Search results for: project management body of knowledge

Authors: Roman Knizek, Denisa Knizkova, Vladimir Bajzik

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Nowadays there are countless kinds of bedsheets or mattress covers for little children which should stop any liquid getting into the mattress. It is quite easy to wash the cover of the mattress, but it is almost impossible to clean the body of a mattress which is made of latex foam, wool or synthetic materials. Children bedsheets or mattress covers are often made with plastic coating which is not steam or air permeable and therefore is not very hygienic. This is our goal: by laminating a nanofiber membrane to a suitable bedsheet textile material, we can create a bedsheet which is waterproof but at the same time steam permeable and also partially breathable, thanks to the membrane. For the same reason, nanofiber membranes are widely used in outdoor clothing. The comfort properties and durability of the new nano-membrane bedsheet were studied. The following comfort properties were investigated: steam permeability - measured in accordance with Standard ISO 11902 hydrostatic resistances - measured in accordance with Standard ISO 811 and air permeability - measured in accordance with Standard ISO 9237. The durability or more precisely the wash resistance of the nano-membrane bedsheet was also measured by submitting the sheet to 30 washing cycles. The result of our work is a children's bedsheet with a nano-membrane. The nano-membrane is made of polyurethane to keep maximum flexibility and elasticity which are essential for this product. The comfort properties of this new bedsheet are very good especially its steam permeability and hydrostatic resistance.

Keywords: bed sheet, hydrostatic resistance, nanofiber membrane, water vapour permeable

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Authors: Abdul Salam Turkmani

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The Lower Cretaceous rocks are exposed only in the mountains regions of Syria, such as the Anti- Lebanon mountain on the western side of Damascus. The lower cretaceous sequences are made up of different rocks. The upper and middle parts of the section are composed mainly of carbonate sediments and, less frequently, gypsum and anhydrite. The lower beds are mainly composed of sandstone, conglomerate and clay. Clay samples were collected from the study area, which is located about 45 km west of the city of Damascus, near the border village of Kfer Yabous and to the left of the Damascus -Beirut International Road, within the lower Cretaceous upper Aptian deposits. The properties of clay were carried out by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and Thermal Analysis (DTA-TG-DSC) techniques. The studied samples of clay were mainly composed of kaolinite, quartz, illite. Chemical analysis shows the content of SiO₂ varied between 46.06 to 73 % Al₂O₃ 14.55-26.56%, about the staining oxides (Fe₂O₃ + TiO₂), the total content is about 4.3 to 12.5%. The physical properties were determined by studying the behavior of the body before and after firing, showed low bending strength values (22.5 kg/cm²) after drying, and (about 247 kg/cm²) after firing at 1180°C, water absorption value was about 10%. The cubic thermal expansion coefficient at 1140°C is 213.77 x 10-7 /°C. All of the presented results confirm the suitability of this clay for the ceramic industry.

Keywords: anti-Lebanon, Damascus, ceramic, clay, thermal analysis, thermal expansion coefficient

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Authors: Labane Chrif

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A nonlinear approach to the automatic pitch attitude control problem for aircraft transportation is presented. A nonlinear model describing the longitudinal equations of motion in strict feedback form is derived. Backstepping is utilized for the construction of a globally stabilizing controller with a number of free design parameters. The controller is evaluated using the aircraft transportation. The adaptation scheme proposed allowed us to design an explicit controller with a minimal knowledge of the aircraft aerodynamics. Finally, the simulation results will show that backstepping controller have better dynamic performance, simpler design, higher precision, easier implement, etc. At the same time, the control effect will be significantly improved. In addition, backstepping control is superior in short transition, good stability, anti-disturbance and good control.

Keywords: nonlinear control, backstepping, aircraft control, Lyapunov function, longitudinal model

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Authors: Albandary Alamer, Noura Alaskar, Sana Bukhamseen, Jawaher Alkhamis, Enas Alghamdi, Almaha Almulhim, Hina Gull, Rachid Zagrouba, Madeeha Saqib

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A good and healthy seed will always produce a nice fruit, whereas an infected seed will produce an infected fruit. The same concept applies to the children, and the healthier the environment in which the kids grow, the more likely they become valuable members of society. Kiddo project introduces us to a mobile application that focuses on enhancing the sense of responsibility from a young age and makes raising kids fun and easy. The application aims to enhance the communication between parents and their children and to enrich the good habits of the kid. Kiddo Application enables kids to share their accomplishments with their peers in an interactive environment full of enjoyment, followed by parental monitoring to handle what their kids are posting and friends following. Kiddo provides the kids' and parents’ society with a safe platform free of cyberbullying and inappropriate content with parents' fun engagement.

Keywords: kids social media, educational app, child-raising, parental control, cyberbullying, parent-child relationship, good habits

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Authors: Chitraporn Boonthanom, Pailin Sisookho

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The Sexual Literacy Training Teachers Program (SLTTP) based on sexual health problems in Thai students includes sexual development, sexual hygiene, high-risk behaviors, Sexual Transmitter Infections and HIV/AIDS, unwanted pregnancy, unsafe abortion, and sexual abuse that increase among Thai students. The training aimed at providing teachers with the sexuality knowledge, sexuality information access skills, communication skill to effectively teach in their class. 28 teachers were participated from schools in Bangkok metropolitan and Nakorn Patom province. The result show the mean score of the pre-test was 8.46 (SD=1.77) and the post-test was 10.13 (SD=2.34). The post-training results were found to be higher than pre–training results but not significant. As teachers are increasing the sexual literacy is very important for Thai students.

Keywords: sexual literacy, teachers, training, sexuality education

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Authors: Vimal Jasoliya, Purnank Bhatt, Mit Shah

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The Injection Moulding is one of the principle methods of conversions of plastics into various end products using a very wide range of plastics materials from commodity plastics to specialty engineering plastics. Injection Moulding Machines are rated as per the tonnage force applied. The work present includes Design & Finite Element Analysis of a structure component of injection moulding machine i.e. clamp cylinder. The work of the project is to upgrade the 1300T clamp cylinder to 1500T clamp cylinder for injection moulding machine. The design of existing clamp cylinder of 1300T is checked. Finite Element analysis is carried out for 1300T clamp cylinder in ANSYS Workbench, and the stress values are compared with acceptance criteria and theoretical calculation. The relation between the clamp cylinder diameter and the tonnage capacity has been derived and verified for 1300T clamp cylinder. The same correlation is used to find out the thickness for 1500T clamp cylinder. The detailed design of 1500T cylinder is carried out based on calculated thickness.

Keywords: clamp cylinder, fatigue analysis, finite element analysis, injection moulding machines

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Authors: Veruska C. Dutra, Mary L. G. S. Senna, Felipe S. Spindler

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The State Park Jalapao - PEJ proved to be one of the protected areas that has attracted tourists from all over the world with its unique scenic landscapes. Although the region already has a considerable tourist flow, to our knowledge there is a lack of continuity of studies in the region capable of drawing a plan of activities, such as the profile of the tourist and analysis of their experiences in the region, carried out from 2006-2007. Therefore, this study was proposed to know the profile and experiences of tourists visiting the park today, making a connection with the earlier study, in order to generate subsidies to trace improvement actions. We conducted interviews with tourists in the main tourism season 2015. The results show that after eight years of carrying out the first study, there were no changes, highlighting the lack of a tourism plan for the park.

Keywords: Jalapao, profile tourist, level, satisfaction

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Authors: Waleed Basuliman

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Anthropometric dimensions are considered one of the important factors when designing human-machine systems. In this study, the estimation of anthropometric dimensions has been improved by using Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model that is able to predict the anthropometric measurements of Saudi males in Riyadh City. A total of 1427 Saudi males aged 6 to 60 years participated in measuring 20 anthropometric dimensions. These anthropometric measurements are considered important for designing the work and life applications in Saudi Arabia. The data were collected during eight months from different locations in Riyadh City. Five of these dimensions were used as predictors variables (inputs) of the model, and the remaining 15 dimensions were set to be the measured variables (Model’s outcomes). The hidden layers varied during the structuring stage, and the best performance was achieved with the network structure 6-25-15. The results showed that the developed Neural Network model was able to estimate the body dimensions of Saudi male population in Riyadh City. The network's mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and the root mean squared error (RMSE) were found to be 0.0348 and 3.225, respectively. These results were found less, and then better, than the errors found in the literature. Finally, the accuracy of the developed neural network was evaluated by comparing the predicted outcomes with regression model. The ANN model showed higher coefficient of determination (R2) between the predicted and actual dimensions than the regression model.

Keywords: artificial neural network, anthropometric measurements, back-propagation

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Authors: Jihen Bennaceur, Wissem Zouaghi, Ali Mabrouk

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The major aim of cyber threat intelligence (CTI) is to provide sophisticated knowledge about cybersecurity threats to ensure internal and external safeguards against modern cyberattacks. Inaccurate, incomplete, outdated, and invaluable threat intelligence is the main problem. Therefore, data analysis based on AI algorithms is one of the emergent solutions to overcome the threat of information-sharing issues. In this paper, we propose a supervised machine learning-based algorithm to improve threat information sharing by providing a sophisticated classification of cyber threats and data. Extensive simulations investigate the accuracy, precision, recall, f1-score, and support overall to validate the designed algorithm and to compare it with several supervised machine learning algorithms.

Keywords: threat information sharing, supervised learning, data classification, performance evaluation

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Authors: Anduela Lile

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The purpose of this cross sectional study was to investigate the effectiveness of teaching and learning Statistics from a student centered perspective in higher education institutions. Statistics education has emphasized the application of tangible and interesting examples in order to motivate students learning about statistical concepts. Participants in this study were 112 bachelor students enrolled in the ‘Applied Statistics’ course in Sports University of Tirana. Experimental group students received a student-centered teaching approach; Control group students received an instructor-centered teaching approach. This study found student-centered approach student group had statistically significantly higher assessments scores (52.1 ± 18.9) at the end of the evaluation compared to instructor-centered approach student group (61.8 ± 16.4), (t (108) = 2.848, p = 0.005). Results concluded that student-centered perspective can improve student positive attitude to statistical methods and to motivate project work. Therefore, findings of this study may be very useful to the higher education institutions to establish their learning strategies especially for courses related to Statistics.

Keywords: student-centered, instructor-centered, course assessment, learning outcomes, applied statistics

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Authors: Lina Tenjo, Ilba Rodríguez

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The role of cultural identity in bilingual programs has been barely discussed in regards to SLA. This research focuses on providing relevant information that helps in having more knowledge about the experiences that an elementary student has during the second language learning process in a bilingual program within a multicultural context. This study explores the experience of 18 students in a dual language program, in a public elementary school in Northern Virginia, USA. It examines their dual language experience and the different ways this experience contributes to the formation of their cultural identity. The findings were studied with the purpose of determining the relationship between participants and certain aspects of cultural identity in a multicultural context. The reflections that originate from the voices of children are the key source that helps us to better understand the particular needs that young learners have during their participation in a DLP.

Keywords: acculturation, bilingual education, culture, dual language program, identity, second language acquisition

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Authors: Mahmut Ali Gökçe, Oguz Tasbozan, Celal Erbas, Zafer Akpinar, S. Surhan Tabakoglu, Mehmet Celik, Bilge Kaan Tekelioglu

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This study was conducted to investigate proximate compositions and fatty acid profiles of marketable size striped sea bream of obtained from fish cages of aquaculture companies and fishermen. Ten fish samples were used for both groups. The average total weight of farmed and wild samples was 252,75 ± 36,78 g and 193,0 ± 32 g respectively. While the protein level of farmed samples was (23,49±0,15) higher than that of wild fish (21,80±0,18), lipid level was less (1,55±0,08) in farmed group than wild fish samples (2,52±0,07). Amount of Σ SFA was significantly higher in wild group (44,09±0,9) than the farmed (32,79±1,13) group. Total MUFA were 36,38±29,91 in wild and 29,91±1,52 in farmed fish. However, Σ PUFA (27,89±1,53) and EPA+DHA values (15,73±1,63) of farmed samples were significantly higher than the wild (14,06 ±3,67 and 9,7±0,86) counterparts. Σώ3/ώ6 rate was better in farmed group with 2,54±0,84 in comparison with (1,59±0,06) the other group. As a result, it can be speculated that the farmed striped sea bream can be preferred by the consumers. Acknowledgement: This work was supported by the Scientific Research Project Unit of the University of Cukurova, Turkey under grant no FBA-2016-5073.

Keywords: striped sea bream, Litognathus mormyrus, proximate composition, fatty acid profile

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Authors: Zeineb Seboui, Samar Dabbabi

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In this paper, we study the performance of Cu₂ZnSnS₄ (CZTS) based solar cell. In our knowledge, it is for the first time that the FTO/ZnO:Co/CZTS structure is simulated using the SILVACO-Atlas 2D simulation. Cu₂ZnSnS₄ (CZTS), ZnO:Co and FTO (SnO₂:F) layers have been deposited on glass substrates by the spray pyrolysis technique. The extracted physical properties, such as thickness and optical parameters of CZTS layer, are considered to create a new input data of CZTS based solar cell. The optimization of CZTS electron affinity and thickness is performed to have the best FTO/ZnO: Co/CZTS efficiency. The use of CZTS absorber layer with 3.99 eV electron affinity and 3.2 µm in thickness leads to the higher efficiency of 16.86 %, which is very important in the development of new technologies and new solar cell devices.

Keywords: CZTS solar cell, characterization, electron affinity, thickness, SILVACO-atlas 2D simulation

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Authors: Mahnaz Babaei Morad, Mojtaba Zargarzadeh, Behnaz Babaei Morad, Najmeh Salari Nasab

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Green roofs and walls are one of the key elements of sustainable design in ecology design of cities. Lack of open space and urban green at different scales from one neighborhood to district is as subject that has become challenge for urban management Use change from green space to other use is familiar for Iranian citizens. The high price of land in this area, it seems only justified reason for municipalities that reduce the green space per capita. In this paper, examines the rooftops of Iranian city as a fifth facade, as well as the opportunity to offset some of the capital's urban spaces that has been removed. Today green roof isn't a matter of taste in the world. Be proportional to the quantity and quality of the architecture become the first concern of urban professionals and ecological approaches such as "sustainable" and "green architecture" is checked. In this paper we review and present examples of green roofs have been executed in Iran over the past decade. Survey some of the urban management policies in leading province in this article constitutes the second dimension. The purpose of this paper is study example of green roof performance in different parts of Iran, along with criteria for sustainable urban development and achieves the policies and components collection of implementation sustainable development , specific of Iranian green roof and monitor the develops ways to it.

Keywords: sustainable development, green roofs, Iran, green architecture

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Authors: Ali Heidari

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This paper presents the principles for improving flood mitigation operation in multipurpose dams and maximizing reservoir performance during flood occurrence with a focus on the real-time operation of gated spillways. The criteria of operation include the safety of dams during flood management, minimizing the downstream flood risk by decreasing the flood hazard and fulfilling water supply and other purposes of the dam operation in mid and long terms horizons. The parameters deemed to be important include flood inflow, outlet capacity restrictions, downstream flood inundation damages, economic revenue of dam operation, and environmental and sedimentation restrictions. A simulation model was used to determine the real-time release of the Dez dam located in the Dez rivers in southwest Iran, considering the gate regulation curves for the gated spillway. The results of the simulation model show that there is a possibility to improve the current procedures used in the real-time operation of the dams, particularly using gate regulation curves and early flood forecasting system results. The Dez dam operation data shows that in one of the best flood control records, % 17 of the total active volume and flood control pool of the reservoir have not been used in decreasing the downstream flood hazard despite the availability of a flood forecasting system.

Keywords: dam operation, flood control criteria, Dez dam, Iran

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Authors: Ge Zhan

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Mobile health (mHealth) concerns the use of mobile technologies to deliver health care and improve wellness. In this paper, we ask the question of what are the drivers of positive consumer attitude toward mHealth programs. Answers to this question are important to consumer health, but existing marketing and health care service literature does not provide sufficient empirical conclusions on the use of mobile technologies for consumer health. This study aims to fill the knowledge gap by investigating mHealth use and consumer attitude. A content analysis was conducted with sample mHealth programs and online consumer reviews in Hong Kong, UK, US, and India. The research findings will contribute to marketing and health services literature.

Keywords: mobile health, consumer attitude, content analysis, online marketing

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Authors: Imtisal-e-Noor, Andrew Martin, Olli Dahl

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Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP) has developed as a chosen planarization technique in nano-electronics industries for fabrication of the integrated circuits (ICs). These CMP processes release a huge amount of wastewater that contains oxides of nano-particles (silica, alumina, and ceria) and oxalic acid. Since, this wastewater has high solid content (TS), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and turbidity (NTU); therefore, in order to fulfill the environmental regulations, it needs to be treated up to the local and international standards. The present study proposed a unique CMP wastewater treatment method called Membrane Distillation (MD). MD is a non-isothermal membrane separation process, which allows only volatiles, i.e., water vapors to permeate through the membrane and provides 100% contaminants rejection. The performance of the MD technology is analyzed in terms of total organic carbon (TOC), turbidity, TS, COD, and residual oxide concentration in permeate/distilled water while considering different operating conditions (temperature, flow rate, and time). The results present that high-quality permeate has been recovered after removing 99% of the oxide particles and oxalic acid. The distilled water depicts turbidity < 1 NTU, TOC < 3 mg/L, TS < 50 mg/L, and COD < 100 mg/L. These findings clearly show that the MD treated water can be reused further in industrial processes or allowable to discharge in any water body under the stringent environmental regulations.

Keywords: chemical mechanical polishing, environmental regulations, membrane distillation, wastewater treatment

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Authors: Ganiyu I. Lawal, Olatunde I. Sekunowo, Stephen I. Durowaye

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Composites depending on the nature of their constituents and mode of production are regarded as one of the advanced materials that drive today’s technology. This paper attempts a short review of the subject matter with a general aim of pushing to the next level the frontier of knowledge as it impacts the technology of nano-particles manufacturing. The objectives entail an effort to; aggregate recent research efforts in this field, analyse research findings and observations, streamline research efforts and support industry in taking decision on areas of fund deployment. It is envisaged that this work will serve as a quick hand-on compendium material for researchers in this field and a guide to relevant government departments wishing to fund a research whose outcomes have the potential of improving the nation’s GDP.

Keywords: advanced materials, composites, mechanical properties, nano-particles

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Authors: Fatemeh Abdollahi, Munn-Sann Lye, Jamshid Yazdani Charati, Mehran Zarghami

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Both obesity and intimate partner violence (IPV) are growing health threats. This study aimed to assess the prevalence and risk factors of both IPV and obesity and their association. In this cross-sectional study, 530 women aged 16-65 years attending Mazandaran primary health centers were recruited through the stratified random sampling method (2019-2020). Data were collected using the modified World Health Organization Domestic Violence questionnaire, Perceived Stress Scale, and socio-demographic, obstetric, and anthropometric questionnaires. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the chi-square test, and multiple logistic regression. The prevalence of overweight, obesity and psychological, physical, and sexual IPV were 47.6%, 26.7%, 70.4%, 17.9%, and 6.4%, respectively. Increasing women’s educational level and exposure to violence during their lifespan increased the odds of any type of IPV while living in a nuclear family reduced it. In groups of women who were subjected to any type of IPV and only psychological IPV, experiencing violence during the lifespan was significant in predicting obesity. The alarming prevalence of IPV and obesity-overweight in this study points to the need for collaborative socio-political and health intervention. The link between experiencing violence during lifespan and obesity in some subgroups of women highlights the detrimental consequences of chronic violence and the urgent need for effective preventive programs.

Keywords: intimate partner violence, body mass index, obesity, risk factor, women

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Authors: A. Kabiri-Samani, M. J. Seddighi

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There is no doubt that a key factor in the manifestation of architecture is the interaction of human and nature. Explaining the type of relationship defined by “the architect” between architecture and nature opens a window towards understanding the theoretical conceptions of the architect as the creator of “architecture”. Now, if these theoretical foundations are put under scrutiny from the viewpoint of Islam, and an architect considers the relationship of human and nature within the context of Islam, he would let nature to manifest itself in architecture. The reasons for such a relationship is explicable in terms of the degree and nature of knowledge of the architect about nature; while the way it comes to existence is explained by defining the force of nature – ruling the entire nature – and its acts. It is by the scientific command of the architect and his mastery in the hermetic force of nature that the material bodies of buildings evolve from artificial to natural. Additionally, the presence of nature creates hermetic architectural spaces for the spiritual development of humans while serving for living at different levels.

Keywords: nature, Islam, cognition, science, presence, elixir

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Authors: Esmat Momeni, Shabnam Basari, Mohammad Beheshtinia

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The purpose of this study is to provide a symbolic explanation of the four elements in Zoroastrianism and sustainable ecosystems with an ecological approach. The research method is fundamental and deductive content analysis. Data collection has been done through library and documentary methods and through reading books and related articles. The population and sample of the present study are Yazd city and Iran country after discovering symbolic concepts derived from the theoretical foundations of Zoroastrianism in four elements of water, air, soil, fire and conformity with Iranian architecture with the ecological approach in Yazd city, the sustainable ecosystem it is explained by the system of nature. The validity and reliability of the results are based on the trust and confidence of the research literature. Research findings show that Yazd was one of the bases of Zoroastrianism in Iran. Many believe that the first person to discuss the elements of nature and respect Zoroastrians is the Prophet of this religion. Keeping the environment clean and pure by paying attention to and respecting these four elements. The water element is a symbol of existence in Zoroastrianism, so the people of Yazd used the aqueduct and designed a pool in front of the building. The soil element is a symbol of the raw material of human creation in the Zoroastrian religion, the most readily available material in the desert areas of Yazd, used as bricks and adobes, creating one of the most magnificent roof coverings is the dome. The wind element represents the invisible force of the soul in Creation in Zoroastrianism, the most important application of wind in the windy, which is a highly efficient cooling system. The element of fire, which is always a symbol of purity in Zoroastrianism, is located in a special place in Yazd's Ataskadeh (altar/ temple), where the most important religious prayers are held in and against the fire. Consequently, indigenous knowledge and attention to indigenous architecture is a part of the national capital of each nation that encompasses their beliefs, values, methods, and knowledge. According to studies on the four elements of Zoroastrianism, the link between these four elements are that due to the hot and dry fire at the beginning, it is the fire that begins to follow the nature of the movement in the stillness of the earth, and arises from the heat of the fire and because of vigor and its decreases, cold (wind) emerges, and from cold, humidity and wetness. And by examining books and resources on Yazd's architectural design with an ecological approach to the values of the four elements Zoroastrianism has been inspired, it can be concluded that in order to have environmentally friendly architecture, it is essential to use sustainable architectural principles, to link religious and sacrament culture and ecology through architecture.

Keywords: ecology, architecture, quadruple elements of air, soil, water, fire, Zoroastrian religion, sustainable ecosystem, Iran, Yazd city

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Authors: Renz Paolo B. Ramos, Jake S. Espina

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The Local Government Academy of the Philippines explains that Local legislation is both a power and a process by which it enacts ordinances and resolutions that have the force and effect of law while engaging with a range of stakeholders for their implementation. Legislative effectiveness is crucial for the development of any given area. This study's objective is to evaluate the legislative performance of the 10th Sangguniang of Kawayan, a legislative body in a fifth-class municipality in the Province of Biliran, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic (2019-2021) with a focus on legislation, accountability, and participation, institution-building, and intergovernmental relations. The aim of the study was that a mixed-methods strategy was used to gather data. The Local Legislative Performance Appraisal Form (LLPAF) was completed, while Focus Interviews for Local Government Unit (LGU) personnel, a survey questionnaire for constituents, and ethnographic diary-writing were conducted. Convenience Sampling was utilized for LGU workers, whereas Simple Random Sampling was used to identify the number of constituents participating. Interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis, while frequency data analysis was employed to describe and evaluate the nature and connection of the data to the underlying population. From this data, the researchers draw opportunities and challenges met by the local legislature during the height of the pandemic.

Keywords: local legislation, local governance, legislative effectiveness, legislative analysis

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Authors: Aleksandra Zysk, Pawel Badura

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Recognizing and controlling vocal registers during singing is a difficult task for beginner vocalist. It requires among others identifying which part of natural resonators is being used when a sound propagates through the body. Thus, an application has been designed allowing for sound recording, automatic vocal register recognition (VRR), and a graphical user interface providing real-time visualization of the signal and recognition results. Six spectral features are determined for each time frame and passed to the support vector machine classifier yielding a binary decision on the head or chest register assignment of the segment. The classification training and testing data have been recorded by ten professional female singers (soprano, aged 19-29) performing sounds for both chest and head register. The classification accuracy exceeded 93% in each of various validation schemes. Apart from a hard two-class clustering, the support vector classifier returns also information on the distance between particular feature vector and the discrimination hyperplane in a feature space. Such an information reflects the level of certainty of the vocal register classification in a fuzzy way. Thus, the designed recognition and training application is able to assess and visualize the continuous trend in singing in a user-friendly graphical mode providing an easy way to control the vocal emission.

Keywords: classification, singing, spectral analysis, vocal emission, vocal register

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Authors: Tridipa Biswas, Kamal Pandey

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A Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is a simple representation of a surface in 3 dimensional space with elevation as the third dimension along with X (horizontal coordinates) and Y (vertical coordinates) in rectangular coordinates. DEM has wide applications in various fields like disaster management, hydrology and watershed management, geomorphology, urban development, map creation and resource management etc. Cartosat-1 or IRS P5 (Indian Remote Sensing Satellite) is a state-of-the-art remote sensing satellite built by ISRO (May 5, 2005) which is mainly intended for cartographic applications.Cartosat-1 is equipped with two panchromatic cameras capable of simultaneous acquiring images of 2.5 meters spatial resolution. One camera is looking at +26 degrees forward while another looks at –5 degrees backward to acquire stereoscopic imagery with base to height ratio of 0.62. The time difference between acquiring of the stereopair images is approximately 52 seconds. The high resolution stereo data have great potential to produce high-quality DEM. The high-resolution Cartosat-1 stereo image data is expected to have significant impact in topographic mapping and watershed applications. The objective of the present study is to generate high-resolution DEM, quality evaluation in different elevation strata, generation of ortho-rectified image and associated accuracy assessment from CARTOSAT-1 data based Ground Control Points (GCPs) for Aglar watershed (Tehri-Garhwal and Dehradun district, Uttarakhand, India). The present study reveals that generated DEMs (10m and 30m) derived from the CARTOSAT-1 stereo pair is much better and accurate when compared with existing DEMs (ASTER and CARTO DEM) also for different terrain parameters like slope, aspect, drainage, watershed boundaries etc., which are derived from the generated DEMs, have better accuracy and results when compared with the other two (ASTER and CARTO) DEMs derived terrain parameters.

Keywords: ASTER-DEM, CARTO-DEM, CARTOSAT-1, digital elevation model (DEM), ortho-rectified image, photogrammetry, RPC, stereo pair, terrain parameters

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Authors: Liping Wu, Durga Bhakta Pokharel, Junhua Dong, Changgang Wang, Lin Zhao, Wei Ke, Nan Chen

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Hazenite conversion coating was deposited on AZ31 Mg alloy in a deaerated phosphate solution containing 0.1 M K₂HPO₄ and 0.1 M Na₂HPO₄ (Na₀.₁K0₀.₁) with pH 9 at −0.8 V. The coating mechanism of hazenite was elucidated by in situ potentiostatic current decay, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), electron probe micro-analyzer (EPMA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The volume of H₂ evolved during potentiostatic polarization was measured by a gas collection apparatus. The degradation resistance of the hazenite coating was evaluated in simulated body fluid (SBF) at 37℃ by using potentiodynamic polarization (PDP). The results showed that amorphous Mg(OH)₂ was deposited first, followed by the transformation of Mg(OH)₂ to amorphous MgHPO₄, subsequently the conversion of MgHPO₄ to crystallized K-struvite (KMgPO₄·6H₂O), finally the crystallization of crystallized hazenite (NaKMg₂(PO₄)₂·14H₂O). The deposited coating was composed of four layers where the inner layer is comprised of Mg(OH)₂, the middle layer of Mg(OH)₂ and MgHPO₄, the top layer of Mg(OH)₂, MgHPO₄ and K-struvite, the topmost layer of Mg(OH)₂, MgHPO₄, K-struvite and hazenite (NaKMg₂(PO₄)₂·14H₂O). The PD results showed that the hazenite coating decreased the corrosion rate by two orders of magnitude.

Keywords: magnesium alloy, potentiostatic technique, hazenite, mineral conversion coating

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Authors: Rajendra Kumar Pandey

Abstract:

Forest genetic resources not only represent regional biodiversity but also have immense value as the wealth for securing livelihood of poor people. These are vulnerable to ecological due to depletion/deforestation and /or impact of climate change. These resources of various plant categories are vulnerable on the floor of natural tropical forests, and leading to the threat on the growth and development of future forests. More than 170 species, including NTFPs, are in critical condition for their survival in natural tropical forests of Central India. Forest degradation, commensurate with biodiversity loss, is now pervasive, disproportionately affecting the rural poor who directly depend on forests for their subsistence. Looking ahead the interaction between forest and water, soil, precipitation, climate change, etc. and its impact on biodiversity of tropical forests, it is inevitable to develop co-operation policies and programmes to address new emerging realities. Forests ecosystem also known as the 'wealth of poor' providing goods and ecosystem services on a sustainable basis, are now recognized as a stepping stone to move poor people beyond subsistence. Poverty alleviation is the prime objective of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, environmental sustainability including other MDGs, is essential to ensure successful elimination of poverty and well being of human society. Loss and degradation of ecosystem are the most serious threats to achieving development goals worldwide. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA, 2005) was an attempt to identify provisioning and regulating cultural and supporting ecosystem services to provide livelihood security of human beings. Climate change may have a substantial impact on ecological structure and function of forests, provisioning, regulations and management of resources which can affect sustainable flow of ecosystem services. To overcome these limitations, policy guidelines with respect to planning and consistent research strategy need to be framed for conservation and sustainable development of forest genetic resources.

Keywords: climate change, forest ecosystem services, sustainable forest management, biodiversity conservation

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Authors: Carmen Silvia Gabriel, Maria de Fátima Paiva Brito, Mariane de Paula Candido, Vanessa Barato Oliveira

Abstract:

Patient identification is a necessary practice to ensure patient safety in any healthcare environment, including emergency care units, test laboratories, home care and clinics. The present study aimed to provide evidence that can effectively contribute to practices concerning patient identification. Its objective was to investigate patient identification in basic healthcare units through patient safety standards. To do so, a descriptive and non-experimental research outline study was carried out to inquire how patient identification takes place in a particular situation. All technical manager nurses from the chosen healthcare facilities were included in the sample for the study. Data was collected in September of 2014 after approval from the Committee of Ethics. All researched institutions fit the same profile: they’re public facilities for general care with observation beds. None of them has a wristband identification protocol or policy. Only one institution mentioned using some kind of visual identification; namely, body tags separated by colors according to the type of care, but it still does not apply the recommended tags by the Brazilian Ministry of Health. This study allowed the authors to acknowledge how important the commitment from the whole healthcare team in the patient identification process is and also acknowledge how necessary it is to implement institutional policies that may aid the healthcare units in this area to promote a quality and safe patient care.

Keywords: patient safety, identification, nursing, emergency care units

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Authors: Kanyapilai Kunchornsirimongkon, Kevin Wongleedee

Abstract:

The objectives of this research were to study the opinion of inbound tourist concerning the importance of perceived values and their decision to revisit Thailand. An accidental sampling method was utilized to get 200 respondents. The findings revealed that the majority of the respondents were from Europe and Asia which accounted for about 82.5 percent of the total. Approximately 72 percent of the respondents chose to revisit Bangkok once and 28 percent had revisited more than one time. Male and female respondents were approximately the same proportion. In addition, the findings revealed the top three most important perceived values were time, activities, and expenses, whereas the least important perceived values were lodging, knowledge, and night entertainment. The majority of inbound tourists rated the overall perceived value at a medium level of importance since the overall mean was 4.41 which was less than 4.5.

Keywords: perceived values, tourist destination, visiting, Thailand

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Authors: Parvin Farzanegi

Abstract:

Background: Diabetes is a metabolic disorder associated with increased free radicals and oxidative stress. The evidence indicates that physical inactivity is a modifiable behavioral risk factor for a wide range of chronic disorders such as diabetes mellitus. We investigated the effects of eight-week aerobic exercise on some antioxidant enzyme activities in postmenopausal women with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods: sixteen sedentary postmenopausal women with T2DM were randomly assigned to the control (n=8; CG) and exercise group (n=8; EG). The exercise consisted of progressive aerobic training at a moderate intensity (50-70% of the maximum heart rate), for 25-60 min/day, and 3 days/week for 8 weeks. Age, sex, and body mass index were similar in the two groups. Antioxidant status was evaluated by measuring the superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activity. Also levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) as an index of lipid peroxidation and glucose in the plasma were measured before and after the intervention. Results: Following the 8 weeks of exercise training, the plasma MDA and glucose levels were significantly reduced in EG compared to CG (P=0.001 and P=0.011 respectively). However, SOD (P=0.017) and CAT (P=0.011) activities were increased in EG compared to CG. Conclusion: The present study suggests regular aerobic exercise appears can exert protective effects against oxidative stress due to its ability to increase antioxidant defense and glucose control in postmenopausal women with T2DM.

Keywords: aerobic exercise, antioxidant, diabetes mellitus, type 2

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Authors: Linhan Sun

Abstract:

With the gradual strengthening of China's economic development, more and more people around the world are learning Chinese due to economic and trade needs, which has also promoted the research related to Chinese language education for foreigners. Because the Chinese language system is different from the Western language system, learning Chinese is not easy for many learners. In addition, language learning cannot be separated from the learning and understanding of culture. How to integrate cultural learning into the curriculum of Chinese language education for foreigners is the focus of this study. Through a semi-structured in-depth interview method, 15 foreigners who have studied or are studying Chinese participated in this study. This study found that cultural learning and Chinese as a foreign language are relatively disconnected. In other words, learners were able to acquire a certain degree of knowledge of the Chinese language through textbooks or courses but did not gain a deeper understanding of Chinese culture.

Keywords: Chinese language education, Chinese culture, qualitative methods, intercultural communication

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