Search results for: technological pedagogical model

Authors: Chuyu Huang, Itsuki Minemi, Kuanlin Chen, Yuki Hirose

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It remains unclear how language speakers are able to perceive phonological contrasts that do not exist on their own. This experiment uses the vowel-length distinction in Japanese, which is phonologically contrastive and co-occurs with tonal change in some cases. For speakers whose first language does not distinguish vowel length, contrastive duration is usually misperceived, e.g., Mandarin speakers. Two alternative hypotheses for how Mandarin speakers would perceive a phonological contrast that does not exist in their language make different predictions. The stress parameter model does not have a clear prediction about the impact of tonal type. Mandarin speakers will likely be not able to perceive vowel length as well as Japanese native speakers do, but the performance might not correlate to tonal type because the prosody of their language is distinctive, which requires users to encode lexical prosody and notice subtle differences in word prosody. By contrast, cue-based phonetic models predict that Mandarin speakers may rely on pitch differences, a secondary cue, to perceive vowel length. Two groups of Mandarin speakers, including naive non-Japanese speakers and beginner learners, were recruited to participate in an AX discrimination task involving two Japanese sound stimuli that contain a phonologically contrastive environment. Participants were asked to indicate whether the two stimuli containing a vowel-length contrast (e.g., maapero vs. mapero) sound the same. The experiment was bifactorial. The first factor contrasted three syllabic positions (syllable position; initial/medial/final), as it would be likely to affect the perceptual difficulty, as seen in previous studies, and the second factor contrasted two pitch types (accent type): one with accentual change that could be distinguished with the lexical tones in Mandarin (the different condition), with the other group having no tonal distinction but only differing in vowel length (the same condition). The overall results showed that a significant main effect of accent type by applying a linear mixed-effects model (β = 1.48, SE = 0.35, p < 0.05), which implies that Mandarin speakers tend to more successfully recognize vowel-length differences when the long vowel counterpart takes on a tone that exists in Mandarin. The interaction between the accent type and the syllabic position is also significant (β = 2.30, SE = 0.91, p < 0.05), showing that vowel lengths in the different conditions are more difficult to recognize in the word-final case relative to the initial condition. The second statistical model, which compares naive speakers to beginners, was conducted with logistic regression to test the effects of the participant group. A significant difference was found between the two groups (β = 1.06, 95% CI = [0.36, 2.03], p < 0.05). This study shows that: (1) Mandarin speakers are likely to use pitch cues to perceive vowel length in a non-native language, which is consistent with the cue-based approaches; (2) an exposure effect was observed: the beginner group achieved a higher accuracy for long vowel perception, which implied the exposure effect despite the short period of language learning experience.

Keywords: cue-based perception, exposure effect, prosodic perception, vowel duration

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Authors: Jose Carlos Tavares Carvalho, Hady Keita, Giovanna Rocha Santana, Igor Victor Ferreira Dos Santos, Jesus Rafael Rodriguez Amado, Ariadna Lafourcade Prada, Adriana Maciel Ferreira, Helison Oliveira

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Summary: As animal model, zebrafish can be a good opportunity to establish a profile of tissue alteration caused by Bothrops alternatus venom and to screen new anti-venom drugs. Objective: To establish tissue biomarkers from zebrafish injected by snake venom and elucidate the use of glucocorticoids in ophidic accidents. Materials and Methods: The Danio rerio fish were randomly divided into four groups: control group, venom group, Dexamethasone1h before venom injected group and Dexamethasone 1 h after venom injected group. The concentration of Bothrops alternatus venom was 0.13 mg/ml and the fish received 20µl/Fish. The Body weight measurement and histological characteristics of gills, kidneys, liver, and intestine were determinate. Results: Physical analysis shows necrosis accompanied by inflammation in animals receiving the Bothrops alternatus venom. Significant difference was observed in the variation of weight between the control group, and the groups received the venom (t student test, p < 0.05). The average histological alterations index of gill, liver, kidney or intestine was statistically higher in animals received the venom (t Student test, p < 0.05). The alterations were lower in the groups that received Dexamethasone 1h before and after venom injected compared to the group that received only the venom. Dexamethasone 1h before venom injected group had minor histopathological alterations. Conclusion: The organs of zebrafish may be a tissue biomarker of alterations from Bothrops alternatus venom and dexamethasone reduced the damage caused by this venom in the organs studied, which may suggest the use of zebrafish as animal model for research related to screening new drug against snake venom.

Keywords: zebrafish, snake venom, biomarker, drugs

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Authors: Filippo Portera

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Usually standard algorithms employ a loss where each error is the mere absolute difference between the true value and the prediction, in case of a regression task. In the present, we present several error weighting schemes that are a generalization of the consolidated routine. We study both a binary classification model for Support Vextor Classification and a regression net for Multylayer Perceptron. Results proves that the error is never worse than the standard procedure and several times it is better.

Keywords: loss, binary-classification, MLP, weights, regression

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Authors: L. Asaro, M. Gratton, S. Seghar, N. Poirot, N. Ait Hocine

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Rubber waste disposal is an environmental problem. Particularly, many researches are centered in the management of discarded tires. In spite of all different ways of handling used tires, the most common is to deposit them in a landfill, creating a stock of tires. These stocks can cause fire danger and provide ambient for rodents, mosquitoes and other pests, causing health hazards and environmental problems. Because of the three-dimensional structure of the rubbers and their specific composition that include several additives, their recycling is a current technological challenge. The technique which can break down the crosslink bonds in the rubber is called devulcanization. Strictly, devulcanization can be defined as a process where poly-, di-, and mono-sulfidic bonds, formed during vulcanization, are totally or partially broken. In the recent years, super critical carbon dioxide (scCO₂) was proposed as a green devulcanization atmosphere. This is because it is chemically inactive, nontoxic, nonflammable and inexpensive. Its critical point can be easily reached (31.1 °C and 7.38 MPa), and residual scCO₂ in the devulcanized rubber can be easily and rapidly removed by releasing pressure. In this study thermomechanical devulcanization of ground tire rubber (GTR) was performed in a twin screw extruder under diverse operation conditions. Supercritical CO₂ was added in different quantities to promote the devulcanization. Temperature, screw speed and quantity of CO₂ were the parameters that were varied during the process. The devulcanized rubber was characterized by its devulcanization percent and crosslink density by swelling in toluene. Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Gel permeation chromatography (GPC) were also done, and the results were related with the Mooney viscosity. The results showed that the crosslink density decreases as the extruder temperature and speed increases, and, as expected, the soluble fraction increase with both parameters. The Mooney viscosity of the devulcanized rubber decreases as the extruder temperature increases. The reached values were in good correlation (R= 0.96) with de the soluble fraction. In order to analyze if the devulcanization was caused by main chains or crosslink scission, the Horikx's theory was used. Results showed that all tests fall in the curve that corresponds to the sulfur bond scission, which indicates that the devulcanization has successfully happened without degradation of the rubber. In the spectra obtained by FTIR, it was observed that none of the characteristic peaks of the GTR were modified by the different devulcanization conditions. This was expected, because due to the low sulfur content (~1.4 phr) and the multiphasic composition of the GTR, it is very difficult to evaluate the devulcanization by this technique. The lowest crosslink density was reached with 1 cm³/min of CO₂, and the power consumed in that process was also near to the minimum. These results encourage us to do further analyses to better understand the effect of the different conditions on the devulcanization process. The analysis is currently extended to monophasic rubbers as ethylene propylene diene monomer rubber (EPDM) and natural rubber (NR).

Keywords: devulcanization, recycling, rubber, waste

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Authors: Baikunthanath Sahoo, Santosh Kumar Sahu, Krishna Malakar

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With the essence of global environmental sustainability and green business management, the wind of business research moved towards Corporate Social Responsibility. In addition to international and national treaties, businesses have also started realising environmental protection and energy efficiency through CSR as part of business strategy in response to climate change. Considering the ambitious emission reduction target and rapid economic development of India, this study is an attempt to explore the effect of CSR on the energy efficiency management of manufacturing firms in India. By using firm-level data, the panel fixed effect model shows that the CSR dummy variable is negatively influencing the energy intensity or technically, they are energy efficient. The result demonstrates that in the presence of CSR, all the production economic variables are significant. The result also shows that doing environmental expenditure does not improve energy efficiency might be because very few firms are motivated to do such expenditure and also not common to all sectors. The interactive effect model result conforms that without considering CSR dummy as an intervening variable only Manufacturers of Chemical and Chemical products, Manufacturers of Pharmaceutical, medical chemical, and botanical products firms energy intensity low but after considering CSR in their business practices all six sub-sector firms become energy efficient. The empirical result also validate that firms are continuously engaged in CSR activities they are highly energy efficient. It is an important motivational factor for firms to become economically and environmentally sustainable in the corporate world. This analysis would help business practitioners to know how to manage today’s profitability and tomorrow’s sustainability to achieve a comparative advantage in the emerging market economy. The paper concludes that reducing energy consumption as part of their social responsibility to care for the environment, will need collaborative efforts of business society and policy bodies.

Keywords: CSR, Energy Efficiency, Indian manufacturing Sector, Business strategy

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Authors: Anka Gorgiev, Chris Martin, Nikolaos Dimitriadis, Dimitrios V. Nikolaidis

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This paper is part of a doctoral research study aimed to identify behavioral indicators for the existence of the new marketing paradigm. Neuromarketing is becoming a growing trend in the marketing industry worldwide and it is capturing a lot of interest among the members of academia and the practitioner community. However, it is still not very clear how big of an impact neuromarketing might have in the following years. In an effort to get closer to an answer, this study investigates behavioral intentions and willingness to adopt neuromarketing and its practices by the marketing professionals, including academics, practitioners, students, researchers, experts and journal editors. The participants in the study include marketing professionals at different levels of neuromarketing fluency with residency in the United States of America and the South East Europe. The total of 19 participants participated in the interviews, all of whom belong to more than one group of marketing professionals. The authors use qualitative research approach and open-ended interview questions specifically developed to assess ideas, beliefs and opinions that marketing professionals hold towards neuromarketing. In constructing the interview questions, the authors have used the theory of planned behavior, the prototype willingness model and the technology acceptance model as a theoretical framework. Previous studies have not explicitly investigated the behavioral intentions of marketing professionals to engage in neuromarketing behavior, which is described here as a tendency to apply neuromarketing assumptions and tools in usual marketing practices. This study suggests that the marketing professionals believe that neuromarketing can contribute to the business in a positive way and outlines the main advantages and disadvantages of adopting neuromarketing as identified by the participants. In addition, the study reveals an emerging image of an exemplar company that is perceived to be using neuromarketing, including the most common characteristics and attributes. These findings are believed to be crucial in facilitating a way for neuromarketing field to have a broader impact than it currently does by recognizing and understanding the limitations that such exemplars imply and how that has an effect on the decision-making of marketing professionals.

Keywords: behavioral intentions, marketing paradigm, neuromarketing adoption, theory of planned behavior

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Authors: Natalia Politaeva, Iuliia Smiatskaia, Iuliia Bazarnova, Iryna Atamaniuk, Kerstin Kuchta

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Nowadays, the progressive decrease of primary natural resources and ongoing upward trend in terms of energy demand, have resulted in development of new generation technological processes which are focused on step-wise production and residues utilization. Thus, microalgae-based 3^rd generation bioeconomy is considered one of the most promising approaches that allow production of value-added products and sophisticated utilization of residues biomass. In comparison to conventional biomass, microalgae can be cultivated in wide range of conditions without compromising food and feed production, and thus, addressing issues associated with negative social and environmental impacts. However, one of the most challenging tasks is to undergo seasonal variations and to achieve optimal growing conditions for indoor closed systems that can cover further demand for material and energetic utilization of microalgae. For instance, outdoor cultivation in St. Petersburg (Russia) is only suitable within rather narrow time frame (from mid-May to mid-September). At earlier and later periods, insufficient sunlight and heat for the growth of microalgae were detected. On the other hand, without additional physical effects, the biomass increment in summer is 3-5 times per week, depending on the solar radiation and the ambient temperature. In order to increase biomass production, scientists from all over the world have proposed various technical solutions for cultivators and have been studying the influence of various physical factors affecting biomass growth namely: magnetic field, radiation impact, and electric field, etc. In this paper, the influence of infrared radiation (IR) and fluorescent light on the growth rate of microalgae Chlorella sorokiniana has been studied. The cultivation of Chlorella sorokiniana was carried out in 500 ml cylindrical glass vessels, which were constantly aerated. To accelerate the cultivation process, the mixture was stirred for 15 minutes at 500 rpm following 120 minutes of rest time. At the same time, the metabolic needs in nutrients were provided by the addition of micro- and macro-nutrients in the microalgae growing medium. Lighting was provided by fluorescent lamps with the intensity of 2500 ± 300 lx. The influence of IR was determined using IR lamps with a voltage of 220 V, power of 250 W, in order to achieve the intensity of 13 600 ± 500 lx. The obtained results show that under the influence of fluorescent lamps along with the combined effect of active aeration and variable mixing, the biomass increment on the 2^nd day was three times, and on the 7^th day, it was eight-fold. The growth rate of microalgae under the influence of IR radiation was lower and has reached 22.6·10⁶ cells·mL^-1. However, application of IR lamps for the biomass growth allows maintaining the optimal temperature of microalgae suspension at approximately 25-28°C, which might especially be beneficial during the cold season in extreme climate zones.

Keywords: biomass, fluorescent lamp, infrared radiation, microalgae

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Authors: Rose Branch-Allen, John Jayachandran

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Background and purpose: Canada is a pluralistic, multicultural society with an ethno-cultural composition that has been shaped over time by immigrants and their descendants. Although Canada welcomes these immigrants, many will endure hardship and assimilation difficulties. Despite these life hurdles, surveys consistently disclose high life satisfaction for all Canadians. Most research studies on Life Satisfaction/ Subjective Wellbeing (SWB) have focused on one main determinant and a variety of social demographic variables to delineate the determinants of life satisfaction. However, very few research studies examine life satisfaction from a holistic approach. In addition, we need to understand the causal pathways leading to life satisfaction, and develop theories that explain why certain variables differentially influence the different components of SWB. The aim this study was to utilize a holistic approach to construct a causal model and identify major determinants of life satisfaction. Data and measures: This study utilized data from the General Social Survey, with a sample size of 19, 597. The exogenous concepts included age, gender, marital status, household size, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, location, immigration status, religiosity, and neighborhood. The intervening concepts included health, social contact, leisure, enjoyment, work-family balance, quality time, domestic labor, and sense of belonging. The endogenous concept life satisfaction was measured by multiple indicators (Cronbach’s alpha = .83). Analysis: Several multiple regression models were run sequentially to estimate path coefficients for the causal model. Results: Overall, above average satisfaction with life was reported for respondents with specific socio-economic, demographic and lifestyle characteristics. With regard to exogenous factors, respondents who were female, younger, married, from high socioeconomic status background, born in Canada, very religious, and demonstrated high level of neighborhood interaction had greater satisfaction with life. Similarly, intervening concepts suggested respondents had greater life satisfaction if they had better health, more social contact, less time on passive leisure activities and more time on active leisure activities, more time with family and friends, more enjoyment with volunteer activities, less time on domestic labor and a greater sense of belonging to the community. Conclusions and Implications: Our results suggest that a holistic approach is necessary for establishing determinants of life satisfaction, and that life satisfaction is not merely comprised of positive or negative affect rather understanding the causal process of life satisfaction. Even though, most of our findings are consistent with previous studies, a significant number of causal connections contradict some of the findings in literature today. We have provided possible explanation for these anomalies researchers encounter in studying life satisfaction and policy implications.

Keywords: causal model, holistic approach, life satisfaction, socio-demographic variables, subjective well-being

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Authors: Zikun Li, Regine Talleyrand

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Negative body image is one of the most common causes of eating disorders, and it is not only happening to women. Regardless of the increasing attention that researchers and practitioners have been paying to the male population and their body image concerns, men of color have yet to be fully represented or studied. Given the consensus that the sociocultural experiences of people of color may play a significant role in their health and well-being, this study focused on assessing the mechanism through which sociocultural factors may influence men of color’s perceptions of body image. In particular, this study focused on untangling how interpersonal and media pressure, as well as ethnic-racial identities and perceptions, would impact body dissatisfaction in terms of muscularity, body fat, and height in men of color and how this mechanism is moderated across different ethnic-racial groups. The structural equation modeling approach was therefore applied to achieve the research goal. With the sample size of 181 self-identified Black, Indigenous, and People of Color male participants aged 20-50 (M=33.33, SD=6.9) through surveying on Amazon’s MTurk platform, the proposed model achieved a modestly acceptable model fit with the pooled sample, X2(836) = 1412.184, CFI = 0.900, RMSEA = 0.062 [0.056, 0.067]. And SRMR = 0.088, And it explained 89.5% of the variance in body dissatisfaction. The results showed that of all the direct effects on body dissatisfaction, interpersonal appearance pressure exhibited the strongest effect (β = 0.410***), followed by media appearance pressure (β = 0.272**) and self-hatred feeling (β = 0.245**). The ethnic-racial related factors (i.e., stereotype endorsement, ethnic-racial salience, and nationalistic assimilation) statistically influenced body dissatisfaction through the mediators of media appearance pressure and/or self-hatred feeling. Furthermore, the moderation analysis between Black/African American men and non-Black/African American men revealed the substantial differences in how ethnic/racial identity impacts one’s perception of body image, and the Black/African American men were found to be influenced by sociocultural factors at a higher level, compared with their counterparts. The impacts of demographic characteristics (i.e., SES, weight, height) on body dissatisfaction were also examined. Instead of considering interpersonal appearance pressure and media pressure as two subscales under one construct, this study considered them as two separate and distinct sociocultural factors. The good model fit to the data indicates this rationality and encourages scholars to reconsider the impacts of two sources of social pressures on body dissatisfaction. In addition, this study also provided empirical evidence of the moderation effect existing within the population of men of color, which reveals the heterogeneity existing across different ethnic-racial groups and implies the necessity to study individual ethnic-racial groups so as to better understand the mechanism of sociocultural influences on men of color’s body dissatisfaction. These findings strengthened the current understanding of the body image concerns exciting among men of color and meanwhile provided empirical evidence for practitioners to provide tailored health prevention and treatment options for this growing population in the United States.

Keywords: men of color, body image concerns, sociocultural factors, structural equation modeling

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Authors: Kimberley Kennedy

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The major findings of this study discuss the importance of understanding and applying Systems thinking concepts to ensure an effective Project-Based Learning environment. A pilot project study of a major pedagogical change was conducted over a five year period with the goal to give students real world, hands-on learning experiences and the opportunity to apply what they had learned over the past two years of their business program. The first two weeks of the fifteen week semester utilized teaching methods of lectures, guest speakers and design thinking workshops to prepare students for the project work. For the remaining thirteen weeks of the semester, the students worked with actual business owners and clients on projects and challenges. The first three years of the five year study focused on student feedback to ensure a quality learning experience and continuous improvement process was developed. The final two years of the study, examined the conceptual understanding and perception of learning and teaching by faculty using Project-Based Learning pedagogy as compared to lectures and more traditional teaching methods was performed. Relevant literature was reviewed and data collected from program faculty participants who completed pre-and post-semester interviews and surveys over a two year period. Systems thinking concepts were applied to better understand the challenges for faculty using Project-Based Learning pedagogy as compared to more traditional teaching methods. Factors such as instructor and student fatigue, motivation, quality of work and enthusiasm were explored to better understand how to provide faculty with effective support and resources when using Project-Based Learning pedagogy as the main teaching method. This study provides value by presenting generalizable, foundational knowledge by offering suggestions for practical solutions to assure student and teacher engagement in Project-Based Learning courses.

Keywords: continuous improvement, project-based learning, systems thinking, teacher engagement

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Authors: Reihane Mehrparvar

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Human age could exceed further by altering gene expression through food intaking, although as a consequence of recent century eating patterns, human life-span getting shorter by emerging irregulating in autophagy mechanism, insulin, leptin, gut microbiota which are important etiological factors of type-2 diabetes, obesity, infertility, cancer, metabolic and autoimmune diseases. However, restricted calorie intake and vigorous exercise might be beneficial for losing weight and metabolic regulation in a short period but could not be implementable in the long term as a way of life. Therefore, the lack of a dietary program that is compatible with the genes of the body is essential. Sweet and high-glycemic-index (HGI) foods were associated with type-2 diabetes and cancer morbidity. The neuropsychological perspective characterizes the inclination of sweet and HGI-food consumption as addictive behavior; hence this process engages preference of gut microbiota, neural node, and dopaminergic functions. Moreover, meal composition is not the only factor that affects body hemostasis. In this narrative review, it is believed to attempt to investigate how the body responded to different food intakes and represent an accurate model based on current evidence. Eating frequently and ingesting unassimilable protein and carbohydrates may not be compatible with human genes and could cause impairments in the self-renovation mechanism. This trajectory indicates our body is more adapted to starvation and eating animal meat and marrow. Here has been recommended a model that takes into account three important factors: frequent eating, meal composition, and circadian rhythm, which may offer a promising intervention for obesity, inflammation, cardiovascular, autoimmune disorder, type-2 diabetes, insulin resistance, infertility, and cancer through intensifying autophagy-mechanism and eliminate medical costs.

Keywords: metabolic disease, anti-aging, type-2 diabetes, autophagy

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Authors: Vephkhvia Grigalashvili

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This paper provides an overview of criteria for good governance in Georgian defense sector and scientific outcomes of comparative research. A respect for good governance and its realization into Georgian national defense sector represents a fundamental institutional necessity as well as country`s politico-legal obligation within the framework of the existing collaboration mechanisms with NATO (especially Building Integrity (BI) Programme) and the Association Agreement between the EU and Georgia. Furthermore good governance is considered as a democracy measuring criterion in country`s Euro-Atlantic integration process. Accordingly, integration and further development of the contemporary approaches of good governance into Georgian defense management model represents a burning issue of the country. The assessment of an existing model of the country, identification of defects and determination of course of institutional reforms in a mutual comparison format of good governance mechanisms of NATO or/and the EU member Eastern European or Baltic countries positively assessed by the international organizations is considered as a precondition for its effective realization. Scientific aims of this study are: (a) to conduct comparative analysis of Georgian national principles and generalized standards of NATO or/and the EU member Eastern European and Baltic countries in following segments of good governance: open governance; anticorruption policy; conflict of interests; integrity; internal and external control bodies; (b) to formulate theoretical and practical recommendations on reforms to be implemented in the country`s national defence sector. As research reveals, although, institutional / legal pillars of good governance in Georgian defense sector generally are in compliance with international principles, the quality of implementation of good government norms still remains as an area that needs further development by raising awareness of public servants and community.

Keywords: anti-corruption policy within Georgian defense governance, conflict of interests within Georgian defense governance, good governance in Georgian defense sector, principles of integrity in Georgian defense management

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Authors: Myunggon Yoon, Jung-Ho Moon

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In this paper, we present a transfer function representation of a general one-dimensional combustor. The input of the transfer function is a heat rate perturbation of a burner and the output is a flow velocity perturbation at the burner. This paper considers a general combustor model composed of multiple cans with different cross sectional areas, along with a non-zero flow rate.

Keywords: combustor, dynamics, thermoacoustics, transfer function

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Authors: Molla Tadesse Lakew

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This study was intended to identify the factors influencing the use of mobile phones in vegetable marketing in Fogera district. The use of mobile phones in vegetable marketing and factors influencing mobile phone use were specific objectives of the study. Three kebeles from the Fogera district were selected purposively based on their vegetable production potential. A simple random sampling technique (lottery method) was used to select 153 vegetable producer farmers. Interview schedule and key informants interviews were used to collect primary data. For analyzing the data, descriptive statistics like frequency and percentage, two independent t-tests, and chi-square were used. Furthermore, econometric analysis (binary logistic model) was used to assess the factors influencing mobile phone use for vegetable market information. Contingency coefficient and variance inflation factor were used to check multicollinearity problems between the independent variables. Of 153 respondents, 82 (61.72%) were mobile phone users, while 71 (38.28 %) were mobile phone nonusers. Moreover, the main use of mobile phones in vegetable marketing includes communicating at a distance to save time and minimizing transport costs, getting vegetable marketing price information, identifying markets and buyers to sell the vegetable, deciding when to sell the vegetable, negotiating with buyers for better vegetable prices and for searching of the fast market to avoid from losing of product through perishing. The model result indicated that the level of education, size of land, income, access to credit, and age were significant variables affecting the use of mobile phones in vegetable marketing. It could be recommended to encourage adult education or give training for farmers on how to operate mobile phones and create awareness for the elderly rural farmers as they are able to use the mobile phone for their vegetable marketing. Moreover, farmers should be aware that mobile phones are very important for those who own very small land to get maximum returns from their production. Lastly, providing access to credit and improving and diversifying income sources for the farmers to have mobile phones were recommended to improve the livelihood of farmers.

Keywords: mobile phone, farmers, vegetable marketing, Fogera District

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Authors: Alex Fedoseyev

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This study explores Generalized Hydrodynamic Equations (GHE) for the simulation of turbulent flows. The GHE was derived from the Generalized Boltzmann Equation (GBE) by Alexeev (1994). GBE was obtained by first principles from the chain of Bogolubov kinetic equations and considered particles of finite dimensions, Alexeev (1994). The GHE has new terms, temporal and spatial fluctuations compared to the Navier-Stokes equations (NSE). These new terms have a timescale multiplier τ, and the GHE becomes the NSE when τ is zero. The nondimensional τ is a product of the Reynolds number and the squared length scale ratio, τ=Re*(l/L)², where l is the apparent Kolmogorov length scale, and L is a hydrodynamic length scale. The turbulence phenomenon is not well understood and is not described by NSE. An additional one or two equations are required for the turbulence model, which may have to be tuned for specific problems. We show that, in the case of the GHE, no additional turbulence model is needed, and the turbulent velocity profile is obtained from the GHE. The 2D turbulent channel and circular pipe flows were investigated using a numerical solution of the GHE for several cases. The solutions are compared with the experimental data in the circular pipes and 2D channels by Nicuradse (1932, Prandtl Lab), Hussain and Reynolds (1975), Wei and Willmarth (1989), Van Doorne (2007), theory by Wosnik, Castillo and George (2000), and the relevant experiments on Superpipe setup at Princeton, data by Zagarola (1996) and Zagarola and Smits (1998), the Reynolds number is from Re=7200 to Re=960000. The numerical solution data compared well with the experimental data, as well as with the approximate analytical solution for turbulent flow in channel Fedoseyev (2023). The obtained results confirm that the Alexeev generalized hydrodynamic theory (GHE) is in good agreement with the experiments for turbulent flows. The proposed approach is limited to 2D and 3D axisymmetric channel geometries. Further work will extend this approach by including channels with square and rectangular cross-sections.

Keywords: comparison with experimental data. generalized hydrodynamic equations, numerical solution, turbulent boundary layer, turbulent flow in channel

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Authors: N. Ismail, O. Thammajinda, U. Thongpanya

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Games-based learning (GBL) has become increasingly important in teaching and learning. This paper explains the first two phases (analysis and design) of a GBL development project, ending up with a prototype design based on students’ and teachers’ perceptions. The two phases are part of a full cycle GBL project aiming to help secondary school students in Thailand in their study of Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE). In the course of the study, we invited 1,152 students to complete questionnaires and interviewed 12 secondary school teachers in focus groups. This paper found that GBL can serve students in their learning about CSE, enabling them to gain understanding of their sexuality, develop skills, including critical thinking skills and interact with others (peers, teachers, etc.) in a safe environment. The objectives of this paper are to outline the development of GBL variables from the research question(s) into the developers’ flow chart, to be responsive to the GBL beneficiaries’ preferences and expectations, and to help in answering the research questions. This paper details the steps applied to generate GBL variables that can feed into a game flow chart to develop a GBL prototype. In our approach, we detailed two models: (1) Game Elements Model (GEM) and (2) Game Object Model (GOM). There are three outcomes of this research – first, to achieve the objectives and benefits of GBL in learning, game design has to start with the research question(s) and the challenges to be resolved as research outcomes. Second, aligning the educational aims with engaging GBL end users (students) within the data collection phase to inform the game prototype with the game variables is essential to address the answer/solution to the research question(s). Third, for efficient GBL to bridge the gap between pedagogy and technology and in order to answer the research questions via technology (i.e. GBL) and to minimise the isolation between the pedagogists “P” and technologist “T”, several meetings and discussions need to take place within the team.

Keywords: games-based learning, engagement, pedagogy, preferences, prototype

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Authors: Malay K. Das, Bhupen Kalita

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The poor oral bioavailability of resveratrol (RSV) due to presystemic metabolism can be avoided via dermal route of administration. The hydrophilic-lipophilic nature of resveratrol-phospholipid complex (RSVPs) favors the delivery of resveratrol via the skin. The RSVPs embedded polymeric patch with moderate adhesiveness was developed for dermal application for sustained anti-inflammatory effect. The prepared patches were evaluated for various physicochemical properties, surface morphology by SEM, TEM, and compatibility of patch components by FT-IR and DSC studies. The dermal flux of the optimized patch formulation was found to be at 4.28 ± 0.48 mg/cm2/24 h. The analysis of skin extract after permeation study revealed the presence of resveratrol, which confirmed the localization of RSVPs in the skin. The stability of RSVPs in the polymeric patch and the physiologic environment was confirmed by FE-SEM studies on the patches after drug release and skin permeation studies. The RSVPs particles released from the polymer matrix maintaining the structural integrity and permeate the keratinized horney layer of skin. The optimized patch formulation showed sustained anti-inflammatory effect (84.10% inhibition of inflammation at 24 h) in carrageenan-induced rat paw edema model compared to marketed diclofenac sodium gel (39.58% inhibition of inflammation at 24 h). The CLSM study confirmed the localization of RSVPs for a longer period, thus enabling drug targeting to the dermis for sustained anti-inflammatory effect. Histological studies with phase contrast trinocular microscope suggested no alteration of skin integrity and no evidence of the presence of inflammatory cells after exposure to the permeants. The patch was found to be safe for skin application as evaluated by Draize method for skin irritation scoring in a rabbit model. These results suggest the therapeutic efficacy of the developed patch in both acute and chronic inflammatory diseases.

Keywords: resveratrol-phospholipid complex, skin delivery, sustained anti-inflammatory effect, inflammatory diseases, dermal patch

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Authors: Ahmed Makhoukh

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Quality assurance (QA) has recently become a common practice, which is endorsed by most Higher Education (HE) institutions worldwide, due to the pressure of internal and external forces. One of the aims of this quality movement is to make the contribution of university education to socio-economic development highly significant. This entails that graduates are currently required have a high-quality profile, i.e., to be competent and master the 21st-century skills needed in the labor market. This wave of change, mostly imposed by globalization, has the effect that university education should be learner-centered in order to satisfy the different needs of students and meet the expectations of other stakeholders. Such a shift of focus on the student learning outcomes has led HE institutions to reconsider their strategic planning, their mission, the curriculum, the pedagogical competence of the academic staff, among other elements. To ensure that the overall institutional performance is on the right way, a QA system should be established to assume this task of checking regularly the extent to which the set of standards of evaluation are strictly respected as expected. This operation of QA has the advantage of proving the accountability of the institution, gaining the trust of the public with transparency and enjoying an international recognition. This is the case of Doha Institute (DI) for Graduate Studies, in Qatar, the object of the present study. The significance of this contribution is to show that the conception of quality has changed in this digital age, and the need to integrate a department responsible for QA in every HE institution to ensure educational quality, enhance learners and achieve academic leadership. Thus, to undertake the issue of QA in DI for Graduate Studies, an elite university (in the academic sense) that focuses on a small and selected number of students, a qualitative method will be adopted in the description and analysis of the data (document analysis). In an attempt to investigate the extent to which QA is achieved in Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, three broad indicators will be evaluated (input, process and learning outcomes). This investigation will be carried out in line with the UK Quality Code for Higher Education represented by Quality Assurance Agency (QAA).

Keywords: accreditation, higher education, quality, quality assurance, standards

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Authors: Suegnet Smit

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Prior to 1994, special education in South Africa was marginalized and fragmented. Moving away from a Medical model approach to special education, the Government, after 1994, promoted an Inclusive approach, as a means to transform education in general, and special education in particular. This transformation, however, is moving at too a slow pace for learners with barriers to learning and development to benefit fully from their education. The goal of the Department of Basic Education is to minimize, remove, and prevent barriers to learning and development in the educational setting, by attending to the unique needs of the individual learner. However, the implementation of Inclusive education is problematic, and general education remains poor. This paper highlights the historical development of special education in South Africa, underpinned by a bio-ecological perspective. Problematic areas within the systemic levels of the education system are highlighted in order to indicate how the interactive processes within the systemic levels affect special needs learners on the personal dimension of the bio-ecological approach. As part of the methodology, thorough document analysis was conducted on information collected from a large body of research literature, which included academic articles, reports, policies, and policy reviews. Through a qualitative analysis, data were grouped and categorized according to the bio-ecological model systems, which revealed various successes and challenges within the education system. The challenges inhibit change, growth, and development for the child, who experience barriers to learning. From these findings, it is established that special education in South Africa has been, and still is, on a bumpy road. Sadly, the transformation process of change, envisaged by implementing Inclusive education, is still yet a dream, not fully realized. Special education seems to be stuck at what is, and the education system has not moved forward significantly enough to reach what special education should and could be. The gap that exists between a vision of Inclusive quality education for all, and the current reality, is still too wide. Problems encountered in all the education system levels, causes a funnel-effect downward to learners with special educational needs, with negative effects for the development of these learners.

Keywords: bio-ecological perspective, education systems, inclusive education, special education

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Authors: Michael A. Sprayberry, Vincent C. Paquit

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Process parameter optimization in metal powder bed electron beam melting (MPBEBM) is crucial to ensure the technology's repeatability, control, and industry-continued adoption. Despite continued efforts to address the challenges via the traditional design of experiments and process mapping techniques, there needs to be more successful in an on-the-fly optimization framework that can be adapted to MPBEBM systems. Additionally, data-intensive physics-based modeling and simulation methods are difficult to support by a metal AM alloy or system due to cost restrictions. To mitigate the challenge of resource-intensive experiments and models, this paper introduces a Multi-Objective Reinforcement Learning (MORL) methodology defined as an optimization problem for MPBEBM. An off-policy MORL framework based on policy gradient is proposed to discover optimal sets of beam power (P) – beam velocity (v) combinations to maintain a steady-state melt pool depth and phase transformation. For this, an experimentally validated Eagar-Tsai melt pool model is used to simulate the MPBEBM environment, where the beam acts as the agent across the P – v space to maximize returns for the uncertain powder bed environment producing a melt pool and phase transformation closer to the optimum. The culmination of the training process yields a set of process parameters {power, speed, hatch spacing, layer depth, and preheat} where the state (P,v) with the highest returns corresponds to a refined process parameter mapping. The resultant objects and mapping of returns to the P-v space show convergence with experimental observations. The framework, therefore, provides a model-free multi-objective approach to discovery without the need for trial-and-error experiments.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, metal powder bed fusion, reinforcement learning, process parameter optimization

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Authors: Kabiru Adamu

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The Nigerian electricity industry was deregulated and privatized in 2005 and 2014 in line with global trend and practice. International and multilateral lending institutions advised developing countries, Nigeria inclusive, to adopt deregulation and privatization as part of reforms in their electricity sectors. The ideological basis of these reforms are traceable to neoliberalism. Neoliberalism is an ideology that believes in the supremacy of free market and strong non-interventionist competition law as against government ownership of the electricity market. This ideology became a state practice and a blue print for the deregulation and privatization of the electricity markets in many parts of the world. The blue print was used as a template for the privatization of the Nigerian electricity industry. In this wise, this paper, using documentary analysis and review of academic literatures, examines neoliberalism as an ideology and model of economic governance for the electricity supply industry in Nigeria. The paper examines the origin of the ideology, it features and principles and how it was used as the blue print in designing policies for electricity reforms in both developed and developing countries. The paper found out that there is gap between the ideology in theory and in practice because although the theory is rational in thinking it is difficult to be implemented in practice. The paper argues that the ideology has a mismatched effect and this has made its application in the electricity industry in many developing countries problematic and unsuccessful. In the case of Nigeria, the article argues that the template is also not working. The article concludes that the electricity sectors in Nigeria have failed to develop into competitive market for the benefit of consumers in line with the assumptions and promises of the ideology. The paper therefore recommends the democratization of the electricity sectors in Nigeria through a new system of public ownership as the solution to the failure of the neoliberal policies; but this requires the design of a more democratic and participatory system of ownership with communities and state governments in charge of the administration, running and operation of the sector.

Keywords: electricity, energy governance, neo-liberalism, regulation

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Authors: Nikhil Padhye

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Recently a new phenomenon for bonding of polymeric films in solid-state, at ambient temperatures well below the glass transition temperature of the polymer, has been reported. This is achieved by bulk plastic compression of polymeric films held in contact. Here we analyze the process of cold-rolling of polymeric films via finite element simulations and illustrate a flexible and modular experimental rolling-apparatus that can achieve bonding of polymeric films through cold-rolling. Firstly, the classical theory of rolling a rigid-plastic thin-strip is utilized to estimate various deformation fields such as strain-rates, velocities, loads etc. in rolling the polymeric films at the specified feed-rates and desired levels of thickness-reduction(s). Predicted magnitudes of slow strain-rates, particularly at ambient temperatures during rolling, and moderate levels of plastic deformation (at which Bauschinger effect can be neglected for the particular class of polymeric materials studied here), greatly simplifies the task of material modeling and allows us to deploy a computationally efficient, yet accurate, finite deformation rate-independent elastic-plastic material behavior model (with inclusion of isotropic-hardening) for analyzing the rolling of these polymeric films. The interfacial behavior between the roller and polymer surfaces is modeled using Coulombic friction; consistent with the rate-independent behavior. The finite deformation elastic-plastic material behavior based on (i) the additive decomposition of stretching tensor (D = De + Dp, i.e. a hypoelastic formulation) with incrementally objective time integration and, (ii) multiplicative decomposition of deformation gradient (F = FeFp) into elastic and plastic parts, are programmed and carried out for cold-rolling within ABAQUS Explicit. Predictions from both the formulations, i.e., hypoelastic and multiplicative decomposition, exhibit a close match. We find that no specialized hyperlastic/visco-plastic model is required to describe the behavior of the blend of polymeric films, under the conditions described here, thereby speeding up the computation process .

Keywords: Polymer Plasticity, Bonding, Deformation Induced Mobility, Rolling

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Authors: Ignatius Madu

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The study aims at assessing the environmental and socioeconomic determinants of climate change resilience in rural Nigeria. This is necessary because researches and development efforts on building climate change resilience of rural areas in developing countries are usually made without the knowledge of the impacts of the inherent rural characteristics that determine resilient capacities of the households. This has, in many cases, led to costly mistakes, delayed responses, inaccurate outcomes, and other difficulties. Consequently, this assessment becomes crucial not only to policymakers and people living in risk-prone environments in rural areas but also to fill the research gap. To achieve the aim, secondary data were obtained from the Annual Abstract of Statistics 2017, LSMS-Integrated Surveys on Agriculture and General Household Survey Panel 2015/2016, and National Agriculture Sample Survey (NASS), 2010/2011.Resilience was calculated by weighting and adding the adaptive, absorptive and anticipatory measures of households variables aggregated at state levels and then regressed against rural environmental and socioeconomic characteristics influencing it. From the regression, the coefficients of the variables were used to compute the impacts of the variables using the Stochastic Regression of Impacts on Population, Affluence and Technology (STIRPAT) Model. The results showed that the northern States are generally low in resilient indices and are impacted less by the development indicators. The major determining factors are percentage of non-poor, environmental protection, road transport development, landholding, agricultural input, population density, dependency ratio (inverse), household asserts, education and maternal care. The paper concludes that any effort to a successful resilient building in rural areas of the country should first address these key factors that enhance rural development and wellbeing since it is better to take action before shocks take place.

Keywords: climate change resilience; spatial impacts; STIRPAT model; Nigeria

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Authors: Amel Oueslati, Olfa Benouda

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New Value at Risk (VaR) estimation is proposed and investigated. The well-known two stages Garch-EVT approach uses conditional volatility to generate one step ahead forecasts of VaR. With daily data for twelve stocks that decompose the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) index, this paper incorporates the volume in the first stage volatility estimation. Afterwards, the forecasting ability of this conditional volatility concerning the VaR estimation is compared to that of a basic volatility model without considering any trading component. The results are significant and bring out the importance of the trading volume in the VaR measure.

Keywords: Garch-EVT, value at risk, volume, volatility

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Authors: Ben Nadler

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Cell adhesion plays a vital role in many cell activities. The motivation to model cell adhesion is to study important biological processes, such as cell spreading, cell aggregation, tissue formation, and cell adhesion, which are very challenging to study by experimental methods alone. This study provides important insight into cell adhesion, which can lead to improve regenerative medicine and tissue formation techniques. In this presentation the biological cells adhesion is mediated by receptors–ligands binding and the diffusivity of the receptor on the cell membrane surface. The ability of receptors to diffuse on the cell membrane surface yields a very unique and complicated adhesion mechanism, which is exclusive to cells. The phospholipid bilayer, which is the main component in the cell membrane, shows fluid-like behavior associated with the molecules’ diffusivity. The biological cell is modeled as a fluid-like membrane with negligible bending stiffness enclosing the cytoplasm fluid. The in-plane mechanical behavior of the cell membrane is assumed to depend only on the area change, which is motivated by the fluidity of the phospholipid bilayer. In addition, the presence of receptors influences on the local mechanical properties of the cell membrane is accounted for by including stress-free area change, which depends on the receptor density. Based on the physical properties of the receptors and ligands the attraction between the receptors and ligands is modeled as a charged-nonpolar which is a noncovalent interaction. Such interaction is a short-range type, which decays fast with distance. The mobility of the receptor on the cell membrane is modeled using the diffusion equation and Fick’s law is used to model the receptor–receptor interactions. The resultant interaction force, which includes receptor–ligand and receptor–receptor interaction, is decomposed into tangential part, which governs the receptor diffusion, and normal part, which governs the cell deformation and adhesion. The formulation of the governing equations and numerical simulations will be presented. Analysis of the adhesion characteristic and properties are discussed. The roles of various thermomechanical properties of the cell, receptors and ligands on the cell adhesion are investigated.

Keywords: cell adhesion, cell membrane, receptor-ligand interaction, receptor diffusion

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Authors: Alpana Tiwari, N. K. Gaur

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We have incorporated the translational rotational (TR) coupling effects in the framework of three body force shell model (TSM) to develop an extended TSM (ETSM). The dynamical matrix of ETSM has been applied to compute the phonon frequencies of orientationally disordered mixed crystal (ND4Br)x(KBr)1-x in (q00), (qq0) and (qqq) symmetry directions for compositions 0.10≤x≤0.50 at T=300K.These frequencies are plotted as a function of wave vector k. An unusual acoustic mode softening is found along symmetry directions (q00) and (qq0) as a result of translation-rotation coupling.

Keywords: orientational glass, phonons, TR-coupling, lattice dynamics

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Authors: Richard Abel

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In the United States, increased incarceration rates have caused many adolescents to feel the strain of parental absence. This absence is then manifest through adolescent feelings of parental rejection. Additionally, upon reentry maternal incarceration may be related to adolescents experienced perceived excessive disciple. It is possible parents engage in this manner of discipline attempting to prevent the child from taking the same path to incarceration as the parent. According to General Strain Theory, adolescents encountering strain are likely to experience negative emotions. The emotion that is most likely to lead to delinquency is anger through reduced inhibitions and motivation to act. Additionally, males are more likely to engage in delinquent behavior, regardless of experiencing strain. This is not the case for every male who experiences maternal incarceration, parental rejection, excessive discipline, or anger. There are protective factors that enable agency within individuals. One such protective factor is mastery, or the perception that one is in control of his or her own future. The model proposed in this research suggests maternal incarceration is associated with increased parental rejection and excessive discipline in males. Males experiencing parental rejection and excessive discipline are likely to experience increased anger, which is then associated with increases in delinquent behavior. This model explores whether agency, in the form of mastery, mediates the relationship between strains and negative emotions, or between negative emotions and delinquent behavior. The Kaplan Longitudinal and Multigenerational Study (KLAMS) dataset is uniquely situated to analyze this model providing longitudinal data collected from both parents and their offspring. Maternal incarceration is constructed using parental responses such that the mother was incarcerated after the child’s birth, and any incarceration that happened prior to birth is excluded. The remaining variables of the study are all constructed from varying waves of the adolescent survey. Parental rejection, along with control variables for age, race, parental socioeconomic status, neighborhood effects, delinquent peers, and prior delinquent behavior are all constructed using Wave I data. To increase causal inference, the negative emotion of anger and the mediating variable of mastery are measured during Wave II. Lastly, delinquent behavior is measured at Wave III. Results of the analysis show expected relationships such that adolescent males encountering maternal incarceration show increased perception of parental rejection and excessive discipline. Additionally, there is a positive relationship between parental rejection and excessive discipline at Wave I and feelings of anger at Wave II for males. For males experiencing either of these strains in Wave I, feelings of anger in Wave II are found to be associated with increased delinquent behavior in Wave III. Mastery was found to mediate the relationship between both parental rejection and excessive discipline and anger, but no such mediation occurs in the relationship between anger and delinquency, regardless of the strain being experienced. These findings suggest adolescent males who feel they are in control of their own lives are less likely to experience negative emotions produced by the occurrence of strain, thereby decreasing male engagement in delinquent behavior later in life.

Keywords: delinquency, mastery, maternal incarceration, strain

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Authors: Lancelot Boulet, Pierre Benard, Ghislain Lartigue, Vincent Moureau, Nicolas Chauvet, Sheddia Didorally

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International aeronautic standards demand a fire certification for engines that demonstrate their resistance. This demonstration relies on tests performed with prototype engines in the late stages of the development. Hardest tests require to place a kerosene standardized flame in front of the engine casing during a given time with imposed temperature and heat flux. The purpose of this work is to provide a better characterization of a kerosene/air certification burner in order to minimize the risks of test failure. A first Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) study of the certification burner permitted to model and simulate this burner, including both adiabatic and Conjugate Heat Transfer (CHT) computations. Carried out on unstructured grids with 40 million tetrahedral cells, using the finite-volume YALES2 code, spray combustion, forced convection on walls and conduction in the solid parts of the burner were coupled to achieve a detailed description of heat transfer. It highlighted the fact that conduction inside the solid has a real impact on the flame topology and the combustion regime. However, in the absence of radiative heat transfer, unrealistic temperature of the equipment was obtained. The aim of the present study is to include the radiative heat transfer in order to reach the same temperature given by experimental measurements. First, various test-cases are conducted to validate the coupling between the different heat solvers. Then, adiabatic case, CHT case, as well as CHT including radiative transfer are studied and compared. The LES model is finally applied to investigate the heat transfer in a flame impaction configuration. The aim is to progress on fire test modeling so as to reach a good confidence level as far as success of the certification test is concerned.

Keywords: conjugate heat transfer, fire resistance test, large-eddy simulation, radiative transfer, turbulent combustion

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Authors: Isabell Koinig, Sandra Diehl

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In recent years, the health-care context has not been left unaffected by technological developments. In recent years, the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT)has not only led to a collaboration between disease management and advanced care coordination but also to more personalized health care and patient empowerment. With more than 40 % of all health technology being IoMT-related by 2020, questions regarding privacy become more prevalent, even more so during COVID-19when apps allowing for an intensive tracking of people’s whereabouts and their personal contacts cause privacy advocates to protest and revolt. There is a widespread tendency that even though users may express concerns and fears about their privacy, they behave in a manner that appears to contradict their statements by disclosing personal data. In literature, this phenomenon is discussed as a privacy paradox. While there are some studies investigating the privacy paradox in general, there is only scarce research related to the privacy paradox in the health sector and, to the authors’ knowledge, no empirical study investigating young people’s attitudes toward data security when using wearables and health apps. The empirical study presented in this paper tries to reduce this research gap by focusing on the area of digital and mobile health. It sets out to investigate the degree of importance individuals attribute to protecting their privacy and individual privacy protection strategies. Moreover, the question to which degree individuals between the ages of 20 and 30 years are willing to grant commercial parties access to their private data to use digital health services and apps are put to the test. To answer this research question, results from 6 focus groups with 40 participants will be presented. The focus was put on this age segment that has grown up in a digitally immersed environment. Moreover, it is particularly the young generation who is not only interested in health and fitness but also already uses health-supporting apps or gadgets. Approximately one-third of the study participants were students. Subjects were recruited in August and September 2019 by two trained researchers via email and were offered an incentive for their participation. Overall, results indicate that the young generation is well informed about the growing data collection and is quite critical of it; moreover, they possess knowledge of the potential side effects associated with this data collection. Most respondents indicated to cautiously handle their data and consider privacy as highly relevant, utilizing a number of protective strategies to ensure the confidentiality of their information. Their willingness to share information in exchange for services was only moderately pronounced, particularly in the health context, since health data was seen as valuable and sensitive. The majority of respondents indicated to rather miss out on using digital and mobile health offerings in order to maintain their privacy. While this behavior might be an unintended consequence, it is an important piece of information for app developers and medical providers, who have to find a way to find a user base for their products against the background of rising user privacy concerns.

Keywords: digital health, privacy, privacy paradox, IoMT

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Authors: Jane E. Hill

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Sexual, physical, or emotional abuses are behaviors used by one person in a relationship or within a family unit to control the other person. Physical abuse can consist of, but not limited to hitting, pushing, and shoving. Sexual abuse is unwanted or forced sexual activity on a person without their consent. Abusive behaviors include intimidation, manipulation, humiliation, isolation, frightening, terrorizing, coercing, threatening, blaming, hurting, injuring, or wounding another individual. Although emotional, psychological and financial abuses are not criminal behaviors, they are forms of abuse and can leave emotional scars on their victim. The purpose of this literature review research was to examine characteristics of female offenders, past abuse, and pathways to offending. The question that guided this research: does past abuse influence recidivism? The theoretical foundation used was relational theory by Jean Baker Miller. One common feature of female offenders is abuse (sexual, physical, or verbal). Abuse can cause mental illnesses and substance abuse. The abuse does not directly affect the women's recidivism. However, results indicated the psychological and maladaptive behaviors as a result of the abuse did contribute to indirect pathways to continue offending. The female offenders’ symptoms of ongoing depression, anxiety, and engaging in substance abuse (self medicating) did lead to the women's incarceration. Using the childhood victimization model as the treatment approach for women's mental illness and substance abuse disorders that were a result from history of child abuse have shown success. With that in mind, if issues surrounding early victimization are not addressed, then the women offenders may not recover from their mental illness or addiction and are at a higher risk of reoffending. However, if the women are not emotionally ready to engage in the treatment process, then it should not be forced onto them because it may cause harm (targeting prior traumatic experiences). Social capital is family support and sources that assist in helping the individual with education, employment opportunities that can lead to success. Human capital refers to internal knowledge, skills, and capacities that help the individual act in new and appropriate ways. The lack of human and social capital is common among female offenders, which leads to extreme poverty and economic marginalization, more often in frequent numbers than men. In addition, the changes in welfare reform have exacerbated women’s difficulties in gaining adequate-paying jobs to support themselves and their children that have contributed to female offenders reoffending. With that in mind, one way to lower the risk factor of female offenders from reoffending is to provide them with educational and vocational training, enhance their self-efficacy, and teach them appropriate coping skills and life skills. Furthermore, it is important to strengthen family bonds and support. Having a supportive family relationship was a statistically significant protective factor for women offenders.

Keywords: characteristics, childhood victimization model, female offenders, treatment

Procedia PDF Downloads 97