Search results for: computerized decision support systems

Authors: João Filipe Papel, Tatsuji Munaka

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With society's aging and the number of elderly with dementia rising, researchers have been actively studying how to support the elderly in the early stages of dementia with the objective of allowing them to have a better life quality and as much as possible independence. To make this possible, most researchers in this field are using the Internet Of Things to monitor the elderly activities and assist them in performing them. The most common sensor used to monitor the elderly activities is the Camera sensor due to its easy installation and configuration. The other commonly used sensor is the sound sensor. However, we need to consider privacy when using these sensors. This research aims to develop a system capable of predicting the early stages of dementia based on monitoring and controlling the elderly activities of daily living. To make this system possible, some issues need to be addressed. First, the issue related to elderly privacy when trying to detect their Activities of Daily Living. Privacy when performing detection and monitoring Activities of Daily Living it's a serious concern. One of the purposes of this research is to achieve this detection and monitoring without putting the privacy of the elderly at risk. To make this possible, the study focuses on using an approach based on using Magnet Sensors to collect binary data. The second is to use the data collected by monitoring Activities of Daily Living to predict the early stages of Dementia. To make this possible, the research team suggests developing a proprietary ontology combined with both data-driven and knowledge-driven.

Keywords: dementia, activity recognition, magnet sensors, ontology, data driven and knowledge driven, IoT, activities of daily living

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Authors: Shreya Bokare, Sanjay Pawar, Shika Nema

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Growth in cloud applications is generating the tremendous amount of data, building load on traditional storage management systems. Software Defined Storage (SDS) is a new storage management concept becoming popular to handle this large amount of data. CoprHD is one of the open source SDS controller, available for experimentation and development in the storage industry. In this paper, the storage management techniques provided by CoprHD to manage heterogeneous storage platforms are experimented and analyzed. Various storage management parameters such as time to provision, storage capacity measurement, and heterogeneity are experimentally evaluated along with the theoretical expression to prove the completeness of CoprHD controller for storage management.

Keywords: software defined storage, SDS, CoprHD, open source, SMI-S simulator, clarion, Symmetrix

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Authors: Miyeon Yoo, Sewon Kim, Changyeop Lee

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It is important to measure the internal temperature or temperature distribution precisely in combustion system to increase energy efficiency and reduce the pollutants. Especially in case of large combustion systems such as power plant boiler and reheating furnace of steel making process, it is very difficult to measure those physical properties in detail. Tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy measurement and analysis can be attractive method to overcome the difficulty. In this paper, TDLAS methods are used to measure the oxygen concentration and temperature distribution in various experimental conditions.

Keywords: tunable diode laser absorption Spectroscopy, temperature distribution, gas concentration

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Authors: Nam-Phuong T. Hoang, Divna Haslam, Matthew Sanders

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Parenting psychological control (PPC) is a parenting manner of which intrusive tactics such as guilt induction, shaming or love withdrawal is adopted to manipulate the child's behavior, emotion and beliefs. PPC has been widely reported to be associated with both psychological dysfunction and low self-esteem in adolescents. Highly demanding and restrictive parenting was also found to related to high rate of risk behaviors, depression, anxiety and anti-social behaviors in adults who co-live with their parents. In many cultures like that of Asia, adults keep on co-live with their parents even after having their own families, and this is not an uncommon practice. Due to the culture obligation of family relationship and the filial piety, children are expected to stay with their parents to taking care of them when they get older, and the parents are also expected to co-live with their children in order to support them with grandchild care. As one become a grandparent, however, it does not means one stop being the parent to their own child. The effect of PPC if exist thus might continue to interfere one’s relationship with their adult children and also their adult child’s parenting. This study was designed to examine that effect of PPC on adults’ life as parents. Data was collected from 501 Vietnamese parents whose children between the age of 2 to 12 and having their parent living with them or taking care of the grandchild on daily basic. Findings show that grandparent psychological control (GPPC) is significantly associated with parent’s harsh parenting, parent’s well-being, and parent-grandparent coparenting relationship. Significantly, GPPC is the strongest predictor for the coparenting conflict between parent and grandparent.

Keywords: parenting psychological control, grandparent, coparenting, well-being

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Authors: John Kong Shan Ho

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In June 2022, the Law Commission of England and Wales published an options paper to examine how the law on corporate criminal liability can be reformed under the English system. The paper merely details options for reform and does not seek to make recommendations. However, the paper has ruled out the “respondeat superior” approach of the US and “corporate culture” approach of Australia as reform options. On balance, the preferred reform option of the Law Commission is the “senior officer” approach as currently adopted in Canada. This article is written against such background and argues that due to similarities between the English and Canadian systems, the latter’s approach is more ideal to be adopted by the former as a model for reform in this area.

Keywords: corporate criminal liability, identification principle, directing mind and will, England, Canada

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Authors: Yanjie Zhu, André Jesus, Irwanda Laory

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Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), involving data acquisition, data interpretation and decision-making system aim to continuously monitor the structural performance of civil infrastructures under various in-service circumstances. The main value and purpose of SHM is identifying damages through data interpretation system. Research on SHM has been expanded in the last decades and a large volume of data is recorded every day owing to the dramatic development in sensor techniques and certain progress in signal processing techniques. However, efficient and reliable data interpretation for damage detection under environmental variations is still a big challenge. Structural damages might be masked because variations in measured data can be the result of environmental variations. This research reports a novel method based on single-channel Blind Signal Separation (BSS), which extracts environmental effects from measured data directly without any prior knowledge of the structure loading and environmental conditions. Despite the successful application in audio processing and bio-medical research fields, BSS has never been used to detect damage under varying environmental conditions. This proposed method optimizes and combines Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD), Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Independent Component Analysis (ICA) together to separate structural responses due to different loading conditions respectively from a single channel input signal. The ICA is applying on dimension-reduced output of EEMD. Numerical simulation of a truss bridge, inspired from New Joban Line Arakawa Railway Bridge, is used to validate this method. All results demonstrate that the single-channel BSS-based method can recover temperature effects from mixed structural response recorded by a single sensor with a convincing accuracy. This will be the foundation of further research on direct damage detection under varying environment.

Keywords: damage detection, ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD), environmental variations, independent component analysis (ICA), principal component analysis (PCA), structural health monitoring (SHM)

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Authors: Amarjit S Tanda

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Integrated Pest Management Technology (IPMT) offers a crop protection model with sustainable agriculture production with minimum damage to the environment and human health. A concept of agro-ecological crop protection seems unsuitable under dynamic environmental systems. To remedy this, we are proposing Genetically Engineered Crop Protection System (GECPS), as an alternate concept in IPMT that suggests how GE cultivars can be optimally put to the service of crop protection. Genetically engineered cultivars which are developed by gene editing biotechnology may provide a preventive defense against the insect pests and plant diseases, a suitable alternative crop system for blending in IPMT program, in the future agro-industry.

Keywords: integrated, pest, management, technology

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Authors: John Bankier

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Development of academic English occurs not only in communities of practice but also within wider social networks, referred to by Zappa-Hollman and Duff as individual networks of practice. Such networks may exist whether students are developing academic English in English-dominant contexts or in contexts in which English is not a majority language. As yet, little research has examined how newcomers to universities interact with a variety of social ties in such networks to receive academic and emotional support as they develop the academic English necessary to succeed in local and global academia. The one-year ethnographic study described in this presentation followed five Japanese university students enrolled on an academic English program in their home country. We graphically represent participants’ individual networks of practice related to academic English and display the role of interaction in these networks to socialization. Specific examples of academic practices will be linked to specific instances of social interaction. Interaction supportive of the development of academic practices often occurred during unplanned interactions outside the classroom and among small groups of close friends who were connected to each other in more than one way, such as those taking multiple classes together. These interactions occurred in study spaces, in hallways between class periods, at lunchtimes, and online. However, constraints such as differing accommodation arrangements, class scheduling and the hierarchical levelling of English classes by test scores discouraged some participants both from forming strong ties related to English and from interacting with existing ties. The presentation will briefly describe ways in which teachers in all contexts can maximise interaction outside the classroom.

Keywords: academic, english, practice, network

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Authors: Anum Obaid, Iman Fatima, Wanisha Feroz, Haleema Imran, Hammad Tariq

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In Pakistan, the health of unmarried women over thirty is an emerging public health concern due to its increasing prevalence. Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires addressing nutrition and public health issues. This research investigates these goals through the lens of nutrition and public health, specifically examining the challenges faced by unmarried women over thirty in Faisalabad, Pakistan. According to a recent United Nations report, there are 10 million unmarried women over the age of 35 in Pakistan. The United Nations defines health as "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." Being unmarried and under constant societal pressure profoundly influences the dietary behaviors and nutritional status of these women, affecting their overall health, including physical, mental, and social well-being. A qualitative research approach was employed, involving interviews with both unmarried and married women over thirty. This research examines how marital status influences dietary practices, nutritional status, mental and social health, and their subsequent impacts. Factors such as physical health, mental and emotional status, societal pressure, social health, economic independence, and decision-making power were analyzed to understand the effect of singleness on overall wellness. Findings indicated that marital status significantly affects the dietary patterns and nutritional practices among women in Faisalabad. It was also revealed that unmarried women experienced more stress and had a less optimistic mindset compared to married women, due to loneliness or the absence of a spouse in their lives. Nutritional knowledge varied across marital status, impacting the overall health triangle, including physical, mental, and social health. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for developing targeted interventions to improve nutritional outcomes and overall health among unmarried women in Faisalabad. This study highlights the importance of fostering supportive environments and raising awareness about the health needs of unmarried women over thirty to enhance their overall well-being.

Keywords: health triangle, unmarried woman over thirty, socio-cultural barriers, women’s health

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Authors: Pegah Farokhzad

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Family is a basic unit of the society and the main source of human development. The initial aim of the family is psychological and social support of its members and has special developmental stages. Researches show the families who have less cohesion, have more conflicts and maladjustments and the members of such families are not able to communicate effectively. Family is a system in which any inter communication is related to child rearing patterns and can affect it. Even the child rearing styles in childhood can determine the family communications in adulthood. Therefore, the aim of the present research was to examine the relationship between child-rearing styles including authoritative, authoritarian and permissive with dimensions of family communication patterns including the conversation and conformity. The research design was a correlational and the population consisted of the psychology students of Roudehen Islamic Azad University who were studying in academic year 2013-2014. A sample of 324 students were selected randomly from the population. The research tools were the Baumrind Child-rearing Questionnaires and Family Communication Patterns Inventory, The Revised Scale of Koerner and Fitzpatrick. The results were: (a) There was a positive and significant relationship between conversation orientation and authoritative style. (b) There was no significant relationship between conversation orientation and other child-rearing styles. (c) There was a negative significant relationship between conformity orientation and authoritative style. (d) There was a positive significant relationship between conformity orientation with authoritarian and permissive styles. (e) There was a significant relationship between 3 dimensions of child-rearing and communication patterns.

Keywords: child-rearing styles, family relationship patterns, university students, Iran

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Authors: Kinza Qadeer, Muhammad Abdul Qyyum, Moonyong Lee

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Natural gas has become an attractive energy source in comparison with other fossil fuels because of its lower CO₂ and other air pollutant emissions. Therefore, compared to the demand for coal and oil, that for natural gas is increasing rapidly world-wide. The transportation of natural gas over long distances as a liquid (LNG) preferable for several reasons, including economic, technical, political, and safety factors. However, LNG production is an energy-intensive process due to the tremendous amount of power requirements for compression of refrigerants, which provide sufficient cold energy to liquefy natural gas. Therefore, one of the major issues in the LNG industry is to improve the energy efficiency of existing LNG processes through a cost-effective approach that is 'optimization'. In this context, a bio-inspired Krill-herd (KH) step-up approach was examined to enhance the energy efficiency of a single mixed refrigerant (SMR) natural gas liquefaction (LNG) process, which is considered as a most promising candidate for offshore LNG production (FPSO). The optimal design of a natural gas liquefaction processes involves multivariable non-linear thermodynamic interactions, which lead to exergy destruction and contribute to process irreversibility. As key decision variables, the optimal values of mixed refrigerant flow rates and process operating pressures were determined based on the herding behavior of krill individuals corresponding to the minimum energy consumption for LNG production. To perform the rigorous process analysis, the SMR process was simulated in Aspen Hysys® software and the resulting model was connected with the Krill-herd approach coded in MATLAB. The optimal operating conditions found by the proposed approach significantly reduced the overall energy consumption of the SMR process by ≤ 22.5% and also improved the coefficient of performance in comparison with the base case. The proposed approach was also compared with other well-proven optimization algorithms, such as genetic and particle swarm optimization algorithms, and was found to exhibit a superior performance over these existing approaches.

Keywords: energy efficiency, Krill-herd, LNG, optimization, single mixed refrigerant

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Authors: Renato André S. Silva, Nana L. F. Sampaio, Carlos J. G. Cruz, Bruno Vianna, Flávio O. Pires

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multiple stage bicycle races require high physiological loads from professional cyclists. Such demands can lead to immunosuppression and health problems. However, in this type of competition, little is known about its physiological effects on amateur athletes, who generally receive less medical support. Thus, this study analyzes the hematological effects of a multiple stage bicycle race on amateur cyclists. Seven Brazilian national amateur cyclists (34 ± 4.21 years) underwent a laboratory test to evaluate VO2Max (69.89 ± 7.43 ml⋅kg-1⋅min-1). Six days later, these volunteers raced in the Tour of Goiás, participating in five races in four days (435 km) of competition. Arterial blood samples were collected one day before and one day after the competition. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests were used to evaluate the data distribution and Wilcoxon to compare the two moments (p <0.05) of data collection. The results show: Red cells ↓ 7.8% (5.1 ± 0.28 vs 4.7 ± 0.37 106 / mm 3, p = 0.01); Hemoglobin ↓ 7.9% (15.1 ± 0.31 vs 13.9 ± 0.27 g / dL, p = 0.01); Leukocytes ↑ 9.5% (4946 ± 553 versus 5416 ± 1075 / mm 3, p = 0.17); Platelets ↓ 7.0% (200.2 ± 51.5 vs 186.1 ± 39.5 / mm 3, p = 0.01); LDH ↑ 11% (164.4 ± 28.5 vs 182.5 ± 20.5 U / L, p = 0.17); CK ↑ 13.5% (290.7 ± 206.1 vs 330.1 ± 90.5 U / L, p = 0.39); CK-MB ↑ 2% (15.7 ± 3.9 vs. 20.1 ± 2.9 U / L, p = 0.06); Cortizol ↓ 13.5% (12.1 ± 2.4 vs 9.9 ± 1.9 μg / dL, p = 0.01); Total testosterone ↓ 7% (453.6 ± 120.1 vs 421.7 ± 74.3 ng / dL, p = 0.12); IGF-1 ↓ 15.1% (213.8 ± 18.8 vs 181.5 ± 34.7 ng / mL, p = 0.04). This means that there was significant reductions in O2 allocation / transport capacities, vascular injury disruption, and a fortuitous reduction of muscle skeletal anabolism along with maintenance and / or slight elevation of immune function, glucose and lipid energy and myocardial damage. Therefore, the results suggest that no abnormal health effect was identified among the athletes after participating in the Tour de Goiás.

Keywords: cycling, health effects, cycling stages races, haematology

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Authors: I. Hakki Eraslan, Birol Ozturk, Istemi Comlekci

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This paper begins by defining what is meant by “globalization” in finance and by identifying the sources of value-added in the internationally-competitive financial services sector origination, trading and distribution of debt and equity capital market instruments and their derivatives, foreign exchange trading and securities brokerage, management of market risk and credit risk, loan syndication and structured bank financings, corporate finance and advisory services, and asset management. These activities are considered in terms of a “value-chain” one that ultimately gives rise to the real economic gains attributable to financial-center operations. The research presents available evidence as to where the relevant value-added activities usually take place. It then examines the “centrifugal” and “centripetal” forces that determine the concentration or dispersal of value-added activity in financial intermediation, both interregionally and internationally. Next, the research assesses the factors, which appear to underlie the locational pattern of international financial centers that has evolved. In preparing this paper, also it is examined the current position and the main opportunities and challenges facing world major financial services sector, and attempted to lay out a potential vision and strategies. It is conducted extensive research, including many internal research materials and publications. It is also engaged closely with the academia, industry practitioners and regulators, and consulted market experts from major world financial centers. More than 60 in‐depth consultative sessions were conducted in the past two years which provided insightful suggestions and innovative ideas on how to further financial industry’s position as an international financial centre. The paper concludes with the outlook for the future pattern of financial centers in the global competitive environment. The ideas and advice gathered are condensed into this paper that recommends to the strategic decision leaders a vision and a strategy for financial services sector to move forward amid a highly competitive environment.

Keywords: financial centers, competitiveness, financial services industry, economics

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Authors: Freddy Houndekindo

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A study was carried out to evaluate the flood risk in the district of Malanville located along the Niger River. The knowledge produce by this study is useful in the implementation of adaptation and/or mitigation measures to alleviate the impact of the flooding on the populations, the economy and the environment. Over the course of the study, the lack of data in the area of interest has been one of the main challenges encountered. Therefore, in the analysis of the flood hazard different sources of remotely sensed data were used. Moreover, the flood hazard was analysed by applying a 1D hydraulic model: HEC-RAS. After setting up the model for the study area, the different flood scenarios considered were simulated and mapped using ArcGIS and the HEC-GEORAS extension. The result of the simulation gave information about the inundated areas and the water depths at each location. From the analysis of the flood hazard, it was found that between 47% and 50% of the total area of the district of Malanville would be flooded in the different flood scenarios considered, and the water depth varies between 1 and 7 m. The townships of Malanville most at risk of flooding are Momkassa and Galiel, located in a high-risk and very high-risk zone, respectively. Furthermore, the assessment of the flood risk showed that the most vulnerable sector to the inundations is the agricultural sector. Indeed, the cultivated floodplains were the most affected areas by the floodwater in every flood scenarios. Knowing that a high proportion of the population of the district relies on their farmlands in these floodplains for their livelihood, the floods pose a challenge not only to the food security in the area but also to its development.

Keywords: flood risk management, Niger, remote sensing, vulnerability

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Authors: Ozge Yalciner

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Intercultural communication is crucial in the education of multilingual learners in primary grades, significantly influencing their academic and social development. This study explores how intercultural communication intersects with multilingual education, highlighting the importance of culturally responsive teaching practices. It addresses the challenges and opportunities presented by diverse linguistic backgrounds and proposes strategies for creating inclusive and supportive learning environments. The research emphasizes the need for teacher training programs that equip educators with the skills to recognize and address cultural differences, thereby enhancing student engagement and participation. This study was completed in an elementary school in a city in the Midwest, USA. The data was collected through observations and interviews with students and teachers. It discusses the integration of multicultural perspectives in curricula and the promotion of language diversity as an asset. Peer interactions and collaborative learning are highlighted as crucial for developing intercultural competence among young learners. The findings suggest that meaningful intercultural communication fosters a sense of belonging and mutual respect, leading to improved educational outcomes for multilingual students. Prioritizing intercultural communication in primary education is essential for supporting the linguistic and cultural identities of multilingual learners. By adopting inclusive pedagogical approaches and fostering an environment of cultural appreciation, educators can better support their students' academic success and personal growth.

Keywords: diversity, intercultural communication, multilingual learners, primary grades

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Authors: Muhamad Saiful Bahri Yusoff

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This study aimed to evaluate the construct, convergent, and discriminant validity of the Secondary School Stressor Questionnaire (3SQ) as well as to evaluate its internal consistency among adolescents in Malaysian secondary schools. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 700 secondary school students in five secondary schools. Stratified random sampling was used to select schools and participants. The confirmatory factor analysis was performed by AMOS to examine construct, convergent, and discriminant validity. The reliability analysis was performed by SPSS to determine internal consistency. The results showed that the original six-factor model with 44 items failed to achieve acceptable values of the goodness of fit indices, suggesting poor model fit. The new five-factor model of 3SQ with 22 items demonstrated acceptable level of goodness of fit indices to signify a model fit. The overall Cronbach’s alpha value for the new version 3SQ was 0.93, while the five constructs ranged from 0.68 to 0.94. The composite reliability values of each construct ranged between 0.68 and 0.93, indicating satisfactory to high level of convergent validity. Our study did not support the construct validity of the original version of 3SQ. We found the new version 3SQ showed more convincing evidence of validity and reliability to measure stressors of adolescents. Continued research is needed to verify and maximize the psychometric credentials of 3SQ across countries.

Keywords: stressors, adolescents, secondary school students, 3SQ, psychometric properties

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Authors: Tae-Uk Yun, Pullip Chung, Kee-Young Kwahk, Hyunchul Ahn

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Fake news is defined as the news articles that are intentionally and verifiably false, and could mislead readers. Spread of fake news may provoke anxiety, chaos, fear, or irrational decisions of the public. Thus, detecting fake news and preventing its spread has become very important issue in our society. However, due to the huge amount of fake news produced every day, it is almost impossible to identify it by a human. Under this context, researchers have tried to develop automated fake news detection using machine learning techniques over the past years. But, there have been no prior studies proposed an automated fake news detection method for Korean news to our best knowledge. In this study, we aim to detect Korean fake news using text mining and machine learning techniques. Our proposed method consists of two steps. In the first step, the news contents to be analyzed is convert to quantified values using various text mining techniques (topic modeling, TF-IDF, and so on). After that, in step 2, classifiers are trained using the values produced in step 1. As the classifiers, machine learning techniques such as logistic regression, backpropagation network, support vector machine, and deep neural network can be applied. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed method, we collected about 200 short Korean news from Seoul National University’s FactCheck. which provides with detailed analysis reports from 20 media outlets and links to source documents for each case. Using this dataset, we will identify which text features are important as well as which classifiers are effective in detecting Korean fake news.

Keywords: fake news detection, Korean news, machine learning, text mining

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Authors: Haifa Saleh, Kamiran Abduka, Robin Kalfat, Riadh Al-Mahaidi

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The effectiveness of using pre-stressing steel bars for shear strengthening of high strength reinforced concrete (RC) slabs was assessed. Two large-scale RC slabs were tested, one without shear reinforcement and the second strengthened against punching shear failure using pre-stressing steel bars. The two slabs had the same dimensions, flexural reinforcement ratio, loading and support arrangements. The experimental program including the method of strengthening, set up and instrumentation are described in this paper. The experimental results are analyzed and discussed in terms of the structural behavior of the RC slabs, the performance of pre-stressing steel bolts and failure modes. The results confirmed that the shear strengthening technique increased the shear capacity, ductility and yield capacity of the slab by up to 15%, 44%, and 22%, respectively compared to the unstrengthened slab. The strengthening technique also successfully contributed to changing the failure mode from a brittle punching shear mode to ductile flexural failure mode. Vic3D digital image correlation system (photogrammetry) was also used in this research. This technique holds several advantages over traditional contact instrumentations including that it is inexpensive, it produces results that are simple to analyze and it is remote visualization technique. The displacement profile along the span of the slab and rotation has been found and compared with the results obtained from traditional sensors. The performance of the photogrammetry technique was very good and the results of both measurements were in very close agreement.

Keywords: flat slab, photogrammetry, punching shear, strengthening

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Authors: Kostas Metaxiotis, Kostas Liagkouras

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This study presents an Expert System specially designed to be used with Multiobjective Evolutionary Algorithms (MOEAs) for the solution of the portfolio selection problem. The validation of the proposed hybrid System is done by using data sets from Hang Seng 31 in Hong Kong, DAX 100 in Germany and FTSE 100 in UK. The performance of the proposed system is assessed in comparison with the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGAII). The evaluation of the performance is based on different performance metrics that evaluate both the proximity of the solutions to the Pareto front and their dispersion on it. The results show that the proposed hybrid system is efficient for the solution of this kind of problems.

Keywords: expert systems, multi-objective optimization, evolutionary algorithms, portfolio selection

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Authors: Wei-Ru Chang, Jenn-Jiang Hwang, Zen-Ting Hsiao, Shu-Feng Lee

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Proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells are widely used in electrical systems as an economical, low-polluting energy source. This study investigates the effects of PEMFC gas nitriding treatment on metal bipolar plates. The test material was SUS304 stainless steel. The study explored five different pretreatment processes, varying the corrosion resistance and electrical conductivity conditions. The most effective process was industrial acid washing, followed by heating to 500 °C. Under the condition, the corrosion current density was 8.695 μA, significantly lower than that of the untreated pretreatment sample flakes, which was measured as 38.351 μA.

Keywords: nitriding, bipolar, 304, corrosion, resistance, pretreatment

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Authors: Vertika Goswami, Gargi Sharma

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The rapid evolution of fintech has led to the rise of robo-advisor platforms that utilize artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to offer personalized investment solutions efficiently and cost-effectively. This research paper conducts a comprehensive sentiment analysis of investor experiences with these platforms, employing natural language processing (NLP) and sentiment classification techniques. The study investigates investor perceptions, engagement, and satisfaction, identifying key drivers of positive sentiment such as clear communication, low fees, consistent returns, and robust security. Conversely, negative sentiment is linked to issues like inconsistent performance, hidden fees, poor customer support, and a lack of transparency. The analysis reveals that addressing these pain points—through improved transparency, enhanced customer service, and ongoing technological advancements—can significantly boost investor trust and satisfaction. This paper contributes valuable insights into the fields of behavioral finance and fintech innovation, offering actionable recommendations for stakeholders, practitioners, and policymakers. Future research should explore the long-term impact of these factors on investor loyalty, the role of emerging technologies, and the effects of ethical investment choices and regulatory compliance on investor sentiment.

Keywords: artificial intelligence in finance, automated investment, financial technology, investor satisfaction, investor sentiment, robo-advisors, sentimental analysis

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Authors: Sanja Obradovic, Vladimir Stojanovic

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The purpose of this paper is to examine the attitudes of residents toward sustainable tourism development in the Bačko Podunavlje Biosphere Reserve (BPBR) in northwestern Serbia. BPBR is a part of 'the European Amazon', world's first five-country Transboundary UNESCO Biosphere Reserve 'Mura-Drava-Danube'. Sustainable tourism development requires the engagement of local residents. Within the initial stage of tourism development, it is important to address residents' attitudes from the early beginning, thus further involve the local community through all phases of development, which in return will largely influence overall success. Data were collected through in-person (face-to-face) questionnaire. The research also addresses the quality of the sustainable tourism attitude scale (SUS-TAS), perceived as an instrument to measure local communities' attitudes towards sustainable tourism development. SUS-TAS has seven variables, which are named as environmental sustainability, perceived social cost, long-term planning, perceived economic benefit, community center economy, ensuring visitor satisfaction, and maximizing community participation. Data were analyzed using SPSS. Findings indicate that residents have a positive attitude toward the development of sustainable tourism in the BPBR. They also recognized the importance of environmental sustainability and preservation for future generations. The study shows that BPBR has a very good community to support sustainable tourism activities in each area considered.

Keywords: biosphere reserve, local resident's attitude, sustainable tourism attitude scale, SUS-TAS, sustainable tourism

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Authors: Kwan Hee Han, Jun Woo Lee, Sung Moon Bae, Twae Kyung Park

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ECA (Event-Condition-Action) languages are largely adopted for event processing since they are an intuitive and powerful paradigm for programming reactive systems. However, there are some limitations about ECA rules for processing of complex events such as coupling of event producer and consumer. The objective of this paper is to propose an ECA rule pattern to improve the current limitations of ECA rule, and to develop a prototype system. In this paper, conventional ECA rule is separated into 3 parts and each part is extended to meet the requirements of CEP. Finally, event processing logic is established by combining the relevant elements of 3 parts. The usability of proposed extended ECA rule is validated by a test scenario in this study.

Keywords: complex event processing, ECA rule, Event processing system, event-driven architecture, internet of things

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Authors: Abdullah Almatouq, Abdulla Abusam, Hussain Hussain, Mishari Khajah, Hussain Abdullah, Rashed Al-Yaseen, Mariam Al-Jumaa, Farah Al-Ajeel, Mohammad Aljassam

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Due to the high demand for energy from unsustainable resources in Kuwait, the Kuwaiti government has focused recently on using sustainable resources for energy, such as solar and wind energy. In addition, sludge which is generated as a by-product of physical, chemical, and biological processes during wastewater treatment, can be used as a substrate to generate energy through anaerobic digestion. Kuwait’s wastewater treatment plants produce more than 1.7 million m3 of sludge per year, and this volume is accumulated in the treatment plants without any treatment. Therefore, a pilot-scale (3 m3) two-stage anaerobic digester was constructed in one of the largest treatment plants in Kuwait. The reactor was operated in batch mode, and the hydraulic retention time varied between 14 – 27 days. The main of this study is to evaluate the technical feasibility of a two-stage anaerobic digester for sludge treatability and energy generation in Kuwait. The anaerobic digester achieved a total biogas production of 37 m3, and the highest value of daily biogas production was 0.4 m3/day. The methane content ranged between 50 % and 66 %, and the other gases were as follows: CO2 20 %, H2S 13 %, and 1 % O2. The generated biogas was used on-site for cooking and lighting. In some batches, low C/N was noticed, and that lead to maintaining the concentration of CH4 between 50%-55%. In conclusion, an anaerobic digester is an environmentally friendly technology that can be applied in Kuwait, and the obtained results support the scale-up of the process in all the treatment plants.

Keywords: wastewater, metahne, biogas production potential, anaerobic digestion

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Authors: Manpreet Kaur, Cheol-Hong Min

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The increasing advancement in the robotics equipped with machine vision sensors applied to precision agriculture is a demanding solution for various problems in the agricultural farms. An important issue related with the machine vision system concerns crop row and weed detection. This paper proposes an automatic furrow detection system based on real-time processing for identifying crop rows in maize fields in the presence of weed. This vision system is designed to be installed on the farming vehicles, that is, submitted to gyros, vibration and other undesired movements. The images are captured under image perspective, being affected by above undesired effects. The goal is to identify crop rows for vehicle navigation which includes weed removal, where weeds are identified as plants outside the crop rows. The images quality is affected by different lighting conditions and gaps along the crop rows due to lack of germination and wrong plantation. The proposed image processing method consists of four different processes. First, image segmentation based on HSV (Hue, Saturation, Value) decision tree. The proposed algorithm used HSV color space to discriminate crops, weeds and soil. The region of interest is defined by filtering each of the HSV channels between maximum and minimum threshold values. Then the noises in the images were eliminated by the means of hybrid median filter. Further, mathematical morphological processes, i.e., erosion to remove smaller objects followed by dilation to gradually enlarge the boundaries of regions of foreground pixels was applied. It enhances the image contrast. To accurately detect the position of crop rows, the region of interest is defined by creating a binary mask. The edge detection and Hough transform were applied to detect lines represented in polar coordinates and furrow directions as accumulations on the angle axis in the Hough space. The experimental results show that the method is effective.

Keywords: furrow detection, morphological, HSV, Hough transform

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Authors: L. Matlawe, E. S. Idemudia

Abstract:

The stability is an important topic to plan and manage the energy in the microgrids as the same as the conventional power systems. The voltage and frequency stability is one of the most important issues recently studied in microgrids. The objectives of this paper are the modeling and designing of the components and optimal controllers for the voltage and frequency control of the AC/DC hybrid microgrid under the different disturbances. Since the PI controllers have the advantages of simple structure and easy implementation, so they were designed and modeled in this paper. The harmony search (HS) algorithm is used to optimize the controllers’ parameters. According to the achieved results, the PI controllers have a good performance in voltage and frequency control of the microgrid.

Keywords: emotional abuse, employees, mental health, self-concept

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Authors: Mina Boroujerdi, Javad Tavakoli

Abstract:

Hydrogels are extensively studied as matrices for the controlled release of drugs. To evaluate the mobility of embedded molecules, these drug delivery systems are usually characterized by release studies. In this contribution, an electronic device for swelling pressure measurement during drug release from hydrogel network was developed. Also, poly acrylic acid micro particles were prepared for prolonged and sustained controlled acetaminophen release. Effect of swelling pressure on drug release from micro particles studied under different environment pH in order to predict release profile in gastro-intestine medium. Swelling ratio and swelling pressure were measured in different pH.

Keywords: swelling pressure, drug delivery, hydrogel, polyelectrolyte

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Authors: Kirsty Liddiard

Abstract:

In this paper, we detail the politics and practicalities of co-produced disability research with disabled young people with life-limiting and life-threatening impairments in our ESRC funded project, Life, Death, Disability and the Human: Living Life to the Fullest. We centre our Co-Researcher Collective of disabled young people who, through virtual research methods and social technologies, are co-leading this innovative project exploring the lives, hopes, desires and ambitions of young disabled people living short(er) lives. Co-production is an established approach; however, our co-researchers have led us to develop inclusive and transformative research practices that engage with online social research methods in innovative ways. Through this discussion, we demarcate the Academy and ‘research process’ as potentially deeply ableist spaces that propogate the normative researcher as non-disabled; someone integrated into the Academy and insecure employment; and who enacts normative modes of leadership. We use our experiences of co-production in Living Life to the Fullest, then, to show that research – as a discipline, a set of politics, and scholarly practice – must be transformed in order to enable new inclusive research futures that support meaningful co-production with marginalised young people. In conclusion, as we detail our experiences, we aim to encourage disability studies researchers and others to adopt virtual environments and social technologies when researching with and for the lives of disabled people.

Keywords: co-production, illness, youth, technology

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Authors: Sadeq Al Yaari, Muhammad Alkhunayn, Ayman Al Yaari, Montaha Al Yaari, Adham Al Yaari, Sajedah Al Yaari, Fatehi Eissa

Abstract:

Background & Aims: Audio-visual aids and computer-aided language instruction (CALI) have been documented to improve receptive skills, namely listening skills, in normal students. The increased listening has been attributed to the understanding of other interlocutors' speech, but recent experiments have suggested that audio-visual aids and CALI should be tested against the listening of students of special needs to see the effects of the former in the latter. This investigation described the effect of audio-visual aids and CALI on the performance of these students. Methods: Pre-and-posttests were administered to 40 students of special needs of both sexes at al-Malādh school for students of special needs aged between 8 and 18 years old. A comparison was held between this group of students and another similar group (control group). Whereas the former group underwent a listening course using audio-visual aids and CALI, the latter studied the same course with the same speech language therapist (SLT) with the classical method. The outcomes of the two tests for the two groups were qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed. Results: Significant improvement in the performance was found in the first group (treatment group) (posttest= 72.45% vs. pre-test= 25.55%) in comparison to the second (control) (posttest= 25.55% vs. pre-test= 23.72%). In comparison to the males’ scores, the scores of females are higher (1487 scores vs. 1411 scores). Suggested results support the necessity of the use of audio-visual aids and CALI in teaching listening at the schools of students of special needs.

Keywords: listening, receptive skills, audio-visual aids, CALI, special needs

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Authors: Rebecca Zahra, Joseph G. Vella, Ernest Cachia

Abstract:

The notion of cloud computing is rapidly gaining ground in the IT industry and is appealing mostly due to making computing more adaptable and expedient whilst diminishing the total cost of ownership. This paper focuses on the software as a service (SaaS) architecture of cloud computing which is used for the outsourcing of databases with their associated business processes. One approach for offering SaaS is basing the system’s architecture on multi-tenancy. Multi-tenancy allows multiple tenants (users) to make use of the same single application instance. Their requests and configurations might then differ according to specific requirements met through tenant customisation through the software. Despite the known advantages, companies still feel uneasy to opt for the multi-tenancy with data security being a principle concern. The fact that multiple tenants, possibly competitors, would have their data located on the same server process and share the same database tables heighten the fear of unauthorised access. Security is a vital aspect which needs to be considered by application developers, database administrators, data owners and end users. This is further complicated in cloud-based multi-tenant system where boundaries must be established between tenants and additional access control models must be in place to prevent unauthorised cross-tenant access to data. Moreover, when altering the database state, the transactions need to strictly adhere to the tenant’s known business processes. This paper focuses on the fact that security in cloud databases should not be considered as an isolated issue. Rather it should be included in the initial phases of the database design and monitored continuously throughout the whole development process. This paper aims to identify a number of the most common security risks and threats specifically in the area of multi-tenant cloud systems. Issues and bottlenecks relating to security risks in cloud databases are surveyed. Some techniques which might be utilised to overcome them are then listed and evaluated. After a description and evaluation of the main security threats, this paper produces a list of software requirements to ensure that proper security policies are implemented by a software development team when designing and implementing a multi-tenant based SaaS. This would then assist the cloud service providers to define, implement, and manage security policies as per tenant customisation requirements whilst assuring security for the customers’ data.

Keywords: cloud computing, data management, multi-tenancy, requirements, security

Procedia PDF Downloads 153