Search results for: integrated solid waste management

Authors: Thaminda Liyanage, Chamila Shamika Kurukulasuriya

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Introduction: Morbid obesity has been successfully treated with bariatric surgery for over 60 years. Although operative procedures have improved and associated complications have reduced substantially, surgery still carries the risk of post-operative malabsorption, malnutrition and a range of gastrointestinal disorders. Overweight by itself can impair libido in both sexes and cause erectile dysfunction in males by inducing a state of hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, proportional to the degree of obesity. Impact of weight reduction on libido and sexual activity remains controversial, however it is broadly accepted that weight loss improves sexual drive. Zinc deficiency, subsequent to malabsorption, may lead to impaired testosterone synthesis in men while excessive and/or rapid weight loss in females may result in reversible amenorrhoea leading to sub-fertility. Methods: We describe a 37 year old male, 6 years post Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery, who presented with erectile dysfunction, loss of libido, worsening fatigue and generalized weakness for 4 months. He also complained of constipation and frequent muscle cramps but denied having headache, vomiting or visual disturbances. Patient had lost 38 kg of body weight post gastric bypass surgery over four years {135kg (BMI 42.6 kg/m2) to 97 kg (BMI 30.6 kg/m2)} and the weight had been stable for past two years. He had no recognised co-morbidities at the time of the surgery and noted marked improvement in general wellbeing, physical fitness and psychological confident post surgery, up until four months before presentation. Clinical examination revealed dry pale skin with normal body hair distribution, no thyroid nodules or goitre, normal size testicles and normal neurological examination with no visual field defects or diplopia. He had low serum testosterone, follicular stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), T3, T4, thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), insulin like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) and 24-hour urine cortisol levels. Serum cortisol demonstrated an appropriate rise to ACTH stimulation test but growth hormone (GH) failed increase on insulin tolerance test. Other biochemical and haematological studies were normal, except for low zinc and folate with minimally raised liver enzymes. MRI scan of the head confirmed a solid pituitary mass with no mass effect on optic chiasm. Results: In this patient clinical, biochemical and radiological findings were consistent with anterior pituitary dysfunction. However, there were no features of raised intracranial pressure or neurological compromise. He was commenced on appropriate home replacement therapy and referred for neurosurgical evaluation. Patient reported marked improvement in his symptoms, specially libido and erectile dysfunction, on subsequent follow up visits. Conclusion: Sexual dysfunction coupled with non specific constitutional symptoms has multiple aetiologies. Clinical symptoms out of proportion to nutritional deficiencies post bariatric surgery should be thoroughly investigated. Close long term follow up is crucial for overall success.

Keywords: obesity, bariatric surgery, erectile dysfunction, loss of libido

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Authors: Sachil Kumar, Anoop Kumar Verma, Wahid Ali, Uma Shankar Singh

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Globally approximately 55.3 million people die each year. In the India there were 95 lakh annual deaths in 2013. The number of deaths resulted from homicides, suicides and unintentional injuries in the same period was about 5.7 lakh. The ever-increasing crime rate necessitated the development of methods for determining time since death. An erroneous time of death window can lead investigators down the wrong path or possibly focus a case on an innocent suspect. In this regard a research was carried out by analyzing the temperature dependent degradation of a Cardiac Troponin-T protein (cTnT) in the myocardium postmortem as a marker for time since death. Cardiac tissue samples were collected from (n=6) medico-legal autopsies, (in the Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, King George’s Medical University, Lucknow India) after informed consent from the relatives and studied post-mortem degradation by incubation of the cardiac tissue at room temperature (20±2 OC), 12 0C, 25 0C and 37 0C for different time periods ((~5, 26, 50, 84, 132, 157, 180, 205, and 230 hours). The cases included were the subjects of road traffic accidents (RTA) without any prior history of disease who died in the hospital and their exact time of death was known. The analysis involved extraction of the protein, separation by denaturing gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and visualization by Western blot using cTnT specific monoclonal antibodies. The area of the bands within a lane was quantified by scanning and digitizing the image using Gel Doc. The data shows a distinct temporal profile corresponding to the degradation of cTnT by proteases found in cardiac muscle. The disappearance of intact cTnT and the appearance of lower molecular weight bands are easily observed. Western blot data clearly showed the intact protein at 42 kDa, two major (27 kDa, 10kDa) fragments, two additional minor fragments (32 kDa) and formation of low molecular weight fragments as time increases. At 12 0C the intensity of band (intact cTnT) decreased steadily as compared to RT, 25 0C and 37 0C. Overall, both PMI and temperature had a statistically significant effect where the greatest amount of protein breakdown was observed within the first 38 h and at the highest temperature, 37 0C. The combination of high temperature (37 0C) and long Postmortem interval (105.15 hrs) had the most drastic effect on the breakdown of cTnT. If the percent intact cTnT is calculated from the total area integrated within a Western blot lane, then the percent intact cTnT shows a pseudo-first order relationship when plotted against the log of the time postmortem. These plots show a good coefficient of correlation of r = 0.95 (p=0.003) for the regression of the human heart at different temperature conditions. The data presented demonstrates that this technique can provide an extended time range during which Postmortem interval can be more accurately estimated.

Keywords: degradation, postmortem interval, proteolysis, temperature, troponin

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Authors: Hamid Mohammadi, S. H. Eftekhar Afzali

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The irregular usage of chemical fertilizer cause different types of water and soil pollution and problems in health of human in past decades and organic fertilizer has been considered more and more. Mycorrhizal fungi have symbiosis with plant families and significantly effect on plant growth. Proper management of these symbiosis causes to reduce the usage of chemical fertilizers and absorb nutrition especially phosphor. Pistacia vera is endemic in Iran and is one of the most important products for this country. Considering special circumstances of pistachio orchards according to increasing salinity of water and soil and mismanagement of fertilizer reveals the necessity of the usage of Mycorrhizal fungi in these orchards.

Keywords: pistachio, mycorhiza, nutrition, salinity

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Authors: Beatriz Garcia-Juan, Ana B. Escrig-Tena, Vicente Roca-Puig

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The aim of this article is to conduct a theoretical and empirical study in order to examine how the goal orientation (GO) of public employees affects the relationship between the structural and psychological empowerment that they experience at their workplaces. In doing so, we follow structural empowerment (SE) and psychological empowerment (PE) conceptualizations, and relate them to the public administration framework. Moreover, we review arguments from GO theories, and previous related contributions. Empowerment has emerged as an important issue in the public sector organization setting in the wake of mainstream New Public Management (NPM), the new orientation in the public sector that aims to provide a better service for citizens. It is closely linked to the drive to improve organizational effectiveness through the wise use of human resources. Nevertheless, it is necessary to combine structural (managerial) and psychological (individual) approaches in an integrative study of empowerment. SE refers to a set of initiatives that aim the transference of power from managerial positions to the rest of employees. PE is defined as psychological state of competence, self-determination, impact, and meaning that an employee feels at work. Linking these two perspectives will lead to arrive at a broader understanding of the empowerment process. Specifically in the public sector, empirical contributions on this relationship are therefore important, particularly as empowerment is a very useful tool with which to face the challenges of the new public context. There is also a need to examine the moderating variables involved in this relationship, as well as to extend research on work motivation in public management. It is proposed the study of the effect of individual orientations, such as GO. GO concept refers to the individual disposition toward developing or confirming one’s capacity in achievement situations. Employees’ GO may be a key factor at work and in workforce selection processes, since it explains the differences in personal work interests, and in receptiveness to and interpretations of professional development activities. SE practices could affect PE feelings in different ways, depending on employees’ GO, since they perceive and respond differently to such practices, which is likely to yield distinct PE results. The model is tested on a sample of 521 Spanish local authority employees. Hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to test the research hypotheses using SPSS 22 computer software. The results do not confirm the direct link between SE and PE, but show that learning goal orientation has considerable moderating power in this relationship, and its interaction with SE affects employees’ PE levels. Therefore, the combination of SE practices and employees’ high levels of LGO are important factors for creating psychologically empowered staff in public organizations.

Keywords: goal orientation, moderating effect, psychological empowerment, structural empowerment

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Authors: Evgeni Baratashvili, Anzor Abralava, Rusudan Kutateladze, Nino Pailodze, Irma Makharashvili, Larisa Takalandze

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Sinergy as a neological term is reflected in modern sciences. It can be found in the various fields of science including the humanities and technical sciences. Among them are biology and medicine, philology, economy and etc. Synergy is the received surplus of marginal high total effect of the groups, consolidated by one common idea, received through endeavored applies of their combined tools, via obtained effect of the separate independent actions of the groups. In the conditions of market economy, according the terms of new communication terminology, synergy effects on management and marketing successfully as well as on purity defense of native language. The well-known scientist’s and public figure’s Academician I. Prangishvili’s works are especially valuable in this aspect. In our opinion the entropy research is linked to his name in our country. In modern economy, the current qualitative changes shows us that the most number of factors and issues have been regrouped. They have a great influence and even define the economic development. The declining abilities of traditional recourses of economic growth have been related on the use of their physical abilities and their moving closer to the edge. Also it is related on the reduced effectiveness, which at the same time increases the expenditures. This means that the leading must be the innovative process system of products and services in the economic growth model. In our opinion the above mentioned system is distinguished with the synergistic approach. It should be noted that the main components of the innovative system are technological, scientific and scientific-technical, social-organizational, managerial and cognitive changes. All of them are reflected on scientific works and inventions in the proper dosages, in know-how and material source. At any stage they create the reproduction cycle. The innovations are different from each other by technologies, origination, design, innovation and quality, subject-content structure, by the the spread of economic processes and the impact of the level of it’s distribution. We have presented a generalized statement of an innovative approach, which is not a single act of innovation but it is also targeted system of the development, implementation, reconciling-exploitation, production, diffusion and commercialization of news. The innovative approaches should be considered as the creation of news, in-depth process of creativity as an innovative alternative to the realization of innovative and entrepreneurial efforts and measures, in order to meet the requirements of the permanent process.

Keywords: economic development, leading process, neological term, synergy

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Authors: M. Grandcolas, N. Rival, H. Bu, S. Jahren, R. Schmid, H. Johnsen

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The concept of an autonomic self-healing material, where initiation of repair is integrated to the material, is now being considered for engineering applications and is a hot topic in the literature. Among several concepts/techniques, two are most interesting: i) Capsules: Integration of microcapsules in or at the surface of coatings or fibre-like structures has recently gained much attention. Upon damage-induced cracking, the microcapsules are broken by the propagating crack fronts resulting in a release of an active chemical (healing agent) by capillary action, subsequently repairing and avoiding further crack growth. ii) Self-healing polymers: Interestingly, the introduction of dynamic covalent bonds into polymer networks has also recently been used as a powerful approach towards the design of various intrinsically self-healing polymer systems. The idea behind this is to reconnect the chemical crosslinks which are broken when a material fractures, restoring the integrity of the material and thereby prolonging its lifetime. We propose here to integrate both self-healing concepts (capsules, self-healing polymers) in electrospun fibres and coatings. Different capsule preparation approaches have been investigated in SINTEF. The most advanced method to produce capsules is based on emulsification to create a water-in-oil emulsion before polymerisation. The healing agent is a polyurethane-based dispersion that was encapsulated in shell materials consisting of urea-benzaldehyde resins. Results showed the successful preparation of microcapsules and release of the agent when capsules break. Since capsules are produced in water-in-oil systems we mainly investigated organic solvent based coatings while a major challenge resides in the incorporation of capsules into water-based coatings. We also focused on developing more robust microcapsules to prevent premature rupture of the capsules. The capsules have been characterized in terms of size, and encapsulation and release might be visualized by incorporating fluorescent dyes and examine the capsules by microscopy techniques. Alternatively, electrospinning is an innovative technique that has attracted enormous attention due to unique properties of the produced nano-to-micro fibers, ease of fabrication and functionalization, and versatility in controlling parameters. Especially roll-to-roll electrospinning is a unique method which has been used in industry to produce nanofibers continuously. Electrospun nanofibers can usually reach a diameter down to 100 nm, depending on the polymer used, which is of interest for the concept with self-healing polymer systems. In this work, we proved the feasibility of fabrication of POSS-based (POSS: polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxanes, tradename FunzioNano™) nanofibers via electrospinning. Two different formulations based on aqueous or organic solvents have shown nanofibres with a diameter between 200 – 450nm with low defects. The addition of FunzioNano™ in the polymer blend also showed enhanced properties in term of wettability, promising for e.g. membrane technology. The self-healing polymer systems developed are here POSS-based materials synthesized to develop dynamic soft brushes.

Keywords: capsules, coatings, electrospinning, fibers

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Authors: Shierwin Agagen Cabunilas

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Countless Filipinos are reeling in dire economic inequality while many others are victims of human trafficking. Where there is extreme economic inequality, majority of the Filipinos are deprived of basic needs to have a good life, i.e., decent shelter, safe environment, food, quality education, social security, etc. The problem on human trafficking poses a scandal and threat in respect to human rights and dignity of a person on matters of sex, gender, ethnicity and race among others. The economic inequality and trafficking in persons are social pathologies that needed considerable amount of attention and visible solution both in the national and international level. However, the Philippine government seems falls short in terms of goals to lessen, if not altogether eradicate, the dire fate of many Filipinos. The lack of solidarity among Filipinos seems to further aggravate injustice and create hindrances to economic equity and protection of Filipinos from syndicated crimes, i.e., human trafficking. Indifference towards the welfare and well-being of the Filipino people trashes them into an unending cycle of marginalization and neglect. A transnational solidaristic action in response to these concerns is imperative. The subsequent sections will first discuss the notion of solidarity and the motivating factors for collective action. While solidarity has been previously thought of as stemming from and for one’s own community and people, it can be argued as a value that defies borders. Solidarity bridges peoples of diverse societies and cultures. Although there are limits to international interventions on another’s sovereignty, such as, internal political autonomy, transnational solidarity may not be an opposition to solidarity with people suffering injustices. Governments, nations and institutions can work together in securing justice. Solidarity thus is a positive political action that can best respond to issues of economic, class, racial and gender injustices. This is followed by a critical analysis of some data on Philippine economic inequality and human trafficking and link the place of transnational solidaristic arrangements. Here, the present work is interested on the normative aspect of the problem. It begins with the section on economic inequality and subsequently, human trafficking. It is argued that a transnational solidarity is vital in assisting the Philippine governing bodies and authorities to seriously execute innovative economic policies and developmental programs that are justice and egalitarian oriented. Transnational solidarity impacts a corrective measure in the economic practices, and activities of the Philippine government. Moreover, it is suggested that in order to mitigate Philippine economic inequality and human trafficking concerns it involves a (a) historical analysis of systems that brought about economic anomalies, (b) renewed and innovated economic policies, (c) mutual trust and relatively high transparency, and (d) grass-root and context-based approach. In conclusion, the findings are briefly sketched and integrated in an optimistic view that transnational solidarity is capable of influencing Philippine governing bodies towards socio-economic transformation and development of the lives of Filipinos.

Keywords: Philippines, Filipino, economic inequality, human trafficking, transnational solidarity

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Authors: Rossana Mancini

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The charm of a ruin colonised by wild plants and flowers is part of Western culture. The relationship between ruins and vegetation involves a wide range of different fields of research. During the first phase of the research the most important writings and projects about this argument were investigated, to understand how the perception of the co-existence of ruins and vegetation has changed over time and to investigate the various different approaches that these different fields have adopted when tackling this issue. The paper presents some practical examples of projects carried out from the early 1900s on. The major result is that specifically regards conservation, the best attitude is the management of change, an inevitable process when it comes to the co-existence of ruins and nature and, particularly, ruins and vegetation. Limiting ourselves to adopting measures designed to stop, or rather slow down, the increasing level of entropy (and therefore disorder) may not be enough.

Keywords: ruins, vegetation, conservation, archaeology, architecture

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Authors: B. Sudarsan Baskar, S. Pooja Pragati, S. Raj Kumar

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The cost effectiveness in aircraft maintenance is of high privilege in the recent days. The cost effectiveness can be effectively made when line maintenance activities are incorporated at airports during Turn around time (TAT). The present work outcomes the shortcomings that affect the dispatching of the aircrafts, aiming at high fleet operability and low maintenance cost. The operational and cost constraints have been discussed and a suggestive alternative mechanism is proposed. The possible allocation of all deferred maintenance tasks to a set of all deferred maintenance tasks to a set of suitable airport resources have termed as alternative and is discussed in this paper from the data’s collected from the kingfisher airlines.

Keywords: decision support system, aircraft maintenance planning, maintenance-cost, RUL(remaining useful life), logistics, supply chain management

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Authors: Utsav Bhardwaj, Shyama Prasad Das

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To meet the extensive requirements of thermal management of the circuit card assemblies (CCAs), satellites, PCBs, microprocessors, any other electronic circuitry, pulsating heat pipes (PHPs) have emerged in the recent past as one of the best solutions technically. But industrial application of PHPs is still unexplored up to a large extent due to their poor reliability. There are several systems as well as operational parameters which not only affect the performance of an operating PHP, but also decide whether the PHP can operate sustainably or not. Functioning may completely be halted for some particular combinations of the values of system and operational parameters. Among the system parameters, adiabatic length is one of the important ones. In the present work, a simplest single branch PHP system with an adiabatic section has been considered. It is assumed to have only one vapour bubble and one liquid plug. First, the system has been mathematically modeled using film evaporation/condensation model, followed by the steps of recognition of equilibrium zone, non-dimensionalization and linearization. Then proceeding with a periodical solution of the linearized and reduced differential equations, stability analysis has been performed. Slow and fast variables have been identified, and averaging approach has been used for the slow ones. Ultimately, temporal evolution of the PHP is predicted by numerically solving the averaged equations, to know whether the oscillations are likely to sustain/decay temporally. Stability threshold has also been determined in terms of some non-dimensional numbers formed by different groupings of system and operational parameters. A combined analytical and numerical approach has been used, and it has been found that for each combination of all other parameters, there exists a maximum length of the adiabatic section beyond which the PHP cannot function at all. This length has been called as “Critical Adiabatic Length (L_ac)”. For adiabatic lengths greater than “L_ac”, oscillations are found to be always decaying sooner or later. Dependence of “L_ac” on some other parameters has also been checked and correlated at certain evaporator & condenser section temperatures. “L_ac” has been found to be linearly increasing with increase in evaporator section length (L_e), whereas the condenser section length (L_c) has been found to have almost no effect on it upto a certain limit. But at considerably large condenser section lengths, “L_ac” is expected to decrease with increase in “L_c” due to increased wall friction. Rise in static pressure (p_r) exerted by the working fluid reservoir makes “L_ac” rise exponentially whereas it increases cubically with increase in the inner diameter (d) of PHP. Physics of all such variations has been given a good insight too. Thus, a methodology for quantification of the critical adiabatic length for any possible set of all other parameters of PHP has been established.

Keywords: critical adiabatic length, evaporation/condensation, pulsating heat pipe (PHP), thermal management

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Authors: Josiah Damisa, Michelle Louise Richardson, Morenike Adewuyi

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Lower back pain is a significant cause of disability worldwide and associated with great implications in terms of the well-being of affected individuals and society as a whole due to its undeniable socio-economic impact. With its prevalence on the increase as a result of an aging global population, the need for novel forms of pain management is ever paramount. This review aims to provide further insight into current research regarding a role for the endocannabinoid signaling pathway as a target in the treatment of chronic pain, with particular emphasis on its potential use as part of the treatment of lower back pain. Potential advantages and limitations of cannabis-based medicines over other forms of analgesia currently licensed for medical use are discussed in addition to areas that require ongoing consideration and research. To evaluate the efficacy of cannabis-based medicines in chronic pain, studies pertaining to the role of medical cannabis in chronic disease were reviewed. Standard searches of PubMed, Google Scholar and Web of Science databases were undertaken with peer-reviewed journal articles reviewed based on the indication for pain management, cannabis treatment modality used and study outcomes. Multiple studies suggest an emerging role for cannabis-based medicines as therapeutic agents in the treatment of chronic back pain. A potential synergistic effect has also been purported if these medicines are co-administered with opiate analgesia due to the similarity of the opiate and endocannabinoid signaling pathways. However, whilst recent changes to legislation in the United Kingdom mean that cannabis is now licensed for medicinal use on NHS prescription for a number of chronic health conditions, concerns remain as to the efficacy and safety of cannabis-based medicines. Research is lacking into both their side effect profiles and the long-term effects of cannabis use. Legal and ethical considerations to the use of these products in standardized medical practice also persist due to the notoriety of cannabis as a drug of abuse. Despite this, cannabis is beginning to gain traction as an alternative or even complementary drug to opiates, with some preclinical studies showing opiate-sparing effects. Whilst there is a paucity of clinical trials in this field, there is scope for cannabinoids to be successful anti-nociceptive agents in managing chronic back pain. The ultimate aim would be to utilize cannabis-based medicines as alternative or complementary therapies, thereby reducing opiate over-reliance and providing hope to individuals who have exhausted all other forms of standard treatment.

Keywords: endocannabinoids, cannabis-based medicines, chronic pain, lower back pain

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Authors: Miroslav H. Hristov, Velizar A. Vassilev, Georgi K. Dukendjiev

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Due to the constant development of measurement systems and the aim for computerization, unavoidable improvements are made for the main disadvantages of air gauges. With the appearance of the air-electronic measuring devices, some of their disadvantages are solved. The output electrical signal allows them to be included in the modern systems for measuring information processing and process management. Producer efforts are aimed at reducing the influence of supply pressure and measurement system setup errors. Increased accuracy requirements and preventive error measures are due to the main uses of air electronic systems - measurement of geometric dimensions in the automotive industry where they are applied as modules in measuring systems to measure geometric parameters, form, orientation and location of the elements.

Keywords: air-electronic, geometrical parameters, improvement, measurement systems

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Authors: J. H. Low, S. H. Hew, C. O. Wong

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This paper proposes an innovative approach to represent the pictogram Chinese characters. The advantage of this representation is using an extraordinary to represent the pictogram Chinese character. This extraordinary representation is created accordingly to the original pictogram Chinese characters revolution. The purpose of this innovative creation is to assistant the learner learning Chinese as second language (SCL) in Chinese language learning specifically on memorize Chinese characters. Commonly, the SCL will give up and frustrate easily while memorize the Chinese characters by rote. So, our innovative representation is able to help on memorize the Chinese character by the help of visually storytelling. This innovative representation enhances the Chinese language learning experience of SCL.

Keywords: Chinese e-learning, innovative Chinese character representation, knowledge management, language learning

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Authors: Yasar Samet Gokceoglu, Ayse Nur Incesu, Furkan Okatar, Berk Nimetoglu, Serkan Bayram, Turgut Akgul

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Ankle syndesmosis injuries pose a significant challenge in orthopedic practice due to their potential for prolonged recovery and chronic ankle dysfunction. Accurate diagnosis and management of these injuries are essential for achieving optimal patient outcomes. The use of radiological methods, such as X-ray, computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), plays a vital role in the accurate diagnosis of syndesmosis injuries in the context of ankle fractures. Treatment options for ankle syndesmosis injuries vary, with surgical interventions such as screw fixation and suture-button implantation being commonly employed. The choice of treatment is influenced by the severity of the injury and the presence of associated fractures. Additionally, the mechanism of injury, such as pure syndesmosis injury or specific fracture types, can impact the stability and management of syndesmosis injuries. Ankle fractures with syndesmosis injury present a complex clinical scenario, requiring accurate diagnosis, appropriate reduction, and tailored management strategies. The interplay between the mechanism of injury, associated fractures, and treatment modalities significantly influences the outcomes of these challenging injuries. The long-term outcomes and patient satisfaction following ankle fractures with syndesmosis injury are crucial considerations in the field of orthopedics. Patient-reported outcome measures, such as the Foot and Ankle Outcome Score (FAOS), provide essential information about functional recovery and quality of life after these injuries. When diagnosing syndesmosis injuries, standard measurements, such as the medial clear space, tibiofibular overlap, tibiofibular clear space, anterior tibiofibular ratio (ATFR), and the anterior-posterior tibiofibular ratio (APTF), are assessed through radiographs and computed tomography (CT) scans. These parameters are critical in evaluating the presence and severity of syndesmosis injuries, enabling clinicians to choose the most appropriate treatment approach. Despite advancements in diagnostic imaging, challenges remain in accurately diagnosing and treating ankle syndesmosis injuries. Traditional diagnostic parameters, while beneficial, may not capture the full extent of the injury or provide sufficient information to guide therapeutic decisions. This gap highlights the need for exploring additional diagnostic parameters that could enhance the accuracy of syndesmosis injury diagnoses and inform treatment strategies more effectively. The primary goal of this research is to evaluate the usefulness of traditional radiographic measurements in comparison to new CT-based measurements for diagnosing ankle syndesmosis injuries. Specifically, this study aims to assess the accuracy of conventional parameters, including medial clear space, tibiofibular overlap, tibiofibular clear space, ATFR, and APTF, in contrast with the recently proposed CT-based measurements such as the delta and gamma angles. Moreover, the study intends to explore the relationship between these diagnostic parameters and functional outcomes, as measured by the Foot and Ankle Outcome Score (FAOS). Establishing a correlation between specific diagnostic measurements and FAOS scores will enable us to identify the most reliable predictors of functional recovery following syndesmosis injuries. This comparative analysis will provide valuable insights into the accuracy and dependability of CT-based measurements in diagnosing ankle syndesmosis injuries and their potential impact on predicting patient outcomes. The results of this study could greatly influence clinical practices by refining diagnostic criteria and optimizing treatment planning for patients with ankle syndesmosis injuries.

Keywords: ankle syndesmosis injury, diagnostic accuracy, computed tomography, radiographic measurements, Tibiofibular syndesmosis distance

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Authors: Valon Shkodra

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In our paper, we will give an overview of the cultural heritage and tourism in Kosovo. Kosovo has a history, culture, tradition and architecture that are different from those of other countries in the region, and each country has its own characteristics and peculiarities. In this paper, we will mainly present the situation of cultural heritage and its interpretation. The research is based on fieldwork and the aim of the research is to live the situation of cultural heritage and tourism. The reason why we chose this topic is that cultural heritage and tourism are now the most important industry developing many countries in the world. Besides the benefits that tourism brings, it also has an impact on the preservation, protection and promotion of culture in general. Kosovo, with its cultural diversity and very good geographical location, is also very well suited to develop these two areas as a bridge to each other. The cultural heritage holds traces from the earliest eras and shows a diversity of different civilizations that have just begun to be explored and presented.

Keywords: cultural heritage, economy, tourism, development, institutions, protection

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Authors: Ruchirat Patanathabutr

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This applied research has adopted descriptive social science research methodology to interpret, analyze and assess the data and used descriptive analysis to present the research results. The objective of this research is to investigate the behaviors and opinions on the service and construction of cable car system at the Upper Esaan Wild Animal Adventure Park (Khon Kaen – Udon Thani) in Khao Suan Kwang District, Khon Kaen Province (Khon Kaen Zoo) of people in the local and distant communities as well as the service users. The research results have revealed that the main target group is the residents in the upper northeastern region of Thailand, especially those who have resided in the immediate vicinity of the cable car project and in nearby districts for more than 10 years. They are men and women at the age of 20-60 with high school diploma and higher levels of education, working as traders/entrepreneurs, government officers/state enterprise employees, and freelancers/self-employed, with the average monthly income of no more than 30,000 baht. Khon Kaen Zoo should improve its 4 organizational images as a tourist attraction, an animal display enclosure, an educational institution and as a provincial symbol; however, the zoo should mainly be presented as an important tourist attraction. The service should focus on maintaining the service standards in both the animal display area and the ocean park. The attention should also be directed at the types and numbers of animals, service quality, service fee, convenient access and transportation, promotions and the standards of other services. Regarding the community involvement in the cable car system construction project, it is strongly agreed that there should be a cable car service between the animal display area and the ocean park and a round-trip ticket should cost 20 baht, 50 baht or 100 baht, respectively. Khon Kaen Zoo or responsible entity must provide related groups of people, such as people in the local and distant communities as well as the service users, with accurate information about the community management guidelines. This is because the community opinions have showed the uncertainty about the cable car system construction at Khon Kaen Zoo and the 4 principles of management, including planning, organizing, leading and controlling, are indicated as uncertain as there is no statistically significant difference at 0.05. In addition, the social, economic, and environmental impacts of the cable car system construction at Khon Kaen Zoo on the communities must be considered carefully.

Keywords: community opinion, cable car system, Khon Kaen Zoo, Thailand

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Authors: Ghadir Hummeid

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Undoubtedly, our world is leading all the purposes and efforts to achieve sustainable development in life in all respects. Sustainability has been regarded as a solution to many challenges of our world today, materiality and immateriality. With the new consequences and challenges our world today, such as global climate change, the use of non-renewable resources, environmental pollution, the decreasing of urban health, the urban areas’ aging, the highly increasing migrations into urban areas linked to many consequences such as highly infrastructure density, social segregation. All of that required new forms of governance, new urban policies, and more efficient efforts and urban applications. Based on the fact that cities are the core of life and it is a fundamental life axis, their development can increase or decrease the life quality of their inhabitants. Architects and planners see themselves today in the need to create new approaches and new sustainable policies to develop urban areas to correspond with the physical and non-physical transformations that cities are nowadays experiencing. To enhance people's lives and provide for their needs in this present without compromising the needs and lives of future generations. The application of sustainability has become an inescapable part of the development and projections of cities' planning. Yet its definition has been indefinable due to the plurality and difference of its applications. As the conceptualizations of technology are arising and have dominated all life aspects today, from smart citizens and smart life rhythms to smart production and smart structures to smart frameworks, it has influenced the sustainability applications as well in the planning and urbanization of cities. The term "smart city" emerged from this influence as one of the possible key solutions to sustainability. The term “smart city” has various perspectives of applications and definitions in the literature and in urban applications. However, after the observation of smart city applications in current cities, this paper defined the smart city as an urban environment that is controlled by technologies yet lacks the physical architectural representation of this smartness as the current smart applications are mostly obscured from the public as they are applied now on a diminutive scale and highly integrated into the built environment. Regardless of the importance of these technologies in improving the quality of people's lives and in facing cities' challenges, it is important not to neglect their architectural and urban presentations will affect the shaping and development of city neighborhoods. By investigating the concept of smart cities and exploring its potential applications on a neighbourhood scale, this paper aims to shed light on understanding the challenges faced by cities and exploring innovative solutions such as smart city applications in urban mobility and how they affect the different aspects of communities. The paper aims to shape better articulations of smart neighborhoods’ morphologies on the social, architectural, functional, and material levels. To understand how to create more sustainable and liveable future approaches to developing urban environments inside cities. The findings of this paper will contribute to ongoing discussions and efforts in achieving sustainable urban development.

Keywords: sustainability, urban development, smart city, resilience, sense of belonging

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Authors: Lucia Carrion Gordon, Maria Gabriela Lopez Yanez

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This project focuses on heritage concepts and their importance in every evolving and changing Digital Era where system solutions have to be sustainable, efficient and suitable to the basic needs. The prototype has to cover the principal requirements for the case studies. How to preserve the sociological ideas of dances in Ecuador like ‘La Bomba’ is the best example and challenge to preserve the intangible data. The same idea is applicable with books and music. The History and how to keep it, is the principal mission of Heritage Preservation. The dance of La Bomba is rooted on a specific movement system whose main part is the sideward hip movement. La Bomba´s movement system is the surface manifestation of a whole system of knowledge whose principal characteristics are the historical relation of Chote˜nos with their land and their families.

Keywords: digital preservation, heritage, IT management, data, metadata, ontology, serendipity

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Authors: Ankit Khurana

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The sufficient heat storage capacity or ability to dissipate heat is the most decisive parameter to have an effective and efficient functioning of Friction-based Brake Disc systems. The primary aim of the research was to analyse the effect of multiple coatings on lightweight disk rotors surface which not only alleviates the mass of vehicle & also, augments heat transfer. This research is projected to aid the automobile fraternity with an enunciated view over the thermal aspects in a braking system. The results of the project indicate that with the advent of modern coating technologies a brake system’s thermal curtailments can be removed and together with forced convection, heat transfer processes can see a drastic improvement leading to increased lifetime of the brake rotor. Other advantages of modifying the surface of a lightweight rotor substrate will be to reduce the overall weight of the vehicle, decrease the risk of thermal brake failure (brake fade and fluid vaporization), longer component life, as well as lower noise and vibration characteristics. A mathematical model was constructed in MATLAB which encompassing the various thermal characteristics of the proposed coatings and substrate materials required to approximate the heat flux values in a free and forced convection environment; resembling to a real-time braking phenomenon which could easily be modelled into a full cum scaled version of the alloy brake rotor part in ABAQUS. The finite element of a brake rotor was modelled in a constrained environment such that the nodal temperature between the contact surfaces of the coatings and substrate (Wrought Aluminum alloy) resemble an amalgamated solid brake rotor element. The initial results obtained were for a Plasma Electrolytic Oxidized (PEO) substrate wherein the Aluminum alloy gets a hard ceramic oxide layer grown on its transitional phase. The rotor was modelled and then evaluated in real-time for a constant ‘g’ braking event (based upon the mathematical heat flux input and convective surroundings), which reflected the necessity to deposit a conducting coat (sacrificial) above the PEO layer in order to inhibit thermal degradation of the barrier coating prematurely. Taguchi study was then used to bring out certain critical factors which may influence the maximum operating temperature of a multi-coated brake disc by simulating brake tests: a) an Alpine descent lasting 50 seconds; b) an Autobahn stop lasting 3.53 seconds; c) a Six–high speed repeated stop in accordance to FMVSS 135 lasting 46.25 seconds. Thermal Barrier coating thickness and Vane heat transfer coefficient were the two most influential factors and owing to their design and manufacturing constraints a final optimized model was obtained which survived the 6-high speed stop test as per the FMVSS -135 specifications. The simulation data highlighted the merits for preferring Wrought Aluminum alloy 7068 over Grey Cast Iron and Aluminum Metal Matrix Composite in coherence with the multiple coating depositions.

Keywords: lightweight brakes, surface modification, simulated braking, PEO, aluminum

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Authors: Yiorgos Hadjichristou

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The paper will focus on the strategic development deriving from the evolution of the traditional courtyard spatial organization towards a new, contemporary sustainable way of living. New sustainable approaches that engulf the social issues, the notion of place, the understanding of weather architecture blended together with the bioclimatic behaviour will be seen through a series of experimental case studies in the island of Cyprus, inspired and originated from its traditional wisdom, ranging from small scale of living to urban interventions. Weather and nature will be seen as co-architectural authors with architects as intelligently claimed by Jonathan Hill in his Weather Architecture discourse. Furthermore, following Pallasmaa’s understanding, the building will be seen not as an end itself and the elements of an architectural experience as having a verb form rather than being nouns. This will further enhance the notion of merging the subject-human and the object-building as discussed by Julio Bermudez. This eventually will enable to generate the discussion of the understanding of the building constructed according to the specifics of place and inhabitants, shaped by its physical and human topography as referred by Adam Sharr in relation to Heidegger’s thinking. The specificities of the divided island and the dealing with sites that are in vicinity with the diving Green Line will further trigger explorations dealing with the regeneration issues and the social sustainability offering unprecedented opportunities for innovative sustainable ways of living. The above premises will lead us to develop innovative strategies for a profound, both technical and social sustainability, which fruitfully yields to innovative living built environments, responding to the ever changing environmental and social needs. As a starting point, a case study in Kaimakli in Nicosia a refurbishment with an extension of a traditional house, already engulfs all the traditional/ vernacular wisdom of the bioclimatic architecture. It aims at capturing not only its direct and quite obvious bioclimatic features, but rather to evolve them by adjusting the whole house in a contemporary living environment. In order to succeed this, evolutions of traditional architectural elements and spatial conditions are integrated in a way that does not only respond to some certain weather conditions, but they integrate and blend the weather within the built environment. A series of innovations aiming at maximum flexibility is proposed. The house can finally be transformed into a winter enclosure, while for the most part of the year it turns into a ‘camping’ living environment. Parallel to experimental interventions in existing traditional units, we will proceed examining the implementation of the same developed methodology in designing living units and complexes. Malleable courtyard organizations that attempt to blend the traditional wisdom with the contemporary needs for living, the weather and nature with the built environment will be seen tested in both horizontal and vertical developments. A new social identity of people, directly involved and interacting with the weather and climatic conditions will be seen as the result of balancing the social with the technological sustainability, the immaterial and the material aspects of the built environment.

Keywords: building as a verb, contemporary living, traditional bioclimatic wisdom, weather architecture

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Authors: Jimmy L. Caldoza, Erlito M. Albina

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Information Systems are increasingly being used to monitor and assess government projects as well as improve transparency and combat corruption. With reference to existing information systems relevant to monitoring and evaluation systems adopted by various government agencies from other countries, this research paper aims to help the Philippine government, particularly the Department of Agriculture, in assessing the impact of their programs and projects on their target beneficiaries through the development of the web-based Monitoring and Evaluation Information System with the application of a short messaging system (sms) technology.

Keywords: monitoring and evaluation system, web-based information system, short messaging system technology, database structure and management

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Authors: De-Shin Liu, Po-Chun Wen, Zhen-Wei Zhuang, Hsueh-Chih Liu, Pei-Chen Huang

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Wafer probing tests play an important role in semiconductor manufacturing procedures in accordance with the yield and reliability requirement of the wafer after the backend-of-the-line process. Accordingly, the stable physical and electrical contact between the probe and the tested wafer during wafer probing is regarded as an essential issue in identifying the known good die. The probe card can be integrated with multiple probe needles, which are classified as vertical, cantilever and micro-electro-mechanical systems type probe selections. Among all potential probe types, the vertical probe has several advantages as compared with other probe types, including maintainability, high probe density and feasibility for high-speed wafer testing. In the present study, the mechanical response of the wafer probing test with the vertical cobra probe on 720 μm thick silicon (Si) substrate with a 1.4 μm thick aluminum (Al) pad is investigated by the experiment and transient dynamic simulation approach. Because the deformation mechanism of the vertical cobra probe is determined by both bending and buckling mechanisms, the stable correlation between contact forces and overdrive (OD) length must be carefully verified. Moreover, the decent OD length with corresponding contact force contributed to piercing the native oxide layer of the Al pad and preventing the probing test-induced damage on the interconnect system. Accordingly, the scratch depth of the Al pad under various OD lengths is estimated by the atomic force microscope (AFM) and simulation work. In the wafer probing test configuration, the contact phenomenon between the probe needle and the tested object introduced large deformation and twisting of mesh gridding, causing the subsequent numerical divergence issue. For this reason, the arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian method is utilized in the present simulation work to conquer the aforementioned issue. The analytic results revealed a slight difference when the OD is considered as 40 μm, and the simulated is almost identical to the measured scratch depths of the Al pad under higher OD lengths up to 70 μm. This phenomenon can be attributed to the unstable contact of the probe at low OD length with the scratch depth below 30% of Al pad thickness, and the contact status will be being stable when the scratch depth over 30% of pad thickness. The splash of the Al pad is observed by the AFM, and the splashed Al debris accumulates on a specific side; this phenomenon is successfully simulated in the transient dynamic simulation. Thus, the preferred testing OD lengths are found as 45 μm to 70 μm, and the corresponding scratch depths on the Al pad are represented as 31.4% and 47.1% of Al pad thickness, respectively. The investigation approach demonstrated in this study contributed to analyzing the mechanical response of wafer probing test configuration under large strain conditions and assessed the geometric designs and material selections of probe needles to meet the requirement of high resolution and high-speed wafer-level probing test for thinned wafer application.

Keywords: wafer probing test, vertical probe, probe mark, mechanical response, FEA simulation

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Authors: Shekoufeh Behdad, Amirhossein Yadegari, Leila Ghodrati, Saman Yadegari

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Context: Preoperative anxiety is a common psychological reaction experienced by all patients undergoing surgery. It can have negative effects on the patient's well-being and even impact surgical outcomes. Therefore, finding effective interventions to reduce preoperative anxiety is important in improving patient care. Research Aim: The aim of this study is to compare the effects of oral administration of zaleplon (5 mg) and alprazolam (0.5 mg) on preoperative anxiety levels in women undergoing gynecological abdominal surgery. Methodology: This study is a double-blind, randomized clinical trial conducted after receiving approval from the university's ethics committee and obtaining written informed consent from the patients. The night before the surgery, patients were randomly assigned to receive either 0.5 mg of alprazolam or 5 mg of zaleplon orally. Anxiety levels, measured using a 10-cm visual analog scale, and hemodynamic variables (blood pressure and heart rate) were assessed before drug administration and on the morning of the operation after the patient entered the pre-operation room. Findings: The study found that there were no significant differences in mean anxiety levels or hemodynamic variables before and after administration of either drug in both groups (P value > 0.05). This suggests that both 0.5 mg of alprazolam and 5 mg of zaleplon effectively reduce preoperative anxiety in women undergoing abdominal surgery without serious side effects. Theoretical Importance: This study contributes to the understanding of the effectiveness of alprazolam and zaleplon in reducing preoperative anxiety. It adds to the existing literature on pharmacological interventions for anxiety management, specifically in the context of gynecological abdominal surgery. Data Collection: Data for this study were collected through the assessment of anxiety levels using a visual analog scale and measuring hemodynamic variables, including systolic, diastolic, and mean arterial blood pressures, as well as heart rate. These measurements were taken before drug administration and on the morning of the surgery. Analysis Procedures: Statistical analysis was performed to compare the mean anxiety levels and hemodynamic variables before and after drug administration in the two groups. The significance of the differences was determined using appropriate statistical tests. Questions Addressed: This study aimed to answer the question of whether there are differences in the effects of alprazolam and zaleplon on preoperative anxiety levels in women undergoing gynecological abdominal surgery. Conclusion: The oral administration of both 0.5 mg of alprazolam and 5 mg of zaleplon the night before surgery effectively reduces preoperative anxiety in women undergoing abdominal surgery. These findings have important implications for the management of preoperative anxiety and can contribute to improving the overall surgical experience for patients.

Keywords: zaleplon, alprazolam, premedication, abdominal surgery

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Authors: Nawaporn Thongnut

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The objective was to study the process and how to prepare the accounting of the Thai temples and to study the performance and quality in the accounting preparation of the temples in accordance with the regulation. The population was the accountants and individuals involved in the accounting preparation of 17 temples in the suburban Bangkok. The measurement used in this study was questionnaire. The statistics used in the analysis are the descriptive statistic. The data was presented in the form of percentage tables to describe the data on the demographic characteristics. The study found that temple wardens were responsible for the accounting and reporting of the temples. Abbots were to check the accuracy of the accounts in the monasteries. Mostly, there was no account auditing of the monasteries from the outside. The practice when receiving income for most of the monasteries had been keeping financial document in an orderly manner.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, creating shared value, management accountant’s roles, stock exchange of Thailand

Procedia PDF Downloads 233

Authors: Afaf Abdallah, Moawia Elsadig

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Background: Cervical cancer is the second most common women cancer among worldwide; representing 13% of female cancers. In Sudan, it ranks as the second most frequent cancer among women as other developing countries. Aim: Is to study awareness, attitude of nursing students towards cervical cancer prevention. The results: Most of the students were not aware of other screening methods than Pap smear test. However, half of the respondents showed positive attitudes towards HPV vaccination. More than two-thirds of respondents exhibited a positive attitude and were willing to undergo Pap smear in the future. Conclusion: The study shows that the majority of the participants have poor information, education would motivate nurses to participate actively in awareness raising, screening, and management.

Keywords: cervical cancer, knowledge, attitude, screening

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Authors: Nothando Gwazani, K. R. Marembo

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An increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from fossil fuel and land use change necessitates identification of strategies for mitigating threats associated with global warming. Oceans are insufficient to offset the accelerating rate of carbon emission. However, the challenges of oceans as a source of reducing carbon footprint can be effectively overcome by the storage of carbon in terrestrial carbon sinks. The gases with special optical properties that are responsible for climate warming include carbon dioxide (CO₂), water vapors, methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O), nitrogen oxides (NOₓ), stratospheric ozone (O₃), carbon monoxide (CO) and chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s). Amongst these, CO₂ plays a crucial role as it contributes to 50% of the total greenhouse effect and has been linked to climate change. Because plants act as carbon sinks, interest in terrestrial carbon sequestration has increased in an effort to explore opportunities for climate change mitigation. Removal of carbon from the atmosphere is a topical issue that addresses one important aspect of an overall strategy for carbon management namely to help mitigate the increasing emissions of CO₂. Thus, terrestrial ecosystems have gained importance for their potential to sequester carbon and reduce carbon sink in oceans, which have a substantial impact on the ocean species. Field data and electromagnetic spectrum bands were analyzed using ArcGIS 10.2, QGIS 2.8 and ERDAS IMAGINE 2015 to examine the vegetation distribution. Satellite remote sensing data coupled with Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was employed to assess future potential changes in vegetation distributions in Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The observed 5-year interval analysis examines the amount of carbon absorbed using vegetation distribution. In 2015, the numerical results showed low vegetation distribution, therefore increased the acidity of the oceans and gravely affected fish species and corals. The outcomes suggest that the study area could be effectively utilized for carbon sequestration so as to mitigate ocean acidification. The vegetation changes measured through this investigation suggest an environmental shift and reduced vegetation carbon sink, and that threatens biodiversity and ecosystem. In order to sustain the amount of carbon in the terrestrial ecosystems, the identified ecological factors should be enhanced through the application of good land and forest management practices. This will increase the carbon stock of terrestrial ecosystems thereby reducing direct loss to the atmosphere.

Keywords: remote sensing, vegetation dynamics, carbon sequestration, terrestrial carbon sink

Procedia PDF Downloads 156

Authors: Turan Cetinkaya

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The aim of this study is to determine the relation of the level of social anxiety to various variables of the students in physical education and sports departments. 229 students who are studying at the departments of physical education and sports teaching, sports management and coaching in Ahi Evran University, College of Physical Education and Sports participate in the research. Personal information tool and social anxiety scale consisting 30 items were used as data collection tool in the research. Distribution, frequency, t-test and ANOVA test were used in the comparison of the related data. As a result of statistical analysis, social anxiety levels do not differ according to gender, income level, sports type and national player status.

Keywords: social anxiety, undergraduates, sport, unıversty

Procedia PDF Downloads 437

Authors: Somayeh Nezami

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The management of financial and human resources of police in metropolitans requires many information and exact plans to reduce a rate of crime and increase the safety of the society. Geographical Information Systems have an important role in providing crime maps and their analysis. By using them and identification of crime hot spots along with spatial presentation of the results, it is possible to allocate optimum resources while presenting effective methods for decision making and preventive solutions. In this paper, we try to explain and compare between some of the methods of hot spots analysis such as Mode, Fuzzy Mode and Nearest Neighbour Hierarchical spatial clustering (NNH). Then the spots with the highest crime rates of drug smuggling for one province in Iran with borderline with Afghanistan are obtained. We will show that among these three methods NNH leads to the best result.

Keywords: GIS, Hot spots, nearest neighbor hierarchical spatial clustering, NNH, spatial analysis of crime

Procedia PDF Downloads 335

Authors: Anju Vaidya

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Sanitation is concerned with proper disposal of human excreta, waste water and promotion of hygiene. Lack of sanitation impacts our environment affecting our finance, schooling, health, and thus exacerbating poverty, discrimination and exclusion of the marginalized group. Sanitation can be a route and one of the most important factor to reach the goals of all Millennium Development goals. This study aims at exploring what are the rights to sanitation of the people, how it is enacted and what challenges are being faced while implementing the right to sanitation in South-Asian countries (India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Srilanka) at government, non-government and international level. This study also aims at finding how right sanitation is interlinked with children rights. The available reports submitted by government and civil society organizations working in South-Asian countries from the website of the Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights that were submitted under International covenant on economic, social and cultural rights and Convention on rights of the child have been selected and analyzed. The study uses Literature review to analyze these UN documents submitted from 2000 to 2015 in the context of South-Asian countries. Preliminary insight reveals that sanitation is recognized as one of the important factor to attain adequate standard of living. It has been found that inadequate sanitation has been a major factor that affects all aspects of life and one of its devastating impacts is increased child mortality. Many efforts have been made at national and international level in South-Asian countries to improve the state of sanitation and sanitation services. Various approaches such as Community led Total Sanitation, School led Total Sanitation, establishing Open Defecation free zone, water supply services and other sanitation and hygiene awareness programs are being launched. Despite different efforts and programs being implemented, sanitation and hygiene practices and behavior change remains to be a big challenge. Disparity in access and imbalance between urban and rural services and geographical regions, inadequate financing, clear policy framework and fragile functionality are some of the significant challenges faced while implementing these programs. Children are one of the most vulnerable group that are affected to a large extent. The study brings into light varied approaches that are being made and challenges that are being faced by government, non-government and civil society organizations while implementing the programs and strategies related to sanitation. It also highlights the relation of sanitation as a human right with child rights. This can help the stakeholders and policymakers better understand that improving sanitation situation is a process that requires learning, planning and behavior change and achieving sanitation coverage targets and motivating behavior change requires additional tools based on participation, non-discrimination and process approaches for planning and feedback.

Keywords: challenges, child rights, open defecation, sanitation as a human right

Procedia PDF Downloads 286

Authors: Johannes Günther

Abstract:

Time Sensitive Networking (TSN), standardized in the IEEE 802.1 standard, has been lent increasing attention in the context of mission critical systems. Such mission critical systems, e.g., in the automotive domain, aviation, industrial, and smart factory domain, are responsible for coordinating complex functionalities in real time. In many of these contexts, a reliable data exchange fulfilling hard time constraints and quality of service (QoS) conditions is of critical importance. TSN standards are able to provide guarantees for deterministic communication behaviour, which is in contrast to common best-effort approaches. Therefore, the superior QoS guarantees of TSN may aid in the development of new technologies, which rely on low latencies and specific bandwidth demands being fulfilled. TSN extends existing Ethernet protocols with numerous standards, providing means for synchronization, management, and overall real-time focussed capabilities. These additional QoS guarantees, as well as management mechanisms, lead to an increased attack surface for potential malicious attackers. As TSN guarantees certain deadlines for priority traffic, an attacker may degrade the QoS by delaying a packet beyond its deadline or even execute a denial of service (DoS) attack if the delays lead to packets being dropped. However, thus far, security concerns have not played a major role in the design of such standards. Thus, while TSN does provide valuable additional characteristics to existing common Ethernet protocols, it leads to new attack vectors on networks and allows for a range of potential attacks. One answer to these security risks is to deploy defense mechanisms according to a moving target defense (MTD) strategy. The core idea relies on the reduction of the attackers' knowledge about the network. Typically, mission-critical systems suffer from an asymmetric disadvantage. DoS or QoS-degradation attacks may be preceded by long periods of reconnaissance, during which the attacker may learn about the network topology, its characteristics, traffic patterns, priorities, bandwidth demands, periodic characteristics on links and switches, and so on. Here, we implemented and tested several MTD-like defense strategies against different attacker models of varying capabilities and budgets, as well as collaborative attacks of multiple attackers within a network, all within the context of TSN networks. We modelled the networks and tested our defense strategies on an OMNET++ testbench, with networks of different sizes and topologies, ranging from a couple dozen hosts and switches to significantly larger set-ups.

Keywords: network security, time sensitive networking, moving target defense, cyber security

Procedia PDF Downloads 76