Search results for: hiv/aids related knowledge

Authors: Joon-Yeop Na, Sang-Keun Baik, Kyu-Soo Chong

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Road sign sizes are related to their support and foundation, and the large-scale support that is generally installed at roadsides can cause inconvenience to pedestrians and damage the urban landscape. The most influential factor in determining the support and foundation of road signs is the wind load. In this study, we introduce a hole-type road sign to analyze its effects on reducing wind load. A hole-type road sign reduces the drag coefficient that is applied when considering the air and fluid resistance of a plate when the wind pressure is calculated, thus serving as an effective option for lightening the weights of road sign structures. A hole-type road sign is punctured with a perforator. Furthermore, the size of the holes and their distance is determined considering the damage to characters, the poor performance of reflective sheets, and legibility. For the calculation of the optimal specification of a hole-type road sign, we undertook a theoretical examination for reducing the wind loads on hole-type road signs, and analyzed the bending and reflectivity of sample road sign plates. The analytic results confirmed that a hole-type road sign sample that contains holes of 6 mm in diameter with a distance of 18 mm between the holes shows reflectivity closest to that of existing road signs; moreover, the average bending moment resulted in a reduction of 4.24%, and the support’s diameter is reduced by 40.2%.

Keywords: hole type, road sign, weight lightening, wind load

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Authors: Rafael Martinez

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Our view of cities is dominated by the built environment. Buildings, streets, avenues, bridges, flyovers, and so on virtually exclude anything not fixed, permanently alterable or indefinitely temporal. Yet, city environments can also be shaped by temporally produced structures which, regardless of their transience, act as thresholds separating or segregating people and spaces. Academic works on cities conceptualize them, whether temporary or permanent, as tangible environments. This paper considers the idea of the ephemeral city, a city purposely produced and lived in as an impermanent, fluid and transitional environment resulting from an alignment of different forces. In particular, the paper proposes to observe how certain performative practices inform the emergence of ephemeral spaces in the city’s daily life. With Singapore as its backdrop and focusing foreign workers, the paper aims at documenting how everyday life practices, such as flirting, result in production of transitional space, informed by semiotic blurs, and yet material, perceptible, human and tangible for some. In this paper, it is argued that flirting for Singapore's foreign workers entails skillful understanding of what is proposed as the 'flirting cartography.' Thus, spatially, flirtation becomes not only a matter to be taken for granted but also a form of producing a fleeting space that requires deployment of various techniques drawn upon a particular knowledge. The paper is based upon a performative methodology which seeks to understand the praxis and rationale of the ephemerality of some spaces produced by foreign workers within this cosmopolitan city. By resorting to this methodological approach, the paper aims to establish the connection between the visibility gained by usually marginalized populations through their ephemeral reclamation of public spaces in the city.

Keywords: ephemeral, flirting, Singapore, space

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Authors: Shameka Stanford

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This presentation will discuss how cognitive and communication disorders in the areas of executive functioning, receptive and expressive language can impact the problem-solving and decision making of individuals with such impairments. More specifically, this presentation will discuss approaches the legal defense team of capital case lawyers can add to their experience when servicing individuals who have a history of educational decline, special education, and limited intervention and treatment. The objective of the research is to explore and identify the correlations between impaired executive function skills and decision making and competency for individuals facing death penalty charges. To conduct this research, experimental design, randomized sampling, qualitative analysis was employed. This research contributes to the legal and criminal justice system related to how they view, defend, and characterize, and judge individuals with documented cognitive and communication disorders who are eligible for capital case charges. More importantly, this research contributes to the increased ability of death penalty lawyers to successfully defend clients with a history of academic difficulty, special education, and documented disorders that impact educational progress and academic success.

Keywords: communication disorders, cognitive disorders, capital murder, death penalty, executive function

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Authors: Man Chul Jeong, Hyoung Jin Lee, Sang Yoon Lee, Ji Hyun Park, Min Wook Chang, In-Seuck Jeung

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This study focus on the drag reduction effect of the base bleed at supersonic flow. Base bleed is the method which bleeds the gas on the tail of the flight vehicle and reduces the base drag, which occupies over 50% of the total drag in any flight speed. Thus base bleed can reduce the total drag significantly, and enhance the total flight range. Drag reduction ratio of the base bleed is strongly related to the mass flow rate of the bleeding gas. Thus selecting appropriate mass flow rate is important. However, since the flight vehicle has various flight speed, same mass flow rate of the base bleed can have different drag reduction effect during the flight. Thus, this study investigates the effect of the drag reduction depending on the flight speed by numerical analysis using STAR-CCM+. The analysis model is 155mm diameter projectile with boat-tailed shape base. Angle of the boat-tail is chosen previously for minimum drag coefficient. Numerical analysis is conducted for Mach 2 and Mach 3, with various mass flow rate, or the injection parameter I, of the bleeding gas and the temperature of the bleeding gas, is fixed to 300K. The results showed that I=0.025 has the minimum drag at Mach 2, and I=0.014 has the minimum drag at Mach 3. Thus as the Mach number is higher, the lower mass flow rate of the base bleed has more effect on drag reduction.

Keywords: base bleed, supersonic, drag reduction, recirculation

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Authors: Nadheer A. Shalash, Abu Zaharin Bin Ahmad

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Technological developments in industrial innovations have currently been related to interconnected system assistance and distribution networks. This important in order to enable an electrical load to continue receive power in the event of disconnection of load from the main power grid. This paper represents a method for reliability assessment of interconnected power systems based. The multi-agent system consists of four agents. The first agent was the generator agent to using as connected the generator to the grid depending on the state of the reserve margin and the load demand. The second was a load agent is that located at the load. Meanwhile, the third is so-called "the reverse margin agent" that to limit the reserve margin between 0-25% depend on the load and the unit size generator. In the end, calculation reliability Agent can be calculate expected energy not supplied (EENS), loss of load expectation (LOLE) and the effecting of tie line capacity to determine the risk levels Roy Billinton Test System (RBTS) can use to evaluated the reliability indices by using the developed JADE package. The results estimated of the reliability interconnection power systems presented in this paper. The overall reliability of power system can be improved. Thus, the market becomes more concentrated against demand increasing and the generation units were operating in relation to reliability indices.

Keywords: reliability indices, load expectation, reserve margin, daily load, probability, multi-agent system

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Authors: Han Yan, Jieren Luo, Qiuhui Yan, Xiaoqing Li

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The thermal conductivity of porous materials is closely related to the thermal and moisture environment and the overall energy consumption of the building. The study of thermal conductivity of porous materials has great significance for the realization of low energy consumption building and economic construction building. Based on the study of effective thermal conductivity of porous materials at home and abroad, the thermal conductivity under a variety of different density of polystyrene board (EPS), plastic extruded board (XPS) and polyurethane (PU) and phenolic resin (PF) in wet state through theoretical analysis and experimental research has been studied. Initially, the moisture absorption and desorption properties of specimens had been discussed under different density, which led a result indicates the moisture absorption of four porous materials all have three stages, fast, stable and gentle. For the moisture desorption, there are two types. One is the existence of the rapid phase of the stage, such as XPS board, PU board. The other one does not have the fast desorption, instead, it is more stabilized, such as XPS board, PF board. Furthermore, the relationship between water content and thermal conductivity of porous materials had been studied and fitted, which figured out that in the wake of the increasing water content, the thermal conductivity of porous material is continually improving. At the same time, this result also shows, in different density, when the same kind of materials decreases, the saturated moisture content increases. Finally, the moisture absorption and desorption properties of the four kinds of materials are compared comprehensively, and it turned out that the heat preservation performance of PU board is the best, followed by EPS board, XPS board, PF board.

Keywords: porous materials, thermal conductivity, moisture content, transient hot-wire method

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Authors: Temesgen Kassa Getahun, Gezahegn Mamo, Beksisa Urge

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A cross-sectional study was conducted from December 2019 to May 2020 with the aim of determining the seroprevalence of brucellosis in dairy cows and their owners in the central highland of Oromia, Ethiopia. A total of 352 blood samples from dairy cattle, 149 from animal owners, and 17 from farm workers were collected and initially screened using the Rose Bengal Plate test and confirmed by the Complement Fixation test. Overall seroprevalence was 0.6% (95% CI: 0.0016–0.0209) in bovines and 1.2% (95% CI: 0.0032–0.0427) in humans. Market-based stock replacement (OR=16.55, p=0.002), breeding by artificial insemination (OR=7.58, p=0.05), and parturition pen (OR = 11.511, p=0.027) were found to be significantly associated with the seropositivity for Brucella infection in dairy cattle. Human housing (OR=1.8, p=0.002), contact with an aborted fetus (OR=21.19, p=0.017), drinking raw milk from non-aborted (OR=24.99, p=0.012), aborted (OR=5.72, p=0.019) and retained fetal membrane (OR=4.22, p=0.029) cows had a significant influence on human brucellosis. A structured interview question was administered to 284 respondents. Accordingly, most respondents had no knowledge of brucellosis (93.3%), and in contrast, 90% of them consumed raw milk. In conclusion, the present seroprevalence study revealed that brucellosis was low among dairy cattle and exposed individuals in the study areas. However, since there were no control strategies implemented in the study areas, there is a potential risk of transmission of brucellosis in dairy cattle and the exposed human population in the study areas. Implementation of a test and slaughter strategy with compensation to farmers is recommended, while in the case of human brucellosis, continuous social training and implementing one health approach framework must be applied.

Keywords: abortion, bovine brucellosis, human brucellosis, risk factors, seroprevalence

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Authors: Mehrnoosh Abouzari, Shahrokh Shahraei

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With the development of artificial intelligence in the present age, intelligent machines and systems have proven their actual and potential capabilities and are mindful of increasing their presence in various fields of human life in the fields of industry, financial transactions, marketing, manufacturing, service affairs, politics, economics and various branches of the humanities .Therefore, despite the conservatism and prudence of law enforcement, the traces of artificial intelligence can be seen in various areas of law. Including judicial robotics capability estimation, intelligent judicial decision making system, intelligent defender and attorney strategy adjustment, dissemination and regulation of different and scattered laws in each case to achieve judicial coherence and reduce opinion, reduce prolonged hearing and discontent compared to the current legal system with designing rule-based systems, case-based, knowledge-based systems, etc. are efforts to apply AI in law. In this article, we will identify the ways in which AI is applied in its laws and regulations, identify the dominant concerns in this area and outline the relationship between these two areas in order to answer the question of how artificial intelligence can be used in different areas of law and what the implications of this application will be. The authors believe that the use of artificial intelligence in the three areas of legislative, judiciary and executive power can be very effective in governments' decisions and smart governance, and helping to reach smart communities across human and geographical boundaries that humanity's long-held dream of achieving is a global village free of violence and personalization and human error. Therefore, in this article, we are going to analyze the dimensions of how to use artificial intelligence in the three legislative, judicial and executive branches of government in order to realize its application.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, law, intelligent system, judge

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Authors: Javier Carroquino, Nieves García-Casarejos, Pilar Gargallo

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Climate change, depletion of non-renewable resources in the current energies, pollution from them, the greater ecological awareness of the population, are factors that suggest the change of energy sources in business. The agri-food industry is a growth sector, concerned about product innovation, process and with a clear awareness of what climate change may mean for it. This sector is supposed to have a high receptivity to the implementation of clean energy, as this favors not only the environment but also the essence of its business. This work, through surveys, aims to know the willingness of Spanish wineries to implement renewable energies in their vineyards, as well as the limitations they perceive for their implementation. This questionnaire allows the characterization of the sector in terms of its geographical typologies, their activity levels, their perception of environmental issues, the degree of implementation of measures to mitigate climate change and improve energy efficiency, and its uses and energy consumption. The analysis of data proves that the penetration of renewable energies is still at low levels, being the most used energies, solar thermal, photovoltaic and biomass. The initial investment seems to be at the origin of the lack of implantation of this type of energy in the wineries, and not so much the costs of operations and maintenance. The environmental management of the wineries is still at an embryonic stage within the company's organization chart, because these services are either outsourced or, if technicians are available, they are not exclusively dedicated to these tasks. However, there is a strong environmental awareness, as evidenced by the number of climate change mitigation and energy efficiency measures already adopted. The gap between high awareness and low achievement is probably due to the lack of knowledge about how to do it or the perception of a high cost.

Keywords: survey, renewable energy, winery, Spanish case

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Authors: Malik Takreem Ahmad, Pablo Lamata, Rasi Mizori

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Background: In recent years, mobile health apps have grown in popularity as a means for people to track and manage their health. While there is increasing worry that these applications may potentially contribute to the emergence of health anxiety, they can also help to encourage healthy behaviours and provide access to health information. Objective: The objective of this literature review is to look at available mhealth apps and critically evaluate the compromise between reassurance and anxiety. Methodology: A literature review was carried out to analyse the effects of mhealth apps on the creation of health anxiety within the general population. PubMed and SCOPUS were used to search for relevant articles, and abstracts were screened using inclusion criteria of the terms: mhealth apps; e-Health; healthcare apps; cyberchondria; Health anxiety; illness anxiety disorder. A total of 27 studies were included in the review. Results and discussion: The findings suggest a direct relationship between mobile health app use and health anxiety. The impact of mobile health apps on health anxiety may depend on how they are used - individuals receiving a constant stream of health-related information may trigger unnecessary concern about one's health. The need for more regulation and oversight is identified, which can lead to app quality and safety consistency. There are also concerns about data security and privacy and the resulting "digital gap" for individuals without mobiles or internet access. Conclusion: While health apps can be valuable tools for managing and tracking health, individuals need to use them in a balanced and informed way to avoid increased anxiety.

Keywords: mobile health, mhealth apps, cyberchondria, health anxiety

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Authors: Abdolghani Ebrahimi, Diego Klabjan, Chenxi Ge, Daniela Ladner, Parker Stride

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In this work, we use machine learning and novel data analysis techniques to predict the one-year mortality of cirrhotic patients. Data from 2,322 patients with liver cirrhosis are collected at a single medical center. Different machine learning models are applied to predict one-year mortality. A comprehensive feature space including demographic information, comorbidity, clinical procedure and laboratory tests is being analyzed. A temporal pattern mining technic called Frequent Subgraph Mining (FSM) is being used. Model for End-stage liver disease (MELD) prediction of mortality is used as a comparator. All of our models statistically significantly outperform the MELD-score model and show an average 10% improvement of the area under the curve (AUC). The FSM technic itself does not improve the model significantly, but FSM, together with a machine learning technique called an ensemble, further improves the model performance. With the abundance of data available in healthcare through electronic health records (EHR), existing predictive models can be refined to identify and treat patients at risk for higher mortality. However, due to the sparsity of the temporal information needed by FSM, the FSM model does not yield significant improvements. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work to apply modern machine learning algorithms and data analysis methods on predicting one-year mortality of cirrhotic patients and builds a model that predicts one-year mortality significantly more accurate than the MELD score. We have also tested the potential of FSM and provided a new perspective of the importance of clinical features.

Keywords: machine learning, liver cirrhosis, subgraph mining, supervised learning

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Authors: Abdallah Abu Madi, Dongmei Cao, Alexeis Garcia-Perez, Qile He

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The failure of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation in higher education institutions (HEIs) worldwide is much higher in comparison to other sectors, such as banking or manufacturing, to our knowledge limited research has been conducted on this issue. To date, prior literature has identified some key success factors (KSFs) mostly either in the domain of information and system (IS) or in the industrial context. However, evidence of ERP implementation in the higher education sector has had little attention in the extant literature. Hence, this paper identifies and categories KSFs of ERP implementation in HEIs. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with technicians and managers from three Jordanian HEIs. From these case studies, three new sector- and context-specific KSFs were identified and categorized according to two dimensions: organizational and technical. The first new KSF is the selection of the ERP system, which is an influential factor in the organizational dimension. Results show that an ERP solution that is suitable to one context may be disastrous in another. The second new KSF, which falls under the technical dimension, is the relationship between vendors and HEIs. This must be fair and impartial to enable successful decision-making and thus the achievement of pre-defined goals. Also within the technical dimension is the third factor: in-house maintenance. Once an appropriate system is selected and a strong relationship is established, the ERP system requires continuous maintenance for effective operation. HEIs should ensure that qualified IT support is in place and in-house to avoid excessive running expenses.

Keywords: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)implementation, key success factors, higher education institutions, Jordanian higher education

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Authors: Mette Evelyn Bjerre

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Nordic Exceptionalism is a racial paradigm that inhibits a critical examination of structural discrimination and the daily experiences of minority-racialised Danes. As a result, the category ethnic-Danish is a White hegemonic construct that limits access for multiracial ethnic Danes irrespective of their multigenerational Danish heritage. An anti-immigrant public discourse and frequent racialisation as ‘other’ in social interactions are part of a boundary-making process that sustains White hegemony and excludes multiracial ethnic Danes from a collective national identity. With an analysis of interview data with 40 multiracial ethnic Danes, this research finds that the understanding of race as a category and the salience of race for multiracial ethnic Danes has changed over time concurrently with demographic changes and a heightened awareness of racialisation processes. The older generation is more likely to conform to White hegemony by trivialising racialised experiences. In contrast, younger multiracial ethnic Danes have the knowledge and cultural capital to challenge Whiteness actively. They do this by claiming their multiracial identity as a crucial part of their Danish identity and acknowledging race as a social fact that impacts their lives. Many young multiracial participants also dispute that the public immigration debate is race-neutral and is active in organisations supporting immigrants and refugees. These findings suggest that young multiracial Danes are uniquely positioned to push public discourse toward a better understanding of how Whiteness is integral to national identity and advocate for a broader Danish identity type that challenges White hegemony and Nordic exceptionalism.

Keywords: multiracial Danes, nordic exceptionalism, racial identity, white hegemony

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Authors: Jiangxia Han, Liang Xue, Keda Chen

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Despite the significant progress over the last decades in reservoir simulation using numerical discretization, meshing is complex. Moreover, the high degree of freedom of the space-time flow field makes the solution process very time-consuming. Therefore, we present Physics-Informed Convolutional Neural Networks(PICNN) as a hybrid scientific theory and data method for reservoir modeling. Besides labeled data, the model is driven by the scientific theories of the underlying problem, such as governing equations, boundary conditions, and initial conditions. PICNN integrates governing equations and boundary conditions into the network architecture in the form of a customized convolution kernel. The loss function is composed of data matching, initial conditions, and other measurable prior knowledge. By customizing the convolution kernel and minimizing the loss function, the neural network parameters not only fit the data but also honor the governing equation. The PICNN provides a methodology to model and history-match flow and transport problems in porous media. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed PICNN can provide an accurate physical solution from a limited dataset. We show how this method can be applied in the context of a forward simulation for continuous problems. Furthermore, several complex scenarios are tested, including the existence of data noise, different work schedules, and different good patterns.

Keywords: convolutional neural networks, deep learning, flow and transport in porous media, physics-informed neural networks, reservoir simulation

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Authors: Mohammad T. Uddin, Aurup R. Dhar

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The study was conducted to assess the impact of conservation agriculture practice on farmers’ socioeconomic condition and soil environmental quality in Bangladesh. A total of 450 (i.e., 50 focal, 150 proximal and 250 control) farmers from five districts were selected for this study. Descriptive statistics like sum, averages, percentages, etc. were calculated to evaluate the socioeconomic data. Using Enyedi’s crop productivity index, it was found that the crop productivity of focal, proximal and control farmers was increased by 0.9, 1.2 and 1.3 percent, respectively. The result of DID (Difference-in-difference) analysis indicated that the impact of conservation agriculture practice on farmers’ average annual income was significant. Multidimensional poverty index (MPI) indicates that poverty in terms of deprivation of health, education and living standards was decreased; and a remarkable improvement in farmers’ socioeconomic status was found after adopting conservation agriculture practice. Most of the focal and proximal farmers stated about increased soil environmental condition where majority of control farmers stated about constant environmental condition in this regard. The Probit model reveals that minimum tillage operation, permanent organic soil cover, and application of compost and vermicompost were found significant factors affecting soil environmental quality under conservation agriculture. Input support, motivation, training programmes and extension services are recommended to implement in order to raise the awareness and enrich the knowledge of the farmers on conservation agriculture practice.

Keywords: conservation agriculture, crop productivity, socioeconomic status, soil environment quality

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Authors: Gysele Lima Ricci, Jose Miguel Rodriguez Anton

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Companies in the tourism sector need to achieve competitive advantages for their survival in the market. In this way, the models based on association, cooperation, complementarity, distribution, exchange and mutual assistance arise as a possibility of organizational development, taking as reference the concept of networks. Many companies seek to partner in local networks as clusters to act together and associate. The main objective of the present research is to identify the specificities of management and the practices of cooperation in the tourist destination of São Paulo - Brazil, and to propose a new management model with possible cluster of tourism. The empirical analysis was carried out in three phases. As a first phase, a research was made by the companies, associations and tourism organizations existing in São Paulo, analyzing the characteristics of their business. In the second phase, the management specificities and cooperation practice used in the tourist destination. And in the third phase, identifying the possible strengths and weaknesses that potential or potential tourist cluster could have, proposing the development of the management model of the same adapted to the needs of the companies, associations and organizations. As a main result, it has been identified that companies, associations and organizations could be looking for synergies with each other and collaborate through a Hiperred organizational structure, in which they share their knowledge, try to make the most of the collaboration and to benefit from three concepts: flexibility, learning and collaboration. Finally, it is concluded that, the proposed tourism cluster management model is viable for the development of tourism destinations because it makes it possible to strategically address agents which are responsible for public policies, as well as public and private companies and organizations in their strategies competitiveness and cooperation.

Keywords: cluster, management model, networks, tourism sector

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Authors: Suliman Al Balawi

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Food waste is a significant problem in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). About SR13 billion worth of food is wasted per year in the KSA. From moral, social, and economic perspectives, it is essential to reduce the wastage of food. Although studies have identified the amount of food waste in the KSA, there is a lack of research on why people in the KSA waste food; thus, it is difficult to design efficient intervention programs to reduce food waste. This research investigates the key factors that influence the food waste behavior of the people of the KSA. A food waste behavior model is proposed in this study that has moral disengagement at the center of the model. Following a literature survey, it is hypothesised that religiosity, hedonic value, frugality, and trait cynicism are the antecedents of moral disengagement that are likely to impact the food waste behavior of the people of the KSA. The study further posits that an intervention strategy in the form of a social marketing campaign that focuses on lowering the level of moral disengagement could reduce the food waste behavior of the people of the KSA. This study will apply a pre-test/post-test experimental design (control group). A random sampling method will be used to select participants from the (employees of a chosen firm) in the KSA. The social marketing campaign will be run for six months through the Corporate Social Responsibility Department of the Company, and to analyse the experimental data, structural equation modeling (SEM) will be used. The outcomes of the study will demonstrate the effectiveness of a social marketing campaign for improving the food waste behavior of the people of the KSA and will ultimately lay the foundation for designing efficient intervention programs in the future. This study will contribute to the knowledge on food waste behavior by testing a newly proposed food waste behavior model in the KSA.

Keywords: food waste, social marketing, Saudi Arabia, moral disengagement

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Authors: M. Zafar-ul Islam

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The Arabian Ostrich Struthio camelus syriacus is a distinct subspecies that became extinct in the wild during the mid-20th century, due to over-hunting and commercial exploitation. The extant of S. c. camelus, a red-necked form that occurs in Northeastern Africa and is considered the most closely related, and possibly the same subspecies as the extinct Arabian form has been chosen for the reintroduction in 1988-89 by obtaining red-necked ostrich from Sudan from a private collection. Few birds were translocated to Mahazat as-Sayd protected area in 25 ha fenced enclosure in 1994. Until now a total of 96 red-necked ostrich have been released in fenced Mahazat as-Sayd, and the estimated population is between 125 to 150 individuals. Since captive flock of ostriches were translocated to Mahazat, their survival rate increased (>41%) by the end of 2000. On an average 22-30 chicks are hatched annually. A total of 137 ostriches recorded dead over the period of 13 years during the drought period. One of the key questions is what proportion of birds makes use of the supplementary food and water provisions, and what happens to those birds that do not use it? Captive-bred and wild-born adult and young ostriches died of starvation and thirst, despite being provisioned with alfalfa and water in several years. The present population of ostrich in Mahazat is more than 300.

Keywords: red-necked ostrich, Struthio camelus camelus, reintroduction, Saudi Arabia, drought

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Authors: Keunock Lew, Seungryul Ma

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The paper analyzes risk and expected return of lenders who provide mortgage loans to households in the shared mortgage program of Korea. In 2013, the Korean government introduced the mortgage program to help low income householders to convert their renting into purchasing houses. The financial source for the mortgage program is the Urban Housing Fund set up by the Korean government. Through the program, low income households can borrow money from lenders to buy a house at a very low interest rate (e.g. 1 % per year) for a long time. The motivation of adopting this mortgage program by the Korean government is that the cost of renting houses has been rapidly increased especially in large urban areas during the past decade, which became financial difficulties to low income households who do not have their own houses. As the analysis methodology, the paper uses a spread sheet model for projecting cash flows of the mortgage product over the period of loan contract. It also employs Monte Carlo simulation method to analyze the risk and expected yield of the lenders with assumption that the future housing price and market rate of interest follow a stochastic process. The study results will give valuable implications to the Korean government and lenders who want to stabilize the mortgage program and innovate the related loan products.

Keywords: expected return, Monte Carlo simulation, risk, shared mortgage program

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Authors: D. C. Soares, J. T. S. Santos, D. G. Costa, A. K. S. Abud, T. P. Nunes, A. V. D. Figueiredo, A. M. de Oliveira Junior

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Mangabeira (Hancornia speciosa Gomes), a native plant in Brazil, is found growing spontaneously in various regions of the country. The high perishability of tropical fruits such as mangaba, causes it to be necessary to use technologies that promote conservation, aiming to increase the shelf life of this fruit and add value. The objective of this study was to compare the mangabas lyophilisation curves behaviours with different sizes and maturation stages. The fruits were freeze-dried for a period of approximately 45 hours at lyophilizer Liotop brand, model L -108. It has been considered large the fruits between 38 and 58 mm diameter and small, between 23 and 28 mm diameter and the two states of maturation, intermediate and mature. Large size mangabas drying curves in both states of maturation were linear behaviour at all process, while the kinetic drying curves related to small fruits, independent of maturation state, had a typical behaviour of drying, with all the well-defined steps. With these results it was noted that the time of lyophilisation was suitable for small mangabas, a fact that did not happen with the larger one. This may indicate that the large mangabas require a longer time to freeze until reaches the equilibrium level, as it happens with the small fruits, going to have constant moisture at the end of the process. For both types of fruit were analysed water activity, acidity, protein, lipid, and vitamin C before and after the process.

Keywords: freeze dryer, mangaba, conservation, chemical characteristics

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Authors: Karl-Erich Lindenschmidt, Apurba Das, Joel Trudell, Keanne Russell

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In this presentation, we explore options for mitigating ice-jam flooding along the Athabasca River in western Canada. Not only flood hazard, expressed in this case as the probability of flood depths and extents being exceeded, but also flood risk, in which annual expected damages are calculated. Flood risk is calculated, which allows a cost-benefit analysis to be made so that decisions on the best mitigation options are not based solely on flood hazard but also on the costs related to flood damages and the benefits of mitigation. The river ice model is used to simulate extreme ice-jam flood events with which scenarios are run to determine flood exposure and damages in flood-prone areas along the river. We will concentrate on three mitigation options – the placement of a dike, artificial breakage of the ice cover along the river, the installation of an ice-control structure, and the construction of a reservoir. However, any mitigation option is not totally failsafe. For example, dikes can still be overtopped and breached, and ice jams may still occur in areas of the river where ice covers have been artificially broken up. Hence, for all options, it is recommended that zoning of building developments away from greater flood hazard areas be upheld. Flood mitigation can have a negative effect of giving inhabitants a false sense of security that flooding may not happen again, leading to zoning policies being relaxed. (Text adapted from Lindenschmidt [2022] "Ice Destabilization Study - Phase 2", submitted to the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, Alberta, Canada)

Keywords: ice jam, flood hazard, flood risk river ice modelling, flood risk

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Authors: Anamarel Medina-Hernandez, Teresa Ponce-Noyola, Ileana Vera-Reyes, Ana C. Ramos-Valdivia

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Somatic embryos reproduce original seed characteristics and could be implemented in biotechnological studies. Jatropha curcas L. is an important plant for biodiesel production, but also is used in traditional medicine. Seeds from J. curcas are toxic because contain diterpenoids called phorbol esters, but in Mexico exist a non-toxic variety. Therefore, somatic embryos suspension cultures from non-toxic J. curcas variety were induced. In order to investigate the characteristics of somatic embryos, a differential proteomic analysis was made between pre-globular and globular stages by 2-D gel electrophoresis. 108 spots were differentially expressed (p<0.02), and 20 spots from globular somatic embryos were sequenced by MALDI-TOF-TOF mass spectrometry. A comparative analysis of terpenoids production between the two stages was made by RP-18 TLC plates. The sequenced proteins were related to energy production (68%), protein destination and storage (9%), secondary metabolism (9%), signal transduction (5%), cell structure (5%) and aminoacid metabolism (4%). Regarding terpenoid production, in pre-globular and globular somatic embryos were identified sterols and triterpenes of pharmacological interest (alpha-amyrin and betulinic acid) but also it was found compounds that were unique to each stage. The results of this work are the basis to characterize at different levels the J. curcas somatic embryos so that this system can be used efficiently in biotechnological processes.

Keywords: Jatropha curcas, proteomics, somatic embryo, terpenoids

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Authors: Abid Khan

Abstract:

A recognized engineering challenge is related to personnel protection from fatal arc flash incident energy in the line side of the 480-volt switchgear incomer breakers during maintenance activities. The incident energy is typically high due to slow fault clearance, and it can be higher than the available personnel protective equipment (PPE) ratings. A fault in this section of the switchgear is cleared by breakers or fuses in the upstream higher voltage system (4160 Volt or higher). The current reflection in the higher voltage upstream system for a fault in the 480-volt switchgear is low, the clearance time is slower, and the inversely proportional incident energy is hence higher. The installation of overcurrent protection at a 480-volt system upstream of the incomer breaker will operate fast enough and trips the upstream higher voltage breaker when a fault develops at the incomer breaker. Therefore, fault current reduction as reflected in the upstream higher voltage system is eliminated. Since the fast overcurrent protection is permanently installed, it is always functional, does not require human interventions, and eliminates exposure to human errors. It is installed at the maintenance activities location, and its operations can be locally monitored by craftsmen during maintenance activities.

Keywords: arc flash, mitigation, maintenance switch, energy level

Procedia PDF Downloads 188

Authors: Abdul Aziz Abdullah, Anuar Alias, Khor Hooi Ting, Guan Ngah Mei

Abstract:

One of the major sectors which contribute significant growth to socio-economic development is the construction and development industry. This industry is most badly hurt during the 1997 and 2008 economic crisis thus causing many government and private projects to be deferred and abandoned. The purpose of this study is to examine the causes and effects of housing project abandonment in Malaysia. This objective is achieved through rigorous review of literatures and documents related to housing and abandoned housing project. The finding revealed there are several causes of housing project abandonment. The significant causes are: economic recession, inadequacy of finance, poor marketing and sales strategies, technical problems faced during construction, problems caused by compensations demanded by squatters for resettlement, insolvency of contractor, cost overrun and currency fluctuation amongst others. However the alarming effect of housing project is: house buyers of abandoned project have the monthly payment although the house is delivered to house buy. In other case house buyers have to entangle in many legal action with the financial institution. This finding provides the various ministries in the Government some insights on real causes and effects of abandoned project. Perhaps this finding can enhance the current solution the Ministry of Housing Local Government on addressing the prevailing issue of reviving existing abandoned project in the country.

Keywords: abandoned project, abandonment, housing project, ministry of housing and local government, causes and effect

Procedia PDF Downloads 531

Authors: Varinder Singh

Abstract:

The primitive man had not known anything like human rights. In the later centuries of human progress with the development of scientific and technological knowledge, the growth of population and the tremendous changes in the human environment, the laws of nature that maintained the Eco-balance crumbled. The race for better and comfortable life landed mankind in a vicious circle. It created environmental imbalance, unplanned and uneven development, breakdown of self-sustaining village economy, mushrooming of shanty towns and slums, widening the chasm between the rich and the poor, over-exploitation of natural resources, desertification of arable lands, pollution of different kinds, heating up of earth and depletion of ozone layer. Modem International Life has been deeply marked and transformed by current endeavors to meet the needs and fulfill the requirements of protection of human person and of the environment. Such endeavors have been encouraged by the widespread recognition that protection of human being and the environment reflects common superior values and constitutes a common concern of mankind. The parallel evolutions of human rights protection and environmental protection disclose some close affinities. There was the occurrence of process of internationalization of both human rights protection and environmental protection, the former beginning with the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the latter with the 1972 Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment.It is now well established that it is the basic human right of every individual to live in a pollution free environment with full human dignity. The judiciary has so far pronounced a number of judgments in this regard. The Supreme Court in view of various laws relating to environment protection and the constitutional provision has held that right to pollution free environment. Article-21 is the heart of the fundamental rights and has received expanded meanings from time to time.

Keywords: human rights, law, environment, polluter

Procedia PDF Downloads 218

Authors: Leila Yazdanpanah, Hajieh Shahbazian, Seyed Mahmoud Latifi, Armaghan Moravej Aleali, Saeed Ghanbari

Abstract:

Introduction: This study was designed to determine the prevalence of diabetes in people aged over 20 years in Ahvaz, Iran. Material and Methods: The study population selected by cluster sampling. Fasting blood sugar (FBS) assessed after minimum 8 hours night fasting. A questionnaire included: age, sex, weight, height, blood pressure, waist circumference and previous history of diabetes were completed for each patient. FBS≥126mg/dl and/or oral hypoglycemic treatment and/or insulin was defined as diabetes, FBS=100-125 mg/dl as impaired fasting glucose (IFG) and FBS<100mg/dl as normal. Results: Study population was 936 persons (47.2 % male and 52.8% female). The mean age of a population was 42.2±14 years. Diabetes was detected in 15.1 % of population. Only 57cases(6.1%) were aware of their disease and 9% had unknown diabetes. Diabetes was detected in 14.5% of male (11.3% unknown and 3.2 % known diabetes) and in 11.7% of female (7% unknown and 4.7% known diabetes). Prevalence of diabetes had no significant difference (P=0.21) in male and female but unknown diabetes was significantly higher in male (P=0.025). Prevalence of diabetes was increased with rising of age between 20-60 years old but decreasing after 60 years old. Diabetes was related to age, waist circumference and systolic and diastolic blood pressure, TG level and BMI in both sex (P=0.0001). Conclusion: More than half of female and three-fourth of male diabetic patients are unaware of their disease in South of Iran. Diabetes screening should be intensified in this population.

Keywords: diabetes, prevalence, risk factor, awareness

Procedia PDF Downloads 460

Authors: Wahab Ali Shah, Junjia He

Abstract:

In this work, we performed a large-scale investigation into leader development in a 10 m rod-plane gap under a long front positive impulse. To describe the leader propagation under slow front impulse voltages, we recorded the leader propagation with a high-speed charge coupled device (CCD) camera. It is important to figure out this phenomenon to deepen our understanding of leader discharge. The observation results showed that the leader mechanism is a very complex physical phenomenon; it could be categorized into two types of leader process, namely, continuous and the discontinuous leader streamer-leader propagation. Furthermore, we studied the continuous leader development parameters, including two-dimensional (2-D) leader length, injected charge, and final jump stage, as well as leader velocity for rod–plane configuration. We observed that the discontinuous leader makes an important contribution to the appearance of channel re-illuminations of the positive leader. The comparative study shows better results in terms of standard switch impulse and long front positive impulse. Finally, the results are presented with a view toward improving our understanding of propagation mechanisms related to restrike phenomena, which are rarely reported. To clarify the above doubts under long front cases, we carried out extensive experiments in this study.

Keywords: continuous and discontinuous leader, high-speed photographs, long air gap, positive long front impulse, restrike phenomena

Procedia PDF Downloads 163

Authors: Aarnav Singh, Jatin Moolchandani

Abstract:

The proposed research work aims to build a query-based AI chatbot that can answer any question related to any topic. A chatbot is software that converses with users via text messages. In the proposed system, we aim to build a chatbot that generates a response based on the user’s query. For this, we use natural language processing to analyze the query and some set of texts to form a concise answer. The texts are obtained through web-scrapping and filtering all the credible sources from a web search. The objective of this project is to provide a chatbot that is able to provide simple and accurate answers without the user having to read through a large number of articles and websites. Creating an AI chatbot that can answer a variety of user questions on a variety of topics is the goal of the proposed research project. This chatbot uses natural language processing to comprehend user inquiries and provides succinct responses by examining a collection of writings that were scraped from the internet. The texts are carefully selected from reliable websites that are found via internet searches. This project aims to provide users with a chatbot that provides clear and precise responses, removing the need to go through several articles and web pages in great detail. In addition to exploring the reasons for their broad acceptance and their usefulness across many industries, this article offers an overview of the interest in chatbots throughout the world.

Keywords: Chatbot, Artificial Intelligence, natural language processing, web scrapping

Procedia PDF Downloads 58

Authors: Dalia. G. Aseel

Abstract:

Begomoviruses are economically important plant viruses that infect dicotyledonous plants and exclusively transmitted by the whitefly Bemisia tabaci. Here, replicative form was isolated from Okra, Cotton, Tomato plants and whitefly infected with Begomoviruses. Using coat protein specific primers (AV1), the viral infection was verified with amplicon at 450 bp. The sequence of OLCuV-AV1 gene was recorded and received an accession number (FJ441605) from Genebank. The phylogenetic tree of OLCuV was closely related to Okra leaf curl virus previously isolated from Cameroon and USA with nucleotide sequence identity of 92%. The protein purification was carried out using His-Tag methodology by using Affinity Chromatography. The purified protein was separated on SDS-PAGE analysis and an enriched expected size of band at 30 kDa was observed. Furthermore, RAPD and SDS-PAGE were used to detect genetic variability between different hosts of okra leaf curl virus (OLCuV), cotton leaf curl virus (CLCuV), tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCuV) and the whitefly vector. Finally, the present study would help to understand the relationship between the whitefly and different economical crops in Egypt.

Keywords: okra leaf curl virus, AV1 gene, sequencing, phylogenetic, cloning, purified protein, genetic diversity and viral proteins

Procedia PDF Downloads 140

Authors: Helena Susana Afonso Alves, Natália Maria Rafael Canadas, Ana Maria Rodrigues

Abstract:

We examined the impact of governance rules on information asymmetry, using the turnover ratio and the bid-ask spread as proxies for the information asymmetry. We used a SEM model and analyzed the indirect relations through the voluntary disclosure of information and the organizational performance. We built a voluntary disclosure index based on the information firms provided in their annual reports and divided the governance characteristics in two constructs: directors’ and supervisors’ structures and ownership structure. We concluded that the ownership structure exerts a direct influence on share price and share liquidity, Otherwise, the directors’ and supervisors’ structures exert an indirect influence, through the organizational performance and the voluntary disclosure of information. The results also show that for firms with high levels of disclosure the bid-ask spread is lower. However, in firms with a high ownership concentration investors tend to increase the bid-ask spreads and trade less, which, in this case, reduces the liquidity of the stock. The failure to find the relationship between voluntary disclosure of information and the turnover ratio shows us that the liquidity of shares is more related to the greater or lesser concentration of shareholders, with the performance of their companies than with the access to information. Moreover, it is clear that the role that information disclosure plays is mainly at the level of price formation.

Keywords: corporate governance, information asymmetry, voluntary disclosure, structural equation modelling, SEM

Procedia PDF Downloads 508