) assessing the changes that occur after a farm retrofits from conventional agriculture to agro-ecology. The assumptions guided the objectives of the study. For each objective, an agro-ecological farm was compared with a conventional farm in the same climatic conditional occupying the same general location. Crop health was assessed using satellite images analysed through ArcGIS and Erdas. This entailed the production of NDVI and Re-classified outputs of the farm area. The NDVI ranges of the entire period of study were thus compared in a stacked histogram for each farm to assess for trends. Yield capacity was calculated based on the production records acquired from the farmers and plotted in a stacked bar graph as percentages of a total for each farm. The results of the study showed decreasing crop health trends over 80% of the conventional farms and an increase over 80% of the organic farms. Yield capacity showed similar patterns to those of crop health. The study thus showed that agro-ecology is an effective strategy for crop-health improvement and yield increase.

Keywords: agro-ecosystem, conventional farm, dialectical, sustainability

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Authors: Shiva Emami, Jenny Persson, Bengt Johansson Lindbom

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Group A streptococcus (GAS) is a prevalent human pathogen, causing a wide range of infections and diseases. One of the most well-known virulence factors in GAS is M protein, a surface protein that facilitates bacterial invasion. In this study, we used a recombinant GAS strain (GAS-2W) expressing M protein containing a hyper immunogenic peptide (2W). Mice were immunized three times with heat-killed-GAS subcutaneously at three weeks intervals. Three weeks post last immunization, mice were challenged intraperitoneally with a lethal dose of live GAS. In order to investigate the impact of IFN-ƴ and antibodies in protection against GAS infection, we used a mouse model knock-out for IFN-ƴ (IFN-ƴ KO). We observed immunization with GAS-2W strain can increase protection against GAS infection in mice compared with the original GAS strain. Higher levels of antibodies against M1 protein were measured in GAS-2W-immunized mice. There was also a significant increase in IgG2c response in mice immunized with GAS2W. By using IFN-ƴ KO mice, we showed that not a high level of total IgG, but IgG2c was correlated with protection through the i.p challenge. It also emphasizes the importance of IFN-ƴ cytokine to combat GAS by isotype switching to IgG2c (which is opsonic for phagocytosis). Our data indicate the crucial role of IFN-ƴ in the protective immune response that, together with IgG2c, can induce protection against GAS.

Keywords: Group A streptococcus, IgG2c, IFN-γ, protection

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Authors: Hemadri Raut

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The city is a blend of the possible interactions of the built form, open spaces and their spatial organization layout in a geographical area to obtain an integrated pattern and environment with building facades being a dominant figure in the body of a city. Façades of each city have their own inherent properties responsive to the human behaviour, weather conditions, safety factors, material availability and composition along with the necessary aesthetics in coordination with adjacent building facades. Cities experience a huge transformation in the culture, lifestyle; socioeconomic conditions and technology nowadays because of the increasing population, urban sprawl, industrialization, contemporary architectural style, post-disaster consequences, war reconstructions, etc. This leads to the loss of the actual identity and architectural character of the city which in turn induces chaos and turbulence in the city. This paper attempts to identify and learn from the traditional elements that would make us more aware of the unique identity of the local communities in a city. It further studies the architectural style, color, shape, and design techniques through the case studies of contextual cities. The work focuses on the observation and transformation of the image of the city through these considerations in the designing of the facades to achieve the reconciliation of the people with urban spaces.

Keywords: building facades, city, community, heritage, identity, transformation, urban

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Authors: Jyh-Cheng Chen, Tai-Jing Wang, Yun-Wei Lin

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Astaxanthin has been demonstrated to exhibit a wide range of beneficial effects including anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. However, the molecular mechanism of astaxanthin-induced cytotoxicity in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells has not been identified. Rad51 plays a central role in homologous recombination and high levels of Rad51 expression are observed in chemo- or radioresistant carcinomas. In this study, astaxanthin treatment inhibited cell viability and proliferation of two NSCLC cells, A549 and H1703. Treatment with astaxanthin decreased Rad51 expression and phospho-AKT protein level in a time and dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, expression of constitutively active AKT (AKT-CA) vector significantly rescued the decreased Rad51 protein and mRNA levels in astaxanthin-treated NSCLC cells. Combined treatment with PI3K inhibitors (LY294002 or wortmannin) and astaxanthin further decreased the Rad51 expression in NSCLC cells. Knockdown of Rad51 enhanced astaxanthin-induced cytotoxicity and growth inhibition in NSCLC cells. These findings may have implications for the rational design of future drug regimens incorporating astaxanthin for the treatment of NSCLC.

Keywords: astaxanthin, cytotoxicity, AKT, non-small cell lung cancer, PI3K

Procedia PDF Downloads 281