Search results for: current measurement

Authors: Septiany Trisnaningtyas

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Purpose: This research aims to examine the factors affecting the profitability of pharmaceutical company during the Covid-19 Pandemic in Indonesia. A sharp decline in the number of patients coming to the hospital for treatment during the pandemic has an impact on the growth of the pharmaceutical sector and brought major changes in financial position and business performance. Pharmaceutical companies that provide products related to the Covid-19 pandemic can survive and continue to grow. This study investigates the factors affecting the profitability of pharmaceutical company during the Covid-19 Pandemic in Indonesia associated with the number of Covid-19 cases. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses panel-data regression models to evaluate the influence of the number of Covid-19 confirmed cases on profitability of ninelisted pharmaceuticalcompanies in Indonesia. This research is based on four independent variables that were empirically examined for their relationship with profitability. These variables are liquidity (current ratio), growth rate (sales growth), firm size (total sales), and market power (the Lerner index). Covid-19 case is used as moderating variable. Data of nine pharmaceutical companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange covering the period of 2018–2021 were extracted from companies’ quarterly annual reports. Findings: In the period during Covid-19, company growth (sales growth) and market power (lerner index) have a positive and significant relationship to ROA and ROE. Total of confirmed Covid-19 cases has a positive and significant relationship to ROA and is proven to have a moderating effect between company’s growth (sales growth) to ROA and ROE and market power (Lerner index) to ROA. Research limitations/implications: Due to data availability, this study only includes data from nine listed pharmaceutical companies in Indonesian Stock exchange and quarterly annual reportscovering the period of 2018-2021. Originality/value: This study focuses onpharmaceutical companies in Indonesia during Covid-19 pandemic. Previous study analyzes the data from pharmaceutical companies’ annual reports since 2014 and focus on universal health coverage (national health insurance) implementation from the Indonesian government. This study analyzes the data using fixed effect panel-data regression models to evaluate the influence of Covid-19 confirmed cases on profitability. Pooled ordinary least squares regression and fixed effects were used to analyze the data in previous study. This study also investigate the moderating effect of Covid-19 confirmed cases to profitability in relevant with the pandemic situation.

Keywords: profitability, indonesia, pharmaceutical, Covid-19

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Authors: Alper Tolga Kumtepe, Erdem Erdogdu, M. Recep Okur, Eda Kaypak, Ozlem Kaya, Serap Ugur, Deniz Dincer, Hakan Yildirim

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Interaction is one of the most important components of open and distance learning. According to Moore, who proposed one of the keystones on interaction types, there are three basic types of interaction: learner-teacher, learner-content, and learner-learner. From these interaction types, learner-content interaction, without doubt, can be identified as the most fundamental one on which all education is based. Efficacy, efficiency, and attraction of open and distance learning systems can be achieved by the practice of effective learner-content interaction. With the development of new technologies, interactive e-learning materials have been commonly used as a resource in open and distance learning, along with the printed books. The intellectual engagement of the learners with the content that is course materials may also affect their satisfaction for the open and distance learning practices in general. Learner satisfaction holds an important place in open and distance learning since it will eventually contribute to the achievement of learning outcomes. Using the learner-content interaction activities in course materials, Anadolu University, by its Open Education system, tries to involve learners in deep and meaningful learning practices. Especially, during the e-learning material design and production processes, identifying appropriate learner-content interaction activities within the context of learning outcomes holds a big importance. Considering the lack of studies adopting this approach, as well as its being a study on the use of e-learning materials in Open Education system, this research holds a big value in open and distance learning literature. In this respect, the present study aimed to investigate a) which learner-content interaction activities included in interactive courses are the most effective in learners’ achievement of verbal information learning outcomes and b) to what extent distance learners are satisfied with these learner-content interaction activities. For this study, the quasi-experimental research design was adopted. The 120 participants of the study were from Anadolu University Open Education Faculty students living in Eskişehir. The students were divided into 6 groups randomly. While 5 of these groups received different learner-content interaction activities as a part of the experiment, the other group served as the control group. The data were collected mainly through two instruments: pre-test and post-test. In addition to those tests, learners’ perceived learning was assessed with an item at the end of the program. The data collected from pre-test and post-test were analyzed by ANOVA, and in the light of the findings of this approximately 24-month study, suggestions for the further design of e-learning materials within the context of learner-content interaction activities will be provided at the conference. The current study is planned to be an antecedent for the following studies that will examine the effects of activities on other learning domains.

Keywords: interaction, distance education, interactivity, online courses

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Authors: Gurjeet Singh, Harinder Singh

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In this paper, we present "The Language of Science in Higher Education: Related Questions and Discussions". Linguists have written and researched in depth the role of language in science. On this basis, it is clear that language is not just a medium or vehicle for communicating knowledge and ideas. Nor are there mere signs of language knowledge and conversion of ideas into code. In the process of reading and writing, everyone thinks deeply and struggles to understand concepts and make sense. Linguistics play an important role in achieving concepts. In the context of such linguistic diversity, there is no straightforward and simple answer to the question of which language should be the language of advanced science and technology. Many important topics related to this issue are as follows: Involvement in practical or Deep theoretical issues. Languages for the study of science and other subjects. Language issues of science to be considered separate from the development of science, capitalism, colonial history, the worldview of the common man. The democratization of science and technology education in India is possible only by providing maximum reading/resource material in regional languages. The scientific research should be increase to chances of understanding the subject. Multilingual instead or monolingual. As far as deepening the understanding of the subject is concerned, we can shed light on it based on two or three experiences. An attempt was made to make the famous sociological journal Economic and Political Weekly Hindi almost three decades ago. There were many obstacles in this work. The original articles written in Hindi were not found, and the papers and articles of the English Journal were translated into Hindi, and a journal called Sancha was taken out. Equally important is the democratization of knowledge and the deepening of understanding of the subject. However, the question is that if higher education in science is in Hindi or other languages, then it would be a problem to get job. In fact, since independence, English has been dominant in almost every field except literature. There are historical reasons for this, which cannot be reversed. As mentioned above, due to colonial rule, even before independence, English was established as a language of communication, the language of power/status, the language of higher education, the language of administration, and the language of scholarly discourse. After independence, attempts to make Hindi or Hindustani the national language in India were unsuccessful. Given this history and current reality, higher education should be multilingual or at least bilingual. Translation limits should also be increased for those who choose the material for translation. Writing in regional languages on science, making knowledge of various international languages available in Indian languages, etc., is equally important for all to have opportunities to learn English.

Keywords: language, linguistics, literature, culture, ethnography, punjabi, gurmukhi, higher education

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Authors: Kajori Banerjee, Laxmi Kant Dwivedi

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India is a part of the ongoing globalization, contemporary convergence, industrialization and technical advancement that is taking place world-wide. Some of the manifestations of this evolution is rapid demographic, socio-economic, epidemiological and health transition. There has been a considerable increase in non-communicable diseases due to change in lifestyle. This study aims to assess the direction of burden of disease and compare the pressure of infectious diseases against cardio-vascular, endocrine, metabolic and nutritional diseases. The change in prevalence in a ten-year period (2004-2014) is further decomposed to determine the net contribution of various socio-economic and demographic covariates. The present study uses the recent 71st (2014) and 60th (2004) rounds of National Sample Survey. The pressure of infectious diseases against cardio-vascular (CVD), endocrine, metabolic and nutritional (EMN) diseases during 2004-2014 is calculated by Prevalence Rates (PR), Hospitalization Rates (HR) and Case Fatality Rates (CFR). The prevalence of non-communicable diseases are further used as a dependent variable in a logit regression to find the effect of various social, economic and demographic factors on the chances of suffering from the particular disease. Multivariate decomposition technique further assists in determining the net contribution of socio-economic and demographic covariates. This paper upholds evidences of stagnation of the burden of communicable diseases (CD) and rapid increase in the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCD) uniformly for all population sub-groups in India. CFR for CVD has increased drastically in 2004-2014. Logit regression indicates the chances of suffering from CVD and EMN is significantly higher among the urban residents, older ages, females, widowed/ divorced and separated individuals. Decomposition displays ample proof that improvement in quality of life markers like education, urbanization, longevity of life has positively contributed in increasing the NCD prevalence rate. In India’s current epidemiological phase, compression theory of morbidity is in action as a significant rise in the probability of contracting the NCDs over the time period among older ages is observed. Age is found to play a vital contributor in increasing the probability of having CVD and EMN over the study decade 2004-2014 in the nationally representative sample of National Sample Survey.

Keywords: cardio-vascular disease, case-fatality rate, communicable diseases, hospitalization rate, multivariate decomposition, non-communicable diseases, prevalence rate

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Authors: Amit Gill, Lalith Wijerathne, Sebastian Poledna

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This research presents the details of the implementation of high performance computing (HPC) extension of agent-based economic models (ABEMs) to simulate hundreds of millions of heterogeneous agents. ABEMs offer an alternative approach to study the economy as a dynamic system of interacting heterogeneous agents, and are gaining popularity as an alternative to standard economic models. Over the last decade, ABEMs have been increasingly applied to study various problems related to monetary policy, bank regulations, etc. When it comes to predicting the effects of local economic disruptions, like major disasters, changes in policies, exogenous shocks, etc., on the economy of the country or the region, it is pertinent to study how the disruptions cascade through every single economic entity affecting its decisions and interactions, and eventually affect the economic macro parameters. However, such simulations with hundreds of millions of agents are hindered by the lack of HPC enhanced ABEMs. In order to address this, a scalable Distributed Memory Parallel (DMP) implementation of ABEMs has been developed using message passing interface (MPI). A balanced distribution of computational load among MPI-processes (i.e. CPU cores) of computer clusters while taking all the interactions among agents into account is a major challenge for scalable DMP implementations. Economic agents interact on several random graphs, some of which are centralized (e.g. credit networks, etc.) whereas others are dense with random links (e.g. consumption markets, etc.). The agents are partitioned into mutually-exclusive subsets based on a representative employer-employee interaction graph, while the remaining graphs are made available at a minimum communication cost. To minimize the number of communications among MPI processes, real-life solutions like the introduction of recruitment agencies, sales outlets, local banks, and local branches of government in each MPI-process, are adopted. Efficient communication among MPI-processes is achieved by combining MPI derived data types with the new features of the latest MPI functions. Most of the communications are overlapped with computations, thereby significantly reducing the communication overhead. The current implementation is capable of simulating a small open economy. As an example, a single time step of a 1:1 scale model of Austria (i.e. about 9 million inhabitants and 600,000 businesses) can be simulated in 15 seconds. The implementation is further being enhanced to simulate 1:1 model of Euro-zone (i.e. 322 million agents).

Keywords: agent-based economic model, high performance computing, MPI-communication, MPI-process

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Authors: Eun-Jeong Jang

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Inequality has been considered as a core issue in public policy. Korea is categorized into one of the countries in the high level of inequality, which matters to not only current but also future generations. The relationship between individuals' origin and destination has an implication of intergenerational inequality. The previous work on this was mostly conducted at macro level using panel data to our knowledge. However, in this level, there is no room to track down what happened during the time between origin and destination. Individuals' origin is represented by their parents' socio-economic status, and in the same way, destination is translated into their own socio-economic status. The first research question is that how origin is related to the destination. Certainly, destination is highly affected by origin. In this view, people's destination is already set to be more or less than a reproduction of previous generations. However, educational achievement is widely believed as an independent factor from the origin. From this point of view, there is a possibility to change the path given by parents by educational attainment. Hence, the second research question would be that how education is related to destination and also, which factor is more influential to destination between origin and education. Also, the focus lies in the mediation of education between origin and destination, which would be the third research question. Socio-economic status in this study is referring to class as a sociological term, as well as wealth including labor and capital income, as an economic term. The combination of class and wealth would be expected to give more accurate picture about the hierarchy in a society. In some cases of non-manual and professional occupations, even though they are categorized into relatively high class, their income is much lower than those who in the same class. Moreover, it is one way to overcome the limitation of the retrospective view during survey. Education is measured as an absolute term, the years of schooling, and also as a relative term, the rank of school. Moreover, all respondents were asked the effort scaled by time intensity, self-motivation, before and during the course of their college based on a standard questionnaire academic achieved model provides. This research is based on a survey at an individual level. The target for sampling is an individual who has a job, regardless of gender, including income-earners and self-employed people and aged between thirties and forties because this age group is considered to reach the stage of job stability. In most cases, the researcher met respondents person to person visiting their work place or home and had a chance to interview some of them. One hundred forty individual data collected from May to August in 2017. It will be analyzed by multiple regression (Q1, Q2) and structural equation modeling (Q3).

Keywords: class, destination, educational achievement, effort, income, origin, socio-economic status, South Korea

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Authors: S. Ping Ho, R. Dahal

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The global economy has drastically changed how firms operate and compete. Although the construction industry is ‘local’ by its nature, the internationalization of the construction industry has become an inevitable reality. As a result of global competition, staying domestic is no longer safe from competition and, on the contrary, to grow and become an MNE (multi-national enterprise) becomes one of the important strategies for a firm to survive in the global competition. For the successful entrance into competing markets, the firms need to re-define their competitive advantages and re-identify the sources of the competitive advantages. A firm’s initiation of internationalization is not necessarily a result of strategic planning but also involves certain idiosyncratic events that pave the path leading to a firm’s internationalization. For example, a local firm’s incidental or unintentional collaboration with an MNE can become the initiating point of its internationalization process. However, because of the intensive competition in today’s global movement, many firms were compelled to initiate their internationalization as a strategic response to the competition. Understandingly stepping in in the process of internationalization and appropriately implementing the strategies (in the process) at different stages lead the construction firms to a successful internationalization journey. This study is carried out to develop a model of the internationalization process, which derives appropriate strategies that the construction firms can implement at each stage. The proposed model integrates two major and complementary views of internationalization and expresses the dynamic process of internationalization in three stages, which are the pre-international (PRE) stage, the foreign direct investment (FDI) stage, and the multi-national enterprise (MNE) stage. The strategies implied in the proposed model are derived, focusing on capability building, market locations, and entry modes based on the resource-based views: value, rareness, imitability, and substitutability (VRIN). With the proposed dynamic process model the potential construction firms which are willing to expand their business market area can be benefitted. Strategies for internationalization, such as core competence strategy, market selection, partner selection, and entry mode strategy, can be derived from the proposed model. The internationalization process is expressed in two different forms. First, we discuss the construction internationalization process, identify the driving factor/s of the process, and explain the strategy formation in the process. Second, we define the stages of internationalization along the process and the corresponding strategies in each stage. The strategies may include how to exploit existing advantages for the competition at the current stage and develop or explore additional advantages appropriate for the next stage. Particularly, the additionally developed advantages will then be accumulated and drive forward the firm’s stage of internationalization, which will further determine the subsequent strategies, and so on and so forth, spiraling up the stages of a higher degree of internationalization. However, the formation of additional strategies for the next stage does not happen automatically, and the strategy evolution is based on the firm’s dynamic capabilities.

Keywords: construction industry, dynamic capabilities, internationalization process, internationalization strategies, strategic management

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Authors: B. Kriheli, E. Levner, T. C. E. Cheng, C. T. Ng

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During the last decades, research interest in planning, scheduling, and control of emergency response operations, especially people rescue and evacuation from the dangerous zone of marine accidents, has increased dramatically. Until the survivors (called ‘targets’) are found and saved, it may cause loss or damage whose extent depends on the location of the targets and the search duration. The problem is to efficiently search for and detect/rescue the targets as soon as possible with the help of intelligent mobile robots so as to maximize the number of saved people and/or minimize the search cost under restrictions on the amount of saved people within the allowable response time. We consider a special situation when the autonomous mobile robots (AMR), e.g., unmanned aerial vehicles and remote-controlled robo-ships have no operator on board as they are guided and completely controlled by on-board sensors and computer programs. We construct a mathematical model for the search process in an uncertain environment and provide a new fast algorithm for scheduling the activities of the autonomous robots during the search-and rescue missions after an accident at sea. We presume that in the unknown environments, the AMR’s search-and-rescue activity is subject to two types of error: (i) a 'false-negative' detection error where a target object is not discovered (‘overlooked') by the AMR’s sensors in spite that the AMR is in a close neighborhood of the latter and (ii) a 'false-positive' detection error, also known as ‘a false alarm’, in which a clean place or area is wrongly classified by the AMR’s sensors as a correct target. As the general resource-constrained discrete search problem is NP-hard, we restrict our study to finding local-optimal strategies. A specificity of the considered operational research problem in comparison with the traditional Kadane-De Groot-Stone search models is that in our model the probability of the successful search outcome depends not only on cost/time/probability parameters assigned to each individual location but, as well, on parameters characterizing the entire history of (unsuccessful) search before selecting any next location. We provide a fast approximation algorithm for finding the AMR route adopting a greedy search strategy in which, in each step, the on-board computer computes a current search effectiveness value for each location in the zone and sequentially searches for a location with the highest search effectiveness value. Extensive experiments with random and real-life data provide strong evidence in favor of the suggested operations research model and corresponding algorithm.

Keywords: disaster management, intelligent robots, scheduling algorithm, search-and-rescue at sea

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Authors: Khrystyna Pavlyk

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In the OECD countries, percentage of adults with higher education degrees has increased by 10 % during 2000-2010. Continuously increasing demand for higher education gives universities a chance of becoming key players in socio-economic development of a territory (region or city) via knowledge creation, knowledge transfer, and knowledge spillovers. During previous decade, universities have tried to support spin-offs and start-ups, introduced courses on sustainability and corporate social responsibility. While much has been done, new trends are starting to emerge in search of better approaches. Recently a number of universities created centers that conduct research in a field social entrepreneurship, which in turn underpin educational programs run at these universities. The list includes but is not limited to the Centre for Social Economy at University of Liège, Institute for Social Innovation at ESADE, Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford, Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Rosklide, Social Entrepreneurship Initiative at INSEAD. Existing literature already examined social entrepreneurship centers in terms of position in the institutional structure, initial and additional funding, teaching initiatives, research achievements, and outreach activities. At the same time, Universities can become social enterprises themselves. Previous research revealed that universities use both business and social entrepreneurship models. Universities which are mainly driven by a social mission are more likely to transform into social entrepreneurial institutions. At the same time, currently, there is no clear understanding of what social entrepreneurship in higher education is about and thus social entrepreneurship in higher education needs to be studied and promoted at the same time. Main roles which socially oriented university can play in city development include: buyer (implementation of socially focused local procurement programs creates partnerships focused on local sustainable growth.); seller (centers created by universities can sell socially oriented goods and services, e.g. in consultancy.); employer (Universities can employ socially vulnerable groups.); business incubator (which will help current student to start their social enterprises). In the paper, we will analyze these in more detail. We will also examine a number of indicators that can be used to assess the impact, both direct and indirect, that universities can have on city's economy. At the same time, originality of this paper mainly lies not in methodological approaches used, but in countries evaluated. Social entrepreneurship is still treated as a relatively new phenomenon in post-transitional countries where social services were provided only by the state for many decades. Paper will provide data and example’s both from developed countries (the US and EU), and those located in CIS and CEE region.

Keywords: social enterprise, university, regional economic development, comparative study

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Authors: Varsha Tol, Laila Garda, Neelam Bhardwaj, Malata Usar

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In India, differently- abled girls suffer from a “dual stigma” of being female and physically challenged. The general consensus is that they are incapable of standing on their own two feet. It was observed that these girls do not have access to educational programs as most hostels do not keep them after the tenth grade. They are forced to return to a life of poverty and are often considered a liability by their families. Higher education is completely ignored. Parents focus on finding a husband and passing on their ‘burden’ to someone else. An innovative, intervention for differently-abled adolescent girls with the express purpose of mainstreaming them into society was started by Helplife. The objective was to enrich the lives of these differently abled adolescent girls through precise research, focused intervention and professionalism. This programme addresses physical, mental and social rehabilitation of the girls who come from impoverished backgrounds. These adolescents are reached by word of mouth, snowball technique and through the network of the NGO. Applications are invited from potential candidates which are scrutinized by a panel of experts. Selection criteria include her disability, socio-economic status, and desire and drive to make a difference in her own life. The six main areas of intervention are accommodation, education, health, professional courses, counseling and recreational activities. Each girl on an average resides in Helplife for a period of 2-3 years. Analysis of qualitative data collected at various time points indicates holistic development of character. A quality of life questionnaire showed a significant improvement in scores at three different time points in 75% of the current population under intervention i.e. 19 girls. Till date, 25 girls have successfully passed out from the intervention program completing their graduation/post-graduation. Currently, we have 19 differently abled girls housed in three flats in Pune district of Maharashtra. Out of which 14 girls are pursuing their graduation or post-graduation. Six of the girls are working in jobs in various sectors. In conclusion it may be noted with adequate support and guidance the sky is the limit. This journey of 12 years has been a learning for us with ups and downs modifying the intervention at every step. Helplife has a belief of impacting positively, individual lives of differently abled girls in order to empower them in a holistic manner. The intervention has a positive impact on differently abled girls. They serve as role models to other differently abled girls indicating that this is a road map to success by getting empowered to live with full potential and get integrated in the society in a dignified way.

Keywords: differently-abled, dual-stigma, empowerment, youth

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Authors: Desta Kebede Ayana, Lies Sercu, Demelash Mengistu

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The study is set in Ethiopia, a sub-Saharan multilingual, multiethnic African country, which has seen a significant increase in the number of universities in recent years. The aim of this growth is to provide access to education for all cultural and linguistic groups across the country. However, there are challenges in promoting intercultural competence among students in this diverse context. The aim of the study is to investigate the interculturalization of Ethiopian Higher Education Institutions as perceived by university lecturers and administrators. In particular, the study aims to determine the level of support for this educational innovation and gather suggestions for its implementation and institutionalization. The researchers employed semi-structured interviews with administrators and lecturers from two large Ethiopian universities to gather data. Thematic analysis was utilized for coding and analyzing the interview data, with the assistance of the NVIVO software. The findings obtained from the grounded analysis of the interview data reveal that while there are opportunities for interculturalization in the curriculum and campus life, support for educational innovation remains low. Administrators and lecturers also emphasize the government's responsibility to prioritize interculturalization over other educational innovation goals. The study contributes to the existing literature by examining an under-researched population in an under-researched context. Additionally, the study explores whether Western perspectives of intercultural competence align with the African context, adding to the theoretical understanding of intercultural education. The data for this study was collected through semi-structured interviews conducted with administrators and lecturers from two large Ethiopian universities. The interviews allowed for an in-depth exploration of the participants' views on interculturalization in higher education. Thematic analysis was applied to the interview data, allowing for the identification and organization of recurring themes and patterns. The analysis was conducted using the NVIVO software, which aided in coding and analyzing the data. The study addresses the extent to which administrators and lecturers support the interculturalization of Ethiopian Higher Education Institutions. It also explores their suggestions for implementing and institutionalizing intercultural education, as well as their perspectives on the current level of institutionalization. The study highlights the challenges in interculturalizing Ethiopian universities and emphasizes the need for greater support and prioritization of intercultural education. It also underscores the importance of considering the African context when conceptualizing intercultural competence. This research contributes to the understanding of intercultural education in diverse contexts and provides valuable insights for policymakers and educational institutions aiming to promote intercultural competence in higher education settings.

Keywords: administrators, educational change, Ethiopia, intercultural competence, lecturers

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Authors: Elena Maria Scalisi, Roberta Pecoraro, Martina Contino, Sara Ignoto, Carmelo Iaria, Santi Concetto Pavone, Gino Sorbello, Loreto Di Donato, Maria Violetta Brundo

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5G Technology is evolving to satisfy a variety of service requirements that may allow high data-rate connections (1Gbps) and lower latency times than current (<1ms). In order to support a high data transmission speed and a high traffic service for eMBB (enhanced mobile broadband) use cases, 5G systems have the characteristic of using different frequency bands of the radio wave spectrum (700 MHz, 3.6-3.8 GHz and 26.5-27.5 GHz), thus taking advantage of higher frequencies than previous mobile radio generations (1G-4G). However, waves at higher frequencies have a lower capacity to propagate in free space and therefore, in order to guarantee the capillary coverage of the territory for high reliability applications, it will be necessary to install a large number of repeaters. Following the introduction of this new technology, there has been growing concern over the past few months about possible harmful effects on human health. The aim of this preliminary study is to evaluate possible short term effects induced by 5G-millimeter waves on embryonic development and early life stages of Danio rerio by Z-FET. We exposed developing zebrafish at frequency of 27 GHz, with a standard pyramidal horn antenna placed at 15 cm far from the samples holder ensuring an incident power density of 10 mW/cm2. During the exposure cycle, from 6 h post fertilization (hpf) to 96 hpf, we measured a different morphological endpoints every 24 hours. Zebrafish embryo toxicity test (Z-FET) is a short term test, carried out on fertilized eggs of zebrafish and it represents an effective alternative to acute test with adult fish (OECD, 2013). We have observed that 5G did not reveal significant impacts on mortality nor on morphology because exposed larvae showed a normal detachment of the tail, presence of heartbeat, well-organized somites, therefore hatching rate was lower than untreated larvae even at 48 h of exposure. Moreover, the immunohistochemical analysis performed on larvae showed a negativity to the HSP-70 expression used as a biomarkers. This is a preliminary study on evaluation of potential toxicity induced by 5G and it seems appropriate to underline the importance that further studies would take, aimed at clarifying the probable real risk of exposure to electromagnetic fields.

Keywords: Biomarker of exposure, embryonic development, 5G waves, zebrafish embryo toxicity test

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Authors: D. Y. Fong, C. Y. Kuo, Y. T. Chiang, W. C. Lin

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Objectives: Qigong is an ancient Chinese practice in pursuit of a healthier body and a more peaceful mindset. It emphasizes on the restoration of vital energy (Qi) in body, mind, and spirit. The practice is the combination of gentle movements and mild breathing which help the doers reach the condition of tranquility. On account of the features of Qigong, first, we use cross-sectional methodology to compare the differences among the varied levels of Qigong practitioners on cognitive function with event-related potential (ERP) and electroencephalography (EEG). Second, we use the longitudinal methodology to explore the effects on the Qigong trainees for pretest and posttest on ERP and EEG. Current study adopts Attentional Network Test (ANT) task to examine the participants’ cognitive function, and aging-related researches demonstrated a declined tread on the cognition in older adults and exercise might ameliorate the deterioration. Qigong exercise integrates physical posture (muscle strength), breathing technique (aerobic ability) and focused intention (attention) that researchers hypothesize it might improve the cognitive function in aging adults. Method: Sixty participants were involved in this study, including 20 young adults (21.65±2.41 y) with normal physical activity (YA), 20 Qigong experts (60.69 ± 12.42 y) with over 7 years Qigong practice experience (QE), and 20 normal and healthy adults (52.90±12.37 y) with no Qigong practice experience as experimental group (EG). The EG participants took Qigong classes 2 times a week and 2 hours per time for 24 weeks with the purpose of examining the effect of Qigong intervention on cognitive function. ANT tasks (alert network, orient network, and executive control) were adopted to evaluate participants’ cognitive function via ERP’s P300 components and P300 amplitude topography. Results: Behavioral data: 1.The reaction time (RT) of YA is faster than the other two groups, and EG was faster than QE in the cue and flanker conditions of ANT task. 2. The RT of posttest was faster than pretest in EG in the cue and flanker conditions. 3. No difference among the three groups on orient, alert, and execute control networks. ERP data: 1. P300 amplitude detection in QE was larger than EG at Fz electrode in orient, alert, and execute control networks. 2. P300 amplitude in EG was larger at pretest than posttest on the orient network. 3. P300 Latency revealed no difference among the three groups in the three networks. Conclusion: Taken together these findings, they provide neuro-electrical evidence that older adults involved in Qigong practice may develop a more overall compensatory mechanism and also benefit the performance of behavior.

Keywords: Qigong, cognitive function, aging, event-related potential (ERP)

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Authors: Shoury Gupta

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Chatbots are a rapidly growing technological trend that has revolutionized the way businesses interact with their customers. With the advancements in artificial intelligence, chatbots can now mimic human-like conversations and provide instant and efficient responses to customer inquiries. In this research paper, we aim to explore the implications of chatbots on the future of globalization for both businesses and consumers. The paper begins by providing an overview of the current state of chatbots in the global market and their growth potential in the future. The focus is on how chatbots have become a valuable tool for businesses looking to expand their global reach, especially in areas with high population density and language barriers. With chatbots, businesses can engage with customers in different languages and provide 24/7 customer service support, creating a more accessible and convenient customer experience. The paper then examines the impact of chatbots on cross-cultural communication and how they can help bridge communication gaps between businesses and consumers from different cultural backgrounds. Chatbots can potentially facilitate cross-cultural communication by offering real-time translations, voice recognition, and other innovative features that can help users communicate effectively across different languages and cultures. By providing more accessible and inclusive communication channels, chatbots can help businesses reach new markets and expand their customer base, making them more competitive in the global market. However, the paper also acknowledges that there are potential drawbacks associated with chatbots. For instance, chatbots may not be able to address complex customer inquiries that require human input. Additionally, chatbots may perpetuate biases if they are programmed with certain stereotypes or assumptions about different cultures. These drawbacks may have significant implications for businesses and consumers alike. To explore the implications of chatbots on the future of globalization in greater detail, the paper provides a thorough review of existing literature and case studies. The review covers topics such as the benefits of chatbots for businesses and consumers, the potential drawbacks of chatbots, and how businesses can mitigate any risks associated with chatbot use. The paper also discusses the ethical considerations associated with chatbot use, such as privacy concerns and the need to ensure that chatbots do not discriminate against certain groups of people. The ethical implications of chatbots are particularly important given the potential for chatbots to be used in sensitive areas such as healthcare and financial services. Overall, this research paper provides a comprehensive analysis of chatbots and their implications for the future of globalization. By exploring both the potential benefits and drawbacks of chatbot use, the paper aims to provide insights into how businesses and consumers can leverage this technology to achieve greater global reach and improve cross-cultural communication. Ultimately, the paper concludes that chatbots have the potential to be a powerful tool for businesses looking to expand their global footprint and improve their customer experience, but that care must be taken to mitigate any risks associated with their use.

Keywords: chatbots, conversational AI, globalization, businesses

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Authors: Ahmed Elsayed, Andrew Shea, Nicolas Kelly, John Allison

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In northern European climates, domestic space heating and hot water represents a significant proportion of total primary total primary energy use and meeting these demands from a national electricity grid network supplied by renewable energy sources provides an opportunity for a significant reduction in EU CO₂ emissions. However, in order to adapt to the intermittent nature of renewable energy generation and to avoid co-incident peak electricity usage from consumers that may exceed current capacity, the demand for heat must be decoupled from its generation. Storage of heat within the fabric of dwellings for use some hours, or days, later provides a route to complete decoupling of demand from supply and facilitates the greatly increased use of renewable energy generation into a local or national electricity network. The integration of thermal energy storage into the building fabric for retrieval at a later time requires much evaluation of the many competing thermal, physical, and practical considerations such as the profile and magnitude of heat demand, the duration of storage, charging and discharging rate, storage media, space allocation, etc. In this paper, the authors report investigations of thermal storage in building fabric using concrete material and present an evaluation of several factors that impact upon performance including heating pipe layout, heating fluid flow velocity, storage geometry, thermo-physical material properties, and also present an investigation of alternative storage materials and alternative heat transfer fluids. Reducing the heating pipe spacing from 200 mm to 100 mm enhances the stored energy by 25% and high-performance Vacuum Insulation results in heat loss flux of less than 3 W/m², compared to 22 W/m² for the more conventional EPS insulation. Dense concrete achieved the greatest storage capacity, relative to medium and light-weight alternatives, although a material thickness of 100 mm required more than 5 hours to charge fully. Layers of 25 mm and 50 mm thickness can be charged in 2 hours, or less, facilitating a fast response that could, aggregated across multiple dwellings, provide significant and valuable reduction in demand from grid-generated electricity in expected periods of high demand and potentially eliminate the need for additional new generating capacity from conventional sources such as gas, coal, or nuclear.

Keywords: fabric integrated thermal storage, FITS, demand side management, energy storage, load shifting, renewable energy integration

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Authors: Heba Salama, Barry Gibson, Jennifer Burr

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Introduction: It is often argued that better oral health leads to better wellbeing, and the goal of dental care is to improve wellbeing. Notwithstanding, to our best knowledge, there is a lack of evidence to support the relationship between oral health and wellbeing. Aim: The scoping review aims to examine current definitions of health and wellbeing as well as map the evidence to examine the relationship between oral health and wellbeing. Methods: The scoping review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews Extension for Scoping Review (PRISMA-ScR). A two-phase search strategy was followed because of the unmanageable number of hits returned. The first phase was to identify how well-being was conceptualised in oral health literacy, and the second phase was to search for extracted keywords. The extracted keywords were searched in four databases: PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Web of Science. To limit the number of studies to a manageable amount, the search was limited to the open-access studies that have been published in the last five years (from 2018 to 2022). Results: Only eight studies (0.1%) of the 5455 results met the review inclusion criteria. Most of the included studies defined wellbeing based on the hedonic theory. And the Satisfaction with Life Scale is the most used. Although the research results are inconsistent, it has generally been shown that there is a weak or no association between oral health and wellbeing. Interpretation: The review revealed a very important point about how oral health literature uses loose definitions that have significant implications for empirical research. That results in misleading evidence-based conclusions. According to the review results, improving oral health is not a key factor in improving wellbeing. It appears that investing in oral health care to improve wellbeing is not a top priority to tell policymakers about. This does not imply that there should be no investment in oral health care to improve oral health. That could have an indirect link to wellbeing by eliminating the potential oral health-related barriers to quality of life that could represent the foundation of wellbeing. Limitation: Only the most recent five years (2018–2022), peer-reviewed English-language literature, and four electronic databases were included in the search. These restrictions were put in place to keep the volume of literature at a manageable level. This suggests that some significant studies might have been omitted. Furthermore, the study used a definition of wellbeing that is currently being evolved and might not everyone agrees with it. Conclusion: Whilst it is a ubiquitous argument that oral health is related to wellbeing, and this seems logical, there is little empirical evidence to support this claim. This question, therefore, requires much more detailed consideration. Funding: This project was funded by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Libya and Tripoli University.

Keywords: oral health, wellbeing, satisfaction, emotion, quality of life, oral health related quality of life

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Authors: Azza El-Medany, Jamila El-Medany

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Residential and agricultural pesticide use is widespread in the world. Their extensive and indiscriminative use, in addition with their ability to interact with biological systems other than their primary targets constitute a health hazards to both humans and animals. The toxic effects of pesticides include alterations in metabolism; there is a lack of knowledge that organophosphates can cause pancreatic toxicity. The primary goal of this work is to study the effects of chronic exposure to Diazinon an organophosphate used in agriculture on pancreatic tissues and evaluate the ameliorating effect of Mesna as antioxidant on the toxicity of Diazinon on pancreatic tissues.40 adult male rats, their weight ranged between 300-350 g. The rats were classified into three groups; control (10 rats) was received corn oil at a dose of 1 0 mg/kg/day by gavage once a day for 2 months. Diazinon (15 rats) was received Diazinon at a dose of 10 mg/kg/day dissolved in corn oil by gavage once a day for 2 months. Treated group (15 rats), were received Mesna 180mg/kg once a week by gavage 15 minutes before administration of Diazinon for 2 months. At the end of the experiment, animals were anesthetized, blood samples were taken by cardiac puncture for glucose and insulin assays and pancreas was removed and divided into 3 portions; first portion for histopathological study; second portion for ultrastructural study; third portion for biochemical study using Elisa Kits including determination of malondialdehyde (MDA), tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), myeloperoxidase activity (MPO), interleukin 1β (IL-1β). A significant increase in the levels of MDA, TNF-α, MPO activity, IL-1β, serum glucose levels in the toxicated group with Diazinon were observed, while a significant reduction was noticed in GSH in serum insulin levels. After treatment with Mesna a significant reduction was observed in the previously mentioned parameters except that there was a significant rise in GSH in insulin levels. Histopathological and ultra-structural studies showed destruction in pancreatic tissues and β cells were the most affected cells among the injured islets as compared with the control group. The current study try to spot light about the effects of chronic exposure to pesticides on vital organs as pancreas also the role of oxidative stress that may be induced by them in evoking their toxicity. This study shows the role of antioxidant drugs in ameliorating or preventing the toxicity. This appears to be a promising approach that may be considered as a complementary treatment of pesticide toxicity.

Keywords: Diazinon, reduced glutathione, myeloperoxidase activity, tumor necrosis factor α, Mesna

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Authors: Marinella Majorano, Rachele Ferrari, Tamara Bastianello

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The recent technological advance allows for applying innovative and multimedia screen-based assessment tools to test children's language and early literacy skills, monitor their growth over the preschool years, and test their readiness for primary school. Several are the advantages that a computer-based assessment tool offers with respect to paper-based tools. Firstly, computer-based tools which provide the use of games, videos, and audio may be more motivating and engaging for children, especially for those with language difficulties. Secondly, computer-based assessments are generally less time-consuming than traditional paper-based assessments: this makes them less demanding for children and provides clinicians and researchers, but also teachers, with the opportunity to test children multiple times over the same school year and, thus, to monitor their language growth more systematically. Finally, while paper-based tools require offline coding, computer-based tools sometimes allow obtaining automatically calculated scores, thus producing less subjective evaluations of the assessed skills and provide immediate feedback. Nonetheless, using computer-based assessment tools to test meta-phonological and language skills in children is not yet common practice in Italy. The present contribution aims to estimate the internal consistency of a computer-based assessment (i.e., the Simo-syl assessment). Sixty-three Italian pre-schoolers aged between 4;10 and 5;9 years were tested at the beginning of the last year of the preschool through paper-based standardised tools in their lexical (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test), morpho-syntactical (Grammar Repetition Test for Children), meta-phonological (Meta-Phonological skills Evaluation test), and phono-articulatory skills (non-word repetition). The same children were tested through Simo-syl assessment on their phonological and meta-phonological skills (e.g., recognise syllables and vowels and read syllables and words). The internal consistency of the computer-based tool was acceptable (Cronbach's alpha = .799). Children's scores obtained in the paper-based assessment and scores obtained in each task of the computer-based assessment were correlated. Significant and positive correlations emerged between all the tasks of the computer-based assessment and the scores obtained in the CMF (r = .287 - .311, p < .05) and in the correct sentences in the RCGB (r = .360 - .481, p < .01); non-word repetition standardised test significantly correlates with the reading tasks only (r = .329 - .350, p < .05). Further tasks should be included in the current version of Simo-syl to have a comprehensive and multi-dimensional approach when assessing children. However, such a tool represents a good chance for the teachers to early identifying language-related problems even in the school environment.

Keywords: assessment, computer-based, early identification, language-related skills

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Authors: Sara Saboonian, Pierre Filion

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There are two distinct planning approaches attempting to transform the North American suburb so as to reduce its adverse environmental impacts. The first one, the recentralization approach, proposes intensification, multi-functionality and more reliance on public transit and walking. It thus offers an alternative to the prevailing low-density, spatial specialization and automobile dependence of the North American suburb. The second approach concentrates instead on the provision of green infrastructure, which rely on natural systems rather than on highly engineered solutions to deal with the infrastructure needs of suburban areas. There are tensions between these two approaches as recentralization generally overlooks green infrastructure, which can be space consuming (as in the case of water retention systems), and thus conflicts with the intensification goals of recentralization. The research investigates three Canadian planned suburban centres in the Greater Toronto Area, where recentralization is the current planning practice, despite rising awareness of the benefits of green infrastructure. Methods include reviewing the literature on green infrastructure planning, a critical analysis of the Ontario provincial plans for recentralization, surveying residents’ preferences regarding alternative suburban development models, and interviewing officials who deal with the local planning of the three centres. The case studies expose the difficulties in creating planned suburban centres that accommodate green infrastructure while adhering to recentralization principles. Until now, planners have been mostly focussed on recentralization at the expense of green infrastructure. In this context, the frequent lack of compatibility between recentralization and the space requirements of green infrastructure explains the limited presence of such infrastructures in planned suburban centres. Finally, while much attention has been given in the planning discourse to the economic and lifestyle benefits of recentralization, much less has been made of the wide range of advantages of green infrastructure, which explains limited public mobilization over the development of green infrastructure networks. The paper will concentrate on ways of combining recentralization with green infrastructure strategies and identify the aspects of the two approaches that are most compatible with each other. The outcome of such blending will marry high density, public-transit oriented developments, which generate walkability and street-level animation, with the presence of green space, naturalized settings and reliance on renewable energy. The paper will advance a planning framework that will fuse green infrastructure with recentralization, thus ensuring the achievement of higher density and reduced reliance on the car along with the provision of critical ecosystem services throughout cities. This will support and enhance the objectives of both green infrastructure and recentralization.

Keywords: environmental-based planning, green infrastructure, multi-functionality, recentralization

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Authors: Bina Gupta, Rashmi Singh, Harshit Mahandra

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Molybdenum is a strategic metal and finds applications in petroleum refining, thermocouples, X-ray tubes and in making of steel alloy owing to its high melting temperature and tensile strength. The growing significance and economic value of molybdenum has increased interest in the development of efficient processes aiming its recovery from secondary sources. Main secondary sources of Mo are molybdenum catalysts which are used for hydrodesulphurisation process in petrochemical refineries. The activity of these catalysts gradually decreases with time during the desulphurisation process as the catalysts get contaminated with toxic material and are dumped as waste which leads to environmental issues. In this scenario, recovery of molybdenum from spent catalyst is significant from both economic and environmental point of view. Recently ionic liquids have gained prominence due to their low vapour pressure, high thermal stability, good extraction efficiency and recycling capacity. The present study reports recovery of molybdenum from Mo-Co spent leach liquor using Cyphos IL 102[trihexyl(tetradecyl)phosphonium bromide] as an extractant. Spent catalyst was leached with 3.0 mol/L HCl, and the leach liquor containing Mo-870 ppm, Co-341 ppm, Al-508 ppm and Fe-42 ppm was subjected to extraction step. The effect of extractant concentration on the leach liquor was investigated and almost 85% extraction of Mo was achieved with 0.05 mol/L Cyphos IL 102. Results of stripping studies revealed that 2.0 mol/L HNO3 can effectively strip 94% of the extracted Mo from the loaded organic phase. McCabe- Thiele diagrams were constructed to determine the number of stages required for quantitative extraction and stripping of molybdenum and were confirmed by countercurrent simulation studies. According to McCabe- Thiele extraction and stripping isotherms, two stages are required for quantitative extraction and stripping of molybdenum at A/O= 1:1. Around 95.4% extraction of molybdenum was achieved in two-stage counter current at A/O= 1:1 with the negligible extraction of Co and Al. However, iron was coextracted and removed from the loaded organic phase by scrubbing with 0.01 mol/L HCl. Quantitative stripping (~99.5 %) of molybdenum was achieved with 2.0 mol/L HNO₃ in two stages at O/A=1:1. Overall ~95.0% molybdenum with 99 % purity was recovered from Mo-Co spent catalyst. From the strip solution, MoO₃ was obtained by crystallization followed by thermal decomposition. The product obtained after thermal decomposition was characterized by XRD, FE-SEM and EDX techniques. XRD peaks of MoO₃ correspond to molybdite Syn-MoO₃ structure. FE-SEM depicts the rod-like morphology of synthesized MoO₃. EDX analysis of MoO₃ shows 1:3 atomic percentage of molybdenum and oxygen. The synthesised MoO₃ can find application in gas sensors, electrodes of batteries, display devices, smart windows, lubricants and as a catalyst.

Keywords: cyphos Il 102, extraction, spent mo-co catalyst, recovery

Procedia PDF Downloads 158

Authors: Balaji Devanathan, Gokul G, Raveena Divya, Abhishek Yadav, Sudhir K.Gupta

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Background: Age estimation is a common problem in administrative settings, medico legal cases, and among athletes competing in different sports. Age estimation is a problem in medico legal problems that arise in hospitals when there has been a criminal abortion, when consenting to surgery or a general physical examination, when there has been infanticide, impotence, sterility, etc. Medical imaging progress has benefited forensic anthropology in various ways, most notably in the area of determining bone age. An efficient method for researching the epiphyseal union and other differences in the body's bones and joints is multi-slice computed tomography. There isn't a significant database on Indians available. So to obtain an Indian based database author has performed this original study. Methodologies: The appearance and fusion of ossification centre of sternoclavicular joint is evaluated, and grades were assigned accordingly. Using MSCT scans, we examined the relationship between the age of the deceased and alterations in the sternoclavicular joint during the appearance and union in 500 instances, 327 men and 173 females, in the age range of 0 to 25 years. Results: According to our research in both the male and female groups, the ossification centre for the medial end of the clavicle first appeared between the ages of 18.5 and 17.1 respectively. The age range of the partial union was 20.4 and 20.2 years old. The earliest age of complete fusion was 23 years for males and 22 years for females. For fusion of their sternebrae into one, age range is 11–24 years for females and 17–24 years. The fusion of the third and fourth sternebrae was completed by 11 years. The fusions of the first and second and second and third sternebrae occur by the age of 17 years. Furthermore, correlation and reliability were carried out which yielded significant results. Conclusion: With numerous exceptions, the projected values are consistent with a large number of the previously developed age charts. These variations may be caused by the ethnic or regional heterogeneity in the ossification pattern among the population under study. The pattern of bone maturation did not significantly differ between the sexes, according to the study. The study's age range was 0 to 25 years, and for obvious reasons, the majority of the occurrences occurred in the last five years, or between 20 and 25 years of age. This resulted in a comparatively smaller study population for the 12–18 age group, where age estimate is crucial because of current legal requirements. It will require specialized PMCT research in this age range to produce population standard charts for age estimate. The medial end of the clavicle is one of several ossification foci that are being thoroughly investigated since they are challenging to assess with a traditional X-ray examination. Combining the two has been shown to be a valid result when it comes to raising the age beyond eighteen.

Keywords: age estimation, sternoclavicular joint, medial clavicle, computed tomography

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Authors: Amin Asgarian, Ghyslaine McClure

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Proper seismic evaluation of Non-Structural Components (NSCs) mandates an accurate estimation of floor seismic demands (i.e. acceleration and displacement demands). Most of the current international codes incorporate empirical equations to calculate equivalent static seismic force for which NSCs and their anchorage system must be designed. These equations, in general, are functions of component mass and peak seismic acceleration to which NSCs are subjected to during the earthquake. However, recent studies have shown that these recommendations are suffered from several shortcomings such as neglecting the higher mode effect, tuning effect, NSCs damping effect, etc. which cause underestimation of the component seismic acceleration demand. This work is aimed to circumvent the aforementioned shortcomings of code provisions as well as improving them by proposing a simplified, practical, and yet accurate approach to generate acceleration Floor Design Spectra (FDS) directly from corresponding Uniform Hazard Spectra (UHS) (i.e. design spectra for structural components). A database of 27 Reinforced Concrete (RC) buildings in which Ambient Vibration Measurements (AVM) have been conducted. The database comprises 12 low-rise, 10 medium-rise, and 5 high-rise buildings all located in Montréal, Canada and designated as post-disaster buildings or emergency shelters. The buildings are subjected to a set of 20 compatible seismic records and Floor Response Spectra (FRS) in terms of pseudo acceleration are derived using the proposed approach for every floor of the building in both horizontal directions considering 4 different damping ratios of NSCs (i.e. 2, 5, 10, and 20% viscous damping). Several effective parameters on NSCs response are evaluated statistically. These parameters comprise NSCs damping ratios, tuning of NSCs natural period with one of the natural periods of supporting structure, higher modes of supporting structures, and location of NSCs. The entire spectral region is divided into three distinct segments namely short-period, fundamental period, and long period region. The derived roof floor response spectra for NSCs with 5% damping are compared with the 5% damping UHS and procedure are proposed to generate roof FDS for NSCs with 5% damping directly from 5% damped UHS in each spectral region. The generated FDS is a powerful, practical, and accurate tool for seismic design and assessment of acceleration-sensitive NSCs particularly in existing post-critical buildings which have to remain functional even after the earthquake and cannot tolerate any damage to NSCs.

Keywords: earthquake engineering, operational and functional components (OFCs), operational modal analysis (OMA), seismic assessment and design

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Authors: T. Garlan, I. Gabelotaud, S. Lucas, E. Marchès

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Production of a global sedimentological seabed map has been initiated in 1995 to provide the necessary tool for searches of aircraft and boats lost at sea, to give sedimentary information for nautical charts, and to provide input data for acoustic propagation modelling. This original approach had already been initiated one century ago when the French hydrographic service and the University of Nancy had produced maps of the distribution of marine sediments of the French coasts and then sediment maps of the continental shelves of Europe and North America. The current map of the sediment of oceans presented was initiated with a UNESCO's general map of the deep ocean floor. This map was adapted using a unique sediment classification to present all types of sediments: from beaches to the deep seabed and from glacial deposits to tropical sediments. In order to allow good visualization and to be adapted to the different applications, only the granularity of sediments is represented. The published seabed maps are studied, if they present an interest, the nature of the seabed is extracted from them, the sediment classification is transcribed and the resulted map is integrated in the world map. Data come also from interpretations of Multibeam Echo Sounder (MES) imagery of large hydrographic surveys of deep-ocean. These allow a very high-quality mapping of areas that until then were represented as homogeneous. The third and principal source of data comes from the integration of regional maps produced specifically for this project. These regional maps are carried out using all the bathymetric and sedimentary data of a region. This step makes it possible to produce a regional synthesis map, with the realization of generalizations in the case of over-precise data. 86 regional maps of the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Indian Ocean have been produced and integrated into the world sedimentary map. This work is permanent and permits a digital version every two years, with the integration of some new maps. This article describes the choices made in terms of sediment classification, the scale of source data and the zonation of the variability of the quality. This map is the final step in a system comprising the Shom Sedimentary Database, enriched by more than one million punctual and surface items of data, and four series of coastal seabed maps at 1:10,000, 1:50,000, 1:200,000 and 1:1,000,000. This step by step approach makes it possible to take into account the progresses in knowledge made in the field of seabed characterization during the last decades. Thus, the arrival of new classification systems for seafloor has improved the recent seabed maps, and the compilation of these new maps with those previously published allows a gradual enrichment of the world sedimentary map. But there is still a lot of work to enhance some regions, which are still based on data acquired more than half a century ago.

Keywords: marine sedimentology, seabed map, sediment classification, world ocean

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Authors: Barna Arnold Keserű

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In the last few years (what is called by many scholars the big data era) artificial intelligence (hereinafter AI) get more and more attention from the public and from the different branches of sciences as well. What previously was a mere science-fiction, now starts to become reality. AI and robotics often walk hand in hand, what changes not only the business and industrial life, but also has a serious impact on the legal system. The main research of the author focuses on these impacts in the field of private law, with special regards to liability and intellectual property issues. Many questions arise in these areas connecting to AI and robotics, where the boundaries are not sufficiently clear, and different needs are articulated by the different stakeholders. Recognizing the urgent need of thinking the Committee on Legal Affairs of the European Parliament adopted a Motion for a European Parliament Resolution A8-0005/2017 (of January 27th, 2017) in order to take some recommendations to the Commission on civil law rules on robotics and AI. This document defines some crucial usage of AI and/or robotics, e.g. the field of autonomous vehicles, the human job replacement in the industry or smart applications and machines. It aims to give recommendations to the safe and beneficial use of AI and robotics. However – as the document says – there are no legal provisions that specifically apply to robotics or AI in IP law, but that existing legal regimes and doctrines can be readily applied to robotics, although some aspects appear to call for specific consideration, calls on the Commission to support a horizontal and technologically neutral approach to intellectual property applicable to the various sectors in which robotics could be employed. AI can generate some content what worth copyright protection, but the question came up: who is the author, and the owner of copyright? The AI itself can’t be deemed author because it would mean that it is legally equal with the human persons. But there is the programmer who created the basic code of the AI, or the undertaking who sells the AI as a product, or the user who gives the inputs to the AI in order to create something new. Or AI generated contents are so far from humans, that there isn’t any human author, so these contents belong to public domain. The same questions could be asked connecting to patents. The research aims to answer these questions within the current legal framework and tries to enlighten future possibilities to adapt these frames to the socio-economical needs. In this part, the proper license agreements in the multilevel-chain from the programmer to the end-user become very important, because AI is an intellectual property in itself what creates further intellectual property. This could collide with data-protection and property rules as well. The problems are similar in the field of liability. We can use different existing forms of liability in the case when AI or AI led robotics cause damages, but it is unsure that the result complies with economical and developmental interests.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, intellectual property, liability, robotics

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Authors: Rocío González-Sánchez, Sara Alonso-Muñoz

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Food waste implies an inefficient management of the final stages in the food supply chain. Referring to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by United Nations, the SDG 12.3 proposes to halve per capita food waste at the retail and consumer level and to reduce food losses. In the linear system, food waste is disposed and, to a lesser extent, recovery or reused after consumption. With the negative effect on stocks, the current food consumption system is based on ‘produce, take and dispose’ which put huge pressure on raw materials and energy resources. Therefore, greater focus on the circular management of food waste will mitigate the environmental, economic, and social impact, following a Triple Bottom Line (TBL) approach and consequently the SDGs fulfilment. A mixed methodology is used. A total sample of 311 publications from Web of Science database were retrieved. Firstly, it is performed a bibliometric analysis by SciMat and VOSviewer software to visualise scientific maps about co-occurrence analysis of keywords and co-citation analysis of journals. This allows for the understanding of the knowledge structure about this field, and to detect research issues. Secondly, a systematic literature review is conducted regarding the most influential articles in years 2020 and 2021, coinciding with the most representative period under study. Thirdly, to support the development of this field it is proposed an agenda according to the research gaps identified about circular economy and food waste management. Results reveal that the main topics are related to waste valorisation, the application of waste-to-energy circular model and the anaerobic digestion process towards fossil fuels replacement. It is underlined that the use of food as a source of clean energy is receiving greater attention in the literature. There is a lack of studies about stakeholders’ awareness and training. In addition, available data would facilitate the implementation of circular principles for food waste recovery, management, and valorisation. The research agenda suggests that circularity networks with suppliers and customers need to be deepened. Technological tools for the implementation of sustainable business models, and greater emphasis on social aspects through educational campaigns are also required. This paper contributes on the application of circularity to food waste management by abandoning inefficient linear models. Shedding light about trending topics in the field guiding to scholars for future research opportunities.

Keywords: bibliometric analysis, circular economy, food waste management, future research lines

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Authors: Mitakshara Sharma, S. K. Nema, Sanjeev Narang

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Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by metabolic abnormalities, chronic hyperglycaemia and long term macrovascular & microvascular complications. Vascular complications are due to platelet hyperactivity and dysfunction, increased inflammation, altered coagulation and endothelial dysfunction. Large proportion of patients with Type II DM suffers from preventable vascular angiopathies, and there is need to develop risk factor modifications and interventions to reduce impact of complications. These complications are attributed to platelet activation, recognised by increase in Platelet Volume Indices (PVI) including Mean Platelet Volume (MPV) and Platelet Distribution Width (PDW). The current study is prospective analytical study conducted over 2 years. Out of 1100 individuals, 930 individuals fulfilled inclusion criteria and were segregated into three groups on basis of glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1C): - (a) Diabetic, (b) Non-Diabetic and (c) Subjects with Impaired fasting glucose (IFG) with 300 individuals in IFG and non-diabetic groups & 330 individuals in diabetic group. Further, diabetic group was divided into two groups on the basis of presence or absence of known diabetes related vascular complications. Samples for HbA1c and PVI were collected using Ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) as anticoagulant and processed on SYSMEX-X-800i autoanalyser. The study revealed gradual increase in PVI from non-diabetics to IFG to diabetics. PVI were markedly increased in diabetic patients. MPV and PDW of diabetics, IFG and non diabetics were (17.60 ± 2.04)fl, (11.76 ± 0.73)fl, (9.93 ± 0.64)fl and (19.17 ± 1.48)fl, (15.49 ± 0.67)fl, (10.59 ± 0.67)fl respectively with a significant p value 0.00 and a significant positive correlation (MPV-HbA1c r = 0.951; PDW-HbA1c r = 0.875). MPV & PDW of subjects with diabetes related complications were higher as compared to those without them and were (17.51±0.39)fl & (15.14 ± 1.04)fl and (20.09 ± 0.98) fl & (18.96 ± 0.83)fl respectively with a significant p value 0.00. There was a significant positive correlation between PVI and duration of diabetes across the groups (MPV-HbA1c r = 0.951; PDW-HbA1c r = 0.875). However, a significant negative correlation was found between glycaemic levels and total platelet count (PC- HbA1c r =-0.164). This is multi-parameter and comprehensive study with an adequately powered study design. It can be concluded from our study that PVI are extremely useful and important indicators of impending vascular complications in all patients with deranged glycaemic control. Introduction of automated cell counters has facilitated the availability of PVI as routine parameters. PVI is a useful means for identifying larger & active platelets which play important role in development of micro and macro angiopathic complications of diabetes leading to mortality and morbidity. PVI can be used as cost effective markers to predict and prevent impending vascular events in patients with Diabetes mellitus especially in developing countries like India. PVI, if incorporated into protocols for management of diabetes, could revolutionize care and curtail the ever increasing cost of patient management.

Keywords: diabetes, IFG, HbA1C, MPV, PDW, PVI

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Authors: Kaushik Vaideeswaran, Jean Gobet, Patrick Margraf, Olha Sereda

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Nitrocarburisation is a surface hardening technique often applied to improve the wear resistance of steel surfaces. It is considered to be a promising solution in comparison with other processes such as flame spraying, owing to the formation of a diffusion layer which provides mechanical integrity, as well as its cost-effectiveness. To improve other tribological properties of the surface such as the coefficient of friction (COF), dry lubricants are utilized. Currently, the lifetime of steel components in many applications using either of these techniques individually are faced with the limitations of the two: high COF for nitrocarburized surfaces and low wear resistance of dry lubricant coatings. To this end, the current study involves the creation of a hybrid surface using the impregnation of a dry lubricant on to a nitrocarburized surface. The mechanical strength and hardness of Gerster SA’s nitrocarburized surfaces accompanied by the impregnation of the porous outermost layer with a solid lubricant will create a hybrid surface possessing both outstanding wear resistance and a low friction coefficient and with high adherence to the substrate. Gerster SA has the state-of-the-art technology for the surface hardening of various steels. Through their expertise in the field, the nitrocarburizing process parameters (atmosphere, temperature, dwelling time) were optimized to obtain samples that have a distinct porous structure (in terms of size, shape, and density) as observed by metallographic and microscopic analyses. The porosity thus obtained is suitable for the impregnation of a dry lubricant. A commercially available dry lubricant with a thermoplastic matrix was employed for the impregnation process, which was optimized to obtain a void-free interface with the surface of the nitrocarburized layer (henceforth called hybrid surface). In parallel, metallic samples without nitrocarburisation were also impregnated with the same dry lubricant as a reference (henceforth called reference surface). The reference and the nitrocarburized surfaces, with and without the dry lubricant were tested for their tribological behavior by sliding against a quenched steel ball using a nanotribometer. Without any lubricant, the nitrocarburized surface showed a wear rate 5x lower than the reference metal. In the presence of a thin film of dry lubricant ( < 2 micrometers) and under the application of high loads (500 mN or ~800 MPa), while the COF for the reference surface increased from ~0.1 to > 0.3 within 120 m, the hybrid surface retained a COF < 0.2 for over 400m of sliding. In addition, while the steel ball sliding against the reference surface showed heavy wear, the corresponding ball sliding against the hybrid surface showed very limited wear. Observations of the sliding tracks in the hybrid surface using Electron Microscopy show the presence of the nitrocarburized nodules as well as the lubricant, whereas no traces of the lubricant were found in the sliding track on the reference surface. In this manner, the clear advantage of combining nitrocarburisation with the impregnation of a dry lubricant towards forming a hybrid surface has been demonstrated.

Keywords: dry lubrication, hybrid surfaces, improved wear resistance, nitrocarburisation, steels

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Authors: Kim Norgaard Helmersen, Jan Silberberger

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Questions of style and reproducibility in relation to architectural design are not only continuously debated; the very concepts can seem quite provocative to architects, who like to think of architectural design as depending on intuition, ideas, and individual personalities. This standpoint - dominant in architectural discourse - is challenged in the present paper presenting early findings from a comparative STS-inspired research study of architectural design teaching and research at different architecture schools in varying national contexts. In philosophy of science framework, the paper reflects empirical observations of design teaching at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and presents a tentative theoretical framework for the on-going research project. The framework suggests that architecture – as a field of knowledge production – is mainly dominated by three epistemological positions, which will be presented and discussed. Besides serving as a loosely structured framework for future data analysis, the proposed framework brings forth the argument that architecture can be roughly divided into different schools of thought, like the traditional science disciplines. Without reducing the complexity of the discipline, describing its main intellectual positions should prove fruitful for the future development of architecture as a theoretical discipline, moving an architectural critique beyond discussions of taste preferences. Unlike traditional science disciplines, there is a lack of a community-wide, shared pool of codified references in architecture, with architects instead referencing art projects, buildings, and famous architects, when positioning their standpoints. While these inscriptions work as an architectural reference system, to be compared to codified theories in academic writing of traditional research, they are not used systematically in the same way. As a result, architectural critique is often reduced to discussions of taste and subjectivity rather than epistemological positioning. Architects are often criticized as judges of taste and accused that their rationality is rooted in cultural-relative aesthetical concepts of taste closely linked to questions of style, but arguably their supposedly subjective reasoning, in fact, forms part of larger systems of thought. Putting architectural ‘styles’ under a loop, and tracing their philosophical roots, can potentially open up a black box in architectural theory. Besides ascertaining and recognizing the existence of specific ‘styles’ and thereby schools of thought in current architectural discourse, the study could potentially also point at some mutations of the conventional – something actually ‘new’ – of potentially high value for architectural design education.

Keywords: architectural theory, design research, science and technology studies (STS), sociology of architecture

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Authors: I. L. Kim, J. Y. Lee, A. K. Tekile

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In consequence of the very high urbanization rate of Korea, the number of traffic noise damages in areas congested with population and facilities is steadily increasing. The current environmental noise levels data in major cities of the country show that the noise levels exceed the standards set for both day and night times. This research was about comparative analysis in search for optimal soundproof panel shape and design factor that can minimize sound reflection noise. In addition to the normal flat-type panel shape, the reflection noise reduction of swelling-type, combined swelling and curved-type, and screen-type were evaluated. The noise source model Nord 2000, which often provides abundant information compared to models for the similar purpose, was used in the study to determine the overall noise level. Based on vehicle categorization in Korea, the noise levels for varying frequency from different heights of the sound source (directivity heights of Harmonize model) have been calculated for simulation. Each simulation has been made using the ray-tracing method. The noise level has also been calculated using the noise prediction program called SoundPlan 7.2, for comparison. The noise level prediction was made at 15m (R1), 30 m (R2) and at middle of the road, 2m (R3) receiving the point. By designing the noise barriers by shape and running the prediction program by inserting the noise source on the 2nd lane to the noise barrier side, among the 6 lanes considered, the reflection noise slightly decreased or increased in all noise barriers. At R1, especially in the cases of the screen-type noise barriers, there was no reduction effect predicted in all conditions. However, the swelling-type showed a decrease of 0.7~1.2 dB at R1, performing the best reduction effect among the tested noise barriers. Compared to other forms of noise barriers, the swelling-type was thought to be the most suitable for reducing the reflection noise; however, since a slight increase was predicted at R2, further research based on a more sophisticated categorization of related design factors is necessary. Moreover, as swellings are difficult to produce and the size of the modules are smaller than other panels, it is challenging to install swelling-type noise barriers. If these problems are solved, its applicable region will not be limited to other types of noise barriers. Hence, when a swelling-type noise barrier is installed at a downtown region where the amount of traffic is increasing every day, it will both secure visibility through the transparent walls and diminish any noise pollution due to the reflection. Moreover, when decorated with shapes and design, noise barriers will achieve a visual attraction than a flat-type one and thus will alleviate any psychological hardships related to noise, other than the unique physical soundproofing functions of the soundproof panels.

Keywords: reflection noise, shaped noise barriers, sound proof panel, traffic noise

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Authors: Jeremiah Mutamba

Abstract:

Water is a critical resource for sustainable economic growth and social development. It enables societies to thrive and influences every urban center’s future. Thus, water must always be available in the right quantity and quality. However, in South Africa - a known physically water scarce nation – the future of sustainable urban supply of water may be in jeopardy. The country facing a water crisis influenced by insufficient infrastructure investment and maintenance, recurrent droughts and climate variation, human induced water quality deterioration, as well as growing lack of technical capacity in water institutions, particularly local municipalities. Aside of the eight metropolitan municipalities for the country, most municipalities struggle with provision of reliable water to their citizens. These municipalities contend with having now capable engineers, aging infrastructure with concomitant high system water losses (of 30% and upwards), coupled with growing water demand from expanding industries and population growth. Also, a significant portion (44%) of national water treatment plants are in critically poor condition, requiring urgent rehabilitation. Municipalities also struggle to raise funding to instate projects. All these factors militate against sustainable urban water supply in the country. Urgent mitigation measures are required. This paper seeks to review the extent of the current water supply challenges in South Africa’s urban centers, including searching for practical and cost-effective measures. The study followed a qualitative approach, combining desktop literature research, interviews with key sector stakeholders, and a workshop. Phenomenological data analysis technique was used to study and examine interview data and secondary desktop data. Preliminary findings established the building of technical or engineering capacity, reversal of the high physical water losses, rehabilitation of poor condition and dysfunctional water treatment works, diversification of water resource mix, and water scarcity awareness programs as possible practical solutions. Other proposed solutions include the use of performance-based or value-based contracting to fund initiatives to reduce high system water losses. Out-come based arrangements for revenue increasing water loss reduction projects were considered more practical in funding-stressed local municipalities. If proactively implemented in an integrated manner, these proposed solutions are likely to ensure sustainable urban water supply in South African urban centers in the future.

Keywords: sustainable, water scarcity, water supply, South Africa

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