Search results for: behavioral trend

Authors: Cheryl Leggon

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Although women in the aggregate are earning more doctorates in science and engineering from U.S. institutions, they continue to concentrate in some fields--e.g., biology--and underrepresented in others--e.g., engineering. Traditionally, most studies of women doctorate recipients in the sciences (including the social, behavioral and economic sciences) or engineering do not report their findings by demographic subgroups. This study extends the literature on these topics by using an intersectional approach to examine decadal trends. Intersectionality suggests that race, gender, and nation are not separate mutually exclusive entities whose impacts are summative, but rather as a confluence of synergistic factors that shape complex social inequities. Drawing on critical aspects of the intersectionality approach is particularly well suited for a more fine-grained analysis of the representation of women doctorate recipients in science and engineering. The implications of the findings are discussed in terms of policies and evidence-based programmatic strategies for enhancing women’s participation in fields in which they are especially underrepresented.

Keywords: doctorates, engineering, science, women

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Authors: M. Asghar, K. Mahmood, F. Malik, Lu Na, Y-H Xie, Yasin A. Raja, I. Ferguson

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In this paper, we have reported an enhancement in Seebeck coefficient of un-doped zinc oxide (ZnO) grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on silicon (001) substrate by annealing treatment. The grown ZnO thin films were annealed in oxygen environment at 500°C – 800°C, keeping a step of 100°C for one hour. Room temperature Seebeck measurements showed that Seebeck coefficient and power factor increased from 222 to 510 µV/K and 8.8×10^-6 to 2.6×10^-4 Wm^-1K^-2 as annealing temperature increased from 500°C to 800°C respectively. This is the highest value of Seebeck coefficient ever reported for un-doped MBE grown ZnO according to best of our knowledge. This observation was related with the improvement of crystal structure of grown films with annealing temperature. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results demonstrated that full width half maximum (FWHM) of ZnO (002) plane decreased and crystalline size increased as the annealing temperature increased. Photoluminescence study revealed that the intensity of band edge emission increased and defect emission decreased as annealing temperature increased because the density of oxygen vacancy related donor defects decreased with annealing temperature. This argument was further justified by the Hall measurements which showed a decreasing trend of carrier concentration with annealing temperature.

Keywords: ZnO, MBE, thermoelectric properties, annealing temperature, crystal structure

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Authors: Elizabeth G. Hereford, Geoffrey W. Gearner

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Logan’s Branch, within the Triplett Creek Watershed of Rowan County, Kentucky, is a waterway located near important agricultural and residential areas. Part of Logan’s Branch flows over an exposed black shale formation with elevated radioactivity and heavy metals. Three sites were chosen in relation to the formation and sampled five times over a thirty-day period during the recreational season. A fourth site in North Fork in Rowan County, Kentucky was also sampled periodically as it too has contact with the shale formation. These sites were then sampled monthly. All samples are analyzed for concentrations of Escherichia coli, heterotrophic bacteria, and total coliform bacteria utilizing the membrane filtration method and various culture media. Current data suggests that the radioactivity of the shale formation influences the bacteriological growth present in the waterway; however, further data will be collected and compared with that of my colleagues to confirm this trend.

Keywords: bacteriological analysis, Escherichia coli, heterotrophic bacteria, radioactive black shale formation, water quality

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Authors: Ayu S. Muhamad, Michael Gleeson

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Immunomodulators are substances that alter immune system via dynamic regulation of messenger molecules. It can be divided into immunostimulant and immunosuppressant. It can help to increase immunity of people with a low immune system, and also can help to normalize an overactive immune system. Aim of this study is to investigate the effects of in vitro exposure to low and high doses of several immunomodulators which include caffeine, kaloba and quercetin on antigen-stimulated whole blood culture cytokine production. Whole blood samples were taken from 5 healthy males (age: 32 ± 12 years; weight: 75.7 ± 6.1 kg; BMI: 24.3 ± 1.5 kg/m2) following an overnight fast with no vigorous activity during the preceding 24 h. The whole blood was then stimulated with 50 µl of 100 x diluted Pediacel vaccine and low or high dose of immunomodulators in the culture plate. After 20 h incubation (5% CO2, 37°C), it was analysed using the Evidence Investigator to determine the production of cytokines including IL-2, IL-4, IL-10, IFN-γ, and IL-1α. Caffeine and quercetin showed a tendency towards decrease cytokine production as the doses were increased. On the other hand, an upward trend was evident with kaloba, where a high dose of kaloba seemed to increase the cytokine production. In conclusion, we found that caffeine and quercetin have potential as immunosuppressant and kaloba as immunostimulant.

Keywords: caffeine, cytokine, immunomodulators, kaloba, quercetin

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Authors: Ghazwan Al-Haji

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Traffic safety has become a major concern in Southeast Asia due to the increasing number of road accidents resulting in fatalities and injuries. Southeast Asia has one of the highest road traffic fatality rates in the world, in terms of both population and number of cars, nearly six times higher than the EU region. One of the reasons for this concerning trend is the increasing share of motorcycles as a form of transportation throughout Southeast Asia. The purpose of this study is to benchmark traffic safety situations and statistics in six countries in Asia and the EU, which Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Italy, Portugal and Sweden. The research will assess the priorities and causes of road accidents in the target nations. Further, the study will analyze the existing practices and promote best practices that can be implemented toward safer roads in Asian target countries. In order to achieve this goal, the study categorizes various factors contributing to traffic accidents and best practices into 4 pillars (Safer Behavior, Safer Roads, Safer Vehicles and Road Safety Management). The result of the study consists of a list of recommendations that can be applied by policymakers to promote safer roads in Asia towards 2030. The study is co-financed by the EU project ASIASAFE.

Keywords: traffic safety, ASIASAFE, Southeast Asia, EU project

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Authors: Liu Junzhu

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In contemporary China,city is expanding with an amazing speed. And because of the unexpected events’ interference, spatial structure could change itself in a short time, That will lead to the new urban district livingness and unfortunately, this phenomenon is very common.On the one hand,it fail to achieve the goal of city planning, On the other hand,it is unfavourable to the sustainable development of city. Bill Hillier’stheory Space Syntax shows organzation pattern of each space,it explains the characteristics of urban spatial patterns and its transformation regulation from the point of self-organization in system and also, it gives confirmatory and predictive ways to the building and city. This paper used axial model to summarize Hangzhou City’s special structure and enhanced comprehensive understanding of macroscopic space and environment, space structure,developing trend, ect, by computer analysis of Space Syntax. From that, it helps us to know the operation law in the urban system and to understand Hangzhou City’s spatial pattern and indirect social effect it has mad more clearly, Thus, it could comply with the tendency of cities development in process and planning of policy and plan our cities’ future sustainably.

Keywords: sustainable urban design, space syntax, spatial network, segment angular analysis, social inclusion

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Authors: Dalvin D. Hill, Hector M. Castro Garcia

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A growing number of individuals utilize wearable devices on a daily basis. The usage and functionality of these wearable devices vary from user to user. One popular usage of said devices is to track health-related activities that are typically stored on a device’s memory or uploaded to an account in the cloud; based on the current trend, the data accumulated from the wearable device are stored in a standalone location. In many of these cases, this health related datum is not a factor when considering the holistic view of a user’s health lifestyle or record. This health-related data generated from wearable and Internet of Things (IoT) devices can serve as empirical information to a medical provider, as the standalone data can add value to the holistic health record of a patient. This paper proposes a solution to incorporate the data gathered from these wearable and IoT devices, with that a patient’s Personal Health Record (PHR) stored within the confines of a Health Information Exchange (HIE).

Keywords: electronic health record, health information exchanges, internet of things, personal health records, wearable devices, wearables

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Authors: Ali Ben Abbes, Imed Riadh Farah

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Due to the considerable advances in Multi-Temporal Satellite Images (MTSI), remote sensing application became more accurate. Recently, many advances in modeling MTSI are developed using various models. The purpose of this article is to present an overview of studies using Hidden Markov Model (HMM). First of all, we provide a background of using HMM and their applications in this context. A comparison of the different works is discussed, and possible areas and challenges are highlighted. Secondly, we discussed the difference on vegetation monitoring as well as urban growth. Nevertheless, most research efforts have been used only stationary data. From another point of view, in this paper, we describe a new non-stationarity HMM, that is defined with a set of parts of the time series e.g. seasonal, trend and random. In addition, a new approach giving more accurate results and improve the applicability of the HMM in modeling a non-stationary data series. In order to assess the performance of the HMM, different experiments are carried out using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) NDVI time series of the northwestern region of Tunisia and Landsat time series of tres Cantos-Madrid in Spain.

Keywords: multi-temporal satellite image, HMM , nonstationarity, vegetation, urban

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Authors: Aminu Hamza

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This study examines the factors that play vital role in the adoption of mobile payment system among consumers in Nigeria. Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was used with two additional variables to form the conceptual model. The study was conducted in three Universities in Kano state, Nigeria. Convenience sampling method was used with a total valid 202 respondents which involved the students of Bayero University Kano (BUK), Northwest University, and Kano University of Science and Technology (KUST) Wudil, Kano, Nigeria. Results of the regression analysis revealed that Perceived ease of use (PEOU) and Perceived usefulness (PU) have significant and positive correlation with the behavioral intention to adopt mobile payment system. The findings of this study would be useful to the policy makers Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), mobile network operators and providers of the services.

Keywords: mobile payment system, Nigeria, technology adoption, technology acceptance model

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Authors: Mindaugas Kazlauskas

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In this paper, it is presupposed that the description of the relationship between animal and human should begin with a description of the direct experience of the animal and how, in this experience, the human experiences itself (a self awareness mode). A human is concerned first and foremost with himself as a human through the experience of another as an animal. The questionsare: In the encounter with an animal, how is the animal constituted in the acts of human experience? How does human-animal interaction influence human behavioral patterns, and how does the human identifies itself in this interaction? The paper will present the results of interpretative phenomenological descriptions (IPA) of the relationship between human and animal in the face of death phenomenon through the experience of pet owners who lost their beloved companions and hunters, veterinatians, and farmers who face animal death. The results of IPA analysis reveal different relations such as the identification with an animal, the alienation experience, the experience of resistance, and an experience of detachment. Within these themes, IPA qualitative research results will be presented by highlighting patterns of human behavior, following Friedrich Schlachermacher's hermeneutics methodological principles, and reflecting on changes in value and attitude within society during daily interaction with the animal.

Keywords: animal human interaction, phenomenology, philosophy, death phenomenon

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Authors: Shalini Rajput, Dinesh Mohan

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Water is the most important and essential resources for existing of life on the earth. Water quality is gradually decreasing due to increasing urbanization and industrialization and various other developmental activities. It can pose a threat to the environment and public health therefore it is necessary to remove hazardous contaminants from wastewater prior to its discharge to the environment. Recently, magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles have been arise as significant materials due to its distinct properties. This article focuses on the synthesis method with a possible mechanism, structure and application of magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles. The various characterization techniques including X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and vibrating sample magnetometer are useful to describe the physico-chemical properties of nanoparticles. Nanosized iron oxide particles utilized for remediation of contaminants from aqueous medium through adsorption process. Due to magnetic properties, nanoparticles can be easily separate from aqueous media. Considering the importance and emerging trend of nanotechnology, iron oxide nanoparticles as nano-adsorbent can be of great importance in the field of wastewater treatment.

Keywords: nanoparticles, adsorption, iron oxide, nanotechnology

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Authors: Wladislaw Mill, Hariet Kirschner, Anna Zimmermann, Sashi Singh, Simon Forstmeier, Uwe Berger, Bernhard Strauss, Benedikt Werner

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Introduction: A promising method to improve mental health of elderly people are structured life-reviews. We report the evaluation of our newly developed manual for structured life-reviews. The manual was created with the emphasis on straightforward application so that it can be used by professionals and lay people alike. Method: A within-subjects pre-post design is used to evaluate the manual using a geriatric depression scale and a self-integrity measure. Participants are elderly people living by themselves and in nursing homes. Findings: It is shown that elderly people perceive the structured life-review as a very positive experience. More importantly, it is shown that a negative trend of self-integrity and geriatric depression is significantly reduced by the intervention. Conclusion: The data suggest that the manual contributes positively to self- perception and mental health. We conclude that this newly developed device is very valuable to augment elderly care.

Keywords: structured life-review, self-integrity, geriatric depression, preventation research

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Authors: Jong-Won Lee

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Since Cloud environment has appeared as the most powerful keyword in the computing industry, the growth in VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) became remarkable in domestic market. In recent years, with the trend that mobile devices such as smartphones and pads spread so rapidly, the strengths of VDI that allows people to access and perform business on the move along with companies' office needs expedite more rapid spread of VDI. However, although this enhanced accessibility and mobility can bring the enhanced productivity, it sometimes conflicts with the security, so there should be more detailed security solution, which is user authentication. In this paper, mobile OTP (One-Time Password) authentication method is proposed to secure mobile device portability through rapid and secure authentication using mobile devices such as mobile phones or pads, which does not require additional purchase or possession of OTP tokens of users. However, in order to use the service continuously and reliably in the cloud environment, both service provider and user have to prepare for security awareness and security threats, and continuously study the conflicting aspect between the improving user convenience and the security and supplement so that cloud service can provide opportunities to develop as a new growth industry in the future and create a new market in IT industry.

Keywords: cloud, OTP, mobility, security, authentication

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Authors: Chen Xi, Liu Xuebing, Lao Xueru, Kuan Sinman, Jiang Yike, Wang Hanwei, Yang Xiaolang, Zhou Junjie, Xie Jinpeng

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To further promote the development of smart cities, the microscopic "nerve endings" of the City Intelligent Model (CIM) are extended to be more sensitive. In this paper, we develop a pedestrian trajectory twin terminal based on the CIM and CNN technology. It also uses 5G networks, architectural and geoinformatics technologies, convolutional neural networks, combined with deep learning networks for human behavior recognition models, to provide empirical data such as 'pedestrian flow data and human behavioral characteristics data', and ultimately form spatial performance evaluation criteria and spatial performance warning systems, to make the empirical data accurate and intelligent for prediction and decision making.

Keywords: urban planning, urban governance, CIM, artificial intelligence, sustainable development

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Authors: Sayed Abdallah Mohamed Dahy

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Northeastern part of Egypt is considered one of the few regions of the world whereas evidence of historical activities has been documented during the last 48 centuries or more. Instrumental, historical and pre-historical seismicity data indicate that large destructive earthquakes have occurred quite frequently in the investigated area. The main aims in the present study were to redraw attention to the fact that the northeastern part of Egypt is seismically active and this result is associated with earthquake risk in the region. The interaction of the African, Arabian and Eurasian plates and Sinai subplate, is the main factor behind the earthquake activities of northeastern part of Egypt. All earthquakes occur at shallow depth and are concentrated at four seismic zones, these zones including the Gulfs of Suez and Aqaba, around the entrance of the Gulf of Suez and the fourth one is located at the south-west of great Cairo (Dahshour area). The seismicity map of the previous zones shows that the activity is coincide with the major tectonic trends of the Suez rift, Aqaba rift with their connection with the great rift system of the Red Sea and Gulf of Suez-Cairo-Alexandria trend.

Keywords: earthquake ectivities, Egypt, northeastern, tectonic setting

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Authors: Adam Bereczk

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Due to persistent socioeconomic problems regarding sustainability and labour market equilibrium in Europe, the subjects of social economy gained considerable academic attention recently. At the meantime, social enterprises pursuing the double bottom line criteria, struggling to find the proper management philosophies and strategies to make their social purpose business financially sustainable. Despite the strategic management literature was developed mainly on the bases of large corporations, in the past years, the interpretation of strategy concepts became a frequent topic in scientific discussions in the case of small and medium-sized enterprises also. The topic of strategic orientations is a good example of the trend. However, less is known about the case of social enterprises, despite the fact, the majority of them are small businesses engaged in real business activities. The main purpose of this work is to give a comprehensive summary of different perspectives regarding the interpretations of strategic orientations of social enterprises. The novelty of this work is it shows the previous outcomes and models of scholars from various fields of economic science who tried to intertwine the two spheres in different forms, methodize the findings and draw attention to the shortcomings.

Keywords: social enterprises, business sustainability, strategic orientations, literature review

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Authors: Nassir Niamaimandi, Mehrdad Hosaini Shabankareh

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This study was analyzed the annual catch and trawl survey data of sharks in the northern part of the Persian Gulf (26˚ 30΄ to 30˚ 00΄N and 49˚ 00΄ to 56˚ 00΄E) from 2004 to 2009. Trawl survey was conducted by research vessel Ferdous, equipped with bottom trawl nets in meshes 400mm and 80mm at the body, and cod-end, respectively. Ten stratums were selected in the study area and 199 stations were randomly trawled. The density (CPUA) of shark resources was estimated based on swept area method. The annual total catch was obtained from Iranian fisheries organization (Shilat). The results of catch per unit area showed 250.7 kg/nm2 in 2004 to 49.7 kg/nm2 in 2009. There was a high degree of variability of CPUA among different areas and the maximum was estimated 1870.8 kg/nm2 in Nayband and Mogham. In catch composition data, sharks have a decreasing trend from 4.2% in 2004 to 2.9% in 2009 that shows a decline with an annual average 1.3% during 2004-2009. This results suggesting that the shark resource is overexploited and the current effort is far higher than the effort required harvesting optimum yields.

Keywords: shark resources, Iranian waters, Persian Gulf, Trawl survey

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Authors: Assad Rashid, Umair Ahmed, Zafar Baig

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A new trend in construction is widely influenced by the use of Steel-Concrete Composite Columns. The rapid growth in Steel-Concrete Composite construction has widely decreased the conventional R.C.C structures. Steel Concrete composite construction has obtained extensive receiving around the globe. It is considering the fact that R.C.C structures construction is most suitable and economical for low-rise construction, so it is used in farming systems in most of the buildings. However, increased dead load, span restriction, less stiffness and risky formwork make R.C.C construction uneconomical and not suitable when it comes to intermediate to high-rise buildings. A Base + Ground +11 storey commercial building was designed on ETABS 2017 and made a comparison between conventional R.C.C and encased composite column structure. After performing Equivalent Static non-linear analysis, it has been found that construction cost is 13.01% more than R.C.C structure but encased composite column building has 7.7% more floor area. This study will help in understanding the behavior of conventional R.C.C structure and Encased Composite column structure.

Keywords: composite columns structure, equivalent static non-linear analysis, comparison between R.C.C and encased composite column structures, cost-effective structure

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Authors: Sana Shokat, Rabia Riaz, Raja Shoaib Hussain, Saba Shabir

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Digital divide is usually measured in terms of gap between those who can efficiently use new technological tools, such as Internet, and those who cannot. It is also hypothesized that web 2.0 tools motivate people to use technology i.e. Social networking sites can play an important role in bridging digital gap. This study was to determine the presence of digital divide in urban and rural areas of district Muzaffrabad, Azad Jammu & Kashmir taking internet usage as the key element. A cross-sectional community based survey was conducted involving 384 respondents from city Muzaffrabad and village Garhi Doppta. The existence of digital divide was accessed on the basis of the questionnaires given. Chi- square test was used to find the association of different demographic and ICT related factors with internet usage. Age based and area based divide still exist among the targeted population but gender based digital divide is vanishing from the intended area of study. Outcomes of the survey also revealed that web 2.0-based web sites are also becoming popular and attracting people to use internet. Trend of using internet and communication technologies can be increased by solving the highlighted problems.

Keywords: Azad Jammu and Kashmir, digital divide, ICT, information and communication technology, Web2.0

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Authors: Seyedfateh Moradi

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Medical issues mark the beginning of a new form of epistemology in nineteenth-century Iran. The emergence of epidemic diseases led to the formation of a medical discourse and conflict over the body which displayed itself in the concept of health progress and development. The discourse attributed to this development in the health system defines the general structure of the given period. This discourse manifested itself in the conflict between the traditional and new medicine. The regulation and classification of body and population reveal the nature of this period. The government attempted to adapt itself to the modern and progressive discourse. This paper seeks to reveal part of this rupture and adaptation around epidemics and modern medical discourse. Also, accepting part of the traditional discourse in the new era, or adapting and integrating parts of it indicate a delegation of part of the power of traditional authorities. The delegation of power arose in the context of the discursive hegemony of Western modernism from which there was no escape. This provided the ground for the acceptance of government and emergence of other discourses. Finally, during the reign of Reza Shah (1922-1942), body and population planning changed into the key issues of government, which created serious tensions in society.

Keywords: epidemic, population, body, cholera, plague

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Authors: Theodorus Holtzhausen

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With a growing number of professionals in healthcare moving freely between countries and also in general a more mobile global workforce, awareness of cultural differences have become more urgent for health care workers to apply proper care. There is a slowly emerging trend in health care due to globalisation that may create a more uniform cultural base for administering healthcare, but it is still very vulnerable to being hijacked and misdirected by major commercial interests. Veterinary clinics and medical clinics promoting alternative remedies lacking evidence based support and simultaneously practicing medicine as a science have become more common. Such ‘holistic’ clinics see these remedies more as a belief system causing no harm with minimal impact but with added financial benefit to the facility. With the inarguable acceptance and realisation of the interconnection between evolutionary aspects of cognition, knowledge and culture as a global but vulnerable cognition-gaining process affecting us all, we can see the enormous responsibility we carry. Such a responsibility for creating global well-being calling for an universally applicable ethic. Such an ethic with the potential of having significant impact on our cognition gaining process.

Keywords: veterinary health care, ethics, wellbeing, veterinary clinics

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Authors: Laura V. Gonzalez, Juan B. Duarte, Luis A. Palacio

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Decision making can be conditioned by factors such as the environments, circumstances, behavioral biases, emotions, beliefs and preferences of the participants. The objective of this paper is to analyze the effect ‘amount of information’ and ‘number of options’, on the behavior of competitors under a bilateral negotiation context. For the above, it has been designed an experiment as a classroom game where they negotiate goods, under the condition that none of the players knows exactly the real value of the asset. The game is designed under the concept of zero-sum (non-cooperative game) and focuses on the fact that agents must anticipate the strategies of their opponent to improve their chances of winning in the negotiation. The empirical results show that, contrary to the traditional view of expected utility theory, players prefer to obtain low profits and losses, when faced with a higher expectation of losses, using sub-optimal strategies not in accordance with game theory.

Keywords: bilateral negotiation, classroom game, decision making, game theory

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Authors: C. Baidada, M. H. Abidi, A. Jakimi, E. H. El Kinani

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Reverse engineering has become a viable method to measure an existing system and reconstruct the necessary model from tis original. The reverse engineering of behavioral models consists in extracting high-level models that help understand the behavior of existing software systems. In this paper, we propose an approach for the reverse engineering of sequence diagrams from the analysis of execution traces produced dynamically by an object-oriented application using petri nets. Our methods show that this approach can produce state diagrams in reasonable time and suggest that these diagrams are helpful in understanding the behavior of the underlying application. Finally we will discuss approachs and tools that are needed in the process of reverse engineering UML behavior. This work is a substantial step towards providing high-quality methodology for effectiveand efficient reverse engineering of sequence diagram.

Keywords: reverse engineering, UML behavior, sequence diagram, execution traces, petri nets

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Authors: Steven Wright

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This paper argues that there is an opportunity for PCH to further expand its relevance within the Canadian policy context by taking advantage of the growing international trend of using social indicators for public policy evaluation. Within the mandate and vision of PCH, there is an incomplete understanding of the value that the arts and culture provide for Canadians, specifically with regard to four social indicators: community development, civic engagement, life satisfaction, and work-life balance. As will be shown, culture and the arts have a unique role to play in such quality of life indicators, and there is an opportunity for PCH to aid in the development of a comprehensive national framework that includes these indicators. This paper lays out approach to understanding how social indicators may be included in the Canadian context by first illustrating recent trends in policy evaluation on a national and international scale. From there, a theoretical analysis of the connection between cultural policy and social indicators is provided. The second half of the paper is dedicated to explaining the shortcomings of Canadian cultural policy evaluation in terms of its tendency to justify expenditures related to arts and cultural activities in purely economic terms, and surveying how other governments worldwide are leading the charge in this regard.

Keywords: social indicators, evaluation, cultural policy, arts

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Authors: C. Noknoi, W. Boripunt

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This research aims to compare the corrupt behavior of local government officials and the public’s opinion about the effects of this corruption, as classified by the personal factors of the public. It also analyzes the relationship between the corrupt behavior of local government officials and the public’s opinion toward the effects of this corruption. The sample used in this research comprised 322 voters from Songkhla province, with a questionnaire being used to collect the data. The statistics used in the data analysis were the percentage, mean, standard deviation, t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation. The results showed that the corrupt behavior of local government officials was at a high overall level. The sample’s opinion toward the effects of corrupt local government officials was also at a high overall level. Hypothesis testing indicated that samples with different personal factors did not vary in how they regarded the corrupt behavior of local government officials, and the samples’ opinions toward the effects of corrupt local government officials also did not vary. The corrupt behavior of local government officials and the opinions toward the effect of corrupt local government officials are both at consistently high levels and follow the same trend.

Keywords: corrupt behavior, local government, official, Thailand

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Authors: Vikas Kumar, V. H. Saran, Arpit Mathur, Avik Kathuria

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The evaluation of biodynamic responses of the human body to whole body vibration exposure is necessary to quantify the exposure effects. A force plate model has been designed with the help of CAD software, which was investigated by performing the modal, stress and strain analysis using finite element approach in the software. The results of the modal, stress and strain analysis were under the limits for measurements of biodynamic responses to whole body vibration. The physical model of the force plate was manufactured and fixed to the vibration simulator and further used in the experimentation for the evaluation of apparent mass responses of the ten recruited subjects standing in an erect posture exposed to vertical whole body vibration. The platform was excited with sinusoidal vibration at vibration magnitude: 1.0 and 1.5 m/s2 rms at different frequency of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12.5, 16 and 20 Hz. The results of magnitude of normalised apparent mass have shown the trend observed in the many past studies. The peak in the normalised apparent mass has been observed at 4 & 5 Hz frequency of vertical whole body vibration. The nonlinearity with respect to vibration magnitude has been also observed in the normalised apparent mass responses.

Keywords: whole body vibration, apparent mass, modeling, force plate

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Authors: Abu Saleh Mohammad Sowad

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Back in history, muscular and strong male body has always been used to promulgate masculinity; for physically representing supreme manliness there were not many other options. This idealized male figure was proliferated mainly for spreading the notion of male superiority in relation to power and to give a strong base to the social construction of masculinity. This study targets to disclose the perception about the attributes masculinities among the male students of Dhaka city regarding male beautification. It is an attempt to unveil young men’s perspectives regarding their masculinities and beauty. Till the very recent past, beauty was always seen as sole feminine trait in Bangladeshi society. From history we can see men have always been assumed as the ambassador of roughness but in recent time the emergence of fashion-conscious men can be seen, who are slowly occupying a handsome position in the society. Concerning study attempts to bring out the way in which such changing trend of male beauty is perceived among the male students of Dhaka city. What could be the ideologies of these young men who are being involved with it? What is influencing them to be part of such arena which, to a great extent, is still considered as female domain? Is their perception about construction of masculinity is shifting from the so called idealized masculinity? The study tries to find out the answers.

Keywords: masculinity, male beauty, Bangladesh, identity, body

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Authors: Anjali Malik

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This paper presents a review of the literature on behavioral addictions with a particular focus on understanding online gaming habits among adolescents. Extant researches yielded many different sets of antecedent factors for developing pathological online gaming behavior. This paper draws findings from the most-cited publications most closely associated with factors explaining why individuals develop such kind of problematic behavior. What emerges as central to understanding this phenomenon is the presence of multiple variable causes that take into account the individual, the environment and their interaction to explain the risk behavior such as pathological online gaming. In addition to that role of some mediating factors and pull factors has also been discussed, along with the consequences on personal, social and academic performance resulting from such kind of addictive behavior. The paper also makes recommendations for future research including developing a deeper understanding of the phenomena studied here by examining the relative contribution of these multiple-risk contexts.

Keywords: pathological gaming, gaming addiction, adolescents, behavior

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Authors: M. A. Wanzala, L. A. Ogallo, F. J. Opijah, J. N. Mutemi

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The usefulness and limitations in climate information are due to uncertainty inherent in the climate system. For any given region to have sustainable development it is important to apply climate information into its socio-economic strategic plans. The overall objective of the study was to assess the performance of the Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project (CMIP5) over the Lake Victoria Basin. The datasets used included the observed point station data, gridded rainfall data from Climate Research Unit (CRU) and hindcast data from eight CMIP5. The methodology included trend analysis, spatial analysis, correlation analysis, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) regression analysis, and categorical statistical skill score. Analysis of the trends in the observed rainfall records indicated an increase in rainfall variability both in space and time for all the seasons. The spatial patterns of the individual models output from the models of MPI, MIROC, EC-EARTH and CNRM were closest to the observed rainfall patterns.

Keywords: categorical statistics, coupled model inter-comparison project, principal component analysis, statistical downscaling

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Authors: Amit Kohli, Pooja Lekhi, Gihan Adel Amin Hafez

Abstract:

Blockchain is a distributor ledger technology trend that extended to different fields and proved a remarkable success. Blockchain technology is a vital proliferation technique that recuperates the food supply chain traceability process. While tracing is the core of the food supply chain; still, a complex system mitigates the exceptional risk of food contamination, foodborne, food waste, and food fraud. In addition, the upsurge of food supply chain data variance and variety in the traceability system requires complete transparency, a secure, steadfast, sustainable, and efficient approach to face the food supply chain challenges. On the other hand, blockchain technical aspects merged with a detailed implementation plan, the advantages and challenges in food traceability have not been much elucidated for small and medium enterprises (SMEs.) This paper demonstrated the advantages and challenges of applying blockchain in SMEs combined with the success stories of firms implementing blockchain to cover the gap. Moreover, blockchain architecture in SMEs and how technology, organization, and environment frameworks can guarantee the success of blockchain implementation have been revealed.

Keywords: blockchain technology, small and medium enterprises, food traceability, blockchain architecture

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