Search results for: silk road scholarship

Authors: Khouloud Safa Azoud, Süleyman Baştürk

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In the pursuit of cleaner and more sustainable urban environments, advanced technologies play a critical role in evolving sanitation systems. This paper presents two distinct advancements in automated cleaning machines designed to improve urban sanitation. The first advancement is a semi-automatic road surface cleaning machine that integrates human labor with solar energy to enhance environmental sustainability and adaptability, especially in regions with limited access to electricity. By reducing carbon emissions and increasing operational efficiency, this approach offers significant potential for urban sanitation enhancement. The second advancement is a multifunctional semi-automatic street cleaning machine equipped with a camera, Arduino programming, and GPS for an autonomous operation aimed at addressing cost barriers in developing countries. Prioritizing low energy consumption and cost-effectiveness, this machine provides versatile cleaning solutions adaptable to various environmental conditions. By integrating solar energy with autonomous operating systems and careful design, these developments represent substantial progress in sustainable urban sanitation, particularly in developing regions.

Keywords: automated cleaning machines, solar energy integration, operational efficiency, urban sanitation systems

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Authors: Surajit Chakrabarty, Piyush Chauhan, Subhasis Panda, Sujoy Bhattacharya

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A large proportion of roads in India are not well maintained as per the laid down public safety guidelines leading to loss of direction control and fatal accidents. We propose a technique to detect speed breakers and potholes using mobile sensor data captured from multiple vehicles and provide a profile of the road. This would, in turn, help in monitoring roads and revolutionize digital maps. Incorporating randomness in the model formulation for detection of speed breakers and potholes is crucial due to substantial heterogeneity observed in data obtained using a mobile application from multiple vehicles driven by different drivers. This is accomplished with Hidden Markov Models, whose hidden state sequence is found for each time step given the observables sequence, and are then fed as input to LSTM network with peephole connections. A precision score of 0.96 and 0.63 is obtained for classifying bumps and potholes, respectively, a significant improvement from the machine learning based models. Further visualization of bumps/potholes is done by converting time series to images using Markov Transition Fields where a significant demarcation among bump/potholes is observed.

Keywords: deep learning, hidden Markov model, pothole, speed breaker

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Authors: Shamsuddeen Muhammad Ahmad

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The emergence and operations of Islamic Financial Institutions (IFIs) are being regarded as the new economic and financial pride at the global stage today. Admittedly, therefore, the IFIs has continued to impact positively on the economies of its host countries, especially the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, Asian and Western countries as well as making a steady in-road into the sub-Saharan Africa. Hence, the number of countries that adopted Islamic financial system in Africa has continued to increase. As a matter of fact, this paper examines the role and contributions of Islamic Financial Institutions (IFIs) to the economic growth and financial development of the big emerging markets in the African continent i.e. South Africa, Nigeria, and Egypt. The methods adopted for this study are descriptive, comparative and analytical in nature. Essentially, the findings from this study reveal that the three sampled countries are benefitting from the presence of IFIs in their economies in terms of contributions to economic growth and real sector participation, particularly for Egypt and South Africa. Similarly, they reap from foreign direct investments and economic diversification among others. However, this study recommends that African countries should integrate IFIs as part and parcel of their economic and financial systems, in order to benefit optimally from this new economic phenomenon.

Keywords: Islamic financial services, Africa, emerging markets, development, operation

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Authors: Bec Strating

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This paper examines the ways that domestic politics and pressure–generated through lobbying, public diplomacy campaigns and other tools of soft power-contributes to the formation of short-term and long-term national interests, priorities and strategies of states in their international relations. It primarily addresses the conceptual problems regarding the kinds of influence that lobby groups wield in foreign policy and how this influence might be assessed. Scholarly attention has been paid to influential foreign policy lobbies and interest groups, particularly in the areas of US foreign policy. Less attention has been paid to how lobby groups might influence the foreign policy of a middle power such as Australia. This paper examines some of the methodological complexities in developing and conducting a research project that can measure the nature and influence of lobbies on foreign affairs priorities and activities. This paper will use Australian foreign policy in the context of its historical bilateral relationship with Indonesia as a case study for considering the broader issues of domestic influences on foreign policy. Specifically, this paper will use the so-called ‘pro-Jakarta lobby’ as an example of an interest group. The term ‘pro-Jakarta lobby’ is used in media commentary and scholarship to describe an amorphous collection of individuals who have sought to influence Australian foreign policy in favour of Indonesia. The term was originally applied to a group of Indonesian experts at the Australian National University in the 1980s but expanded to include journalists, think tanks and key diplomats. The concept of the ‘pro-Jakarta lobby’ was developed largely through criticisms of Australia’s support for Indonesia’s sovereignty of East Timor and West Papua. Pro-Independence supporters were integral for creating the ‘lobby’ in their rhetoric and criticisms about the influence on Australian foreign policy. In these critical narratives, the ‘pro-Jakarta lobby’ supported a realist approach to relations with Indonesia during the years of President Suharto’s regime, which saw appeasement of Indonesia as paramount to values of democracy and human rights. The lobby was viewed as integral in embedding a form of ‘foreign policy exceptionalism’ towards Indonesia in Australian policy-making circles. However, little critical and scholarly attention has been paid to nature, aims, strategies and activities of the ‘pro-Jakarta lobby.' This paper engages with methodological issues of foreign policy analysis: what was the ‘pro-Jakarta lobby’? Why was it considered more successful than other activist groups in shaping policy? And how can its influence on Australia’s approach to Indonesia be tested in relation to other contingent factors shaping policy? In addressing these questions, this case study will assist in addressing a broader scholarly concern about the capacities of collectives or individuals in shaping and directing the foreign policies of states.

Keywords: foreign policy, interests groups, Australia, Indonesia

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Authors: Mary Butler

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Background: Screening programmes for older drivers in Europe (though not the UK), and in many states in the US and in Australia are based on medical assessment of fitness to drive. These programmes require physicians (including general practitioners) to carry out an assessment of fitness to drive in their offices. In 2006, New Zealand changed from doing on-road driving tests with all older drivers from the age of 80, to a screening programme that uses medical assessment of fitness to drive only. Aim: This study set out to understand the experience of New Zealand GPs as they manage the process of medical assessment of fitness to drive assessments for older people. In particular, it aimed to establish how GPs understand the role of specialist driving assessment and rehabilitation carried out by occupational therapists. Design and setting: The study used an interpretive descriptive approach to analyze data from ten interviews with GPs in New Zealand. Results: The results indicated that GPs lack understanding about how occupational therapists can assist their patients, and tend to refer only when there is a disagreement with the patient. Conclusion: There are problems with the medical assessment of fitness to drive carried out by GPs, and there is a need for a more comprehensive community approach to driving cessation. Patients, families and the multidisciplinary team all have a role in deciding when driving cessation should occur. Occupational therapists have a particular responsibility for strategic leadership in this area of practice.

Keywords: assessment, driving, older people, occupational therapy

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Authors: C. Asha Poorna, P. G. Vinod, A. R. R. Menon

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Currently increasing population and their activities like urbanization and industrialization generating the greatest environmental, issue called Waste. And the major problem in waste management is selection of an appropriate site for waste disposal. The selection of suitable site have constrains like environmental, economical and political considerations. In this paper we discuss the strategies to be followed while selecting a site for decentralized system for solid waste disposal, using Geographic Information System (GIS), the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the remote sensing method for Thiruvananthapuram corporation area. It is located on the west coast of India near the extreme south of the mainland. It lies on the shores of Killiyar and Karamana River. Being on the basin the waste managements must be regulated with the water body. The different criteria considered for waste disposal site selection are lithology, surface water, aquifer, groundwater, land use, contours, aspect, elevation, slope, and distance to road, distance from settlement are examined in relation to land fill site selection. Each criterion was identified and weighted by AHP score and mapped using GIS technique and suitable map is prepared by overlay analysis.

Keywords: waste disposal, solid waste management, Geographic Information System (GIS), Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP)

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Authors: Samina Sarwar, Hajra Khalil

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Mycoremediation is emerging as a potential approach for eco-friendly and cost-effective remediation of polluted effluents collected from the dyeing unit of the textile industry was examined. This work dealt with the analyses of the bio remedial capability of some potential indigenous six fungal isolates viz., Aspergillus alliaceus, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus fumigatus Aspergillus niger, Penicillium sp. and Rhizopus oryzae were identified and selected for studies. All fungal species were known to bring bioremediation, which had been confirmed by measuring the percentage reduction potential in different parameters, i.e., pH, Electrical Conductivity (EC), Total Suspended Solids (TSS), Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD). Rhizopus oryzae showed the highest reduction in pH, EC, and BOD, while Aspergillus fumigatus showed the highest reduction in TDS and TSS, and COD under the optimal conditions of this study. The biodegradation potential of these fungal species was confirmed, evidenced by excellent evaluation of experimental data to propose Rhizopus oryzae and Aspergillus fumigatus as a cost-effective solution to treat the effluents from the dyeing unit of the textile industry.

Keywords: biological reduction, fungal isolates, micromycetes, mycoremediation

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Authors: Samina Sarwar, Hajra Khalil

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Mycoremediation is emerging as a potential approach for eco-friendly and cost-effective remediation of polluted effluents collected from the dyeing unit of the textile industry was examined. This work dealt with the analyses of the bio remedial capability of some potential indigenous six fungal isolates viz., Aspergillus alliaceus, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus fumigatus Aspergillus niger, Penicillium sp. and Rhizopus oryzae were identified and selected for studies. All fungal species were known to bring bioremediation, which had been confirmed by measuring the percentage reduction potential in different parameters, i.e., pH, Electrical Conductivity (EC), Total Suspended Solids (TSS), Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD). Rhizopus oryzae showed the highest reduction in pH, EC, and BOD, while Aspergillus fumigatus showed the highest reduction in TDS and TSS, and COD under the optimal conditions of this study. The biodegradation potential of these fungal species was confirmed, evidenced by excellent evaluation of experimental data to propose Rhizopus oryzae and Aspergillus fumigatus as a cost-effective solution to treat the effluents from the dyeing unit of the textile industry.

Keywords: biological reduction, fungal isolates, micromycetes, mycoremediation

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Authors: Matthew J. Flynn

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In early 2022, a thirty-mile column of Russian armor and assault vehicles sat poised to move south on the road to Kiev. That force has withdrawn as the Russians concentrate on attacking eastern Ukraine. Vladimir Putin’s armies appear content to destroy cities in an effort to attrit the Ukrainian will to continue fighting. That pivot signifies the acceptance of the ascendancy of the defense that now dictates any battlefield world-wide. To defeat what military theorist Carl von Clausewitz labeled “the stronger form of war” with a successful offensive requires an exercise in future war. In the past, the ascendancy of the defense has been overcome by a number of things including the application of superior leadership, better technology, organizational adaptation, and surpassing environmental limitations. A look at how each of these factors came to impact battle can tell us a great deal about what Ukraine means to tomorrow’s fight, and where the focus should lie to win the next war. Civilians presently secure the defensive ascendancy impacting warfare by dominating the shifts from domain to domain thanks to controlling access to cyberspace. That mandate will be tested and eventually falter. This paper tests the desirability of that proposition, as well as hoping for something more from humanity other than repeated and frequent wars making future war look much like past wars. As nations struggle to control cyberspace, a referendum on war as part of the human condition comes into focus.

Keywords: cyber, domains, future war, Putin, Ukraine

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Authors: Todd Enslen

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In order to attract more international students to study for undergraduate degrees in Japan, many universities have been developing English-Medium Instruction degree programs. This means that many faculty members must now teach their courses in English, which raises a number of concerns. A common misconception of English-Medium Instruction (EMI) is that teaching in English is simply a matter of translating materials. Since much of the teaching in Japan still relies on a more traditional, teachercentered, approach, continuing with this style in an EMI environment that targets international students can cause a clash between what is happening and what students expect in the classroom, not to mention what the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) has shown is effective teaching. A variety of considerations need to be taken into account in EMI classrooms such as varying English abilities of the students, modifying input material, and assuring comprehension through interactional checks. This paper analyzes the effectiveness of the English-Medium Instruction (EMI) undergraduate degree programs in engineering, agriculture, and science at a large research university in Japan by presenting the results from student surveys regarding the areas where perceived improvements need to be made. The students were the most dissatisfied with communication with their teachers in English, communication with Japanese students in English, adherence to only English being used in the classes, and the quality of the education they received. In addition, the results of a needs analysis survey of Japanese teachers having to teach in English showed that they believed they were most in need of English vocabulary and expressions to use in the classroom and teaching methods for teaching in English. The result from the student survey and the faculty survey show similar concerns between the two groups. By helping the teachers to understand student-centered teaching and the benefits for learning that it provides, teachers may begin to incorporate more student-centered approaches that in turn help to alleviate the dissatisfaction students are currently experiencing. Through analyzing the current environment in Japanese higher education against established best practices in teaching and EMI, three areas that need to be addressed in professional development workshops were identified. These were “culture” as it relates to the English language, “classroom management techniques” and ways to incorporate them into classes, and “language” issues. Materials used to help faculty better understand best practices as they relate to these specific areas will be provided to help practitioners begin the process of helping EMI faculty build awareness of better teaching practices. Finally, the results from faculty development workshops participants’ surveys will show the impact that these workshops can have. Almost all of the participants indicated that they learned something new and would like to incorporate the ideas from the workshop into their teaching. In addition, the vast majority of the participants felt the workshop provided them with new information, and they would like more workshops like these.

Keywords: English-medium instruction, materials development, professional development, teaching effectiveness

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Authors: Namrata Ghosh, Sapan Tiwari

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Public transport service plays an important role in people's transportation needs in urban areas. Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) is a transport service that provides passengers with a quick and efficient mode of transport. It is developed by changing the existing infrastructure, vehicles, route, or by developing a new dedicated corridor for the bus route. This dedicated lanes transport passengers to their destination quickly and efficiently and flexible in meeting demand. However, with rapid urbanization and increasing population density in Indian cities, traffic congestion has become a significant issue. In a few Indian cities, the BRTS concept is implemented to address the issue of traffic congestion that eventually resulted in less road congestion. The research aims to provide a literature review on the overall outlook of the BRTS system and its practical implementation in mass urban transit. First, it reflects a literature review on the concept of the BRTS system in both developed and developing countries. Afterward, comparative analysis of BRTS, hindrances associated with the permanent integrated system, and the need for establishing the Bus Rapid Transit System in Indian cities is demonstrated. The research concludes with some recommendations that could help in improving the loopholes in the existing system.

Keywords: bus rapid transit system(BRTS), dedicated corridor, public transport, traffic congestion

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Authors: Faiza Marniche, Amel Milla, Salah Eddine Doumandji, Samiha Belmania, Ahlem Fadheli

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Within the public discharge of Oum El Bouaghi region through the analysis of balls of rejection that have been picked up during the year 2008 and 2009. The diet of Grand Corbeau Corvus corax tingitanus is studied in relation to food availability represented by prey-insects with a parasitic study, on the balls of the latter. Food stokes are taken to the public discharge of Oum El Bouaghi during all three seasons, autumn (2008), winter (2009) and spring (2009). We note that insects are dominant in the course of three seasons, fall (91.62%), winter (58.95%) and spring (77.78%). The analysis of 42 balls of rejection collected at the level of this station have revealed that insects dominate the diet of Raven over the three seasons whose family the best represented is those of the Formicidae in autumn (43.5%) and spring (24.2%) however in winter is that of family Carabidae with a percentage of 9.1%. Parasitic analysis on the 30 balls of this species has revealed the existence of three endoparasites, Isospora Sp. (Protozoa-Coccidae), Eimeria Sp. (Protozoa-Coccidae) and Nematoda Sp. IND. (Metazoa - Nemathelmintes).

Keywords: big raven Corvus corax tingitanus, diet, garbage dump, Oum El Bouaghi, parasites

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Authors: Maria da Conceição Proença

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This case study implements the evaluation of burned areas that suffered successive wildfires in Portugal mainland during the summer of 2017, killing more than 60 people. It’s intended to show that this evaluation can be done with remote sensing data free of charges in a simple laptop, with open-source software, describing the not-so-simple methodology step by step, to make it available for county workers in city halls of the areas attained, where the availability of information is essential for the immediate planning of mitigation measures, such as restoring road access, allocate funds for the recovery of human dwellings and assess further restoration of the ecological system. Wildfires also devastate forest ecosystems having a direct impact on vegetation cover and killing or driving away from the animal population. The economic interest is also attained, as the pinewood burned becomes useless for the noblest applications, so its value decreases, and resin extraction ends for several years. The tools described in this paper enable the location of the areas where took place the annihilation of natural habitats and establish a baseline for major changes in forest ecosystems recovery. Moreover, the result allows the follow up of the surface fuel loading, enabling the targeting and evaluation of restoration measures in a time basis planning.

Keywords: image processing, remote sensing, wildfires, burned areas evaluation, sentinel-2

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Authors: Fatemeh Behbahani, Rubiyah Yusof

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To avoid collision between following vehicles and vehicles in front, it is vital to keep appropriate, safe spacing between both vehicles over all speeds. Therefore, the following vehicle needs to have exact information regarding the speed and spacing between vehicles. This project is conducted to simulate the tuning of controller gain for a vehicle-following system through the selected control strategy, spacing control policy and fixed-time headway policy. In addition, the paper simulates and designs an adaptive gain controller for a road-vehicle-following system which uses information on the spacing, velocity and also acceleration of a preceding vehicle in the proposed one-vehicle look-ahead strategy. The mathematical model is implemented using Kirchhoff and Newton’s Laws, and stability simulated. The trial-error method was used to obtain a suitable value of controller gain. However, the adaptive-based controller system was able to optimize the gain value automatically. Model Reference Adaptive Control (MRAC) is designed and utilized and based on firstly the Gradient and secondly the Lyapunov approach. The Lyapunov approach considers stability. The Gradient approach was found to improve the best value of gain in the controller system with fixed-time headway.

Keywords: one-vehicle look-ahead, model reference adaptive, stability, tuning gain controller, MRAC

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Authors: Yaron Covo, Tamar Kofman, Shira Palti

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Over the recent decades, debates about the engagement of fans in football governance have focused on the club level and national level, emphasizing the significance of fans’ involvement in increasing the connection of clubs with the community, and in safeguarding the transparency, accountability, and clubs’ financial stability. This paper will offer a different conceptual justification for providing fans with access to decision-making processes in football. First, it will suggest that the participation of fans is necessary for addressing discriminatory practices against women in football stadiums. Second, it will argue that fans’ involvement in football governance is important not only at the club and national level but also at the global level, relying on the principles of Global Administrative Law. In contemporary men’s football, female fans face different forms of discrimination. Iranian women are still prohibited from attending football games at the domestic level; In Saudi Arabia, female fans are only permitted to enter designated family areas; Qatar – the host of the 2022 FIFA world cup – requires women to attend matches wearing modest clothing. Similarly, in Turkey, Lebanon, UAE, and Algeria, women face cultural barriers when attending men’s football games. In other countries, female fans suffer from subtle discrimination, including micro-aggressions, misogyny, sexism, and noninstitutionalized exclusion. Despite the vital role of fans in world football and the importance of football for many women’s lives, little has been done to address this problem. While FIFA recognizes that these discriminatory practices contradict its statutes, this recognition fails to materialize into meaningful change. This paper will argue that FIFA’s omission stems from two interrelated characteristics of world football: (1) the ultra-masculine nature of the game; (2) the insufficient recognition of fans’ significance. While fans have been given a voice in various football bodies on the domestic level, FIFA has yet to allow the representation of fans as stakeholders in world football governance. Since fans are a more heterogeneous group than players, the voices of those fans who do not fit the ultra-masculine model are not heard. Thus, by focusing mainly on male players, FIFA reproduces the hegemonic masculinity that feeds back into fan dynamics and marginalizes female fans. To rectify this problem, we will call on FIFA to provide fans and female fans in particular, with voice mechanisms and access to decision-making processes. In addition to its impact on the formation of fans’ identities, such a move will allow fans to demand better enforcement of existing anti-discrimination norms and new regulations to address their needs. The literature has yet to address the relationship between fans’ gender discrimination and global football governance. Building on Global Administrative Law scholarship and feminist theories, this paper will aim to fill this gap.

Keywords: fans, FIFA, football governance, gender discrimination, global administrative law, human rights

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Authors: Supattra Suanlim

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Nonthaburi province is one of the provinces in the central region of Thailand. There is the Chao Phraya River, which is a large and important river of Thailand passing through the province. With the way of life and social changes since the past. There is a digging canal called Lat canal or Om canal, communities along the canal have dense settlements. Important in life and culture. This research has 3 objectives as follows. 1.To explore cultural and ecotourism attractions in the Om Nont canal area. 2.To explore the facilities in the Om Nont canal tourist attraction. To suggest facilities for tourist attractions in the Om Nont canal, Nonthaburi, Thailand. This research is a qualitative research, using research methods by collecting data and surveying tourist attractions by water traffic. The results of the research can be concluded that There are 21 tourist attractions that have the potential to welcome tourists who want to travel cultural. 16 temples or places of worship, 2 government offices, 1 market, 2 landmarks. Each should be improved to increase the potential of the paths. There should be improvements in the road landscape that is a connection to water traffic. Districts should have signage and signage installation within tourist sites and have guidelines for architectural improvements. And the Nodes should improve the public space of the community. Such as the Nonthaburi pier area to have the idea of designing a tourist center Provide information in both Thai and English.

Keywords: Community, Cultural, Ecotourism, Facility

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Authors: T. H. Derdzyan, K. A. Ghazaryan, G. A. Gevorgyan

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Beta-glucosidase, chitinase, leucine-aminopeptidase, acid phosphomonoestearse and acetate-esterase enzyme activities in the soils under the impact of metallurgical industrial activity in Lori marz (district) were investigated. The results of the study showed that the activities of the investigated enzymes in the soils decreased with increasing distance from the Shamlugh copper mine, the Chochkan tailings storage facility and the ore transportation road. Statistical analysis revealed that the activities of the enzymes were positively correlated (significant) to each other according to the observation sites which indicated that enzyme activities were affected by the same anthropogenic factor. The investigations showed that the soils were polluted with heavy metals (Cu, Pb, As, Co, Ni, Zn) due to copper mining activity in this territory. The results of Pearson correlation analysis revealed a significant negative correlation between heavy metal pollution degree (Nemerow integrated pollution index) and soil enzyme activity. All of this indicated that copper mining activity in this territory causing the heavy metal pollution of the soils resulted in the inhabitation of the activities of the enzymes which are considered as biological catalysts to decompose organic materials and facilitate the cycling of nutrients.

Keywords: Armenia, metallurgical industrial activity, heavy metal pollutionl, soil enzyme activity

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Authors: Mohammad Momeenul Islam, U. Johnson Alengaram, Mohd Zamin Jumaat, Iftekhair Ibnul Bashar

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Palm oil industry produces millions of tonnes of industrial wastes and these wastes create huge storage and environmental problems. In order to solve these problems various research works have been performed for past decades. The commonly available wastes are Oil palm shells (OPS) and Palm oil fuel ash (POFA). These materials have already acquired well recognition as alternate of conventional construction materials. OPS has been used as coarse aggregate and compressive strength was found up to 56 MPa for 56-day. It is said that 30 grade Oil Palm shell concrete (OPSC) is possible without adding any cementitious materials. The maximum modulus of elasticity for OPSC was found 18.6 GPa. The Oil palm shell concrete (OPSC) are used in country areas and nearby areas where the palm oil factories are located for houses, road-kerbs, drain blocks, etc. In case of superstructure like beams and slab are also produced by utilizing OPS. Many experimental works have been performed to establish POFA as a substituting binding material in replace of Ordinary Portland cement (OPC). Throughout the research it has been showed that up to 20% of cement by mass can be replaced by POFA. POFA is one of the most enriched pozzolanic materials. The main purpose of this review is to discuss the usage and opportunity of the palm oil industrial wastes as construction materials following the previous experimental research work.

Keywords: construction materials, oil palm shells (OPS), palm oil fuel ash (POFA), aggregates

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Authors: Shawn P. Daly

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Communities heavily engaged in the tourism industry discover their values intersect, meld, and conflict with those of visitors. Maintaining cultural integrity in the face of powerful external pressures causes stress among society members. This effect represents a less studied aspect of sustainable tourism. The present paper brings a perspective unique to the tourism literature: biculturalism. The grounded theories, coherent hypotheses, and validated constructs and indicators of biculturalism represent a sound base from which to consider sociocultural issues in sustainable tourism. Five models describe the psychological state of individuals operating at cultural crossroads: assimilation (joining the new culture), acculturation (grasping the new culture but remaining of the original culture), alternation (varying behavior to cultural context), multicultural (maintaining distinct cultures), and fusion (blending cultures). These five processes divide into two units of analysis (individual and society), permitting research questions at levels important for considering sociocultural sustainability. Acculturation modelling has morphed into dual processes of acculturation (new culture adaptation) and enculturation (original culture adaptation). This dichotomy divides sustainability research questions into human impacts from assimilation (acquiring new culture, throwing away original), separation (rejecting new culture, keeping original), integration (acquiring new culture, keeping original), and marginalization (rejecting new culture, throwing away original). Biculturalism is often cast in terms of its emotional, behavioral, and cognitive dimensions. Required cultural adjustments and varying levels of cultural competence lead to physical, psychological, and emotional outcomes, including depression, lowered life satisfaction and self-esteem, headaches, and back pain—or enhanced career success, social skills, and life styles. Numerous studies provide empirical scales and research hypotheses for sustainability research into tourism’s causality and effect on local well-being. One key issue in applying biculturalism to sustainability scholarship concerns identification and specification of the alternative new culture contacting local culture. Evidence exists for tourism industry, universal tourist, and location/event-specific tourist culture. The biculturalism paradigm holds promise for researchers examining evolving cultural identity and integrity in response to mass tourism. In particular, confirmed constructs and scales simplify operationalization of tourism sustainability studies in terms of human impact and adjustment.

Keywords: biculturalism, cultural integrity, psychological and sociocultural adjustment, tourist culture

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Authors: Atef Alaaeddine Sarraj, Brendan Jackman, Frank Walsh

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Tomorrow’s car will be more automated and increasingly connected. Innovative and intuitive interfaces are essential to accompany this functional enrichment. For that, today the automotive companies are competing to offer an advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) which will be able to provide enhanced navigation, collision avoidance, intersection support and lane keeping. These vision-based functions require an accurately calibrated camera. To achieve such differentiation in ADAS requires sophisticated sensors and efficient algorithms. This paper explores the different calibration methods applicable to vehicle-mounted fish-eye cameras with arbitrary fields of view and defines the first steps towards a self-calibration method that adequately addresses ADAS requirements. In particular, we present a self-calibration method after comparing different camera calibration algorithms in the context of ADAS requirements. Our method gathers data from unknown scenes while the car is moving, estimates the camera intrinsic and extrinsic parameters and corrects the wide-angle distortion. Our solution enables continuous and real-time detection of objects, pedestrians, road markings and other cars. In contrast, other camera calibration algorithms for ADAS need pre-calibration, while the presented method calibrates the camera without prior knowledge of the scene and in real-time.

Keywords: advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), fish-eye, real-time, self-calibration

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Authors: Sadia Rafiq, Md. Ashab Siddique Zaki, Ananya Roy

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Mountain cycling is a type of off-road bicycle racing that typically takes place on rocky, arid, or other challenging terrains on specially-made mountain cycles. Professional cyclists race while attempting to stay on their bikes in a variety of locales across the world. For safety measures in mountain cycling, as there we have a high chance of injury in case of tire puncture, it’s a preferable way to use an airless tire instead of a pneumatic tire. As airless tire does not tend to go flat, it needs to be replaced less frequently. The airless tire replaces the pneumatic tire, wheel, and tire system with a single unit. It consists of a stiff hub connected to a shear band by flexible, pliable spokes, which is made of poly-composite and a tread band, all of which work together as a single unit to replace all of the components of a normal radial tire. In this paper, an analysis of airless tires in the mountain cycle is shown along with structure and material study. We will be taking the Honeycomb and Diamond Structure of spokes to compare the deformation in both cases and choose our preferable structure. As we know, the tread and spokes deform with the surface roughness and impact. So, the tire tread thickness and the design of spokes can control how much the tire can distort. Through the simulation, we can come to the conclusion that the diamond structure deforms less than the honeycomb structure. So, the diamond structure is more preferable.

Keywords: airless tire, diamond structure, honeycomb structure, deformation

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Authors: Leigh G. Hayden, Susan E. Shepley, Cristina Passarelli, William Tingo

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Introduction: Sensory interventions are popular therapeutic and recreational approaches for people living with all stages of dementia. However, it is unknown which sensory interventions are used to achieve which outcomes across all subtypes of dementia. Methods: To address this gap, we conducted a scoping review of sensory interventions for people living with dementia. We conducted a search of the literature for any article published in English from 1 January 1990 to 1 June 2019, on any sensory or multisensory intervention targeted to people living with any kind of dementia, which reported on patient health outcomes. We did not include complex interventions where only a small aspect was related to sensory stimulation. We searched the databases Medline, CINHAL, and Psych Articles using our institutional discovery layer. We conducted all screening in duplicate to reduce Type 1 and Type 2 errors. The data from all included papers were extracted by one team member, and audited by another, to ensure consistency of extraction and completeness of data. Results: Our initial search captured 7654 articles, and the removal of duplicates (n=5329), those that didn’t pass title and abstract screening (n=1840) and those that didn’t pass full-text screening (n=281) resulted in 174 articles included. The countries with the highest publication in this area were the United States (n=59), the United Kingdom (n=26) and Australia (n=15). The most common type of interventions were music therapy (n=36), multisensory rooms (n=27) and multisensory therapies (n=25). Seven articles were published in the 1990’s, 55 in the 2000’s, and the remainder since 2010 (n=112). Discussion: Multisensory rooms have been present in the literature since the early 1990’s. However, more recently, nature/garden therapy, art therapy, and light therapy have emerged since 2008 in the literature, an indication of the increasingly diverse scholarship in the area. The least popular type of intervention is a traditional food intervention. Taste as a sensory intervention is generally avoided for safety reasons, however it shows potential for increasing quality of life. Agitation, behavior, and mood are common outcomes for all sensory interventions. However, light therapy commonly targets sleep. The majority (n=110) of studies have very small sample sizes (n=20 or less), an indicator of the lack of robust data in the field. Additional small-scale studies of the known sensory interventions will likely do little to advance the field. However, there is a need for multi-armed studies which directly compare sensory interventions, and more studies which investigate the use of layering sensory interventions (for example, adding an aromatherapy component to a lighting intervention). In addition, large scale studies which enroll people at early stages of dementia will help us better understand the potential of sensory and multisensory interventions to slow the progression of the disease.

Keywords: sensory interventions, dementia, scoping review

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Authors: Natia Gavardashvili

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On June 13-14 of 2015, a landslide in village Akhaldaba was formed as a result of the intense rains in the water catch basin of the river Vere. As a result of the landslide movement, freshets and mudflows originated, and unfortunately, there were victims: zoo animals and birds were drawn in the flood and 12 people died due to the flooded motor road. The goal of the study is to give the analysis of the results of the field and scientific research held in 2015-2017 and to generalize them to the water catch basins of the erosive-mudflow rivers of other mountain landscapes of Georgia. By considering the field and scientific works, the main geographic, geological, climatic, hydrological and hydraulic properties of the erosive-mudflow tributaries of the water catch basin of the river Vere were evaluated and the probabilities of mudflow formation by considering relevant risk-factors were identified. The typology of the water catch basins of erosive-mudflow rivers of Georgia was identified on the example of the river Vere based on the field and scientific study, and their genesis, frequency of mudflow formation and volume of the drift material was identified. By using the empirical and theoretical dependencies, the amount of solid admixtures in the mudflow formed in the gorge of the river Jokhona, the right tributary of the river Vere was identified by considering the shape of the stones.

Keywords: water catchment basin, erosion, mudflow, typology

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Authors: Anukriti Kumar, Tanmay Singh, Dinesh Kumar Vishwakarma

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Traffic control has been one of the most common and irritating problems since the time automobiles have hit the roads. Problems like traffic congestion have led to a significant time burden around the world and one significant solution to these problems can be the proper implementation of the Intelligent Transport System (ITS). It involves the integration of various tools like smart sensors, artificial intelligence, position technologies and mobile data services to manage traffic flow, reduce congestion and enhance driver's ability to avoid accidents during adverse weather. Road and traffic signs’ recognition is an emerging field of research in ITS. Classification problem of traffic signs needs to be solved as it is a major step in our journey towards building semi-autonomous/autonomous driving systems. The purpose of this work focuses on implementing an approach to solve the problem of traffic sign classification by developing a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) classifier using the GTSRB (German Traffic Sign Recognition Benchmark) dataset. Rather than using hand-crafted features, our model addresses the concern of exploding huge parameters and data method augmentations. Our model achieved an accuracy of around 97.6% which is comparable to various state-of-the-art architectures.

Keywords: multiclass classification, convolution neural network, OpenCV

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Authors: Femy M. Makkar, S. Chandrakaran, N. Sankar

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The concept of reinforced earth has been used in the field of geotechnical engineering since 1960s, for many applications such as, construction of road and rail embankments, pavements, retaining walls, shallow foundations, soft ground improvement and so on. Conventionally, planar geosynthetic materials such as geotextiles and geogrids were used as the reinforcing elements. Recently, the use of three dimensional reinforcements becomes one of the emerging trends in this field. So, in the present investigation, three dimensional geogrid is proposed as a reinforcing material. Laboratory scaled plate load tests are conducted on a model square footing resting on 3D geogrid reinforced sand bed. The performance of 3D geogrids in triangular and square pattern was compared with conventional geogrids and the improvement in bearing capacity and reduction in settlement and heave are evaluated. When single layer of reinforcement was placed at an optimum depth of 0.25B from the bottom of the footing, the bearing capacity of conventional geogrid reinforced soil improved by 1.85 times compared to unreinforced soil, where as 3D geogrid reinforced soil with triangular pattern and square pattern shows 2.69 and 3.05 times improvement respectively compared to unreinforced soil. Also, 3D geogrids performs better than conventional geogrids in reducing the settlement and heave of sand bed around the model footing.

Keywords: 3D reinforcing elements, bearing capacity, heavy, settlement

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Authors: Rong-Terng Juang

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Autonomous vehicles offer the possibility of significant benefits to social welfare. However, fully automated cars might not be going to happen in the near further. To speed the adoption of the self-driving technologies, many governments worldwide are passing laws requiring data recorders for the testing of autonomous vehicles. Currently, the self-driving vehicle, (e.g., shuttle bus) has to be monitored from a remote control center. When an autonomous vehicle encounters an unexpected driving environment, such as road construction or an obstruction, it should request assistance from a remote operator. Nevertheless, large amounts of data, including images, radar and lidar data, etc., have to be transmitted from the vehicle to the remote center. Therefore, this paper proposes a data compression method of in-vehicle networks for remote monitoring of autonomous vehicles. Firstly, the time-series data are rearranged into a multi-dimensional signal space. Upon the arrival, for controller area networks (CAN), the new data are mapped onto a time-data two-dimensional space associated with the specific CAN identity. Secondly, the data are sampled based on differential sampling. Finally, the whole set of data are encoded using existing algorithms such as Huffman, arithmetic and codebook encoding methods. To evaluate system performance, the proposed method was deployed on an in-house built autonomous vehicle. The testing results show that the amount of data can be reduced as much as 1/7 compared to the raw data.

Keywords: autonomous vehicle, data compression, remote monitoring, controller area networks (CAN), Lidar

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Authors: Lin Yanyan

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This research set out to understand early childhood practitioners’ perceptions of continuous professional development (CPD) opportunities and its relationship to career progression and leadership roles in Singapore. The small-scale qualitative inductive study was conducted in two phases. Phase one used close-ended questionnaires with a total of 24 early years practitioner participants, while phase two included a total of 5 participants who were invited to participate in the second part of the data collection. Semi-structured interviews were used at phase two to elicit deeper responses from parents and teachers. Findings from the study were then thematically coded and analysed. The findings from both questionnaires and interviews showed that early years practitioners perceived CPD to be important to their professional growth, but there was no conclusive link that CPD necessarily led to the progression of leadership roles in the early years. Participants experience of CPD was strongly determined by their employer- the preschool operator, being government-funded or a private entity, which resulted in key differences emerging between their responses. Participants also experienced road blocks in their pursuit of CPD, in the form of staff shortage, budget constraints and lack of autonomy as their employers imposed specific CPD courses on them to suit the organisational needs, rather than their personal or professional needs.

Keywords: continuous professional development (CPD), early years practitioners (EYP), career progression, leadership

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Authors: Arin Salamah Qudsi

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Female piety and the roles that female mystics played in Muslim landscapes of the period between the ninth and thirteenth centuries are topics that attracted many scholarly endeavors. However, personal aspects of both male and female Sufis were not thoroughly investigated. It would be of a great significance to examine the different roles of Sufi women as spouses, household supporters, and, mothers based on Sufi and non Sufi sources. Sisters and mothers, rather than wives and daughters, are viewed in anthropological studies of different cultures as women who could enjoy a high social status and thus play influential roles. Sufi hagiographies, which are our main sources, have long been regarded in a negative light, and their value for our understanding of the early history of Sufism is held in doubt. More recently, however, a new scholarly voice has begun to reclaim the historical value of hagiographies. We need to approach the narrative structures and styles of the anecdotal segments, which are the building blocks of the hagiographical body of writing. The image of a particular Sufi figure as portrayed by his near-contemporaries can provide a more useful means to sketch the components of his unique piety than his real life. However, in certain cases, whenever singular and unique appearances of particular stories occur, certain historical and individual conclusions could be sought. As for women in Sufi hagiographies, we know about sisters who acted as a solid support for their renowned Sufi brothers. Some of those sisters preferred not to be married until a late age in order to "serve" their brothers, while others supported their brothers while pursuing their own spiritual careers. Data of this type should be carefully considered and its historical context should be thoroughly investigated. The reference here is to women, mostly married women, who offered to maintain their brothers or male relatives despite social norms or generic prohibitions, which undoubtedly gave them strong authority over them. As for mothers, we should differentiate between mothers who were Sufis themselves, and those who were the mothers of Sufi figures. It seems most likely that in both types, mothers were not always unquestionably the effective lightening trigger. Mothers of certain Sufi figures denied their sons free mobility, taking advantage of the highly esteemed principle of gratifying the wishes of one's mother and the seminal ideal of ḥaqq al-wālida (lit. mother's right). Drawing on the anecdotes provided by a few sources leads to the suggestion that many Sufis actually strove to reduce their mothers' authority in order to establish their independent careers. In light of women's authority over their brothers and sons in Sufi spheres, maternal uncles could enjoy a crucial position of influence over their nephews. The roles of Sufi mothers and of Sufi maternal uncles in the lives of early Sufi figures are topics that have not yet been dealt with in modern scholarship on classical Sufism.

Keywords: female Sufis, hagiographies, maternal uncles, mother's right

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Authors: Kamal Bahrin Jaafar

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The study area is located at Bukit Kukus, Penang where the construction of twin road project in ongoing. A landslide event has occurred on 19th October 2018, which causes fatal deaths. The purpose of this study is to figure out the causes of failure, the estimated volume of failure, and its balance. The study comprises of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) sensing and resistivity survey. The resistivity method includes spreading three lines of 200m length resistivity survey with the depth of penetration in the subsurface not exceeding 35m. The result of UAV shows the current view of the site condition. Based on resistivity result, the dominant layer in the study area consists of residual soil/filling material with a thickness of more than 35m. Three selected cross sections from construction drawing are overlain with the current cross sections to understand more on the condition of the subsurface profile. By comparison, there is a difference between past and present topography. The combination of result from the previous data and current condition shows the calculated volume of failure is 85,000 m³, and its balance is 50,000 m³. In conclusion, the failure occurs since the contractor has conducted the construction works without following the construction drawing supplied by the consultant. Besides, the cause of failure is triggered by the geology condition, such as a fault that should be considered prior to the commencement of work.

Keywords: UAV, landslide, resistivity survey, cause of failure

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Authors: Bhavesh Dadhich, Fenil Bamnoliya, Akshita Swaminathan

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This project aims to design a system to generate energy from flowing wind due to the motion of a vehicle on the road or from the flow of wind in compact areas to utilize the wasteful energy into a useful one. It is envisaged through a design and aerodynamic performance improvement of a Savonius vertical axis wind turbine rotor and used in an integrated system with a Triboelectric Nanogenerator (TENG) that can generate a good amount of electrical energy. Aerodynamic calculations are performed numerically using Computational Fluid Dynamics software, and TENG's performance is evaluated analytically. The Turbine's coefficient of power is validated with published results for an inlet velocity of 7 m/s with a Tip Speed Ratio of 0.75 and found to reasonably agree with that of experiment results. The baseline design is modified with a new blade arc angle and rotor position angle based on the recommended parameter ranges suggested by previous researchers. Simulations have been performed for different T.S.R. values ranging from 0.25 to 1.5 with an interval of 0.25 with two applicable free stream velocities of 5 m/s and 7m/s. Finally, the newly designed VAWT CFD performance results are used as input for the analytical performance prediction of the triboelectric nanogenerator. The results show that this approach could be feasible and useful for small power source applications.

Keywords: savonius turbine, power, overlap ratio, tip speed ratio, TENG

Procedia PDF Downloads 118