Search results for: case discovery program

Authors: Alejandro Salicrup, Riacrdo Gelhman, Geetha Gopalakrishna

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The main aim of this session is to have a panel to discuss specific steps for the integration of traditional, complementary and alternative medicine (TCAM) with conventional oncology for enhancing treatment practices at the global level, specifically in low-and-middle-income-countries (LMICs). Concrete current and required programs for strengthening Integrative Oncology research in LMICs will also be discussed. Case Studies from Latin America, Asia, Europe and Africa will discuss and highlight 1) What is working regarding treatment practices in integrative oncology in their countries/regions providing concrete examples 2) What is not working on this integration for cancer treatment in their countries/regions with concrete examples and 3) What are the challenges and opportunities for research related to integrative oncology treatment. Discussion will include potential next steps and potential mechanisms to enhance global integrative oncology research aimed to enhance the use of TCAM therapies and strengthening cancer treatment in LMICs.

Keywords: global cancer treatment, integrative oncology research, low and middle income countries, traditional, complementary and alternative medicines

Procedia PDF Downloads 127

Authors: Apirada Chinprateep

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The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) shall be the goal of regional economic integration by 2015. Tourism is an activity that is growing important, especially as a source of foreign currency, employment creation and distribution of income bringing to the region. The preparation of members of the countries group, given the complexity of the issues entail to the concept of sustainable tourism, this paper tries to assess tourism sustainability, based on a number of quantitative indicators for all the ten economies, first, Thailand, compared with other nine countries, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Cambodia, and Brunei. The proposed methodological framework will provide a number of benchmarks of tourism activities in these countries assessed. They include identification of the dimensions, for example, economic, socio-ecologic, infrastructure and indicators, method of scaling, chart representation and evaluation on Asian countries. This specification shows us that a similar level of tourism activity might introduce different sort of implementation in the tourism activity and might have different consequences for the socio-ecological environment and sustainability. The heterogeneity of developing countries exposed briefly here would be useful to detect and prepare for coping with the main problem of each country in their tourism activities, as well as competitiveness and value creation of tourism for ASEAN economic community, and will compare with other parts of the world and the world benchmark.

Keywords: AEC, ASEAN, sustainable, tourism, competitiveness

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Authors: Mahrooz Abed, Amir R. Masoodi

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Many structural lateral systems are used in tall buildings such as rigid frames, braced frames, shear walls, tubular structures and core structures. Some efficient structures for drift control and base moment reduction in tall buildings is outrigger and belt truss systems. When adopting outrigger beams in building design, their location should be in an optimum position for an economical design. A range of different strategies has been employed to identify the optimum locations of these outrigger beams under wind load. However, there is an absence of scientific research or case studies dealing with optimum outrigger location using buckling analysis. In this paper, one outrigger system is considered at the middle of height of structure. The optimum location of outrigger will be found based on the buckling load limitation. The core of structure is modeled by a clamped tapered beam. The exact stiffness matrix of tapered beam is formulated based on the Euler-Bernoulli theory. Finally, based on the buckling load of structure, the optimal location of outrigger will be found.

Keywords: tall buildings, outrigger system, buckling load, second-order effects, Euler-Bernoulli beam theory

Procedia PDF Downloads 402

Authors: G. Yoga Sairam Teja, K. Harsha Vardhan, A. Vinay Kumar, K. Nithish Kumar, Ch. Shanthi Priyag

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The emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) has facilitated better device control and monitoring in the modern world. The constant monitoring of a patient would be drastically altered by the usage of IoT in healthcare. As we've seen in the case of the COVID-19 pandemic, it's important to keep oneself untouched while continuously checking on the patient's heart rate and temperature. Additionally, patients with paralysis should be closely watched, especially if they are elderly and in need of special care. Our "IoT BASED PATIENT HEALTH MONITORING SYSTEM" project uses IoT to track patient health conditions in an effort to address these issues. In this project, the main board is an 8051 microcontroller that connects a number of sensors, including a heart rate sensor, a temperature sensor (LM-35), and a saline water measuring circuit. These sensors are connected via an ESP832 (WiFi) module, which enables the sending of recorded data directly to the cloud so that the patient's health status can be regularly monitored. An LCD is used to monitor the data in offline mode, and a buzzer will sound if any variation from the regular readings occurs. The data in the cloud may be viewed as a graph, making it simple for a user to spot any unusual conditions.

Keywords: IoT, ESP8266, 8051 microcontrollers, sensors

Procedia PDF Downloads 92

Authors: D. Sengani, N. Potgieter, P. E. L. Mojapelo

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Three bacteria species which comprise of Gram negative and Gram positive microorganisms were isolated and identified on the basis of morpho-cultural study, catalase tests, oxidase tests and biochemical characteristics were found belonging to different genera including Burkholderia cepacia, Pasteurella pneumotropica and Enterococcus faecalis. The main objective of this study was to isolate and identify PCB degrading bacteria from PCB contaminated soils and test them for their degradation ability of PCBs in natural habitat conditions. The results indicated an overall decrease of PCB concentration level with the gradient average ranging from 1.5 to 1.8 respectively. Enterococcus faecalis removed as much as 32% of PCBs in the contaminated soil samples. Whereas Pasteurella pneumotropica could remove 24% of PCBs, Burkholderia cepacia 21% of PCBs and the mixed culture removed 23%. Data showed that the three bacterial strains could tolerate high concentration of PCBs. The results provided the evidence that naturally occurring bacteria in soil contaminated with PCBs have the potential to degrade PCBs. Statistical analysis showed that there was a significant positive correlation between bacteria growth and treatment with a coefficient of (r) =0.1459 and p value < 0.001.

Keywords: bacteria, bioaccumulation, biodegradation, bioremediation, polychlorinated biphenyls

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Authors: Hatib Shabbir

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Student support services play an important role in providing technical and motivational support to distance learner. ICT based systems have improved the efficiency and effectiveness of support services. In distance education, students being at distant require quick responses from their institution. In the manual system, it is practically hard to give prompt response to each and every student, so as a result student has to suffer a lot. The best way to minimize inefficiencies is to use automated systems. This project involves the development of centralized automated software that would not only replace the manual degree issuance system of 1.3 million students studying at AIOU but also provide online tracking to all the students applying for Degrees. DTS is also the first step towards the paperless culture which is adopted by the major organizations of the world. DTS would not only save university cost but also save students cost and time too by conveying all the information/objection through email and SMS. Moreover, DTS also monitors the performance of each and every individual working in the exam department AIOU and generates daily, monthly and yearly reports of every individual which helps a lot in continuous performance monitoring of the employees.

Keywords: aiou dts, dts aiou, dts, degree tracking aiou

Procedia PDF Downloads 223

Authors: Freddy Patricio Moncayo-Matute, Pablo Gerardo Peña-Tapia, Vázquez-Silva Efrén, Paúl Bolívar Torres-Jara, Diana Patricia Moya-Loaiza, Gabriela Abad-Farfán

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This study describes a clinical case and the results on the application of additive manufacturing for the surgical planning in the removal of a cranial spheno-orbital meningioma. It is verified that the use of personalized anatomical models and cutting guides helps to manage the cranial anomalies approach. The application of additive manufacturing technology: Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), as a low-cost alternative, enables the printing of the test anatomical model, which in turn favors the reduction of surgery time, as well the morbidity rate reduction too. And the printing of the personalized cutting guide, which constitutes a valuable aid to the surgeon in terms of improving the intervention precision and reducing the invasive effect during the craniotomy. As part of the results, post-surgical follow-up is included as an instrument to verify the patient's recovery and the validity of the procedure.

Keywords: surgical planning, additive manufacturing, rapid prototyping, fused deposition modeling, custom anatomical model

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Authors: Luciana S. Almeida

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Nanotechnology has revolutionized the world of science and technology bringing great expectations due to its great potential of application in the most varied industrial sectors. The same characteristics that make nanoparticles interesting from the point of view of the technological application, these may be undesirable when released into the environment. The small size of nanoparticles facilitates their diffusion and transport in the atmosphere, water, and soil and facilitates the entry and accumulation of nanoparticles in living cells. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the environmental regulatory process of nanomaterials in the Brazilian scenario. Three specific objectives were outlined. The first is to carry out a global scientometric study, in a research platform, with the purpose of identifying the main lines of study of nanomaterials in the environmental area. The second is to verify how environmental agencies in other countries have been working on this issue by means of a bibliographic review. And the third is to carry out an assessment of the Brazilian Nanotechnology Draft Law 6741/2013 with the state environmental agencies. This last one has the aim of identifying the knowledge of the subject by the environmental agencies and necessary resources available in the country for the implementation of the Policy. A questionnaire will be used as a tool for this evaluation to identify the operational elements and build indicators through the Environment of Evaluation Application, a computational application developed for the development of questionnaires. At the end will be verified the need to propose changes in the Draft Law of the National Nanotechnology Policy. Initial studies, in relation to the first specific objective, have already identified that Brazil stands out in the production of scientific publications in the area of nanotechnology, although the minority is in studies focused on environmental impact studies. Regarding the general panorama of other countries, some findings have also been raised. The United States has included the nanoform of the substances in an existing program in the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), the TSCA (Toxic Substances Control Act). The European Union issued a draft of a document amending Regulation 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and Council to cover the nanoform of substances. Both programs are based on the study and identification of environmental risks associated with nanomaterials taking into consideration the product life cycle. In relation to Brazil, regarding the third specific objective, it is notable that the country does not have any regulations applicable to nanostructures, although there is a Draft Law in progress. In this document, it is possible to identify some requirements related to the environment, such as environmental inspection and licensing; industrial waste management; notification of accidents and application of sanctions. However, it is not known if these requirements are sufficient for the prevention of environmental impacts and if national environmental agencies will know how to apply them correctly. This study intends to serve as a basis for future actions regarding environmental management applied to the use of nanotechnology in Brazil.

Keywords: environment; management; nanotecnology; politics

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Authors: Laura Niño Cáceres, Daisy Yoo, Caroline Hummels

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COVID-19 accelerated digital healthcare technology usage in many countries, such as Colombia, whose digital healthcare vision and projects are proof of this. However, with a significant cultural indigenous and Afro-Colombian heritage, only some parts of the country are willing to follow the proposed digital Western approach to health. Our paper presents the national healthcare system’s digital narrative, which we contrast with the micro-narrative of an Afro-Colombian ethnomedicine unit in Bogota called Kilombo Yumma. This ethnomedical unit is building its mobile app to safeguard and represent its ancestral medicine practices in local and national healthcare information systems. Kilombo Yumma is keen on promoting their beliefs and practices, which have been passed on through oral traditions and currently exist in the hands of a few older women. We unraveled their ambition, core beliefs, and practices through asset-based design. These assets outlined pluriversal and decolonizing forms of digital healthcare to increase social justice and connect Western and ancestral medicine digital opportunities through HCI.

Keywords: asset-based design, mobile app, decolonizing HCI, Afro-Colombian ancestral medicine

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Authors: Albert Maake, Ifunanya Isama

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International remittances to developing countries reached US$ 485 billion in 2018. By 2015, the East African region had surpassed US$3.5 mark. Considering this, there is no argument as to the contribution of Diaspora remittances as an alternative source of funds in the development process of the developing countries. Nevertheless, this paper seeks to argue that good governance in areas such as policy design, implementation and monitoring play a critical role in the sustainable development process of a nation as opposed to Diaspora remittances in general. Therefore this study intends at analyzing the contribution of Governance as opposed to that of Diaspora remittances for nation development. Employing documentary analysis technique, the secondary data with respect to the countries under study on Diaspora remittances will be collected. Selected indicators for Governance-HDI, Debt-to-GDP Ratio and Corruption Index, will be sourced from the World Bank Data for the purpose of consistency and where applicable the Central Statistical Agencies of the Nations under study. By means of descriptive statistics and content analysis the data will be comparatively analyzed to highlight the unique experiences in Rwanda and Kenya. The findings and interpretations from the study will affirm and promote capacity building for best practices in good governance for the countries under study.

Keywords: diaspora remittance, governance, Kenya, Rwanda, sustainable development

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Authors: H. Malachova, A. Oulehlova, D. Rezac

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Crisis preparedness training is the best possible strategy for identifying weak points, understanding vulnerability, and finding possible strategies for mitigation of blackout consequences. Training represents an effective tool for developing abilities and skills to cope with crisis situations. This article builds on the results of the research carried out in the field of preparation, realization, process, and impacts of training on subjects of energy sector critical infrastructure as a part of crisis preparedness. The research has revealed that the subjects of energy sector critical infrastructure have not realized training and therefore are not prepared for the restoration of the energy supply and black start after blackout regardless of the fact that most subjects state blackout and subsequent black start as key dangers. Training, together with mutual communication and processed crisis documentation, represent a basis for successful solutions for dealing with emergency situations. This text presents the suggested model of SIMEX simulator as a tool which supports managing crisis situations, containing training environment. Training models, possibilities of constructive simulation making use of non-aggregated as well as aggregated entities and tools of communication channels of individual simulator nodes have been introduced by the article.

Keywords: communication, energetic critical infrastructure, training, simulation

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Authors: Imine Zakaria, Meftah Sidi Mohamed El Amine

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One of the most vital aerodynamic organs of a flying machine is the wing, which allows it to fly in the air efficiently. The flow around the wing is very sensitive to changes in the angle of attack. Beyond a value, there is a phenomenon of the boundary layer separation on the upper surface, which causes instability and total degradation of aerodynamic performance called a stall. However, controlling flow around an airfoil has become a researcher concern in the aeronautics field. There are two techniques for controlling flow around a wing to improve its aerodynamic performance: passive and active controls. Blowing and suction are among the active techniques that control the boundary layer separation around an airfoil. Their objective is to give energy to the air particles in the boundary layer separation zones and to create vortex structures that will homogenize the velocity near the wall and allow control. Blowing and suction have long been used as flow control actuators around obstacles. In 1904 Prandtl applied a permanent blowing to a cylinder to delay the boundary layer separation. In the present study, several numerical investigations have been developed to predict a turbulent flow around an aerodynamic profile. CFD code was used for several angles of attack in order to validate the present work with that of the literature in the case of a clean profile. The variation of the lift coefficient CL with the momentum coefficient

Keywords: CFD, control flow, lift, slot

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Authors: D. Pazder

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The main assumption of the study is to examine the coherence between two aspects of spatial planning important in Poland. The first one is the need to realize a participatory planning paradigm, and the second is a global trend of the pro-ecological orientation of city development. The aim of the research is the verification of the possibility of finding the right balance between economic and socio-spatial dimensions of urban redefinition, especially within public green areas. The significance of the examination lies in the fact that there are a huge anthropopressure and overinvestment in downtown areas of big Polish cities. The methodology used in the research of a case study was the three-layered comparative analyses of spatial planning documents, participatory planning undertakings, soft and hard actions concerning a given area in the period of 2008-2020. The main findings are that there is a lack of satisfactory cooperation between the municipality and local communities, a connection between soft actions and investment in green public space, inhabitants are of high ecological consciousness but not so concerned about spatial planning legislation. The conclusion is that it is needed to provide real participation in spatial planning processes so as to take advantage of local communities’ activity and to combine more top-down and bottom-up actions so as to integrate people and educate them on how to act in favor of a common good in democratic citizenship.

Keywords: placemaking, participatory planning, anesthetization, public greenery

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Authors: Dorota Kobus-Ostrowska

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Work for everyone, especially for person with disability is a condition in independence; it secures basic needs and develops manual and intellectual capabilities. The work is a source of income, and it builds and strengthens of self-esteem and competence. The purpose of this article is to identify work as an important factor in everyone’s life, despite Polish disabled persons rarely having the chance to undertake a job. In order to achieve this purpose, two methods were used: comparative and qualitative. The theoretical part of this article is based on studies of a wide range of Polish and foreign literature devoted to the issue of the occupational development of people with disabilities. The article was also enriched with the institutional and legal analysis types of support for people with disabilities in Poland. Currently, a Polish person with disability who wants to enter or return to the labor market is under a special protection. Those entities employing workers with disabilities may obtain a subsidy for the salary of a person with disabilities. Unfortunately, people with disability in Poland rarely participate in the workforce. The factors that contribute to this include the difficulty in obtaining work, the uncertainty of keeping it, and the low salary offered. Despite that domestic and foreign literature highlight the important role of disabled people as a workforce, very few people with disability in Poland are economically active.

Keywords: disabled person, employer, rehabilitation, work

Procedia PDF Downloads 159

Authors: Ahmed S. Khan, Amin Karim

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During the past several decades, the economy of each nation has been significantly affected by globalization and technology. Government regulations and private sector standards affect a majority of world trade. Countries have been working together to establish international standards in almost every field. As a result, workers in all sectors need to have an understanding of standards. Engineering and technology students must not only possess an understanding of engineering standards and applicable government codes, but also learn to apply them in designing, developing, testing and servicing products, processes and systems. Accreditation Board for Engineering & Technology (ABET) criteria for engineering and technology education require students to learn and apply standards in their class projects. This paper is a follow-up of a 2006-2009 NSF initiative awarded to IEEE to help develop tutorials and case study modules for students and encourage standards education at college campuses. It presents the findings of a faculty/institution survey conducted through various U.S.-based listservs representing the major engineering and technology disciplines. The intent of the survey was to the gauge the status of use of standards and regulations in engineering and technology coursework and to identify benchmark practices. In light of survey findings, recommendations are made to standards development organizations, industry, and academia to help enhance the use of standards in engineering and technology curricula.

Keywords: standards, regulations, ABET, IEEE, engineering, technology curricula

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Authors: Ana Serafimovic, Karthik Devarajan

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Non-negative matrix factorization approximates a high dimensional non-negative matrix V as the product of two non-negative matrices, W and H, and allows only additive linear combinations of data, enabling it to learn parts with representations in reality. It has been successfully applied in the analysis and interpretation of high dimensional data arising in neuroscience, computational biology, and natural language processing, to name a few. The objective of this paper is to assess a hybrid algorithm for non-negative matrix factorization with multiplicative updates. The method aims to minimize the symmetric version of Kullback-Leibler divergence known as intrinsic information and assumes that the noise is signal-dependent and that it originates from an arbitrary distribution from the exponential family. It is a generalization of currently available algorithms for Gaussian, Poisson, gamma and inverse Gaussian noise. We demonstrate the potential usefulness of the new generalized algorithm by comparing its performance to the baseline methods which also aim to minimize symmetric divergence measures.

Keywords: non-negative matrix factorization, dimension reduction, clustering, intrinsic information, symmetric information divergence, signal-dependent noise, exponential family, generalized Kullback-Leibler divergence, dual divergence

Procedia PDF Downloads 248

Authors: Vikas Chawla, Buta Singh Sidhu, Amita Rani, Amit Handa

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The main objective of the present work is microstructural and mechanical characterization of the conventional and nanostructured TiAlN and AlCrN coatings deposited on T-11 boiler steel. In case of conventional coatings, Al-Cr and Ti-Al metallic powders were deposited using plasma spray process followed by gas nitriding of the surface which was done in the lab with optimized parameters after conducting several trials on plasma-sprayed coated specimens. The physical vapor deposition process (PAPVD) was employed for depositing nanostructured TiAlN and AlCrN coatings. The field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX) attachment, X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis and the X-Ray mapping analysis techniques have been used to study surface and cross-sectional morphology of the coatings. The surface roughness and micro-hardness were also measured. A good adhesion of the conventional thick TiAlN and AlCrN coatings was found. The coatings under study are recommended for the applications to super-heater and re-heater tubes of the boilers based upon the outcomes of the research work.

Keywords: nanostructure, physical vapour deposition, oxides, thin films, electron microscopy

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Authors: Hsing-Hua Stella Chang, Mong-Ching Lin, Cher-Min Fong

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There has recently been a notable rise in the number of emerging-market industrial small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have managed to upgrade their operations. Evolving from original equipment manufacturing (OEM) into value-added original or own brand manufacturing (OBM) in such firms represents a specific process of internationalization. The OEM-OBM upgrade requires development of a firm’s own brand. In this respect, the extant literature points out that emerging-market industrial marketers (latecomers) have developed some marketing capabilities, of which branding has been identified as one of the most important. In specific, an industrial non-brand marketer (OEM) marks the division of labor between manufacturing and branding (as part of marketing). In light of this discussion, this research argues that branding capability plays a critical role in supporting the evolution of manufacture upgrade. This is because a smooth transformation from OEM to OBM entails the establishment of strong brands through which branding capability is developed. Accordingly, branding capability can be exemplified as a series of processes and practices in relation to mobilizing branding resources and orchestrating branding activities, which will result in the establishment of business relationships, greater acceptance of business partners (channels, suppliers), and increased industrial brand equity in the firm as key resource advantages). For the study purpose, Taiwan was chosen as the research context, representing a typical case that exemplifies the industrial development path of more-established emerging markets, namely, transformation from OEM to OBM. This research adopted a two-phase research design comprising exploratory (a qualitative study) and confirmatory approaches (a survey study) The findings show that: Country-specific advantage is positively related to branding capability for internationalizing SMEs. Firm-specific advantage is positively related to branding capability for internationalizing SMEs. Hsing-Hua Stella Chang is Assistant Professor with National Taichung University of Education, International Master of Business Administration, (Yingcai Campus) No.227, Minsheng Rd., West Dist., Taichung City 40359, Taiwan, R.O.C. (phone: 886-22183612; e-mail: [email protected]). Mong-Ching Lin is PhD candidate with National Sun Yat-Sen University, Department of Business Management, 70 Lien-hai Rd., Kaohsiung 804, Taiwan, R.O.C. (e-mail: [email protected]). Cher-Min Fong is Full Professor with National Sun Yat-Sen University, Department of Business Management, 70 Lien-hai Rd., Kaohsiung 804, Taiwan, R.O.C. (e-mail: [email protected]). Branding capability is positively related to international performance for internationalizing SMEs. This study presents a pioneering effort to distinguish industrial brand marketers from non-brand marketers in exploring the role of branding capability in the internationalizing small and medium-sized industrial brand marketers from emerging markets. Specifically, when industrial non-brand marketers (OEMs) enter into a more advanced stage of internationalization (i.e., OBM), they must overcome disadvantages (liabilities of smallness, foreignness, outsidership) that do not apply in the case of incumbent developed-country MNEs with leading brands. Such critical differences mark the urgency and significance of distinguishing industrial brand marketers from non-brand marketers on issues relating to their value-adding branding and marketing practices in international markets. This research thus makes important contributions to the international marketing, industrial branding, and SME internationalization literature.

Keywords: brand marketers, branding capability, emerging markets, SME internationalization

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Authors: Mohsin Ali Shaikh, Weiguo Song, Rehmat Karim, Muhammad Kashan Surahio, Muhammad Usman Shahid

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Fire investigations face challenges due to the complexity of fire development, and real-world accidents lack repeatability, making it difficult to apply standardized approaches. The unpredictable nature of fires and the unique conditions of each incident contribute to the complexity, requiring innovative methods and tools for effective analysis and reconstruction. This study proposes to provide the modern accident analysis model through numerical reconstruction for fire investigation in textile buildings. This method employs computer simulation to enhance the overall effectiveness of textile-building investigations. The materials and evidence collected from past incidents reconstruct fire occurrences, progressions, and catastrophic processes. The approach is demonstrated through a case study involving a tragic textile factory fire in Karachi, Pakistan, which claimed 257 lives. The reconstruction method proves invaluable for determining fire origins, assessing losses, establishing accountability, and, significantly, providing preventive insights for complex fire incidents.

Keywords: fire investigation, numerical simulation, fire safety, fire incident, textile building

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Authors: O. Vanijajiva, K. Oumaree, N. Ngampak

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This research aims to study the level of perception and participation of Phranakhon Rajabhat University staff and to study the relationship between the levels of perception and participation with the score of University evaluation of quality assurance in education. The respondents were composed of 479 staffs. The tool used in this research is perceived and participation questionnaire of quality assurance in education of Phranakhon Rajabhat University. The results found that the most staffs are female with undergraduate education. Most 2 respondents are revealing educational staffs without academic position. The fact of times to gain knowledge of quality assurance in education is 1-3 times. The perception of knowledge about quality assurance in education is moderate (3.74 ± 0.65) with most respondent are more focus on university activity than quality assurance in education activity. The participation of quality assurance in education activities involved in moderate (3.17 ± 0.88), with most respondents more involved in student affair than quality assurance in education motion. For assessment of the relationship of perception and participation of quality assurance in education are average score (4.31 ± 0.16) showed that the level of perception and participation was associated with university evaluation in very low level (r = -0.103 and -0.121, respectively), while perception and participation are correlated with the moderate level (r = 0.691).

Keywords: quality assurance education, awareness, participation, higher education, Thailand

Procedia PDF Downloads 375

Authors: Sidika Di̇lşad Kaya, Ahmet Seli̇m Kaya, Ibrahi̇m Eri̇k, Havva Yaldiz, Yalçin Kaya

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The aim of this study was to reveal the effects of right brain development on reading, comprehension, learning and concentration levels and rapid processing skills in students with low vision and students with standard development, and to explore the effects of right and left brain integration on students' academic success and the permanence of the learned knowledge. A total of 68 students with a mean age of 10.01±0.12 were included in the study, 58 of them with standard development, 9 partially visually impaired and 1 totally visually disabled student. The student with a total visual impairment could not participate in the reading speed test due to her total visual impairment. The following data were measured in the participant students before the project; Reading speed measurement in 1 minute, Reading comprehension questions, Burdon attention test, 50 questions of math quiz timed with a stopwatch. Participants were trained for 3 weeks, 5 days a week, for a total of two hours a day. In this study, right-brain developing exercises were carried out with the use of an abacus, and it was aimed to develop both mathematical and attention of students with questions prepared with numerical data taken from fairy tale activities. Among these problems, the study was supported with multiple-choice, 5W (what, where, who, why, when?), 1H (how?) questions along with true-false and fill-in-the-blank activities. By using memory cards, students' short-term memories were strengthened, photographic memory studies were conducted and their visual intelligence was supported. Auditory intelligence was supported by aiming to make calculations by using the abacus in the minds of the students with the numbers given aurally. When calculating the numbers by touching the real abacus, the development of students' tactile intelligence is enhanced. Research findings were analyzed in SPSS program, Kolmogorov Smirnov test was used for normality analysis. Since the variables did not show normal distribution, Wilcoxon test, one of the non-parametric tests, was used to compare the dependent groups. Statistical significance level was accepted as 0.05. The reading speed of the participants was 83.54±33.03 in the pre-test and 116.25±38.49 in the post-test. Narration pre-test 69.71±25.04 post-test 97.06±6.70; BURDON pretest 84.46±14.35 posttest 95.75±5.67; rapid math processing skills pretest 90.65±10.93, posttest 98.18±2.63 (P<0.05). It was determined that the pre-test and post-test averages of students with typical development and students with low vision were also significant for all four values (p<0.05). As a result of the data obtained from the participants, it is seen that the study was effective in terms of measurement parameters, and the findings were statistically significant. Therefore, it is recommended to use the method widely.

Keywords: Abacus, reading speed, multiple intelligences, right brain training, visually impaired

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Authors: Yanto Santosa, Windi Sugiharti

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Fires occur annually in oil palm plantations. The objective of the study was to identify the impact of fire on bird diversity in oil palm plantations. Data of bird diversity were collected using the line transect method. Data were collected from February to March 2017. To estimate species richness, we used the Margalef index, to determine the evenness of species richness between site, we used an Evenness index, and to estimate the similarity of bird communities between different habitat, we used the Sørensen index. The result showed that the number of bird species and species richness in the post burned area was higher than those in unburned area. Different results were found for the Evenness Index, where the value was higher in unburned area that was in post burned area. These results indicate that fires did not decrease bird diversity as alleged by many parties whom stated that fires caused species extinction. Fire trigger the emerging of belowground plant and population of insects as a sources of food for the bird community. This result is consistent with several research findings in the United States and Australia that used controlled fires as one of regional management tools.

Keywords: bird, fire, index of similarity, oil palm, species diversity

Procedia PDF Downloads 254

Authors: Parisa Golbayani, Dan Wang, Ionut¸ Florescu

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In this work we implement machine learning techniques to financial statement reports in order to asses company’s credit rating. Specifically, the work analyzes the performance of four neural network architectures (MLP, CNN, CNN2D, LSTM) in predicting corporate credit rating as issued by Standard and Poor’s. The paper focuses on companies from the energy, financial, and healthcare sectors in the US. The goal of this analysis is to improve application of machine learning algorithms to credit assessment. To accomplish this, the study investigates three questions. First, we investigate if the algorithms perform better when using a selected subset of important features or whether better performance is obtained by allowing the algorithms to select features themselves. Second, we address the temporal aspect inherent in financial data and study whether it is important for the results obtained by a machine learning algorithm. Third, we aim to answer if one of the four particular neural network architectures considered consistently outperforms the others, and if so under which conditions. This work frames the problem as several case studies to answer these questions and analyze the results using ANOVA and multiple comparison testing procedures.

Keywords: convolutional neural network, long short term memory, multilayer perceptron, credit rating

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Authors: A. Derrouazin, N. Mekkakia-M, R. Taleb, M. Helaimi, A. Benbouali

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Nowadays the use of different sources of renewable energy for the production of electricity is the concern of everyone, as, even impersonal domestic use of the electricity in isolated sites or in town. As the conventional sources of energy are shrinking, a need has arisen to look for alternative sources of energy with more emphasis on its optimal use. This paper presents design of a sustainable Hybrid Power System (PV-Wind-Storage) assisted by grid as supplementary sources applied to case study residential house, to meet its entire energy demand. A Fuzzy control system model has been developed to optimize and control flow of power from these sources. This energy requirement is mainly fulfilled from PV and Wind energy stored in batteries module for critical load of a residential house and supplemented by grid for base and peak load. The system has been developed for maximum daily households load energy of 3kWh and can be scaled to any higher value as per requirement of individual /community house ranging from 3kWh/day to 10kWh/day, as per the requirement. The simulation work, using intelligent energy management, has resulted in an optimal yield leading to average reduction in cost of electricity by 50% per day.

Keywords: photovoltaic (PV), wind turbine, battery, microcontroller, fuzzy control (FC), Matlab

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Authors: Beatrice Adeoye

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Studies have associated social and demographic characteristics as strong determinants of utilization of health care services; however, not much has been done to explore the dynamics of these variables in Nigeria. This empirical study explores the link between demographic factors and the future use of health care services in Nsukka, southeast Nigeria. A total of 543 respondents were selected using multi-stage sampling technique. The findings of the study showed that majority (56.9%) of the respondents were female while 43.1% were male. More of the respondents were married (50.3%) while 41.80/0 of the respondents were between ages 26-35. Testing the demographic characteristics regarding where people will prefer to go first for treatment with multiple regression, It is only Sex as a demographic variable that indicates positive association for future occurrence to where people will prefer to go first for treatment with 0.08 significance. Age and education indicates no association considering their level of significance. This result shows that sex is one of the determinant factors of where and when people will go for treatment. This is pointing out the realities regarding African society where in the family setting, it is the father that dictates the cause of action. Also to buttress these findings, cross tabulating age with who determines where and when to go for treatment, findings show that majority (58.9%) within age 26-35 said their spouses decide on where and when to go for treatment. Findings showed that patriarchy still plays an important role in the utilization of health care delivery among the people studied.

Keywords: Demographic characters, Determinant, Health Care, treatment, self-medication, symptom,

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Authors: Ibrahim Rabiu Darazo

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The research has been conducted on the impact of E-banking on the operational efficiency of Banks in Nigeria, A case of some selected banks (Diamond Bank Plc, GTBankPlc, and Fidelity Bank Plc) in Nigeria. The research is a quantitative research which uses both primary and secondary sources of data collection. Questionnaire were used to obtained accurate data, where 150 Questionnaire were distributed among staff and customers of the three Banks , and the data collected where analysed using chi-square, whereas the secondary data where obtained from relevant text books, journals and relevant web sites. It is clear from the findings that, the use of e-banking by the banks has improved the efficiency of these banks, in terms of providing efficient services to customers electronically, using Internet Banking, Telephone Banking ATMs, reducing time taking to serve customers, e-banking allow new customers to open an account online, customers have access to their account at all the time 24/7.E-banking provide access to customers information from the data base and cost of check and postage were eliminated using e-banking. The recommendation at the end of the research include; the Banks should try to update their electronic gadgets, e-fraud(internal & external) should also be controlled, Banks shall employ qualified man power, Biometric ATMs shall be introduce to reduce fraud using ATM Cards, as it is use in other countries like USA.

Keywords: banks, electronic banking, operational efficiency of banks, biometric ATMs

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Authors: Vicki R. Voskuil, Jorgie M. Watson

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Despite the well-established health benefits of physical activity (PA), most adolescents do not meet guidelines recommending 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) each day. Adolescent girls engage in less PA than boys, a difference that increases with age. By the 9th grade, only 20% of girls report meeting recommendations for PA with lower percentages for black and Hispanic girls compared to white girls. The purpose of the study was to explore the physical activity (PA) behavior and needs of adolescent girls. Study aims included assessment of adolescent girls’ PA behavior; facilitators of and barriers to PA, PA needs, and acceptability of the Fitbit-Flex 2 activity tracker. This exploratory study used a qualitative and quantitative approach. The qualitative approach involved a focus group using a semi-structured interview technique. PA was measured using the Fitbit-Flex 2 activity tracker. Steps, distance, and active minutes were recorded for one week. A Fitbit survey was also administered to assess acceptability. SPSS Version 22.0 and ATLAS.ti Version 8 were used to analyze data. Girls in the ninth grade were recruited from a high school in the Midwest (n=11). Girls were excluded if they were involved in sports or other organized PA ≥ 3 days per week, had a health condition that prevented or limited PA, or could not read and write English. Participants received a Fitbit-Flex 2 activity tracker to wear for one week. At the end of the week, girls returned the Fitbit and participated in a focus group. Girls responded to open-ended questions regarding their PA behavior and shared their ideas for future intervention efforts aimed at increasing PA among adolescents. Girls completed a survey assessing their perceptions of the Fitbit. Mean age of the girls was 15.3 years (SD=0.44). On average girls took 6,520 steps and walked 2.73 miles each day. Girls stated their favorite types of PA were walking, riding bike, and running. Most girls stated they did PA for 30 minutes or more at a time once a day or every other day. The top 3 facilitators of PA reported by girls were friends, family, and transportation. The top 3 barriers included health issues, lack of motivation, and weather. Top intervention ideas were community service projects, camps, and using a Fitbit activity tracker. Girls felt the best timing of a PA program would be in the summer. Fitbit survey results showed 100% of girls would use a Fitbit on most days if they had one. Ten (91%) girls wore the Fitbit on all days. Seven (64%) girls used the Fitbit app and all reported they liked it. Findings indicate that PA participation for this sample is consistent with previous studies. Adolescent girls are not meeting recommended daily guidelines for PA. Fitbit activity trackers were positively received by all participants and could be used in future interventions aimed at increasing PA for adolescent girls. PA interventions that take place in the summer with friends and include community service projects may increase PA and be well received by this population.

Keywords: adolescents, girls, interventions, physical activity

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Authors: Xinyue Jiao, Yu-Ren Lin

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Argumentation is an essential aspect of scientific thinking which has been widely concerned in recent reform of science education. The purpose of the present studies was to explore the influences of two variables termed ‘the argumentation strategy’ and ‘the kind of science concept’ on student’s web-based argumentation. The first variable was divided into either monological (which refers to individual’s internal discourse and inner chain reasoning) or dialectical (which refers to dialogue interaction between/among people). The other one was also divided into either descriptive (i.e., macro-level concept, such as phenomenon can be observed and tested directly) or theoretical (i.e., micro-level concept which is abstract, and cannot be tested directly in nature). The present study applied the quasi-experimental design in which 138 7th grade students were invited and then assigned to either monological group (N=70) or dialectical group (N=68) randomly. An argumentation learning program called ‘the PWAL’ was developed to improve their scientific argumentation abilities, such as arguing from multiple perspectives and based on scientific evidence. There were two versions of PWAL created. For the individual version, students can propose argument only through knowledge recall and self-reflecting process. On the other hand, the students were allowed to construct arguments through peers’ communication in the collaborative version. The PWAL involved three descriptive science concept-based topics (unit 1, 3 and 5) and three theoretical concept-based topics (unit 2, 4 and 6). Three kinds of scaffoldings were embedded into the PWAL: a) argument template, which was used for constructing evidence-based argument; b) the model of the Toulmin’s TAP, which shows the structure and elements of a sound argument; c) the discussion block, which enabled the students to review what had been proposed during the argumentation. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed. An analytical framework for coding students’ arguments proposed in the PWAL was constructed. The results showed that the argumentation approach has a significant effect on argumentation only in theoretical topics (f(1, 136)=48.2, p < .001, η2=2.62). The post-hoc analysis showed the students in the collaborative group perform significantly better than the students in the individual group (mean difference=2.27). However, there is no significant difference between the two groups regarding their argumentation in descriptive topics. Secondly, the students made significant progress in the PWAL from the earlier descriptive or theoretical topic to the later one. The results enabled us to conclude that the PWAL was effective for students’ argumentation. And the students’ peers’ interaction was essential for students to argue scientifically especially for the theoretical topic. The follow-up qualitative analysis showed student tended to generate arguments through critical dialogue interactions in the theoretical topic which promoted them to use more critiques and to evaluate and co-construct each other’s arguments. More explanations regarding the students’ web-based argumentation and the suggestions for the development of web-based science learning were proposed in our discussions.

Keywords: argumentation, collaborative learning, scientific concepts, web-based learning

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Authors: Fan Yu

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An atrium is a place for natural climate exchanging of indoor and outdoor space of buildings, which plays an active role in the overall energy conservation, climate control and environmental purification of buildings. Its greatest contribution is serving as a natural light collector and distributor to solve the problem of natural lighting in large and deep spaces. However, in real situations, the atrium space often results in energy consumption due to improper design in considering its big size and large amount use of glass. Based on the purpose of energy conservation of buildings, this paper emphasizes the significance of natural lighting of atriums. Through literature research, case analysis and other methods, four factors, namely: the light transmittance through the top of the atrium, the geometric proportion of the atrium space, the size and position of windows and the material of the surface of walls in the atrium, were studied, and the influence of different architectural compositions on the natural light distribution of the atrium is discussed. Relying on the analysis of relevant cases, it is proposed that when designing the natural lighting of the atrium, the height and width of the atrium should be paid attention to, the atrium walls are required being rough surfaces and the atrium top-level windows need to be minimized in order to introduce more natural light into the buildings and achieve the purpose of energy conservation.

Keywords: energy conservation, atrium, natural lighting, architectural design

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Authors: Gabriella Tjondro, Julita Dortua Laurentina Nainggolan

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Introduction: There are several things affecting menstrual cycle, namely, nutritional status, diet, financial status of one’s household and exercises. The most commonly used parameter to calculate the fat in a human body is body mass index. Therefore, it is necessary to do research to prevent complications caused by menstrual disorder in the future. Design Study: This research is an observational analytical study with the cross-sectional-case control approach. Participants (n = 124; median age = 19.5 years ± SD 3.5) were classified into 2 groups: normal, NM (n = 62; BMI = 18-23 kg/m²) and obese, OB (n = 62; BMI = > 25 kg/m²). BMI was calculated from the equation; BMI = weight, kg/height, m². Results: There were 79.10% from obese group who experienced menstrual cycle disorders (n=53, 79.10%; p value 0.00; OR 5.25) and 20.90% from normal BMI group with menstrual cycle disorders. There were several factors in this research that also influence the menstrual cycle disorders such as stress (44.78%; p value 0.00; OR 1.85), sleep disorders (25.37%; p value 0.00; OR 1.01), physical activities (25.37%; p value 0.00; OR 1.24) and diet (10.45%; p value 0.00; OR 1.07). Conclusion: There is a significant relation between body mass index (obese) and menstrual cycle disorders. However, BMI is not the only factor that affects the menstrual cycle disorders. There are several factors that also can affect menstrual cycle disorders, in this study we use stress, sleep disorders, physical activities and diet, in which none of them are dominant.

Keywords: menstrual disorders, menstrual cycle, obesity, body mass index, stress, sleep disorders, physical activities, diet

Procedia PDF Downloads 152