Search results for: behavioral macro

Authors: Abbas Nesayan

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Background: In recent years, autism has been under consideration in public and research area. Autistic children have dysfunction in communication, socialization, repetitive and stereotyped behaviors. In addition, they clinically suffer from difficulty in attention, challenge with familiar behaviors and sensory processing problems. Several variables are linked to sensory processing problems in autism, one of these variables is working memory. Working memory is part of the executive function which provides the necessary ability to completing multiple stages tasks. Method: This study has categorized in correlational research methods. After determining of entry criteria, according to purposive sampling method, 50 children were selected. Dunn’s sensory profile school companion was used for assessment of sensory processing patterns; behavioral rating inventory of executive functions was used (BRIEF) for assessment of working memory. Pearson correlation coefficient and linear regression were used for data analyzing. Results: The results showed the significant relationship between sensory processing patterns (low registration, sensory seeking, sensory sensitivity and sensory avoiding) with working memory in autistic children. Conclusion: According to the findings, there is the significant relationship between the patterns of sensory processing and working memory. So, in order to improve the working memory could be used some interventions based on the sensory processing.

Keywords: sensory processing patterns, working memory, autism, autistic children

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Authors: Rajpal Kaur, Pooja Choudhary

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Biometrics, which refers to identifying an individual based on his or her physiological or behavioral characteristics, has the capabilities to the reliably distinguish between an authorized person and an imposter. The Signature recognition systems can categorized as offline (static) and online (dynamic). This paper presents Surf Feature based recognition of offline signatures system that is trained with low-resolution scanned signature images. The signature of a person is an important biometric attribute of a human being which can be used to authenticate human identity. However the signatures of human can be handled as an image and recognized using computer vision and HMM techniques. With modern computers, there is need to develop fast algorithms for signature recognition. There are multiple techniques are defined to signature recognition with a lot of scope of research. In this paper, (static signature) off-line signature recognition & verification using surf feature with HMM is proposed, where the signature is captured and presented to the user in an image format. Signatures are verified depended on parameters extracted from the signature using various image processing techniques. The Off-line Signature Verification and Recognition is implemented using Mat lab platform. This work has been analyzed or tested and found suitable for its purpose or result. The proposed method performs better than the other recently proposed methods.

Keywords: offline signature verification, offline signature recognition, signatures, SURF features, HMM

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Authors: Heping Wang

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Social interaction has increased as a result of rapid economic expansion. Particularly in China, gift exchanges have developed into a social tradition of showing gratitude. Most gifts, on the other hand, are lavishly presented or overpacked to impress or demonstrate respect to the gift receiver. Overpackaging wastes enormous resources and produces a lot of municipal solid waste (MSW), which can seriously harm the environment if it is not handled properly. The purpose of this study is to investigate consumers' perceptions, preferences, and perspectives regarding gifts overpackaging in order to identify potential solutions for reducing gifts overpackaging to achieve sustainable packaging objectives. The research was conducted by means of an online survey focusing on residents in Shanghai, China, and the data was quantitatively analyzed by SPSS software. According to research, consumers' perception of excessive packaging is approximately 3.5 points out of 5, and this perception has a significant impact on consumers' behavioral intentions; The preferences of givers and receivers for gift packaging are significantly different in three aspects; Customers prefer incentives for eco-packaging when it comes to measures to reduce gift overpackaging. Finally, the study also identifies suitable gift packaging options for customers.

Keywords: gift packaging, consumer perception, consumer preference, consumer perspective, overpackaging, solutions

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Authors: Clara Voyvodic

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Transitions from conflict to peace are by no means smooth nor linear, particularly from the perspective of those living through them. Over the last few decades, the changing focus in peacebuilding studies has come to appreciate the everyday experience of communities and how that provides a lens through which the relative success or efficacy of these transitions can be understood. In particular, the demobilization of a significant conflict actor is not without consequences, not just for the macro-view of state stabilization and peace, but for the communities who find themselves without a clear authority of territorial control. In Colombia, the demobilization and disarmament of the FARC guerilla group provided a brief respite to the conflict and a major political win for President Manuel Santos. However, this victory has proven short-lived. Drawing from extensive field research in Colombia within the last year, including interviews with local communities and actors operating in these regions, field observations, and other primary resources, this paper examines the post-accord transitions in Colombia and the everyday security experiences of local communities in regions formerly controlled by the FARC. In order to do so, the research focused on a semi-ethnographic approach in the northern region of the department of Antioquia and the coastal area of the border department of Nariño that documented how individuals within these marginalized communities have come to understand and negotiate their security in the years following the accord and the demobilization of the FARC. This presentation will argue that the removal of the FARC as an informal governance actor opened a space for multiple actors to attempt to control the same territory, including the state. This shift has had a clear impact on the everyday security experiences of the local communities. With an exploration of the dynamics of local governance and its impact on lived security experiences, this research seeks to demonstrate how distinct patterns of armed group behavior are emerging not only from a vacuum of control left by the FARC but from an increase in state presence that nonetheless remains inconsistent and unpersuasive as a monopoly of force in the region. The increased multiplicity of actors, particularly the state, has meant that the normal (informal) rules for communities to navigate these territories are no longer in play as the identities, actions, and intentions of different competing groups have become frustratingly opaque. This research provides a prescient analysis on how the shifting dynamics of territorial control in a post-peace accord landscape produce uncertain realities that affect the daily lives of the local communities and endanger the long-term prospect of human-centered security.

Keywords: armed actors, conflict transitions, informal governance, post-accord, security experiences

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Authors: Pakize Neslihan Taslı, Alev Cumbul, Gul Merve Yalcın, Fikrettin Sahin

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A key experimental trial in the regeneration of large oral and craniofacial defects is the neogenesis of osseous and ligamentous interfacial structures. Currently, oral regenerative medicine strategies are unpredictable for repair of tooth supporting tissues destroyed as a consequence of trauma, chronic infection or surgical resection. A different approach combining the gel-casting method with Hydroxy Apatite HA-based scaffold and different cell lineages as a hybrid system leads to successively mimic the early stage of tooth development, in vitro. HA is widely accepted as a bioactive material for guided bone and tooth regeneration. In this study, it was reported that, HA porous scaffold preparation, characterization and evaluation of structural and chemical properties. HA is the main factor that exists in tooth and it is in harmony with structural, biological, and mechanical characteristics. Here, this study shows mimicking immature tooth at the late bell stage design and construction of HA scaffolds for cell transplantation of human Adipose Stem Cells (hASCs), human Bone Marrow Stem Cells (hBMSCs) and Gingival Epitelial cells for the formation of human tooth dentin-pulp-enamel complexes in vitro. Scaffold characterization was demonstrated by SEM, FTIR and pore size and density measurements. The biological contraction of dental tissues against each other was demonstrated by mRNA gene expressions, histopatologic observations and protein release profile by ELISA tecnique. The tooth shaped constructs with a pore size ranging from 150 to 300 µm arranged by gathering right amounts of materials provide interconnected macro-porous structure. The newly formed tissue like structures that grow and integrate within the HA designed constructs forming tooth cementum like tissue, pulp and bone structures. These findings are important as they emphasize the potential biological effect of the hybrid scaffold system. In conclusion, this in vitro study clearly demonstrates that designed 3D scaffolds shaped as a immature tooth at the late bell stage were essential to form enamel-dentin-pulp interfaces with an appropriate cell and biodegradable material combination. The biomimetic architecture achieved here is providing a promising platform for dental tissue engineering.

Keywords: tooth regeneration, tissue engineering, adipose stem cells, hydroxyapatite tooth engineering, porous scaffold

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Authors: Fiasal Assiri, Joanna Wincenciak, David Morrison-Love

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With the rapid spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Saudi government suspended students from going to school to combat the outbreak. As e-learning was not applied at all in schools, online teaching and learning have been revived in Saudi Arabia by providing a new platform called ‘Madrasati.’ Several studies have used the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behaviour (DTPB)to examineindividuals’ intention behavior in many fields. However, there is a lack of studies investigating the determinants of teachers’ continued intention touseMadrasati platform. The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual model in light of DTPB. To enhance the predictability of the model, the study incorporates other variables, including learning content quality and interactivity as sub-factors under the perceived usefulness, students and government influences under the subjective norms, and technical support and prior e-learning experience under the perceived behavioral control. The model will be further validated using a mixed methods approach. Such findings would help administrators and stakeholders to understand teachers’ needs and develop new methods that might encourage teachers to continue using Madrasati effectively in their teaching.

Keywords: madrasati, decomposed theory of planned behaviour, continuance intention, attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control

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Authors: Jude A. Mbanasor, Chigozirim N. Onwusiribe

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The enigma climate change is no longer an illusion but a reality. In the recent years, the Nigeria climate has changed and the changes are shown by the changing patterns of rainfall, the sunshine, increasing level carbon and nitrous emission as well as deforestation. This study analyzed the behavioural response of bee keepers to variations in the climate and the adaptation techniques developed in response to the climate variation. Beekeeping is a viable economic activity for the alleviation of poverty as the products include honey, wax, pollen, propolis, royal jelly, venom, queens, bees and their larvae and are all marketable. The study adopted the multistage sampling technique to select 120 beekeepers from the five states of Southeast Nigeria. Well-structured questionnaires and focus group discussions were adopted to collect the required data. Statistical tools like the Principal component analysis, data envelopment models, graphs, and charts were used for the data analysis. Changing patterns of rainfall and sunshine with the increasing rate of deforestation had a negative effect on the habitat of the bees. The bee keepers have adopted the Kenya Top bar and Langstroth hives and they establish the bee hives on fallow farmland close to the cultivated communal farms with more flowering crops.

Keywords: climate, farmer, response, smart

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Authors: Julian Pigott

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This paper introduces the Language Learning as a Means of Drive Engagement (LLMDE) theory, derived from a grounded theory analysis of interviews with Japanese university students. According to LLMDE theory, language learning can be understood as a means of engaging one or more of four self-fulfillment drives: the drive to expand one’s horizons (perspective drive); the drive to make a success of oneself (status drive); the drive to engage in interaction with others (communication drive); and the drive to obtain intellectual and affective stimulation (entertainment drive). While many theories of learner psychology focus on conscious agency, LLMDE theory addresses the role of the unconscious. In addition, supplementary thematic analysis of the data revealed the role of context in mediating drive engagement. Unexpected memorable events, for example, play a key role in instigating and, indirectly, in regulating learning, as do institutional and cultural contexts. Given the apparent importance of such factors beyond the immediate control of the learner, and given the pervasive role of habit and drives, it is argued that the concept of motivation merits theoretical reappraisal. Rather than an underlying force determining language learning success or failure, it can be understood to emerge sporadically in consciousness to promote behavioral change, or to protect habitual behavior from disruption.

Keywords: drives, grounded theory, motivation, significant events

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Authors: Anyia Nduka, Aslan Bin Amad Senin

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Taking a behavioral perspective of Organization Culture, Strategic Leadership, and performance (OC, SLP). We examine the role of Strategic Leadership as key vicious mechanism linking OC,SLP to the organizational capacities. Given the increasing degree of dependence of modern businesses on the use and scientific discovery of relevant data, research efforts around the entire globe have been accelerated. In today's corporate world, Strategic Leadership is still the most sustainable option of performance and competitive advantage. This is why it is critical to gain a deep understanding of research area and to strengthen new collaborative networks in efforts to support research transition towards these integrative efforts. This bibliometric analysis is aimed to examine global trends in OC,SLP research based on publication output, author co-authorships, and co-occurrences of author keywords among authors and affiliated countries. 2829 journal articles were retrieved from the Scopus database Between 1974 and 2021. From the research findings, there is a significant increase in number of publications with strong global collaboration (e.g., USA & UK). We also discovered that while most countries/territories without affiliations were centered in developing countries, the outstanding performance of Asian countries and the volume of their collaborations should be emulated.

Keywords: organizational culture, strategic leadership, organizational resilience, performance

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Authors: Rana Muhammad Ayyub, Muhammad Bilal, Tahir Mahmood

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In multicultural societies, food preferences are taking dimensions in both minorities as well as majority ethnic groups. The food consumption behavior of minority ethnic groups has been studied adequately; however, this paper intends to study the consumer behavioral dimensions of majority ethnic groups regarding Halal foods (a minority-related food) in the USA. In this quantitative study, the online questionnaire survey (n=223) was collected through surveymonkey.com from non-Muslims living in various cities in the USA through random sampling. The theory of consumer animosity was a theoretical underpinning. The validated scales were adopted and adapted for all constructs. AMOS 24 was used to apply structural equation modelling (SEM) to the data. Among the majority of ethnic groups, it was found that consumer racism (β= -25) and consumer animosity (β= - 27) negatively affect intention to choose Halal foods, whereas food neophobia has a positive effect (β=36) on this intention. This study will prove instrumental in removing the blame of “Marketing Myopia” from marketing academics and will highlight the importance of prevalent market realities for one of the fastest growing ethnic food markets, i.e., Halal of the world. It has practical implications for Halal food marketers in particular and other ethnic food marketers in general.

Keywords: consumer racism, animosity, Halal foods, ethnic consumption, food neophobia

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Authors: Khaled Nagaty, Heba Nagaty, Gerard McKee

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A signature is a behavioral biometric that is used for authenticating users in most financial and legal transactions. Signatures can be easily forged by skilled forgers. Therefore, it is essential to verify whether a signature is genuine or forged. The aim of any signature verification algorithm is to accommodate the differences between signatures of the same person and increase the ability to discriminate between signatures of different persons. This work presented in this paper proposes an automatic signature verification system to indicate whether a signature is genuine or not. The system comprises four phases: (1) The pre-processing phase in which image scaling, binarization, image rotation, dilation, thinning, and connecting ridge breaks are applied. (2) The feature extraction phase in which global and local features are extracted. The local features are minutiae points, curvature orientation, and curve plateau. The global features are signature area, signature aspect ratio, and Hu moments. (3) The post-processing phase, in which false minutiae are removed. (4) The classification phase in which features are enhanced before feeding it into the classifier. k-nearest neighbors and support vector machines are used. The classifier was trained on a benchmark dataset to compare the performance of the proposed offline signature verification system against the state-of-the-art. The accuracy of the proposed system is 92.3%.

Keywords: signature, ridge breaks, minutiae, orientation

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Authors: Marine Agogue, Beatrice Parguel, Emilie Canet

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Defined as receptive attention to and awareness of present events and experience, mindfulness has grown in popularity over the past 30 years to become a trendy buzzword in business media, which regularly reports on its organizational benefits. Mindfulness would enhance or impede creative thinking depending on the type of meditation. Specifically, focused-attention meditation (focusing attention on one object instead of being open to perceive and observe any sensation or thought) would not be or negatively correlated to creativity. This research explores whether mood, in its two dimensions (i.e., hedonic tone, activation level), could mediate this potentially negative effect. The rationale is that focused-attention meditation is likely to improve hedonic tone but, in the meantime, damage activation level, resulting in opposite effects on creativity through the mediation effect of creative self-efficacy, i.e., the belief that one can perform successfully in an ideation setting. To test this conceptual model, a survey was administered to 97 subjects (53% women, mean age: 25 years), randomly assigned to three conditions (a 10-minute focused-attention meditation session vs. a 10-minute psychometric tests session vs. a control condition) and asked to participate in the egg creative task. Creativity was measured in terms of fluency, expansivity, and originality, the other variables using existing scales: hedonic tone (e.g., joyful, happy), activation level (e.g., passive, sluggish), creative self-efficacy (e.g., ‘I felt confident in my ability to do the task effectively’) and self-perceived creativity (e.g., ‘I have lots of original ideas’). The chains of mediation were tested using PROCESS macro (model 6) and controlled for subjects’ gender, age, and self-perceived creativity. Comparing the mindfulness and the control conditions, no difference appeared in terms of creativity, nor any mediation chain by hedonic tone. However, subjects who participated in the meditation session felt less active than those in the control condition, which decreased their creative self-efficacy, and creativity (whatever the indicator considered). Comparing the mindfulness and the psychometric tests conditions, analyses showed that creativity was higher in the psychometric tests condition. As previously, no mediation chain appeared by hedonic tone. However, subjects who participated in the meditation session felt less active than those in the psychometric tests condition, which decreased their creative self-efficacy, and creativity. These findings confirm that focused-attention meditation does not enhance creativity. They demonstrate an emotional underlying mechanism based on activation level and suggest that both positive and active mood states have the potential to enhance creativity through creative self-efficacy. In the end, they should discourage organizations from trying to nudge creativity using mindfulness ad hoc devices.

Keywords: creativity, mindfulness, creative self-efficacy, experiment

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Authors: P. D. Pedrosa, J. M. A. Rebello, M. P. Cindra Fonseca

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Duplex stainless steels (DSS) exhibit a biphasic microstructure consisting of austenite and delta ferrite. Their high resistance to oxidation, and corrosion, even in H2S containing environments, allied to low cost when compared to conventional stainless steel, are some properties which make this material very attractive for several industrial applications. However, several of these industrial applications imposes cyclic loading to the equipments and in consequence fatigue damage needs to be a concern. A well-known way of improving the fatigue life of a component is by introducing compressive residual stress in its surface. Shot peening is an industrial working process which brings the material directly beneath component surface in a high mechanical compressive state, so inhibiting fatigue crack initiation. However, one must take into account the fact that the cyclic loading itself can reduce and even suppress these residual stresses, thus having undesirable consequences in the process of improving fatigue life by the introduction of compressive residual stresses. In the present work, shot peening was used to introduce residual stresses in several DSS samples. These were thereafter submitted to three different fatigue regimes: low, medium and high cycle fatigue. The evolution of the residual stress during loading were then examined on both surface and subsurface of the samples. It was used the DSS UNS S31803, with microstructure composed of 49% austenite and 51% ferrite. The treatment of shot peening was accomplished by the application of blasting in two Almen intensities of 0.25 and 0.39A. The residual stresses were measured by X-ray diffraction using the double exposure method and a portable equipment with CrK radiation and the (211) diffracting plane for the austenite phase and the (220) plane for the ferrite phase. It is known that residual stresses may arise when two regions of the same material experienced different degrees of plastic deformation. When these regions are separated in respect to each other on a scale that is large compared to the material's microstructure they are called macro stresses. In contrast, microstresses can largely vary over distances which are small comparable to the scale of the material's microstructure and must balance zero between the phases present. In the present work, special attention will be paid to the measurement of residual microstresses. Residual stress measurements were carried out in test pieces submitted to low, medium and high-cycle fatigue, in both longitudinal and transverse direction of the test pieces. It was found that after shot peening, the residual microstress is tensile in the austenite and compressive in the ferrite phases. It was hypothesized that the hardening behavior of the austenite after shot peening was probably due to its higher nitrogen content. Fatigue cycling can effectively change this stress state but this effect was found to be dependent of the shot peening intensity was well as the fatigue range.

Keywords: residual stresses, fatigue, duplex steel, shot peening

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Authors: Hanan Al-Jabri

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Simultaneous interpreting is deemed to be the most challenging mode of interpreting by many scholars. The special constraints involved in this task including time constraints, different linguistic systems, and stress pose a great challenge to most interpreters. These constraints are likely to maximise when the interpreting task is done live on TV. The TV interpreter is exposed to a wide variety of audiences with different backgrounds and needs and is mostly asked to interpret high profile tasks which raise his/her levels of stress, which further complicate the task. Under these constraints, which require fast and efficient performance, TV interpreters of four TV channels were asked to render Trump's victory speech into Arabic. However, they had also to deal with the burden of rendering English emotive overtones employed by the speaker into a whole different linguistic system. The current study aims at investigating the way TV interpreters, who worked in the simultaneous mode, handled this task; it aims at exploring and evaluating the TV interpreters’ linguistic choices and whether the original emotive effect was maintained, upgraded, downgraded or abandoned in their renditions. It also aims at exploring the possible difficulties and challenges that emerged during this process and might have influenced the interpreters’ linguistic choices. To achieve its aims, the study analysed Trump’s victory speech delivered on November 6, 2016, along with four Arabic simultaneous interpretations produced by four TV channels: Al-Jazeera, RT, CBC News, and France 24. The analysis of the study relied on two frameworks: a macro and a micro framework. The former presents an overview of the wider context of the English speech as well as an overview of the speaker and his political background to help understand the linguistic choices he made in the speech, and the latter framework investigates the linguistic tools which were employed by the speaker to stir people’s emotions. These tools were investigated based on Shamaa’s (1978) classification of emotive meaning according to their linguistic level: phonological, morphological, syntactic, and semantic and lexical levels. Moreover, this level investigates the patterns of rendition which were detected in the Arabic deliveries. The results of the study identified different rendition patterns in the Arabic deliveries, including parallel rendition, approximation, condensation, elaboration, transformation, expansion, generalisation, explicitation, paraphrase, and omission. The emerging patterns, as suggested by the analysis, were influenced by factors such as speedy and continuous delivery of some stretches, and highly-dense segments among other factors. The study aims to contribute to a better understanding of TV simultaneous interpreting between English and Arabic, as well as the practices of TV interpreters when rendering emotiveness especially that little is known about interpreting practices in the field of TV, particularly between Arabic and English.

Keywords: emotive overtones, interpreting strategies, political speeches, TV interpreting

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Authors: Abdulrahman M. Alhowikan, Nadra E. Elamin, Sarah S. Aldayel, Sara A. AlSiddiqi, Fai S. Alrowais, Laila Y. Al-Ayadhi

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Background: A growing body of research has suggested that physical activities (PA) have important implications for improving the performance of ASD children. They revealed that the physiological, cognitive, psychological, and behavioral functioning had improved after performing some physical activities. Methods: We compared the sedentary behavior and physical activities between children with autism spectrum disorder (n=21) and age-matched control group (n=30), using the ActiGraph GT3X+ for the assessments. Results: Our results revealed that the total time spent in sedentary activity and the total sedentary activity counts were highly significant in the control group compared to the ASD group (p < 0.001, p=0.001, respectively). ASD spent a significantly longer time than the controls engaging on vigorous physical activity (VPA) (p=0.017). The results also indicated that there were no significant differences between both groups for the total counts and time spent in light physical activity (LPA) and moderate physical activity (MPA). Conclusion: The finding highlights the importance of physical activity intervention for ASD children, using accurate and precise measurement tools to record all activities.

Keywords: Autism spectrum disorders, motor skills, physical activity, ActiGraph GT3X+, moderate-to vigorous-intensity physical activity

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Authors: M. Beusink, E. W. C. Coenen

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The increased application of novel structural materials, such as high grade asphalt, concrete and laminated composites, has sparked the need for a better understanding of the often complex, non-linear mechanical behavior of such materials. The effective macroscopic mechanical response is generally dependent on the applied load path. Moreover, it is also significantly influenced by the microstructure of the material, e.g. embedded fibers, voids and/or grain morphology. At present, multiscale techniques are widely adopted to assess micro-macro interactions in a numerically efficient way. Computational homogenization techniques have been successfully applied over a wide range of engineering cases, e.g. cases involving first order and second order continua, thin shells and cohesive zone models. Most of these homogenization methods rely on Representative Volume Elements (RVE), which model the relevant microstructural details in a confined volume. Imposed through kinematical constraints or boundary conditions, a RVE can be subjected to a microscopic load sequence. This provides the RVE's effective stress-strain response, which can serve as constitutive input for macroscale analyses. Simultaneously, such a study of a RVE gives insight into fine scale phenomena such as microstructural damage and its evolution. It has been reported by several authors that the type of boundary conditions applied to the RVE affect the resulting homogenized stress-strain response. As a consequence, dedicated boundary conditions have been proposed to appropriately deal with this concern. For the specific case of a planar assumption for the analyzed structure, e.g. plane strain, axisymmetric or plane stress, this assumption needs to be addressed consistently in all considered scales. Although in many multiscale studies a planar condition has been employed, the related impact on the multiscale solution has not been explicitly investigated. This work therefore focuses on the influence of the planar assumption for multiscale modeling. In particular the plane stress case is highlighted, by proposing three different implementation strategies which are compatible with a first-order computational homogenization framework. The first method consists of applying classical plane stress theory at the microscale, whereas with the second method a generalized plane stress condition is assumed at the RVE level. For the third method, the plane stress condition is applied at the macroscale by requiring that the resulting macroscopic out-of-plane forces are equal to zero. These strategies are assessed through a numerical study of a thin walled structure and the resulting effective macroscale stress-strain response is compared. It is shown that there is a clear influence of the length scale at which the planar condition is applied.

Keywords: first-order computational homogenization, planar analysis, multiscale, microstrucutures

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Authors: Tipu Sultan

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The proposed research intends to explore the gender role attitudes and work-life balance among dual-earner couples in Pakistan. With the increase of female labor force participation in Pakistan, the trend of dual-earner couples has been increased than ever before. This new trend of dual-earner families has significantly affected the personal life of dual-earner couples. Due to major change in household structures, the traditions and the routine activities are in continuous transition. Balancing work and family life is more complex in the patriarchal society of Pakistan because of the social expectations of gender roles. A dichotomous behavioral reflection is being observed in Pakistani society. The one group of people having an egalitarian attitude are supporting the new gender roles of females, whereas the other group of people having a traditional mindset is still in the favor of patriarchy. Therefore, gender roles are re-evaluated, and it would be more interesting to raise questions on the interplay of new gender roles and work-life balance among dual-earners. The semi-structured interview guide will be utilized to explore gender role attitudes, ideal and in-practice gender roles, experiences of work-life imbalances/balances, possible strategies to create a balance between work and family life among dual-earner couples.

Keywords: dual-earner couples, gender role attitudes, Pakistan, work-life balance

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Authors: Amin Nezarat, Naeime Seifadini

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Trip mode selection is a behavioral characteristic of passengers with immense importance for travel demand analysis, transportation planning, and traffic management. Identification of trip mode distribution will allow transportation authorities to adopt appropriate strategies to reduce travel time, traffic and air pollution. The majority of existing trip mode inference models operate based on human selected features and traditional machine learning algorithms. However, human selected features are sensitive to changes in traffic and environmental conditions and susceptible to personal biases, which can make them inefficient. One way to overcome these problems is to use neural networks capable of extracting high-level features from raw input. In this study, the convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture is used to predict the trip mode distribution based on raw GPS trajectory data. The key innovation of this paper is the design of the layout of the input layer of CNN as well as normalization operation, in a way that is not only compatible with the CNN architecture but can also represent the fundamental features of motion including speed, acceleration, jerk, and Bearing rate. The highest prediction accuracy achieved with the proposed configuration for the convolutional neural network with batch normalization is 85.26%.

Keywords: predicting, deep learning, neural network, urban trip

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Authors: Abdul Salim Amin

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This paper focuses on how judiciaries in post-conflict society gain legitimacy through reformation. Legitimacy plays a pivotal role in shaping peoples’ behavior to submit to the law and verifies the rightfulness of an organ for taking binding decisions. Among various dynamics, judicial independence, access to justice and behavioral changes of the judicial officials broadly contribute in legitimation of judiciary in general, and the court in particular. Increasing the independence of judiciary through reform limits the interference of governmental branches in judicial issues and protects basic rights of the citizens. Judicial independence does not only matter in institutional terms, individual independence also influences the impartiality and integrity of judges, which can be increased through education and better administration of justice. Finally, access to justice as an intertwined concept both at the legal and moral spectrum of judicial reform avails justice to the citizen and increases the level of public trust and confidence. Efficient legal decisions on fostering such elements through holistic reform create a rule of law atmosphere. Citizens do not accept illegitimate judiciary and do not trust its decisions. Lack of such tolerance and confidence deters the rule of law and, thus, undermines the democratic development of a society.

Keywords: legitimacy, judicial reform, judicial independence, access to justice, legal training, informal justice, rule of law

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Authors: Giselle Maggie Fer Castañeda, Diego Iván González

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The objective of this work was to study the autoshaped choice behavior in the Donahoe, Burgos and Palmer (DBP) neural network model and analyze it under the matching law. Autoshaped choice can be viewed as a form of economic behavior defined as the preference between alternatives according to their relative outcomes. The Donahoe, Burgos and Palmer (DBP) model is a connectionist proposal that unifies operant and Pavlovian conditioning. This model has been used for more than three decades as a neurobehavioral explanation of conditioning phenomena, as well as a generator of predictions suitable for experimental testing with non-human animals and humans. The study consisted of different simulations in which, in each one, a ratio of reinforcement was established for two alternatives, and the responses (i.e., activations) in each of them were measured. Choice studies with animals have demonstrated that the data generally conform closely to the generalized matching law equation, which states that the response ratio equals proportionally to the reinforcement ratio; therefore, it was expected to find similar results with the neural networks of the Donahoe, Burgos and Palmer (DBP) model since these networks have simulated and predicted various conditioning phenomena. The results were analyzed by the generalized matching law equation, and it was observed that under some contingencies, the data from the networks adjusted approximately to what was established by the equation. Implications and limitations are discussed.

Keywords: matching law, neural networks, computational models, behavioral sciences

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Authors: Manuel Branco

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This paper argues that mainstream economics is one of the reasons that can explain the difficulty in fully realizing human rights because its logic is intrinsically contradictory to human rights, most especially economic, social and cultural rights. First, its utilitarianism, both in its cardinal and ordinal understanding, contradicts human rights principles. Maximizing aggregate utility along the lines of cardinal utility is a theoretical exercise that consists in ensuring as much as possible that gains outweigh losses in society. In this process an individual may get worse off, though. If mainstream logic is comfortable with this, human rights' logic does not. Indeed, universality is a key principle in human rights and for this reason the maximization exercise should aim at satisfying all citizens’ requests when goods and services necessary to secure human rights are at stake. The ordinal version of utilitarianism, in turn, contradicts the human rights principle of indivisibility. Contrary to ordinal utility theory that ranks baskets of goods, human rights do not accept ranking when these goods and services are necessary to secure human rights. Second, by relying preferably on market logic to allocate goods and services, mainstream economics contradicts human rights because the intermediation of money prices and the purpose of profit may cause exclusion, thus compromising the principle of universality. Finally, mainstream economics sees human rights mainly as constraints to the development of its logic. According to this view securing human rights would, then, be considered a cost weighing on economic efficiency and, therefore, something to be minimized. Fully realizing human rights needs, therefore, a different approach. This paper discusses a human rights-based political economy. This political economy, among other characteristics should give up mainstream economics narrow utilitarian approach, give up its belief that market logic should guide all exchanges of goods and services between human beings, and finally give up its view of human rights as constraints on rational choice and consequently on good economic performance. Giving up mainstream’s narrow utilitarian approach means, first embracing procedural utility and human rights-aimed consequentialism. Second, a more radical break can be imagined; non-utilitarian, or even anti-utilitarian, approaches may emerge, then, as alternatives, these two standpoints being not necessarily mutually exclusive, though. Giving up market exclusivity means embracing decommodification. More specifically, this means an approach that takes into consideration the value produced outside the market and an allocation process no longer necessarily centered on money prices. Giving up the view of human rights as constraints means, finally, to consider human rights as an expression of wellbeing and a manifestation of choice. This means, in turn, an approach that uses indicators of economic performance other than growth at the macro level and profit at the micro level, because what we measure affects what we do.

Keywords: economic and social rights, political economy, economic theory, markets

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Authors: Ortiz M. Rocío, Rocha G. Karina, Domenech A. Gloria

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There are several tools to assess the nutritional status of the population. A main instrument commonly used to build those tools is the food composition tables (FCT). Despite the importance of FCT, there are many error sources and variability factors that can be presented on building those tables and can lead to an under or over estimation of ingest of nutrients of a population. This work identified different food composition tables used as an instrument to estimate the nutrient ingest in Ecuador.The collection of data for choosing FCT was made through key informants –self completed questionnaires-, supplemented with institutional web research. A questionnaire with general variables (origin, year of edition, etc) and methodological variables (method of elaboration, information of the table, etc) was passed to the identified FCT. Those variables were defined based on an extensive literature review. A descriptive analysis of content was performed. Ten printed tables and three databases were reported which were all indistinctly treated as food composition tables. We managed to get information from 69% of the references. Several informants referred to printed documents that were not accessible. In addition, searching the internet was not successful. Of the 9 final tables, n=8 are from Latin America, and, n= 5 of these were constructed by indirect method (collection of already published data) having as a main source of information a database from the United States department of agriculture USDA. One FCT was constructed by using direct method (bromatological analysis) and has its origin in Ecuador. The 100% of the tables made a clear distinction of the food and its method of cooking, 88% of FCT expressed values of nutrients per 100g of edible portion, 77% gave precise additional information about the use of the table, and 55% presented all the macro and micro nutrients on a detailed way. The more complete FCT were: INCAP (Central America), Composition of foods (Mexico). The more referred table was: Ecuadorian food composition table of 1965 (70%). The indirect method was used for most tables within this study. However, this method has the disadvantage that it generates less reliable food composition tables because foods show variations in composition. Therefore, a database cannot accurately predict the composition of any isolated sample of a food product.In conclusion, analyzing the pros and cons, and, despite being a FCT elaborated by using an indirect method, it is considered appropriate to work with the FCT of INCAP Central America, given the proximity to our country and a food items list that is very similar to ours. Also, it is imperative to have as a reference the table of composition for Ecuadorian food, which, although is not updated, was constructed using the direct method with Ecuadorian foods. Hence, both tables will be used to elaborate a questionnaire with the purpose of assessing the food consumption of the Ecuadorian population. In case of having disparate values, we will proceed by taking just the INCAP values because this is an updated table.

Keywords: Ecuadorian food composition tables, FCT elaborated by direct method, ingest of nutrients of Ecuadorians, Latin America food composition tables

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Authors: S. Srinivas Rao, Pallavi Chitnis, Himanshu Prajapati

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The green building movement in India commenced in 2003. Since then, more than 4,300 projects have adopted green building concepts. For last 15 years, the green building movement has grown strong across the country and has resulted in immense tangible and intangible benefits to the stakeholders. Several success stories have demonstrated the tangible benefit experienced in green buildings. However, extensive data interpretation and qualitative analysis are required to report the intangible benefits in green buildings. The emphasis is now shifting to the concept of people-centric design and productivity, health and wellbeing of occupants are gaining importance. This research was part of World Green Building Council’s initiative on 'Better Places for People' which aims to create a world where buildings support healthier and happier lives. The overarching objective of this study was to understand the perception of users living and working in green buildings. The study was conducted in twenty-five IGBC certified green buildings across India, and a comprehensive questionnaire was designed to capture occupant’s perception and experience in the built environment. The entire research focussed on the eight attributes of healthy buildings. The factors considered for the study include thermal comfort, visual comfort, acoustic comfort, ergonomics, greenery, fitness, green transit and sanitation and hygiene. The occupant’s perception and experience were analysed to understand their satisfaction level. The macro level findings of the study indicate that green buildings have addressed attributes of healthy buildings to a larger extent. Few important findings of the study focussed on the parameters such as visual comfort, fitness, greenery, etc. The study indicated that occupants give tremendous importance to the attributes such as visual comfort, daylight, fitness, greenery, etc. 89% occupants were comfortable with the visual environment, on account of various lighting element incorporated as part of the design. Tremendous importance to fitness related activities is highlighted by the study. 84% occupants had actively utilised sports and meditation facilities provided in their facility. Further, 88% occupants had access to the ample greenery and felt connected to the natural biodiversity. This study aims to focus on the immense advantages gained by users occupying green buildings. This will empower green building movement to achieve new avenues to design and construct healthy buildings. The study will also support towards implementing human-centric measures and in turn, will go a long way in addressing people welfare and wellbeing in the built environment.

Keywords: health and wellbeing, green buildings, Indian green building council, occupant’s satisfaction

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Authors: Jui-Chen Huang, Shou-Hsiung Cheng

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This study examined their willingness to use telecare for people who have had experience falling in the last three months in Taiwan. This study adopted convenience sampling and a structural questionnaire to collect data. It was based on the definition and the constructs related to the Health Belief Model (HBM). HBM is comprised of seven constructs: perceived benefits (PBs), perceived disease threat (PDT), perceived barriers of taking action (PBTA), external cues to action (ECUE), internal cues to action (ICUE), attitude toward using (ATT), and behavioral intention to use (BI). This study adopted Fuzzy Neural Network (FNN) to put forward an effective method. It shows the dependence of ATT on PB, PDT, PBTA, ECUE, and ICUE. The training and testing data RMSE (root mean square error) are 0.028 and 0.166 in the FNN, respectively. The training and testing data RMSE are 0.828 and 0.578 in the regression model, respectively. On the other hand, as to the dependence of ATT on BI, as presented in the FNN, the training and testing data RMSE are 0.050 and 0.109, respectively. The training and testing data RMSE are 0.529 and 0.571 in the regression model, respectively. The results show that the FNN method is better than the regression analysis. It is an effective and viable good way.

Keywords: fall, fuzzy neural network, health belief model, telecare, willingness

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Authors: Melanie Kerschner

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Language is our main means of social interaction. News journalism, especially opinion discourse, holds a powerful position in this context. Editorials can be regarded as encounters of different, partially contradictory relationships between discourse participants constructed through the editorial voice. Their primary goal is to shape public opinion by commenting on events already addressed by other journalistic genres in the given newspaper. In doing so, the author tries to establish a consensus over the negotiated matter (i.e. the news event) with the reader. At the same time, he/she claims authority over the “correct” description and evaluation of an event. Yet, how can the relationship and the interaction between the discourse participants, i.e. the journalist, the reader and the news actors represented in the editorial, be best visualized and studied from a cross-cultural perspective? The present research project attempts to give insights into the role of (media) culture in British, Italian and German editorials. For this purpose the presenter will propose a basic framework: the so called “pyramid of discourse participants”, comprising the author, the reader, two types of news actors and the semantic macro-structure (as meta-level of analysis). Based on this framework, the following questions will be addressed: • Which strategies does the author employ to persuade the reader and to prompt him to give his opinion (in the comment section)? • In which ways (and with which linguistic tools) is editorial opinion expressed? • Does the author use adjectives, adverbials and modal verbs to evaluate news actors, their actions and the current state of affairs or does he/she prefer nominal labels? • Which influence do language choice and the related media culture have on the representation of news events in editorials? • In how far does the social context of a given media culture influence the amount of criticism and the way it is mediated so that it is still culturally-acceptable? The following culture-contrastive study shall examine 45 editorials (i.e. 15 per media culture) from six national quality papers that are similar in distribution, importance and the kind of envisaged readership to make valuable conclusions about culturally-motivated similarities and differences in the coverage and assessment of news events. The thematic orientation of the editorials will be the NSA scandal and the reactions of various countries, as this topic was and still is relevant to each of the three media cultures. Starting out from the “pyramid of discourse participants” as underlying framework, eight different criteria will be assigned to the individual discourse participants in the micro-analysis of the editorials. For the purpose of illustration, a single criterion, referring to the salience of authorial opinion, will be selected to demonstrate how the pyramid of discourse participants can be applied as a basis for empirical analysis. Extracts from the corpus shall furthermore enhance the understanding.

Keywords: Micro-analysis of editorials, culture-contrastive research, media culture, interaction between discourse participants, evaluation

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Authors: Arvind Kumar

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The city of Kanpur is located in the terrestrial plain area on the bank of the river Ganges and is the second largest city in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The city generates approximately 1400-1600 tons per day of MSW. Kanpur has been known as a major point and non-points-based pollution hotspot for the river Ganges. The city has a major industrial hub, probably the largest in the state, catering to the manufacturing and recycling of plastic and other dry waste streams. There are 4 to 5 major drains flowing across the city, which receive a significant quantity of waste leakage, which subsequently adds to the Ganges flow and is carried to the Bay of Bengal. A river-to-sea flow approach has been established to account for leaked waste into urban drains, leading to the build-up of marine litter. Throughout its journey, the river accumulates plastic – macro, meso, and micro, from various sources and transports it towards the sea. The Ganges network forms the second-largest plastic-polluting catchment in the world, with over 0.12 million tonnes of plastic discharged into marine ecosystems per year and is among 14 continental rivers into which over a quarter of global waste is discarded 3.150 Kilo tons of plastic waste is generated in Kanpur, out of which 10%-13% of plastic is leaked into the local drains and water flow systems. With the Support of Kanpur Municipal Corporation, 1TPD capacity MRF for drain waste management was established at Krishna Nagar, Kanpur & A German startup- Plastic Fisher, was identified for providing a solution to capture the drain waste and achieve its recycling in a sustainable manner with a circular economy approach. The team at Plastic Fisher conducted joint surveys and identified locations on 3 drains at Kanpur using GIS maps developed during the survey. It suggested putting floating 'Boom Barriers' across the drains with a low-cost material, which reduced their cost to only 2000 INR per barrier. The project was built upon the self-sustaining financial model. The project includes activities where a cost-efficient model is developed and adopted for a socially self-inclusive model. The project has recommended the use of low-cost floating boom barriers for capturing waste from drains. This involves a one-time time cost and has no operational cost. Manpower is engaged in fishing and capturing immobilized waste, whose salaries are paid by the Plastic Fisher. The captured material is sun-dried and transported to the designated place, where the shed and power connection, which act as MRF, are provided by the city Municipal corporation. Material aggregation, baling, and transportation costs to end-users are borne by Plastic Fisher as well.

Keywords: Kanpur, marine environment, drain waste management, plastic fisher

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Authors: John G. Vongas, Raghid Al Hajj

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We investigated the effects of winning and losing on men’s testosterone and assessed whether androgen reactivity affected their empathic accuracy and their aggression. We also explored whether their power motivation would moderate the relationships between competitive, hormonal, and behavioral outcomes. In Experiment 1, 84 males competed on a task that allegedly gauged their leadership potential and future earnings, after which they interpreted people’s emotional expressions. Results showed that winners were more capable of accurately inferring others’ emotions compared to losers and this ability improved with increasing power. Second, testosterone change mediated the relationship between competitive outcomes and empathic accuracy, with post-competitive testosterone increases relating to more accuracy. In Experiment 2, 72 males again competed after which they were measured on two aggression subtypes: proactive and reactive. Results showed that neither the competitive outcome nor the testosterone change had a significant effect on either types of aggression. However, as power increased, winners aggressed more proactively than losers whereas losers aggressed more reactively than winners. Finally, in both experiments, power moderated the relationship between competitive outcomes and testosterone change. Collectively, these studies add to existing research that explores the psychophysiological effects of competition on individuals’ empathic and aggressive responses.

Keywords: competition, testosterone, power motivation, empathic accuracy, proactive aggression, reactive aggression

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Authors: Caroline Kim

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The designation autism spectrum disorder (ASD) groups complex disorders in the development of the brain. Autism is defined essentially as a condition in which an individual lacks a theory of mind. The theory of mind, in this sense, explains the ability of an individual to attribute feelings, emotions, or thoughts to another person. An autistic patient is characteristically unable to determine what an interlocutor is feeling, or to understand the beliefs of others. However, it is possible that autism cannot plausibly characterized as the lack of theory of mind in an individual. Genes, the bran, and its interplay with environmental factors may also cause autism. A mutation in a gene may be hereditary, or instigated by diseases such as mumps. Though an autistic patient may experience abnormalities in the cerebellum and the cortical regions, these are in fact only possible theories as to a biochemical explanation behind the disability. The prevailing theory identifying autism with lacking the theory of mind is supported by behavioral observation, but this form of observation is itself determined by socially constructed standards, limiting the possibility for empirical verification. The theory of mind infers that the beliefs and emotions of people are causally based on their behavior. This paper demonstrates the fallacy of this inference, critiquing its basis in socially constructed values, and arguing instead for a biochemical approach free from the conceptual apparatus of language and social expectation.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, sociology of psychology, social construction, the theory of mind

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Authors: Dianne Williams

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This study examined the peer/individual domain of the Risk Factor Prevention Paradigm (RFPP) to assess the risk and protective factors that impact criminal gang involvement among at-risk males residing in a juvenile home in Trinidad and Tobago. The RFPP allows for the identification of both risk and protective factors in a single, holistic framework to identify the relationship between risk factors, protective factors, and criminal gang involvement among at-risk male adolescents. Findings showed that having anti-social peers was the most significant risk factor associated with criminal gang involvement, while the most significant protective factor was having a positive social attitude. Moreover, while 65% of the boys reported never having been in a gang, 70% reported having hit, struck or used a weapon against someone, while 52% reported being involved in other violent incidents on more than two occasions. This suggests that while involvement with criminal gangs may not be common among this population, predisposing behavioral patterns are present. Results are expected to assist in the development of targeted strategies to reduce the attractiveness of gang membership.

Keywords: risk factor prevention paradigm, risk factors, protective factors, peer/individual domain, gang involvement, at-risk youth, trinidad and tobago, juvenile home

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Authors: Awad A. Younis, Elise Stronberg, Shifa Noor

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Malware attacks due to end-user vulnerabilities have been noticeably increased in the past few years. Investigating the factors that make an end-user vulnerable to those attacks is critical because they can be utilized to set up proactive strategies such as awareness and education to mitigate the impacts of those attacks. Some existing studies investigated demographic, behavioral, and cultural factors that make an end-user susceptible to malware attacks. However, it has been challenging to draw more general conclusions from individual studies due to the varieties in the type of end-users and different types of malware. Therefore, we conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) of the existing research for end-user susceptibility factors to malware attacks. The results showed while some demographic factors are mostly associated with malware infection regardless of the end users' type, age, and gender are not consistent among the same and different types of end-users. Besides, the association of culture and personality factors with malware infection are consistent in most of the selected studies and for all type of end-users. Moreover, malware infection varies based on age, geographic location, and host types. We propose that future studies should carefully take into consideration the type of end-users because different end users may be exposed to different threats or be targeted based on their user domains’ characteristics. Additionally, as different types of malware use different tactics to trick end-users, taking the malware types into consideration is important.

Keywords: cybersecurity, malware, end-users, demographics, personality, culture, systematic literature review

Procedia PDF Downloads 230