Search results for: workplace culture

Authors: M.J. Seddighi, Moradchelleh, M. Keyvan

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The ultimate goal in building a city is to provide pleasant, comfortable and nurturing environment as a context of public life. City environment establishes strong connection with people and their surrounding habitant, acting as relevance in social interactions between citizens itself. Urban environment and appropriate municipal facilities are the only way for proper communication between city and citizens and also citizens themselves.There is a need for complement elements between buildings and constructions to settling city life through which the move, comfort, reactions and anxiety will adjust and reflect the spirit to the city. In the surging development of society, urban’ spaces are encountered evolution, sometimes causing the symbols to fade and waste, and as a result, leading to destroy belongs among humans and their physical liquidate. Houses and living spaces exhibit materialistic reflection of life style. In the other words, way of life makes the symbolic essence of living spaces. In addition, it is of sociocultural factor of lifestyle, consisting the concepts and culture, morality, worldview, and national character. Culture is responsible for some crucial meaningful needs which can be wide because they depend on various causes such as perception and interpretation of believes, philosophy of life, interaction with neighbors and protection against climate and enemies. The bi-lateral relationship between human and nature is the main factor that needs to be properly addressed. It is because of the fact that the approach which is taken against landscape and nature has a pertinent influence on creation and shaping the structure of a house. The first response of human in tackling the environment is to build a “shelter” and place as dwelling. This has been a crucial factor in all time periods. In the proposed study, dwelling in Khorasgan’ Stream, as an area located in one of the important historical city of Iran, has been studied. Khorasgan’ Stream is the basic constituent elements of the present architectural form of Isfahan. The influence of Islamic spiritual culture and neighborhood with the historical elements on the dwelling of the selected location, subsequently on other regions of the town are presented.

Keywords: dwelling, neighborhood, historical, Islamic, architectural elements

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Authors: Yongsheng Guo, Mengyu Lu

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This study investigates how Chinese SMEs manage financial risks in financing from customers from the perspectives of ethics and national culture. A grounded theory approach is adopted to identify the causal conditions, actions/interactions, and consequences. 32 interviews were conducted, and systematic coding methods were used to identify themes and categories. This study found that Chinese ethical principles, including integrity, friendship, and reciprocity, and cultural traits, including collectivism, acquaintance society, and long-term orientation, provide conditions for financing from customers. The SMEs establish trust-based relationships with customers through personal communications and social networks and reduce financial risk through diversification, frequent operations, and enterprise reputations. Both customers and SMEs can get benefits like financial resources and customer experiences. This study creates a theoretical framework that connects the causal conditions, processes, and outcomes, providing a deeper understanding of financing from customers. A resource and process capability theory of SMEs and a customer capital and customer value model are proposed to connect accounting and finance concepts. Suggestions are proposed for the authorities as more guidance and regulations are needed for this informal finance.

Keywords: CRM, culture, ethics, SME, risk management

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Authors: Dinesh Kumar Yadav

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Short stories for language development are deeply rooted elsewhere in any language syllabus. Its relevance is manifold. The short stories have the power to take the students to the target culture directly from the classroom. It works as a crucial factor in enhancing language skills in different ways. This article is an outcome of an experimental study conducted for a month on the 12th graders where they were engaged in different creative and critical-thinking activities along with various tasks that ranged from knowledge level to application level. The sole purpose was to build up their confidence in speaking in the classroom as well as develop all their language skills simultaneously. With the start of the class in August 2021, the students' speaking skill and their confidence in speaking in the class was tested. The test was abruptly followed by a presentation of a short story from their culture. The students were engaged in different tasks related to the story. The PowerPoint slides, handouts with the story, and tasks on photocopy were used as tools whenever needed. A one-month class exclusively on speaking skills through sharing stories was found to be very helpful in developing confidence in the learners. The result was very satisfactory. A large number of students became responsive in the class. The proficiency level was not satisfactory; however, their effort to speak in class showed a very positive sign in language development.

Keywords: short stories, relevance, language enhancement, language proficiency

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Authors: Souid Wafa, Boudjenah-Haroun Saliha, Khacef Linda

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In this work, we focused on the valuation of discharges from the dairy industry. Whey is by-product of dairy industry, which is a formidable pollution factor and contains components (lactose, minerals and proteins) with high nutritional value. Whey is an excellent culture medium for microorganisms. The objective of our work is to investigate the ability of a lactic strain (of the genus Lactococcus) to grow in culture media based on whey of cattle and camels and comparing it with that recorded on M17 as indicator medium. In this study we isolated from a local sample of camel milk a lactic strain (S1).the strain had positive Gram shaped, cocci form and catalase (-). The strain has been purified by the method of streaks on M17 medium. Phenotypic identification allows us to classify this strain in the species: Lactococcus lactis subsp. Cremoris. We subsequently tested the ability of this strain to grow in cattle whey medium and camel whey, both media were deproteinized and unsupplemented. The obtained results revealed that: The cattle and camel whey are appropriate media for the growth of the strain Lactococcus lactis subsp cremoris but is more adapted to grow on a medium rich in lactose as the camel whey. In fact, after 48h and at initial pH 6.8 this strain acidified more camel whey (pH 3.99) than cattle whey (pH 4.8). And biomass produced in the camel whey is 1.50g /1 by contributing to the cattle whey which is 1g / l.

Keywords: cremoris, dairy industry, Lactococcus lactis subsp, medium, whey

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Authors: Zakaria Baka, Halima Alem

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Cancer is a major worldwide health problem that has caused around ten million deaths in 2020. In addition, efforts to develop new anti-cancer drugs still face a high failure rate. This is partly due to the lack of preclinical models that recapitulate in-vivo drug responses. Indeed conventional cell culture approach (known as 2D cell culture) is far from reproducing the complex, dynamic and three-dimensional environment of tumors. To set up more in-vivo-like cancer models, 3D bioprinting seems to be a promising technology due to its ability to achieve 3D scaffolds containing different cell types with controlled distribution and precise architecture. Moreover, the introduction of microfluidic technology makes it possible to simulate in-vivo dynamic conditions through the so-called “cancer-on-chip” platforms. Whereas several cancer types have been modeled through the cancer-on-chip approach, such as lung cancer and breast cancer, only a few works describing ovarian cancer models have been described. The aim of this work is to combine 3D bioprinting and microfluidic technics with setting up a 3D dynamic model of ovarian cancer. In the first phase, alginate-gelatin hydrogel containing SKOV3 cells was used to achieve tumor-like structures through an extrusion-based bioprinter. The desired form of the tumor-like mass was first designed on 3D CAD software. The hydrogel composition was then optimized for ensuring good and reproducible printability. Cell viability in the bioprinted structures was assessed using Live/Dead assay and WST1 assay. In the second phase, these bioprinted structures will be included in a microfluidic device that allows simultaneous testing of different drug concentrations. This microfluidic dispositive was first designed through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations for fixing its precise dimensions. It was then be manufactured through a molding method based on a 3D printed template. To confirm the results of CFD simulations, doxorubicin (DOX) solutions were perfused through the dispositive and DOX concentration in each culture chamber was determined. Once completely characterized, this model will be used to assess the efficacy of anti-cancer nanoparticles developed in the Jean Lamour institute.

Keywords: 3D bioprinting, ovarian cancer, cancer-on-chip models, microfluidic techniques

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Authors: Joelle Penniston, E. B. Gueguim-Kana

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Biohydrogen has been identified as a promising alternative to the use of non-renewable fossil reserves, owing to its sustainability and non-polluting nature. pH is considered as a key parameter in fermentative biohydrogen production processes, due to its effect on the hydrogenase activity, metabolic activity as well as substrate hydrolysis. The present study assesses the influence of regulating pH on dark fermentative biohydrogen production. Four experimental hydrogen production schemes were evaluated. Two were implemented using suspended cells under regulated pH growth conditions (Sus_R) and suspended and non-regulated pH (Sus_N). The two others regimes consisted of alginate immobilized cells under pH regulated growth conditions (Imm_R) and immobilized and non-pH regulated conditions (Imm_N). All experiments were carried out at 37.5°C with glucose as sole source of carbon. Sus_R showed a lag time of 5 hours and a peak hydrogen fraction of 36% and a glucose degradation of 37%, compared to Sus_N which showed a peak hydrogen fraction of 44% and complete glucose degradation. Both suspended culture systems showed a higher peak biohydrogen fraction compared to the immobilized cell system. Imm_R experiments showed a lag phase of 8 hours, a peak biohydrogen fraction of 35%, while Imm_N showed a lag phase of 5 hours, a peak biohydrogen fraction of 22%. 100% glucose degradation was observed in both pH regulated and non-regulated processes. This study showed that biohydrogen production in batch mode with suspended cells in a non-regulated pH environment results in a partial degradation of substrate, with lower yield. This scheme has been the culture mode of choice for most reported studies in biohydrogen research. The relatively lower slope in pH trend of the non-regulated pH experiment with immobilized cells (Imm_N) compared to Sus_N revealed that that immobilized systems have a better buffering capacity compared to suspended systems, which allows for the extended production of biohydrogen even under non-regulated pH conditions. However, alginate immobilized cultures in flask systems showed some drawbacks associated to high rate of gas production that leads to increased buoyancy of the immobilization beads. This ultimately impedes the release of gas out of the flask.

Keywords: biohydrogen, sustainability, suspended, immobilized

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Authors: T. O. Adekunle, R. L. Makhubu, C. N. Ngwane

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This research was designed to assess the validity of the Sapir Whorf hypothesis in relation to the linguistic and cultural notions of the Yoruba and Zulu language speakers’ via the evaluation of the culture enriched dramatic text The Lion and The Jewel by Wole Soyinka. The study queried both the hypothesis’ strong version, (language governs thought: linguistic classifications restrain and influence mental classifications); and its weak version, (linguistic classifications and their use influence thought as well as some other classes of non-linguistic activities) and their possible reliability. Participants were purposively selected and their ages ranged from 16-46 years old. The participants amounted to 38 (18 Yoruba and 20 Zulu) students of DUT who all speak both English and Zulu (Zulu participants) and English and Yoruba (Yoruba participants) and the mixed methods approach was used. Thus with the use of questionnaire and interviews the research questions were answered and the findings provided support for validity of the linguistic relativity hypothesis, languages indeed influence thought. The findings also revealed that linguistic influence on cognition is not limited to different language users alone, but also same language speakers per level of exposure to other languages and concepts.

Keywords: culture, cognition, DUT, language, linguistic relativity hypothesis, Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, The Lion and The Jewel, thought, Wole Soyinka, Yoruba, Zulu

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Authors: Bruno Škrinjarić

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Rapid technological developments and increase in organizations’ interdependence on international scale are changing the traditional workplace paradigm. A key feature of knowledge based economy is that employers are looking for individuals that possess both specific academic skills and knowledge, and also capability to be proactive and respond to problems creatively and autonomously. The focus of this paper is workers with Economics and Business background and its goals are threefold: (1) to explore wide range of competences and identify which are the most important to employers; (2) to investigate the existence and magnitude of gap between required and possessed level of a certain competency; and (3) to inquire how this gap is connected with performance of a company. A study was conducted on a representative sample of Croatian enterprises during the spring of 2016. Results show that generic, rather than specific, competences are more important to employers and the gap between the relative importance of certain competence and its current representation in existing workforce is greater for generic competences than for specific. Finally, results do not support the hypothesis that this gap is correlated with firms’ performance.

Keywords: competency gap, competency matching, key competences, firm performance

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Authors: Vishal Kumar Singh

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Bioprocess development is a time-constrained activity aimed at harnessing the full potential of culture performance in an ambience that is not natural to cells. Even with the use of chemically defined media and feeds, a significant amount of time is devoted in identifying the apt operating parameters. In addition, the scale-up of these processes is often accompanied by loss of antibody titer and product quality, which further delays the commercialization of the drug product. In such a scenario, the investigation of this disparity of culture performance is done by further experimentation at a smaller scale that is representative of at-scale production bioreactors. These scale-down model developments are also time-intensive. In this study, a computation fluid dynamics-based multi-objective scaling approach has been illustrated to speed up the process transfer. For the implementation of this approach, a transient multiphase water-air system has been studied in Ansys CFX to visualize the air bubble distribution and volumetric mass transfer coefficient (kLa) profiles, followed by the design of experiment based parametric optimization approach to define the operational space. The proposed approach is completely in silico and requires minimum experimentation, thereby rendering a high throughput to the overall process development.

Keywords: bioprocess development, scale up, scale down, computation fluid dynamics, multi-objective, Ansys CFX, design of experiment

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Authors: Ji Min China

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The 20th century was the century of globalization. Developed transportation and the progress of information media made the earth into a global village. The differences between regions is increasingly reduced, "cultural convergence" phenomenon intensified, regional specialties and traditional culture has been eroded. In the field of architecture, while experienced orderly rational modernism baptism, it is increasingly recognized that set the expense of cultural differences and forced to follow the universal international-style building has been outdated. At the same time, in the 21st century environmental issues has been paid more and more attention, and the concept of sustainable development and sustainable building have been proposed.This makes the domestic and foreign architects began to explore the possibilities of building and reflect local cultural characteristics of the new vernacular architecture as a viable diversified architectural tendencies by domestic and foreign architects’ favor. The author will use the production and creative process of the new vernacular architecture at home and abroad as the background, and select some outstanding examples of the analysis and discussion, then reinterpret the "new vernacular architecture" in China now. This paper will pay more attention to how to master the true meaning of the here and now "new vernacular" as well as its multiple dimensions of sustainability in the future. It also determines the paper will be a two-way aspect and multi-dimensional understanding and mining of the "new vernacular".

Keywords: new vernacular architecture, regional culture, multi dimension, sustainable

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Authors: Awad A. Younis, Elise Stronberg, Shifa Noor

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Malware attacks due to end-user vulnerabilities have been noticeably increased in the past few years. Investigating the factors that make an end-user vulnerable to those attacks is critical because they can be utilized to set up proactive strategies such as awareness and education to mitigate the impacts of those attacks. Some existing studies investigated demographic, behavioral, and cultural factors that make an end-user susceptible to malware attacks. However, it has been challenging to draw more general conclusions from individual studies due to the varieties in the type of end-users and different types of malware. Therefore, we conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) of the existing research for end-user susceptibility factors to malware attacks. The results showed while some demographic factors are mostly associated with malware infection regardless of the end users' type, age, and gender are not consistent among the same and different types of end-users. Besides, the association of culture and personality factors with malware infection are consistent in most of the selected studies and for all type of end-users. Moreover, malware infection varies based on age, geographic location, and host types. We propose that future studies should carefully take into consideration the type of end-users because different end users may be exposed to different threats or be targeted based on their user domains’ characteristics. Additionally, as different types of malware use different tactics to trick end-users, taking the malware types into consideration is important.

Keywords: cybersecurity, malware, end-users, demographics, personality, culture, systematic literature review

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Authors: Oluwayemisi Mary Onyenanakeya, Kevin Onyenankeya

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Commercial media entertainment offerings especially mainstream soap operas, in South Africa, are progressively infusing dominant social values and ideas which are alien to South African tribal societies. In most of the commodified television drama series, people who hold tight to traditional beliefs and values are often characterised as traditionalists, while those who have imbibed the western defined dicta and ideology of modernity are seen as progressives. This study, therefore, sought to ascertain how South African tribal language, traditional institutions, values, social norms and ancestral beliefs are portrayed through the television drama, Generations: The Legacy, and what the viewers think about those constructions and the implication for cultural identity. The mixed methods approach was employed involving the administration of questionnaire to 350 participants selected through random sampling and a content analysis of 20 episodes of Generations: The Legacy. The findings further showed that the values and traditions represented in generation do not significantly reflect the South African tribal tradition and values (p-value > 0.05). In most instances where traditional values are represented they tend to be portrayed as old fashioned (p-value > 0.05), and inferior and backward (p-value > 0.05). In addition, the findings indicate that Generations: The legacy is a vehicle for promoting dominant culture.

Keywords: identity, soap opera, South Africa, television

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Authors: Hirreche Baghdad Mohamed

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Our research is linked to cultural policies because the initiation to taste and beauty is a matter for all cultural and educational institutions. It's done by a downstream process (programs, actions, lessons, etc.) that begins at a young age in order to inscribe aesthetic values in memories, imaginations, and practices. Preparing future art lovers probably takes a lot of time. Upstream, continuity is ensured by the "cultural industries" which make cultural products available to actors in the "art market" through professional training, production, dissemination, and sales processes. It turns out that the cultural industries borrow from the "classical" industries the same processes and logic: product, production, marketing, diffusion, profit and profits, supply and demand, the market, the creation of wealth, the entrepreneurship. Today, culture has become a product almost like the others. In the cultural industries system, we protect the rights of authors (owners) and the rights of intermediaries (entrepreneurs of culture), and we provide consumers with an accessible product that meets their needs and expectations. We aim to present an inventory and to reveal, through the speeches of the actors themselves, the processes and modes of operation and deployment of the plastic arts market by showing how it is perceived, imagined, and lived in the city of 'Oran from the 2000s to the present day. However, it is possible to clarify this field of research by looking at previous periods; and even to make comparisons with other regions in Algeria in order to give meaning to practices in various contexts.

Keywords: Oran, Algeria, fine art, art market

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Authors: Faten Fares

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Undoubtedly, the world today faces difficult environmental, financial, and social challenges. In order to change people’s lifestyle to be more sustainable, one must change people’s culture then spaces by focusing on education. Further, the higher education has a key role to play in the move toward a more sustainable world. In the overall analysis, the true sustainable university will make a significant effect. Since the sustainable campus is not only a green built environment, which aims at energy efficiency, water efficiency, waste management, and conserving resources but also it is how to implement green built environment. This implementation takes place while engaging the campus stakeholders (students, academic staff, assistants, workers, and administrators) through educating for sustainability. The main purpose of the research is to develop a tool to assess the sustainable campus and to be a framework for achieving more sustainable campuses. In the case study, the data were analyzed to know existing efforts and capabilities then measure the sustainability performance using the proposal framework at Alexandria University Engineering Campus. Finally, the findings of the research explain that campus is partially adherence with the proposal tool and need to be more sustainable in a formally implemented.

Keywords: sustainability, higher education, sustainable campus, sustainability teaching and research, campus participation culture, environmental improvement

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Authors: Norhayati Ayob, Shamsu Mohamad

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This paper aims to provide an initial background of the process of making traditional ceramic pottery, focusing on the materials and the influence of culture heritage. Ceramic pottery is one of the hallmarks of Sabah’s heirloom, not only use as cooking and storage containers but also closely linked with folk cultures and heritage. The Bajau Laut ethnic community of Semporna or better known as the Sea Gypsies, mostly are boat dwellers and work as fishermen in the coast. This ethnic community is famous for their own artistic traditional heirloom, especially the traditional hand-made clay stove called Lapohan. It is found that in the daily life of Bajau Laut community, Lapohan (clay stove) is used to prepare the meal and as a food warmer while they are at the sea. Besides, Lapohan pottery conveys symbolic meaning of natural objects, which portrays the identity, and values of Bajau Laut community. It is acknowledged that the basic process of making potterywares was much the same for people all across the world, nevertheless, it is crucial to consider that different ethnic groups may have their own styles and choices of raw materials. Furthermore, it is still unknown why and how the Bajau Laut ethnic of Semporna get started making their own pottery and to survive until today by heavily depending on the raw materials available in Semporna. In addition, the emergent problem faced by the pottery maker in Sabah is the absence of young successor to continue the heirloom legacy. Therefore, this research aims to explore the traditional pottery making in Sabah, by investigating the background history of Lapohan pottery and to propose the classification of Lapohan based on design and motifs of traditional pottery that will be recognised throughout the study. It is postulated that different techniques and forms of making traditional pottery may produce different types of pottery in terms of surface decoration, shape, and size that portrays different cultures. This study will be conducted at Selakan Island, Semporna, which is the only location that still has Lapohan making. This study is also based on the chronological process of making pottery and taboos of the process of preparing the clay, forming, decoration technique, motif application and firing techniques. The relevant information for the study will be gathered from field study, including observation, in-depth interview and video recording. In-depth interviews will be conducted with several potters and the conversation and pottery making process will be recorded in order to understand the actual process of making Lapohan. The findings hope to provide several types of Lapohan based on different designs and cultures, for example, the one with flat-shape design or has round-shape on the top of clay stove will be labeled with suitable name based on their culture. In conclusion, it is hoped that this study will contribute to conservation for traditional pottery making in Sabah as well as to preserve their culture and heirloom for future generations.

Keywords: Bajau Laut, culture, Lapohan, traditional pottery

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Authors: Carolina Brandão Piva

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In our visual culture, images play a newly significant role in the basis of a complex dialogue between imagination, creativity, and social practice. Insofar as imagination has broken out of the 'special expressive space of art' to become a part of the quotidian mental work of ordinary people, it is pertinent to recognize that visual representation can no longer be assumed as if in a domain detached from everyday life or exclusively 'centered' within the limited frame of 'art history.' The approach of Visual Culture as a field of study is, in this sense, indispensable to comprehend that not only 'the image,' but also 'the imagined' and 'the imaginary' are produced in the plurality of social interactions; crucial enough, this assertion directs us to something new in contemporary cultural processes, namely both imagination and image production constitute a social practice. This paper starts off with this approach and seeks to examine the artistic practice of two women from the State of Goiás, Brazil, who are ordinary citizens with their daily activities and narratives but also dedicated to visuality production. With no formal training from art schools, branded or otherwise, Maria Aparecida de Souza Pires deploys 'waste disposal' of daily life—from car tires to old work clothes—as a trampoline for art; also adept at sourcing raw materials collected from her surroundings, she manipulates raw hewn wood, tree trunks, plant life, and various other pieces she collects from nature giving them new meaning and possibility. Hilda Freire works with sculptures in clay using different scales and styles; her art focuses on representations of women and pays homage to unprivileged groups such as the practitioners of African-Brazilian religions, blue-collar workers, poor live-in housekeepers, and so forth. Although they have never been acknowledged by any mainstream art institution in Brazil, whose 'criterion of value' still favors formally trained artists, Maria Aparecida de Souza Pires, and Hilda Freire have produced visualities that instigate 'new ways of seeing,' meriting cultural significance in many ways. Their artworks neither descend from a 'traditional' medium nor depend on 'canonical viewing settings' of visual representation; rather, they consist in producing relationships with the world which do not result in 'seeing more,' but 'at least differently.' From this perspective, the paper finally demonstrates that grouping this kind of artistic production under the label of 'mere craft' has much more to do with who is privileged within the fields of power in art system, who we see and who we do not see, and whose imagination of what is fed by which visual images in Brazilian contemporary society.

Keywords: visual culture, artistic practice, women's art in the Brazilian State of Goiás, Maria Aparecida de Souza Pires, Hilda Freire

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Authors: Yamam Abuzinadah

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Mental health literacy has become a very influential topic around the world due to the increase of mental health issues that have been reported through national research and surveys. Mental health literacy refers to the awareness, attitudes, beliefs, knowledge and skills when dealing with mental illness. This research explores mental health literacy in the Arabic and the ways culture informs perceptions of mental health in general. Also, the impact of mental health literacy on: help-seeking attitudes, relationships and community interactions. The outcomes of this research will contribute to raising mental health awareness among the Arabic community, develop and enhance mental health service provision and explore new ideas in regards to elevating mental health literacy in the Arabic community. This research aims to explore attitudes, beliefs, perspective, values and perceptions toward mental health in general among the Arabic community. It will also aim to highlight the factors contributing to theses beliefs, perspective, value and perception and accordingly the role these factors play in regards to awareness, services access, recovery and care provided from the family and the community. This thesis will aim to reflect a detailed theorisation and exploration of: (1) The impact of cultural factors on mental health literacy ie. attitudes, beliefs, knowledge and skills. (2) The ways culture informs perceptions of mental health literacy. (3) The impact of mental health literacy on: help-seeking behaviors, and relationships and community interactions.

Keywords: Arab, mental health, literacy, awareness

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Authors: P. Christodoulou, M. Gerasimou, S. Mantzoukis, N. Varsamis, G. Kolliopoulou, N. Zotos

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Abstract— Purpose: The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) environment is conducive to the growth of microorganisms. A variety of microorganisms gain access to the intravascular area and are transported throughout the circulatory system. Therefore, examination of the catheters used in ICU patients is of paramount importance. Material and Method: The culture medium is a catheter tip, which is enriched with Tryptic soy broth (TSB). After one day of incubation, the broth is passaged in the following selective media: Blood, Mac conkey No. 2, chocolate, Mueller Hinton, Chapman, and Saboureaud agar. The above selective media is incubated for 2 days. After this period, if any number of microbial colonies is detected, gram staining is performed and then the microorganisms are identified by biochemical techniques in the automated Microscan (Siemens) system followed by a sensitivity test in the same system using the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) technique. The sensitivity test is verified by a Kirby Bauer test. Results: In 2017, the Microbiology Laboratory received 84 catheters from the ICU. 42 were found positive. Of these, S. epidermidis was identified at 8, A. baumannii in 10, K. pneumoniae in 6, P. aeruginosa in 6, P. mirabilis in 3, S. simulans in 1, S. haemolyticus in 4, S. aureus in 3 and S. hominis in 1. Conclusions: The results show that the placement and maintenance of the catheters in ICU patients are relatively successful, despite the unfavorable environment of the unit.

Keywords: culture, intensive care unit, microorganisms, vascular catheters

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Authors: Nazedah Ain Ibrahim, Mohamed Mansor Manan

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Treatment of suspected early onset neonatal sepsis (EONS) in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is essential. However, information regarding EONS pathogens may vary between regions. Global perspectives showed Group B Streptococcal (GBS) as the most common causative pathogens, but the widespread use of intrapartum antibiotics has changed the pathogens pattern towards gram negative microorganisms, especially E. coli. Objective of this study is to describe the pathogens isolated, to assess current treatment and risk of EONS. Records of 899 neonates born in three General Hospitals between 2009 until 2012 were retrospectively reviewed. The inclusion criteria were neonates with blood culture taken prior to empiric antibiotics administration and within 72 hours of life. Of the study group, a total of 734 (82%) cases had documented blood culture that met the inclusion criteria. Proven EONS (as confirmed by positive blood culture) was found in 22 (3%) neonates. The majority was isolated with gram positive organisms, 17 (2.3%). In addition, other common gram positive organism isolated were Coagulase negative staphylococci (7) followed by Bacillus sp. (5) and Streptococcus pneumonia (2), and only one case isolated with GBS, Streptococcus spp. and Enterococcus sp. Meanwhile, only five cases of gram negative organisms [Stenotropomonas (xantho) maltophi (1), Haemophilus influenza (1), Spingomonas paucimobilis (1), Enterobacter gergoviae (1) and E. coli (1)] were isolated. A total of 286 (39%) cases were exposed to intrapartum antibiotics and of those, 157 (21.4%) were administered prior to delivery. All grams positive and most gram negative organisms showed sensitivity to the tested antibiotics. Only two rare gram negative organisms showed total resistant. Male, surfactant, caesarean delivery and prolonged rapture of membrane >18hours were a possible risk of proven EONS. Although proven EONS remains uncommon in Malaysia, nonetheless, the effect of intrapartum antibiotics still required continuous surveillance. However, by analyzing isolated pathogens it can be used as treatment guidance in managing suspected EONS.

Keywords: early onset neonatal sepsis, neonates, pathogens, gram positive, gram negative

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Authors: Elahe Memari, Ahmad Aslizadeh, Ahmad Memari

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To compile and execute a strategy for State Road Management and Transportation Organization, we need to identify and include them in the process of planning. Therefore, present research work tries to rely on experiences by managers and experts from State Road Management and Transportation Organization and other sources like books, magazines and new papers, such factors have to be identified and be applied in this important and vital process before proceeding to strategic planning. Trying to present a conceptual model from factors effective on strategic planning success in fulfillment of State Road Management and Transportation Organization, the present research figures on indicating the role of organizational factors in efficiency of the process to managers. In this research connection between six main factors studied in fulfillment of State Road Management and Transportation Organization objectives. The factors are improvement of strategic thinking in senior managers, improvement of organization business, rationalizing resource allocation in different sections of the organization, conformity of strategic planning with organization needs, conformity of organization activities with environmental changes, stabilization of organizational culture, all approved through implemented tests.

Keywords: improvement of organization business, rationalization of resource allocation in different sections of the organization, stability of organizational culture, strategic planning

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Authors: Mosito Jonas Seabela

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Breastfeeding in public has become a contentious issue in contemporary society. Mothers are often subjected to unfair discrimination and harassment for simply responding to their maternal instinct to breastfeed their infants. The unwillingness of society to accept public breastfeeding as a natural, non-sexual act is partly influenced by the imposition of a pornified and hypersexualised Western culture, which was imported to Africa through colonisation, enforced by the apartheid regime, and is now perpetuated by Western media. The imposition of the modern nuclear family on Africans, and the coerced aspiration to subscribe to bourgeois values, has eroded the moral standing of the traditional African family and its cultural values. Western-centric perceptions of African women have altered the experience of motherhood for many, commodifying the practice of breastfeeding. As a result, the use of bottles and infant formulas is often perceived as the preferred method, while breastfeeding in public is viewed as primitive, immoral, and unacceptable. This normative study seeks to answer the question of what ought to be done to preserve the dignity of African motherhood and protect their right to breastfeed in public. The African philosophy of Ubuntu is employed to advocate for the right to breastfeed in public. This moral philosophy posits that the western perception of a person seeks to isolate people from their environment and culture, thereby undermining the process of acquiring humanity, which fosters social cohesion. The Ubuntu philosophy embodies the aphorism, “umuntu ngumuntu nga bantu”, meaning “a person is a person through other persons”, signifying people’s interconnectedness and interdependence. The application of the key principles of Ubuntu, such as “survival, the spirit of solidarity, compassion, respect, and dignity” can improve human interaction and unite the public to support the government’s efforts to increase exclusive breastfeeding rates and reduce infant mortality rates. A doctrine called “Ubuntu Lactivism” is what the author proposes as a means to advocate for breastfeeding rights in fulfilment of African traditional values.

Keywords: ubuntu, breastfeeding, Afrocentric, colonization, culture, motherhood, imperialism, objectification

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Authors: Yunhui Chen, Damon Kent, Matthew Dargusch

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Synthetic scaffolds are a highly promising new approach to replace both autografts and allografts to repair and remodel damaged bone tissue. Biocompatible porous titanium scaffold was manufactured through a powder metallurgy approach. Magnesium powder was used as space holder material which was compacted with titanium powder and removed during sintering. Evaluation of the porosity and mechanical properties showed a high level of compatibility with human bone. Interconnectivity between pores is higher than 95% for porosity as low as 30%. The elastic moduli are 39 GPa, 16 GPa and 9 GPa for 30%, 40% and 50% porosity samples which match well to that of natural bone (4-30 GPa). The yield strengths for 30% and 40% porosity samples of 315 MPa and 175 MPa are superior to that of human bone (130-180 MPa). In-vitro cell culture tests on the scaffold samples using Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells (hMSCs) demonstrated their biocompatibility and indicated osseointegration potential. The scaffolds allowed cells to adhere and spread both on the surface and inside the pore structures. With increasing levels of porosity/interconnectivity, improved cell proliferation is obtained within the pores. It is concluded that samples with 30% porosity exhibit the best biocompatibility. The results suggest that porous titanium scaffolds generated using this manufacturing route have excellent potential for hard tissue engineering applications.

Keywords: scaffolds, MG-63 cell culture, titanium, space holder

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Authors: Suby Khanam, Faisal Talib, Jamshed Siddiqui

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Total Quality Management (TQM) is a managerial approach that improves the competitiveness of the industry, meanwhile Information technology (IT) was introduced with TQM for handling the technical issues which is supported by quality experts for fulfilling the customers’ requirement. Present paper aims to utilise AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) methodology to priorities and rank the hierarchy levels of TQM enablers and IT resource together for its successful implementation in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) industry. A total of 17 TQM enablers (nine) and IT resources (eight) were identified and partitioned into 3 categories and were prioritised by AHP approach. The finding indicates that the 17 sub-criteria can be grouped into three main categories namely organizing, tools and techniques, and culture and people. Further, out of 17 sub-criteria, three sub-criteria: Top management commitment and support, total employee involvement, and continuous improvement got highest priority whereas three sub-criteria such as structural equation modelling, culture change, and customer satisfaction got lowest priority. The result suggests a hierarchy model for ICT industry to prioritise the enablers and resources as well as to improve the TQM and IT performance in the ICT industry. This paper has some managerial implication which suggests the managers of ICT industry to implement TQM and IT together in their organizations to get maximum benefits and how to utilize available resources. At the end, conclusions, limitation, future scope of the study are presented.

Keywords: analytic hierarchy process, information technology, information and communication technology, prioritization, total quality management

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Authors: Carin Chuang, Kuan-Chou Chen

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An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is an integrated information system that supports the seamless integration of all the business processes of a company. Implementing an ERP system can increase efficiencies and decrease the costs while helping improve productivity. Many organizations including large, medium and small-sized companies have already adopted an ERP system for decades. Although ERP system can bring competitive advantages to organizations, the lack of proper training approach in ERP implementation is still a major concern. Organizations understand the importance of ERP training to adequately prepare managers and users. The low return on investment, however, for the ERP training makes the training difficult for knowledgeable workers to transfer what is learned in training to the jobs at workplace. Inadequate and inefficient ERP training limits the value realization and success of an ERP system. That is the need to call for a profound change and innovation for ERP training in both workplace at industry and the Information Systems (IS) education in academia. The innovated ERP training approach can improve the users’ knowledge in business processes and hands-on skills in mastering ERP system. It also can be instructed as educational material for IS students in universities. The purpose of the study is to examine the use of ERP simulation games via the ERPsim system to train the IS students in learning ERP implementation. The ERPsim is the business simulation game developed by ERPsim Lab at HEC Montréal, and the game is a real-life SAP (Systems Applications and Products) ERP system. The training uses the ERPsim system as the tool for the Internet-based simulation games and is designed as online student competitions during the class. The competitions involve student teams with the facilitation of instructor and put the students’ business skills to the test via intensive simulation games on a real-world SAP ERP system. The teams run the full business cycle of a manufacturing company while interacting with suppliers, vendors, and customers through sending and receiving orders, delivering products and completing the entire cash-to-cash cycle. To learn a range of business skills, student needs to adopt individual business role and make business decisions around the products and business processes. Based on the training experiences learned from rounds of business simulations, the findings show that learners have reduced risk in making mistakes that help learners build self-confidence in problem-solving. In addition, the learners’ reflections from their mistakes can speculate the root causes of the problems and further improve the efficiency of the training. ERP instructors teaching with the innovative approach report significant improvements in student evaluation, learner motivation, attendance, engagement as well as increased learner technology competency. The findings of the study can provide ERP instructors with guidelines to create an effective learning environment and can be transferred to a variety of other educational fields in which trainers are migrating towards a more active learning approach.

Keywords: business simulations, ERP implementation training, ERPsim, game-based learning, instructional strategy, training innovation

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Authors: Lauren Dhugga, Meena Parameswaran, David Blundell, Abbas Khushnood

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Context: A multidisciplinary weekly safety briefing was implemented at the Paediatric Cardiothoracic Unit at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. It is a tertiary referral centre with a quarternary cardiac paediatric intensive care unit and provides complexed care including heart and lung transplants, mechanical support and advanced heart failure assessment. Aim: The aim of this briefing is to provide a structured platform of communication, in an effort to improve efficiency, safety, and patient care. Problem: The paediatric cardiothoracic unit is made up of a vast multidisciplinary team including doctors, intensivists, anaesthetists, surgeons, specialist nurses, echocardiogram technicians, physiotherapists, psychologists, dentists, and dietitians. It provides care for children with congenital and acquired cardiac disease and is one of only two units in the UK to offer paediatric heart transplant. The complexity of cases means that there can be many teams involved in providing care to each patient, and frequent movement of children between ward, high dependency, and intensive care areas. Currently, there is no structured forum for communicating important information across the department, for example, staffing shortages, prescribing errors and significant events. Strategy: An initial survey questioning the need for better communication found 90% of respondents agreed that they could think of an incident that had occurred due to ineffective communication, and 85% felt that incident could have been avoided had there been a better form of communication. Lastly, 80% of respondents felt that a weekly 60 second safety briefing would be beneficial to improve communication within our multidisciplinary team. Based on those promising results, a weekly 60 second safety briefing was implemented to be conducted on a Monday morning. The safety briefing covered four key areas (SAFE): staffing, awareness, fix and events. This was to highlight any staffing gaps, any incident reports to be learned from, any issues that required fixing and any events including teachings for the week ahead. The teams were encouraged to email suggestions or issues to be raised for the week or to approach in person with information to add. The safety briefing was implemented using change theory. Effect: The safety briefing has been trialled over 6 weeks and has received a good buy in from staff across specialties. The aim is to embed this safety briefing into a weekly meeting using the PDSA cycle. There will be a second survey in one month to assess the efficacy of the safety briefing and to continue to improve the delivery of information. The project will be presented at the next clinical governance briefing to attract wider feedback and input from across the trust. Lessons: The briefing displays promise as a tool to improve vigilance and communication in a busy multi-disciplinary unit. We have learned about how to implement quality improvement and about the culture of our hospital - how hierarchy influences change. We demonstrate how to implement change through a grassroots process, using a junior led briefing to improve the efficiency, safety, and communication in the workplace.

Keywords: briefing, communication, safety, team

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Authors: M.J. Seddighi, A. Moradchelleh, M. Keyvan

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The ultimate goal in building a city is to provide pleasant, comfortable and nurturing environment as a context of public life. City environment establishes strong connection with people and their surrounding habitant, acting as relevance in social interactions between citizens itself. Urban environment and appropriate municipal facilities are the only way for proper communication between city and citizens and also citizens themselves. There is a need for complement elements between buildings and constructions to settling city life through which the move, comfort, reactions and anxiety will adjust and reflect the spirit to the city. In the surging development of society, urban’ spaces are encountered evolution, sometimes causing the symbols to fade and waste, and as a result, leading to destroy belongs among humans and their physical liquidate. Houses and living spaces exhibit materialistic reflection of life style. In other words, way of life makes the symbolic essence of living spaces. In addition, it is of sociocultural factor of lifestyle, consisting the concepts and culture, morality, worldview, and national character. Culture is responsible for some crucial meaningful needs which can be wide because they depend on various causes such as perception and interpretation of believes, philosophy of life, interaction with neighbors and protection against climate and enemies. The bilateral relationship between human and nature is the main factor that needs to be properly addressed. It is because of the fact that the approach which is taken against landscape and nature has a pertinent influence on creation and shaping the structure of a house. The first response of human in tackling the environment is to build a “shelter” and place as dwelling. This has been a crucial factor in all time periods. In the proposed study, dwelling in Khorasgan’ Stream, as an area located in one of the important historical city of Iran, has been studied. Khorasgan’ Stream is the basic constituent elements of the present architectural form of Isfahan. The influence of Islamic spiritual culture and neighborhood with the historical elements on the dwelling of the selected location, subsequently on other regions of the town are presented.

Keywords: historical architectural elements, dwelling' neighborhood, Khorasgan’ Stream of Isfahan, architecture

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Authors: Kuo-Wei Hsu, Shu-Fang Huang

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Global trend in creative economies promoted the modernization process of the development of cultural and creative industries and technology coincided with the craft industry towards value-added industrial restructuring. Due to government support and economic motivation in the private sector, regional craft products have emerged across counties and cities all over Taiwan which have led to an increased focus on craft culture promotion. However, most craft industry corporations in Taiwan are micro-enterprise, restricted operating profitability. This phenomenon shows the weakness of craft industry constitution when facing the rapid expansion of global economic commerce and manufacturing. In recent years, combining public and private enterprise, Platform business models revolutionary changed in craft industries’ original operation and transaction models. Therefore, this study attempts to explore the effects by implementing platform strategy on bamboo industry development in Nantou, the hometown of crafts in Taiwan, with an experimental investigation. This study concluded that platform strategy increases essence and insubstantial value for the bamboo industry in Taiwan. This study explored the economic value added of Taiwan bamboo village with three perspectives: Community participation, Culture Conservation, Regional Rejuvenation.

Keywords: platform strategy, craft industry, economic value-added

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Authors: S. Kurt, B. C. Demirbag

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Meeting employees’ expectations from an organization physically and mentally is a result of one’s assessing his or her work and its environment as well as his feeling about them. It was to determine the job satisfaction levels of the nurses in public hospitals. This descriptive study was carried out with 404 nurses (60%) accepting to take part in the study voluntarily and working in the same hospital for at least three months from 673 nurses working in hospitals depending on The Secretaryship of Public Hospital Association in Rize. The study aimed to reach the whole population by not taking samples. The data were collected by the personal information form (16 questions) prepared by the researcher, and the job satisfaction scale (36 articles) between June 1st and August 30th, 2014. According to scale, mean scores of nurses’ job satisfaction were 3.23±0.51. In addition, it was determined that the factors such as nurses’s age, marital status, childbearing, place of duty, position in workplace, being liked of job, education status, work experience, weekly working hours, maturing in professional practice, unit worked, hospital worked and colleagues affected the job satisfaction levels of nurses (p <0.05). In conclusion; the nurses’ general job satisfaction levels were moderate level.

Keywords: hospitals, job satisfaction level, nurses, public hospitals

Procedia PDF Downloads 360

Authors: Qurat Ul Ain Saleem, Kanwal Ameen

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The library and information science discipline is universally known as a feminist profession. It is considered a suitable field for females in Pakistan like a few other fields such as teaching and healthcare. It is also reflected through the uneven enrollment at graduate levels in library schools across the country as there are more females as compared to males. However, that uneven ratio does not really translate in the profession after passing out. There are more males in the professional as compared to females, as well as males can be seen on managerial and administrative posts majorly. A few females who joined the perception remain underrated and are hardly seen at managerial or administrative positions in the academic libraries. Therefore, this study was designed to highlight the perceptions of those females who have joined the profession to identify the issues related to equality faced by them as a professional. A qualitative research design based on a semi-structured interview was selected as an appropriate method to achieve the objectives of this study. Female librarians working in the higher education commission’s recognized public and private sector universities of Punjab, Pakistan, were selected as the population for this study. Female librarians shared that inequalities and discrimination based on face value, experience, communication, and relationship with the manager are common at their workplaces. They added that managers prefer male professionals to deal with delegation or presentations though we both can do that. Female professionals from the private sector believed that library managers make final hiring and selection decisions based on job duties and gender. However, the one with strong references will be preferred for the job. Also, private-sector employees suffered more prejudice due to the non-availability of proper patterns of promotions and increments. The government personnel said there is always a proper board/procedure for hiring and promotions; therefore, it is difficult for them to identify any inequality. Participants were dissatisfied with their managers for not allowing them to attend training and conferences. The majority of participants from the private sector said they wouldn't speak up to prejudice because they are afraid of losing their jobs and their voice is lost in a male-dominated society where males hold numerous authoritative positions and females are considered less competent. Nonetheless, the discrimination and inequalities affected the work motivation and enthusiasm of employees. Therefore, organizations should not discriminate against the staff in terms of facilities and benefits. The sample may not represent the true picture of gender equality in university libraries of Pakistan due to less number of participants and limited geographical boundaries. It is also assumed that some females may refrain from disclosing factual information or some may exaggerate the facts as a large number of participants requested to become part of the study. Equal opportunities should be offered to female library professionals to uplift and involve them to mitigate the perception of gender dominance. The organizations or immediate authorities should allow their staff to participate in training opportunities to learn modern practices to better serve the community.

Keywords: equality-workplace, libraries as workplace, female professionals, librarians-Pakistan

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Authors: Andreas Lind, Aitor Iriondo Pascual, Dan Hogberg, Lars Hanson

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Factory setup lifecycles are most often described and prepared in CAD environments; the preparation is based on experience and inputs from several cross-disciplinary processes. Early in the factory setup preparation, a so-called block layout is created. The intention is to describe a high-level view of the intended factory setup and to claim area reservations and allocations. Factory areas are then blocked, i.e., targeted to be used for specific intended resources and processes, later redefined with detailed factory setup layouts. Each detailed layout is based on the block layout and inputs from cross-disciplinary preparation processes, such as manufacturing sequence, productivity, workers’ workplace requirements, and resource setup preparation. However, this activity is often not carried out with all variables considered simultaneously, which might entail a risk of sub-optimizing the detailed layout based on manual decisions. Therefore, this work aims to realize a digital method for assembly manufacturing layout planning where productivity, area utilization, and ergonomics can be considered simultaneously in a cross-disciplinary manner. The purpose of the digital method is to support engineers in finding optimized designs of detailed layouts for assembly manufacturing factories, thereby facilitating better decisions regarding setups of future factories. Input datasets are company-specific descriptions of required dimensions for specific area reservations, such as defined dimensions of a worker’s workplace, material façades, aisles, and the sequence to realize the product assembly manufacturing process. To test and iteratively develop the digital method, a demonstrator has been developed with an adaptation of existing software that simulates and proposes optimized designs of detailed layouts. Since the method is to consider productivity, ergonomics, area utilization, and constraints from the automatically generated block layout, a multi-objective optimization approach is utilized. In the demonstrator, the input data are sent to the simulation software industrial path solutions (IPS). Based on the input and Lua scripts, the IPS software generates a block layout in compliance with the company’s defined dimensions of area reservations. Communication is then established between the IPS and the software EPP (Ergonomics in Productivity Platform), including intended resource descriptions, assembly manufacturing process, and manikin (digital human) resources. Using multi-objective optimization approaches, the EPP software then calculates layout proposals that are sent iteratively and simulated and rendered in IPS, following the rules and regulations defined in the block layout as well as productivity and ergonomics constraints and objectives. The software demonstrator is promising. The software can handle several parameters to optimize the detailed layout simultaneously and can put forward several proposals. It can optimize multiple parameters or weight the parameters to fine-tune the optimal result of the detailed layout. The intention of the demonstrator is to make the preparation between cross-disciplinary silos transparent and achieve a common preparation of the assembly manufacturing factory setup, thereby facilitating better decisions.

Keywords: factory setup, multi-objective, optimization, simulation

Procedia PDF Downloads 152