Search results for: sustainable urban management

Authors: Danjuma Bawa

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This paper aimed at exploring the capabilities of Location-Allocation model in complementing the strides of the existing physical planning models in the location and distribution of facilities for regional consumption. The paper was designed to provide a blueprint to the Nigerian government and other donor agencies especially the Fertilizer Distribution Initiative (FDI) by the federal government for the revitalization of the terrorism ravaged regions. Theoretical underpinnings of central place theory related to spatial distribution, interrelationships, and threshold prerequisites were reviewed. The study showcased how Location-Allocation Model (L-AM) alongside Central Place Theory (CPT) was applied in Geographic Information System (GIS) environment to; map and analyze the spatial distribution of settlements; exploit their physical and economic interrelationships, and to explore their hierarchical and opportunistic influences. The study was purely spatial qualitative research which largely used secondary data such as; spatial location and distribution of settlements, population figures of settlements, network of roads linking them and other landform features. These were sourced from government ministries and open source consortium. GIS was used as a tool for processing and analyzing such spatial features within the dictum of CPT and L-AM to produce a comprehensive spatial digital plan for equitable and judicious location and distribution of fertilizer deports in the study area in an optimal way. Population threshold was used as yardstick for selecting suitable settlements that could stand as service centers to other hinterlands; this was accomplished using the query syntax in ArcMapTM. ArcGISTM’ network analyst was used in conducting location-allocation analysis for apportioning of groups of settlements around such service centers within a given threshold distance. Most of the techniques and models ever used by utility planners have been centered on straight distance to settlements using Euclidean distances. Such models neglect impedance cutoffs and the routing capabilities of networks. CPT and L-AM take into consideration both the influential characteristics of settlements and their routing connectivity. The study was undertaken in two terrorism ravaged Local Government Areas of Adamawa state. Four (4) existing depots in the study area were identified. 20 more depots in 20 villages were proposed using suitability analysis. Out of the 300 settlements mapped in the study area about 280 of such settlements where optimally grouped and allocated to the selected service centers respectfully within 2km impedance cutoff. This study complements the giant strides by the federal government of Nigeria by providing a blueprint for ensuring proper distribution of these public goods in the spirit of bringing succor to these terrorism ravaged populace. This will ardently at the same time help in boosting agricultural activities thereby lowering food shortage and raising per capita income as espoused by the government.

Keywords: central place theory, GIS, location-allocation, network analysis, urban and regional planning, welfare economics

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Authors: Suzhou Wei, Isobel Cunningham, Laura Bradley McCauley

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Social enterprises play a significant role in resolving social issues in the modern world. In contrast to traditional commercial businesses, their main goal is to address social concerns rather than primarily maximize profits. This phenomenon in entrepreneurship is presenting new opportunities and different operating models and resulting in modified approaches to measure success beyond traditional market share and margins. This paper explores social enterprises to clarify their roles and approaches in addressing grand challenges related to social issues. In doing so, it analyses the key differences between traditional business and social enterprises, such as their operating model and value proposition, to understand their contributions to society. The research presented in this paper responds to calls for research to better understand social enterprises and entrepreneurship but also to explore the dynamics between profit-driven and socially-oriented entities to deliver mutual benefits. This paper, which examines the features of commercial business, suggests their primary focus is profit generation, economic growth and innovation. Beyond the chase of profit, it highlights the critical role of innovation typical of successful businesses. This, in turn, promotes economic growth, creates job opportunities and makes a major positive impact on people's lives. In contrast, the motivations upon which social enterprises are founded relate to a commitment to address social problems rather than maximizing profits. These entities combine entrepreneurial principles with commitments to deliver social impact and grand challenge changes, creating a distinctive category within the broader enterprise and entrepreneurship landscape. The motivations for establishing a social enterprise are diverse, such as encompassing personal fulfillment, a genuine desire to contribute to society and a focus on achieving impactful accomplishments. The paper also discusses the collaboration between commercial businesses and social enterprises, which is viewed as a strategic approach to addressing grand challenges more comprehensively and effectively. Finally, this paper highlights the evolving and diverse expectations placed on all businesses to actively contribute to society beyond profit-making. We conclude that there is an unrealized and underdeveloped potential for collaboration between commercial businesses and social enterprises to produce greater and long-lasting social impacts. Overall, the aim of this research is to encourage more investigation of the complex relationship between economic and social objectives and contributions through a better understanding of how and why businesses might address social issues. Ultimately, the paper positions itself as a tool for understanding the evolving landscape of business engagement with social issues and advocates for collaborative efforts to achieve sustainable and impactful outcomes.

Keywords: business, social enterprises, collaboration, social issues, motivations

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Authors: L. M. Chinh

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Vam Cong Bridge beside Can Tho Bridge is the next cable-stayed bridge spanning the Hau River, connecting Lap Vo district with Thot Not district. After construction by the end of 2018, the Vam Cong Bridge with Cao Lanh Bridge will help to improve the road network in this region of Mekong Delta. For this bridge, the SHM system also had designed for two stages – construction stage and exploitation stage. At the moment over 65% of the bridge construction had completed, and the bridge will be completed at the end of 2018. During the construction stage, the SHM system had been install to monitor behaviors of the bridge. Based on the study of the design documentation of the SHM system of the Vam Cong Bridge and site visit during construction work, many designs and installation errors have been detected. In this paper author thoroughly analyzed the pros and cons of this SHM system, simultaneously make conclusions and recommendations for this system. Specially concentrated on the possibility of implementing the acoustic emission method (AE) into this SHM system, which is an alternative to the further development of the system, enabling a full and cost-effective solution for the bridge management, which is of utmost importance for the service life and safe operation of the bridge.

Keywords: SHM system, design and installation, Vam Cong bridge, construction stage, acoustic emission method (AE)

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Authors: Weixing Tan

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Production of nutraceuticals from microalgae—a virtually untapped natural phyto-based source of which there are 200,000 to 1,000,000 species—offers a sustainable and healthy alternative to conventionally sourced nutraceuticals for the market. Microalgae can be grown organically using only natural sunlight, water and nutrients at an extremely fast rate, e.g. 10-100 times more efficiently than crops or trees. However, the commercial success of microalgae products at scale remains limited largely due to the lack of economically viable technologies. There are two major microalgae production systems or technologies currently available: 1) the open system as represented by open pond technology and 2) the closed system such as photobioreactors (PBR). Each carries its own unique features and challenges. Although an open system requires a lower initial capital investment relative to a PBR, it conveys many unavoidable drawbacks; for example, much lower productivity, difficulty in contamination control/cleaning, inconsistent product quality, inconvenience in automation, restriction in location selection, and unsuitability for cold areas – all directly linked to the system openness and flat underground design. On the other hand, a PBR system has characteristics almost entirely opposite to the open system, such as higher initial capital investment, better productivity, better contamination and environmental control, wider suitability in different climates, ease in automation, higher and consistent product quality, higher energy demand (particularly if using artificial lights), and variable operational expenses if not automated. Although closed systems like PBRs are not highly competitive yet in current nutraceutical supply market, technological advances can be made, in particular for the PBR technology, to narrow the gap significantly. One example is a readily scalable P2P Microalgae PBR Technology at Grande Prairie Regional College, Canada, developed over 11 years considering return on investment (ROI) for key production processes. The P2P PBR system is approaching economic viability at a pre-commercial stage due to five ROI-integrated major components. They include: (1) optimum use of free sunlight through attenuation (patented); (2) simple, economical, and chemical-free harvesting (patent ready to file); (3) optimum pH- and nutrient-balanced culture medium (published), (4) reliable water and nutrient recycling system (trade secret); and (5) low-cost automated system design (trade secret). These innovations have allowed P2P Microalgae Technology to increase daily yield to 106 g/m2/day of Chlorella vulgaris, which contains 50% proteins and 2-3% omega-3. Based on the current market prices and scale-up factors, this P2P PBR system presents as a promising microalgae technology for market competitive nutraceutical supply.

Keywords: microalgae technology, nutraceuticals, open pond, photobioreactor PBR, return on investment ROI, technological advances

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Authors: Naser Ahmadi Sani, Karim Solaimani, Lida Razaghnia, Jalal Zandi

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In recent decades, rapid and incorrect changes in land-use have been associated with consequences such as natural resources degradation and environmental pollution. Detecting changes in land-use is one of the tools for natural resource management and assessment of changes in ecosystems. The target of this research is studying the land-use changes in Haraz basin with an area of 677000 hectares in a 15 years period (1996 to 2011) using LANDSAT data. Therefore, the quality of the images was first evaluated. Various enhancement methods for creating synthetic bonds were used in the analysis. Separate training sites were selected for each image. Then the images of each period were classified in 9 classes using supervised classification method and the maximum likelihood algorithm. Finally, the changes were extracted in GIS environment. The results showed that these changes are an alarm for the HARAZ basin status in future. The reason is that 27% of the area has been changed, which is related to changing the range lands to bare land and dry farming and also changing the dense forest to sparse forest, horticulture, farming land and residential area.

Keywords: Haraz basin, change detection, land-use, satellite data

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Authors: Getaneh Berie Tarekegn, Li-Chia Tai

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With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence, low-power built-in sensors on Internet of Things devices, and communication technologies, location-aware services have become increasingly popular and have permeated every aspect of people’s lives. Global navigation satellite systems (GNSSs) are the default method of providing continuous positioning services for ground and aerial vehicles, as well as consumer devices (smartphones, watches, notepads, etc.). However, the environment affects satellite positioning systems, particularly indoors, in dense urban and suburban cities enclosed by skyscrapers, or when deep shadows obscure satellite signals. This is because (1) indoor environments are more complicated due to the presence of many objects surrounding them; (2) reflection within the building is highly dependent on the surrounding environment, including the positions of objects and human activity; and (3) satellite signals cannot be reached in an indoor environment, and GNSS doesn't have enough power to penetrate building walls. GPS is also highly power-hungry, which poses a severe challenge for battery-powered IoT devices. Due to these challenges, IoT applications are limited. Consequently, precise, seamless, and ubiquitous Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) systems are crucial for many artificial intelligence Internet of Things (AI-IoT) applications in the era of smart cities. Their applications include traffic monitoring, emergency alarms, environmental monitoring, location-based advertising, intelligent transportation, and smart health care. This paper proposes a generative AI-based positioning scheme for large-scale wireless settings using fingerprinting techniques. In this article, we presented a semi-supervised deep convolutional generative adversarial network (S-DCGAN)-based radio map construction method for real-time device localization. We also employed a reliable signal fingerprint feature extraction method with t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE), which extracts dominant features while eliminating noise from hybrid WLAN and long-term evolution (LTE) fingerprints. The proposed scheme reduced the workload of site surveying required to build the fingerprint database by up to 78.5% and significantly improved positioning accuracy. The results show that the average positioning error of GAILoc is less than 0.39 m, and more than 90% of the errors are less than 0.82 m. According to numerical results, SRCLoc improves positioning performance and reduces radio map construction costs significantly compared to traditional methods.

Keywords: location-aware services, feature extraction technique, generative adversarial network, long short-term memory, support vector machine

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Authors: Aryana Collins Jackson, Elisabetta Bevacqua, Pierre De Loor, Ronan Querrec

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This paper presents a taxonomy of non-technical skills, communicative intentions, and behavior for an individual acting as a medical coordinator. In medical emergency situations, a leader among the group is imperative to both patient health and team emotional and mental health. Situational Leadership is used to make clear and easy-to-follow guidelines for behavior depending on circumstantial factors. Low-level leadership behaviors belonging to two different styles, directive and supporting, are identified from literature and are included in the proposed taxonomy. The high-level information in the taxonomy consists of the necessary non-technical skills belonging to a medical coordinator: situation awareness, decision making, task management, and teamwork. Finally, communicative intentions, dimensions, and functions are included. Thus this work brings high-level and low-level information - medical non-technical skills, communication capabilities, and leadership behavior - into a single versatile taxonomy of behavior.

Keywords: human behavior, leadership styles, medical, taxonomy

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Authors: Panagiotis Roupas, Yota Passia

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This paper aims at establishing an index of design mechanisms - immanent in spatial objects - based on the affective capacity of their material formations. While spatial objects (design objects, buildings, urban configurations, etc.) are regarded as systems composed of interacting parts, within the premises of assemblage theory, their ability to affect and to be affected has not yet been mapped or sufficiently explored. This ability lies in excess, a latent potentiality they contain, not transcendental but immanent in their pre-subjective aesthetic power. As spatial structures are theorized as assemblages - composed of heterogeneous elements that enter into relations with one another - and since all assemblages are parts of larger assemblages, their components' ability to engage is contingent. We thus seek to unfold the mechanisms inherent in spatial objects that allow to the constituent parts of design assemblages to perpetually enter into new assemblages. To map architectural assemblage's affective ability, spatial objects are analyzed in two axes. The first axis focuses on the relations that the assemblage's material and expressive components develop in order to enter the assemblages. Material components refer to those material elements that an assemblage requires in order to exist, while expressive components includes non-linguistic (sense impressions) as well as linguistic (beliefs). The second axis records the processes known as a-signifying signs or a-signs, which are the triggering mechanisms able to territorialize or deterritorialize, stabilize or destabilize the assemblage and thus allow it to assemble anew. As a-signs cannot be isolated from matter, we point to their resulting effects, which without entering the linguistic level they are expressed in terms of intensity fields: modulations, movements, speeds, rhythms, spasms, etc. They belong to a molecular level where they operate in the pre-subjective world of perceptions, effects, drives, and emotions. A-signs have been introduced as intensities that transform the object beyond meaning, beyond fixed or known cognitive procedures. To that end, from an archive of more than 100 spatial objects by contemporary architects and designers, we have created an effective mechanisms index is created, where each a-sign is now connected with the list of effects it triggers and which thoroughly defines it. And vice versa, the same effect can be triggered by different a-signs, allowing the design object to lie in a perpetual state of becoming. To define spatial objects, A-signs are categorized in terms of their aesthetic power to affect and to be affected on the basis of the general categories of form, structure and surface. Thus, different part's degree of contingency are evaluated and measured and finally, we introduce as material information that is immanent in the spatial object while at the same time they confer no meaning; they only convey some information without semantic content. Through this index, we are able to analyze and direct the final form of the spatial object while at the same time establishing the mechanism to measure its continuous transformation.

Keywords: affective mechanisms index, architectural assemblages, a-signifying signs, cartography, virtual

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Authors: Guowei Hou, Lixin Yu, Wei Zhuang, Hui Qin, Xue Yang

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Formal verification is proposed to ensure the correctness of the design and make functional verification more efficient. As cache plays a vital role in the design of System on Chip (SoC), and cache with Memory Management Unit (MMU) and cache memory unit makes the state space too large for simulation to verify, then a formal verification is presented for such system design. In the paper, a formal model checking verification flow is suggested and a new cache memory model which is called “exhaustive search model” is proposed. Instead of using large size ram to denote the whole cache memory, exhaustive search model employs just two cache blocks. For cache system contains data cache (Dcache) and instruction cache (Icache), Dcache memory model and Icache memory model are established separately using the same mechanism. At last, the novel model is employed to the verification of a cache which is module of a custom-built SoC system that has been applied in practical, and the result shows that the cache system is verified correctly using the exhaustive search model, and it makes the verification much more manageable and flexible.

Keywords: cache system, formal verification, novel model, system on chip (SoC)

Procedia PDF Downloads 480

Authors: A. H. Shaikat, M. B. Hossain, S. K. M. A. Islam, M. M. Hassan, S. A. Khan, A. K. M. Saifuddin, M. N. Islam, M. A. Hoque

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A total of eighteen (18) sex reversed chickens with unusual phenotypic characteristics of male birds were identified over 2000 Hyline layer chickens at Motaher Poultry Farm, Ramu, Cox’s Bazar. Chickens were subdivided into two groups (case = 18, control = 20) based on the appearance of sex-reversed secondary sexual characteristics. Phenotypic traits of studied chickens were measured with farm management details. Hormone assay using ELISA, autopsy followed by gross examination of viscera was performed. The study found higher body weight (gm) (1579.3; 95% CI: 1561.7-1596.8), comb length (cm) (12.2; 11.5-12.8), comb width (cm) (7.9; 7.7-8.2), wattle length (cm) (4.9; 4.8-5.1) distinct spur, and shortened pubic bones distance, suggesting decrease oviposition in sex-reversed chickens. Testosterone concentration (ng/ml) (8.5; 6.4-10.6) was significantly higher (p<0.001) along with decrease estrogen (pg/ml) (5.1; 4.9-5.5) and progesterone concentration (pg/ml) (310.9; 289.4-332.5) in sex-reversed chickens. Mass abdominal fat deposition with atrophied ovary was found upon exploration of viscera.

Keywords: ovary, phenotypic traits, sex hormone, sex reversal

Procedia PDF Downloads 427

Authors: Heny Hartono, Cecilia Titiek Murniati

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The pandemic has given teachers and students no other choice but having full online learning. In such an emergency situation as the time of the covid-19 pandemic, the application of LMS (Learner Management System) in higher education is the most reasonable solution for students and teachers. In fact, the online learning requires all elements of a higher education systems, including the human resources, infrastructure, and supporting systems such as the application, server, and stable internet connection. The readiness of the higher education institution in preparing the online system may secure those who are involved in the online learning process. It may also result in students’ self-efficacy in online learning. This research aimed to investigate how students perceive their self-efficacy in online English learning, especially in speaking classes which is considered as a productive language skill. This research collects qualitative data with narrative inquiry involving 25 students of speaking classes as the respondents. The results of this study show that students perceive their self-efficacy in speaking online classes as not very high.

Keywords: self-efficacy, online learning, speaking class, college students, e-learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 87

Authors: Siri-Orn Champatong

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This research aimed to study the relationship between attitudes toward marketing mix and customers’ repurchase intention of Thai dessert in case of Ekachai Salee Suphan’s shop in Thailand. This study employed by survey and quantitative research and the questionnaire was used to collect the data from 385 sampled of customers who visited at Ekachai Salee Suphan's shop in Thailand. The descriptive statistics and Pearson’s correlation coefficient analysis was used to analyze data. The research found that the customers’ perception on the overall and individual aspects of attitudes toward marketing mix include products, prices, promotions, and physical characteristics were at very good level, but distribution channels, staffs, and management process were at good level. Furthermore, the hypothesis tests found that attitudes toward overall marketing mix had relationship with individual aspects of intention that were the repurchase intention, willingness to recommend others to repurchase, and possibility to repurchase with statistical significance level of 0.01.

Keywords: intention, repurchase, service marketing mix, Thai dessert

Procedia PDF Downloads 244

Authors: Sandra So, Mohd Roslan Ismail, Safurah Jaafar

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With the rapid proliferation of data in healthcare has provided an opportune platform creation of Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI has brought a paradigm shift for healthcare professionals, promising improvement in delivery and quality. This study aims to determine the perception of healthcare personnel on perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and subjective norm toward attitude for artificial intelligence acceptance. A cross-sectional single institutional study of employees’ perception of adopting AI in the hospital was conducted. The survey was conducted using a questionnaire adapted from Technology Acceptance Model and a four-point Likert scale was used. There were 96 or 75.5% of the total population responded. This study has shown the significant relationship and the importance of ease of use, perceived usefulness, and subjective norm to the acceptance of AI. In the study results, it concluded that the determining factor to the strong acceptance of AI in their practices is mostly those respondents with the most interaction with the patients and clinical management.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, machine learning, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, subjective norm

Procedia PDF Downloads 209

Authors: Pei-Chun Lee, Sheng-Shih Wang, Pei-Hsuan Ku

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Many existing amusement parks have been operated with assistance of a variety of information and communications technologies to design friendly and efficient service systems for tourists. However, these systems leave various levels of decisions to tourists to make by themselves. This incurs pressure on tourists and thereby bringing negative experience in their tour. This paper proposes a smart amusement park system to offer each tourist the GPS-based customized plan without tourists making decisions by themselves. The proposed system consists of the mobile app subsystem, the central subsystem, and the detecting/counting subsystem. The mobile app subsystem interacts with the central subsystem. The central subsystem performs the necessary computing and database management of the proposed system. The detecting/counting subsystem aims to detect and compute the number of visitors to an attraction. Experimental results show that the proposed system can not only work well, but also provide an innovative business operating model for owners of amusement parks.

Keywords: amusement park, location-based service, LBS, mobile app, tourist service

Procedia PDF Downloads 498

Authors: Abdolsalam Ghaderi

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In this paper, the single-depot capacitated location-routing problem under uncertainty is presented. The problem aims to find the optimal location of a single depot and the routing of vehicles to serve the customers when the parameters may change under different circumstances. This problem has many applications, especially in the area of supply chain management and distribution systems. To get closer to real-world situations, travel time of vehicles, the fixed cost of vehicles usage and customers’ demand are considered as a source of uncertainty. A combined approach including robust optimization and stochastic programming was presented to deal with the uncertainty in the problem at hand. For this purpose, a mixed integer programming model is developed and a heuristic algorithm based on Variable Neighborhood Search(VNS) is presented to solve the model. Finally, the computational results are presented and future research directions are discussed.

Keywords: location-routing problem, robust optimization, stochastic programming, variable neighborhood search

Procedia PDF Downloads 257

Authors: Jawairia Umar, Tanveer Hussain, Zulfiqar Ali, Muhammad Maqsood

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Different knitted structures and knitted parameters play a vital role in the stretch and recovery management of compression sportswear in addition to the materials use to generate this stretch and recovery behavior of the fabric. The present work was planned to predict the different performance indicators of a compression sportswear fabric with some ground parameters i.e. base yarn stitch length (polyester as base yarn and spandex as plating yarn involve to make a compression fabric) and linear density of the spandex which is a key material of any sportswear fabric. The prediction models were generated by response surface method for performance indicators such as stretch & recovery percentage, compression generated by the garment on body, total elongation on application of high power force and load generated on certain percentage extension in fabric. Certain physical properties of the fabric were also modeled using these two parameters.

Keywords: Compression, sportswear, stretch and recovery, statistical model, kikuhime

Procedia PDF Downloads 364

Authors: Dawood Aghamohammadi, Mahmoud Eidi, Alireza Pishgahi, Azam Esmaeilnejad

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Adenosine has an analgesic and anti-inflammatory role and its injections are used for peri-operative pain management. We want to study efficacy of intrathecal injection of adenosine for post operative radicular pain after lumbar discectomy. 40 patients with unilevel lumbar discectomy who had radicular lower limb pain were treated by 1000 micrograms of intrathecal injection of adenosine. Pain severity, pain killer consumption per day and sleep quality were assessed during a 3 months follow up period. Radicular pain severity was significantly reduced in 3 month follow-up period in comparison to the baseline (F=19760, DF=2.53, p-value<0.001). Further painkiller medication consumption rate in average during 3 month follow-up period after injection was significantly lower in comparison to baseline (F= 19.244, df= 1.98, p-value<0.001). This study suggests that intrathecal injection of adenosine is a safe method in order to reduce postoperative pain after lumbar discectomy.

Keywords: adenosine, intrathecal injection, discectomy, neuropathic pain

Procedia PDF Downloads 237

Authors: Ryeong-Hyeon Kim, Ah-Reum Lee, Seong-Soo Roh, Gyo-Nam Kim

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Appropriate regulation of melanogenesis is important for the management of skin pigmentation-related disease. Although several beneficial effects of fisetin (3,7,3’,4’-tetrahydroxyflavone) have been reported, the precise role and molecular mechanisms of fisetin in skin health both remain unclear. Here, we induced melanogenesis of HRM2 mice (n=7/group) by UVB irradiation for 20 days. UVB-induced HRM2 mice showed that the significantly increased melanin accumulation, however, fisetin treatment (25mg and 50mg/kg of body weight) dose-dependently and significantly inhibits UVB-induced melanogenesis. In line with this, fisetin treatment effectively down-regulated m RNA and expression levels of tyrosinase, TRP2, and MITF. In addition, our inhibitor assay revealed the down-regulated melanogenic marker genes by fisetin treatment were mediated with connective tissue growth factor (CCN2)/TGF-β signaling pathway. Useful information is provided for development of functional foods using fisetin for skin health.

Keywords: connective tissue growth factor, fisetin, melanogenesis, skin, TGF-beta

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Authors: J. Nisar, S. Halim

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The additional relationships i.e., start-to-start, finish-to-finish, and start-to-finish, between activity in Precedence Diagram Method (PDM) provides a more flexible schedule than traditional Critical Path Method (CPM). But, changing the duration of critical activities in the PDM network will have an anomalous effect on the critical path and the project completion date. In this study, we classified the critical activities in two groups i.e., 1. activity on single critical path and 2. activity on multi-critical paths, and six classes i.e., normal, reverse, neutral, perverse, decrease-reverse and increase-normal, based on their effects on project duration in PDM. Furthermore, we determined the maximum float of time by which the duration each type of critical activities can be changed without effecting the project duration. This study would help the project manager to clearly understand the behavior of each critical activity on critical path, and he/she would be able to change the project duration by shortening or lengthening activities based on project budget and project deadline.

Keywords: construction management, critical path method, project scheduling network, precedence diagram method

Procedia PDF Downloads 205

Authors: Antonio J. Melendez-Martinez

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Beyond their role as natural colorants, some carotenoids are provitamins A and may be involved in health-promoting biological actions and contribute to reducing the risk of developing non-communicable diseases, including several types of cancer, cardiovascular disease, eye conditions, skin disorders or metabolic disorders. Given the versatility of carotenoids, the COST-funded European network to advance carotenoid research and applications in agro-food and health (EUROCAROTEN) is aimed at promoting health through the diet and increasing well-being by means. Stakeholders from 38 countries participate in this network, and one of its main objectives is to promote research on little-studied carotenoids. In this contribution, recent advances of our research group and collaborators in the study of two such understudied carotenoids, namely phytoene and phytofluene, the colorless carotenoids, are outlined. The study of these carotenoids is important as they have been largely neglected despite they are present in our diets, fluids, and tissues, and evidence is accumulating that they may be involved in health-promoting actions. More specifically, studies on their levels in diverse tomato and orange varieties were carried out as well as on their potential bioavailability from different dietary sources. Furthermore, the potential effect of these carotenoids on an animal model subjected to oxidative stress was evaluated. The tomatoes were grown in research greenhouses, and some of them were subjected to regulated deficit irrigation, a sustainable agronomic practice. The citrus samples were obtained from an experimental field. The levels of carotenoids were assessed using HPLC according to routine methodologies followed in our lab. Regarding the potential bioavailability (bioaccessibility) studies, different products containing colorless carotenoids, like fruits, juices, were subjected to simulated in vitro digestions, and their incorporation into mixed micelles was assessed. The effect of the carotenoids on oxidative stress was evaluated on the Caenorhabditis elegans model. For that purpose, the worms were subjected to oxidative stress by means of a hydrogen peroxide challenge. In relation to the presence of colorless carotenoids in tomatoes and orange varieties, it was observed that they are widespread in such products and that there are mutants with very high quantities of them, for instance, the Cara Cara or Pinalate mutant oranges. The studies on their bioaccessibility revealed that, in general, phytoene and phytofluene are more bioaccessible than other common dietary carotenoids, probably due to their distinctive chemical structure. About the in vivo antioxidant capacity of phytoene and phytofluene, it was observed that they both exerted antioxidant effects at certain doses. In conclusion, evidence on the importance of phytoene and phytofluene as dietary easily bioavailable and antioxidant carotenoids has been obtained in recent studies from our group, which can be important shortly to innovate in health-promotion through the development of functional foods and related products.

Keywords: carotenoids, health, functional foods, nutrition, phytoene, phytofluene

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Authors: Nael Y. Zabel, Maged E. Georgy, Moheeb E. Ibrahim

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A knowledge-based expert system with the acronym RASPE is developed as an application tool to help decision makers in construction companies make informed decisions about managing risks in pipeline construction projects. Choosing to use expert systems from all available artificial intelligence techniques is due to the fact that an expert system is more suited to representing a domain’s knowledge and the reasoning behind domain-specific decisions. The knowledge-based expert system can capture the knowledge in the form of conditional rules which represent various project scenarios and potential risk mitigation/response actions. The built knowledge in RASPE is utilized through the underlying inference engine that allows the firing of rules relevant to a project scenario into consideration. This paper provides an overview of the knowledge acquisition process and goes about describing the knowledge structure which is divided up into four major modules. The paper shows one module in full detail for illustration purposes and concludes with insightful remarks.

Keywords: expert system, knowledge management, pipeline projects, risk mismanagement

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Authors: Anselm Ego Onyimonyi, Maduako Johnpaul O.

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The study was designed to investigate into the socio-ecological impact of migration of Fulani herders in Anambra state of Nigeria, through a climate justice lens. Nigeria is one of the world’s most densely populated countries with a population of over 284 million people, half of which are considered to be in abject poverty. There is no doubt that livestock production provides sustainable contributions to food security and poverty reduction to Nigeria economy, but not without some environmental implications like any other economic activities. Nigeria is recognized as being vulnerable to climate change. Climate change and global warming if left unchecked will cause adverse effects on livelihoods in Nigeria, such as livestock production, crop production, fisheries, forestry and post-harvest activities, because the rainfall regimes and patterns will be altered, floods which devastate farmlands would occur, increase in temperature and humidity which increases pest and disease would occur and other natural disasters like desertification, drought, floods, ocean and storm surges, which not only damage Nigerians’ livelihood but also cause harm to life and property, would occur. This and other climatic issue as it affects Fulani herdsmen was what this study investigated. In carrying out this research, a survey research design was adopted. A simple sampling technique was used. One local government area (LGA) was selected purposively from each of the four agricultural zone in the state based on its predominance of Fulani herders. For appropriate sampling, 25 respondents from each of the four Agricultural zones in the state were randomly selected making up the 100 respondent being sampled. Primary data were generated by using a set of structured 5-likert scale questionnaire. Data generated were analyzed using SPSS and the result presented using descriptive statistics. From the data analyzed, the study indentified; Unpredicted rainfall (mean = 3.56), Forest fire (mean = 4.63), Drying Water Source (mean = 3.99), Dwindling Grazing (mean 4.43), Desertification (mean = 4.44), Fertile land scarcity (mean = 3.42) as major factor predisposing Fulani herders to migrate southward while rejecting Natural inclination to migrate (mean = 2.38) and migration to cause trouble as a factor. On the reason why Fulani herders are trying to establish a permanent camp in Anambra state; Moderate temperature (mean= 3.60), Avoiding overgrazing (4.42), Search for fodder and water (mean = 4.81) and (mean = 4.70) respectively, Need for market (4.28), Favorable environment (mean = 3.99) and Access to fertile land (3.96) were identified. It was concluded that changing climatic variables necessitated the migration of herders from Northern Nigeria to areas in the South were the variables are most favorable to the herders and their animals.

Keywords: socio-ecological, migration, fulani, climate, justice, lens

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Authors: Simone Cinquemani, Lorenzo Mantovani, Aleksander Dabek

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New technologies in agriculture are opening new challenges and new opportunities. Among these, certainly, robotics, vision, and artificial intelligence are the ones that will make a significant leap, compared to traditional agricultural techniques, possible. In particular, the indoor farming sector will be the one that will benefit the most from these solutions. Vertical farming is a new field of research where mechanical engineering can bring knowledge and know-how to transform a highly labor-based business into a fully autonomous system. The aim of the research is to develop a multi-purpose, modular, and perfectly integrated platform for crop production in indoor vertical farming. Activities will be based both on hardware development such as automatic tools to perform different activities on soil and plants, as well as research to introduce an extensive use of monitoring techniques based on machine learning algorithms. This paper presents the preliminary results of a research project of a vertical farm living lab designed to (i) develop and test vertical farming cultivation practices, (ii) introduce a very high degree of mechanization and automation that makes all processes replicable, fully measurable, standardized and automated, (iii) develop a coordinated control and management environment for autonomous multiplatform or tele-operated robots in environments with the aim of carrying out complex tasks in the presence of environmental and cultivation constraints, (iv) integrate AI-based algorithms as decision support system to improve quality production. The coordinated management of multiplatform systems still presents innumerable challenges that require a strongly multidisciplinary approach right from the design, development, and implementation phases. The methodology is based on (i) the development of models capable of describing the dynamics of the various platforms and their interactions, (ii) the integrated design of mechatronic systems able to respond to the needs of the context and to exploit the strength characteristics highlighted by the models, (iii) implementation and experimental tests performed to test the real effectiveness of the systems created, evaluate any weaknesses so as to proceed with a targeted development. To these aims, a fully automated laboratory for growing plants in vertical farming has been developed and tested. The living lab makes extensive use of sensors to determine the overall state of the structure, crops, and systems used. The possibility of having specific measurements for each element involved in the cultivation process makes it possible to evaluate the effects of each variable of interest and allows for the creation of a robust model of the system as a whole. The automation of the laboratory is completed with the use of robots to carry out all the necessary operations, from sowing to handling to harvesting. These systems work synergistically thanks to the knowledge of detailed models developed based on the information collected, which allows for deepening the knowledge of these types of crops and guarantees the possibility of tracing every action performed on each single plant. To this end, artificial intelligence algorithms have been developed to allow synergistic operation of all systems.

Keywords: automation, vertical farming, robot, artificial intelligence, vision, control

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Authors: U.K. Sarkar, G. Karnatak, P. Mishal, Lianthuamluaia, S. Kumari, S.K. Das, B.K. Das

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Inland open water fisheries provide food, income, livelihood and nutritional security to millions of fishers across the globe. However, the open water ecosystem and fisheries are threatened due to climate change and anthropogenic pressures, which are more visible in the recent six decades, making the resources vulnerable. Understanding the interaction between meteorological parameters and inland fisheries is imperative to develop mitigation and adaptation strategies. As per IPCC 5th assessment report, the earth is warming at a faster rate in recent decades. Global mean surface temperature (GMST) for the decade 2006–2015 (0.87°C) was 6 times higher than the average over the 1850–1900 period. The direct and indirect impacts of climatic parameters on the ecology of fisheries ecosystem have a great bearing on fisheries due to alterations in fish physiology. The impact of meteorological factors on ecosystem health and fish food organisms brings about changes in fish diversity, assemblage, reproduction and natural recruitment. India’s average temperature has risen by around 0.7°C during 1901–2018. The studies show that the mean air temperature in the Ganga basin has increased in the range of 0.20 - 0.47 °C and annual rainfall decreased in the range of 257-580 mm during the last three decades. The studies clearly indicate visible impacts of climatic and environmental factors on inland open water fisheries. Besides, a significant reduction in-depth and area (37.20–57.68% reduction), diversity of natural indigenous fish fauna (ranging from 22.85 to 54%) in wetlands and progression of trophic state from mesotrophic to eutrophic were recorded. In this communication, different applications of biometeorology in inland fisheries management with special reference to the assessment of ecosystem and species vulnerability to climatic variability and change have been discussed. Further, the paper discusses the impact of climate anomaly and extreme climatic events on inland fisheries and emphasizes novel modeling approaches for understanding the impact of climatic and environmental factors on reproductive phenology for identification of climate-sensitive/resilient fish species for the adoption of climate-smart fisheries in the future. Adaptation and mitigation strategies to enhance fish production and the role of culture-based fisheries and enclosure culture in converting sequestered carbon into blue carbon have also been discussed. In general, the type and direction of influence of meteorological parameters on fish biology in open water fisheries ecosystems are not adequately understood. The optimum range of meteorological parameters for sustaining inland open water fisheries is yet to be established. Therefore, the application of biometeorology in inland fisheries offers ample scope for understanding the dynamics in changing climate, which would help to develop a database on such least, addressed research frontier area. This would further help to project fisheries scenarios in changing climate regimes and develop adaptation and mitigation strategies to cope up with adverse meteorological factors to sustain fisheries and to conserve aquatic ecosystem and biodiversity.

Keywords: biometeorology, inland fisheries, aquatic ecosystem, modeling, India

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Authors: Matthias Nnadi

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Using samples of 250 large listed firms by market capitalization in China and Hong Kong, we conducted empirical test to determine the impact of regulatory environment on reporting quality following IFRS convergence using three financial reporting measures; earning management, timely loss recognition and value relevance. Our results indicate that accounting data are more value relevant for Hong Kong listed firms than the Chinese A-share firms. The empirical results for timely loss recognition further reveal that there is a larger coefficient estimate on bad news earnings, which suggests that Chines A-share firms are more likely to report losses in a timely manner. The results support the evidence that substantial convergence of IFRS can improve financial reporting quality in a regulated environment such as China. This further supports the expectation that IFRS are relevant to China and has positive effect on its accounting practice and quality.

Keywords: reporting, quality, earning, loss, relevance, financial, China, Hong Kong

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Authors: Jong Hoon Kim, Hyun-Soo Lee, Moonseo Park, Min Jeong, Inbeom Lee

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Pre-construction is essential in achieving the success of a construction project. Due to the early involvement of project participants in the construction phase, project managers are able to plan ahead and solve issues well in advance leading to the success of the project and the satisfaction of the client. This research utilizes quantitative data derived from construction management projects in order to identify the relationship between pre-construction, construction schedule, and client satisfaction. A total of 65 construction projects and 93 clients were investigated for this research in an attempt to identify (a) the relationship between pre-construction and schedule reduction, and (b) pre-construction and client loyalty. Based on the quantitative analysis, this research was able to establish a negative correlation based on 65 construction projects between pre-construction and project schedule existed. This finding represents that the more pre-construction is performed for a certain project, the overall construction schedule decreased. Then, to determine the relationship between pre-construction and client satisfaction, Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 93 clients from the 65 projects was utilized. Pre-construction and NPS was further analyzed and a positive correlation was found between the two. This infers that clients tend to be more satisfied with projects with higher ratio of pre-construction than those projects with less pre-construction.

Keywords: client loyalty, NPS, pre-construction, schedule reduction

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Authors: Justin Byrne, Jose Ramon Cobo

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The growing importance of cross- or intercultural competencies (used here interchangeably) for the business and management professionals is now a commonplace in both academic and professional literature. This reflects two parallel developments. On the one hand, it is a consequence of the increased attention paid to a whole range of 'soft skills', now seen as fundamental in both individuals' and corporate success. On the other hand, and more specifically, the increasing demand for interculturally competent professionals is a corollary of ongoing processes of globalization, which multiply and intensify encounters between individuals and companies from different cultural backgrounds. Business schools have, for some decades, responded to the needs of the job market and their own students by providing students with training in intercultural skills, as they are encouraged to do so by the major accreditation agencies on both sides of the Atlantic. Adapting Early and Ang's (2003) formulation of Cultural Intelligence (CQ), this paper aims to help fill the lagunae in the current literature on intercultural training in three main ways. First, it offers an in-depth analysis of the CQ of a little studied group: contemporary Millenial and 'Generation Z' Business School students. The level of analysis distinguishes between the four different dimensions of CQ, cognition, metacognition, motivation and behaviour, and thereby provides a detailed picture of the strengths and weaknesses in CQ of the group as a whole, as well as of different sub-groups and profiles of students. Secondly, by crossing these individual-level findings with respondents' socio-cultural and educational data, this paper also proposes and tests hypotheses regarding the relative impact and importance of four possible antecedents of intercultural skills identified in the literature: prior international experience; intercultural training, foreign language proficiency, and experience of cultural diversity in habitual country of residence. Third, we use this analysis to suggest data-based intercultural training priorities for today's management students. These conclusions are based on the statistical analysis of individual responses of some 300 Bachelor or Masters students in a major European Business School provided to two on-line surveys: Ang, Van Dyne, et al's (2007) standard 20-question self-reporting CQ Scale, and an original questionnaire designed by the authors to collate information on respondent's socio-demographic and educational profile relevant to our four hypotheses and explanatory variables. The data from both instruments was crossed in both descriptive statistical analysis and regression analysis. This research shows that there is no statistically significant and positive relationship between the four antecedents analyzed and overall CQ level. The exception in this respect is the statistically significant correlation between international experience, and the cognitive dimension of CQ. In contrast, the results show that the combination of international experience and foreign language skills acting together, does have a strong overall impact on CQ levels. These results suggest that selecting and/or training students with strong foreign language skills and providing them with international experience (through multinational programmes, academic exchanges or international internships) constitutes one effective way of training culturally intelligent managers of tomorrow.

Keywords: business school, cultural intelligence, millennial, training

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Authors: Sarah Pfoser, Lisa-Maria Putz, Thomas Berger

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In the EU, the transport sector accounts for roughly one fourth of the total greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, the transport sector is one of the main contributors of greenhouse gas emissions. Climate protection targets aim to reduce the negative effects of greenhouse gas emissions (e.g. climate change, global warming) worldwide. Achieving a modal shift to foster environmentally friendly modes of transport such as rail and inland waterways is an important strategy to fulfill the climate protection targets. The present paper goes beyond these conventional transport modes and reflects upon currently emerging high-performance transport modes that yield the potential of complementing future transport systems in an efficient way. It will be defined which properties describe high-performance transport modes, which types of technology are included and what is their potential to contribute to a sustainable future transport network. The first step of this paper is to compile state-of-the-art information about high-performance transport modes to find out which technologies are currently emerging. A multidimensional impact analysis will be conducted afterwards to evaluate which of the technologies is most promising. This analysis will be performed from a spatial, social, economic and environmental perspective. Frequently used instruments such as cost-benefit analysis and SWOT analysis will be applied for the multidimensional assessment. The estimations for the analysis will be derived based on desktop research and discussions in an interdisciplinary team of researchers. For the purpose of this work, high-performance transport modes are characterized as transport modes with very fast and very high throughput connections that could act as efficient extension to the existing transport network. The recently proposed hyperloop system represents a potential high-performance transport mode which might be an innovative supplement for the current transport networks. The idea of hyperloops is that persons and freight are shipped in a tube at more than airline speed. Another innovative technology consists in drones for freight transport. Amazon already tests drones for their parcel shipments, they aim for delivery times of 30 minutes. Drones can, therefore, be considered as high-performance transport modes as well. The Trans-European Transport Networks program (TEN-T) addresses the expansion of transport grids in Europe and also includes high speed rail connections to better connect important European cities. These services should increase competitiveness of rail and are intended to replace aviation, which is known to be a polluting transport mode. In this sense, the integration of high-performance transport modes as described above facilitates the objectives of the TEN-T program. The results of the multidimensional impact analysis will reveal potential future effects of the integration of high-performance modes into transport networks. Building on that, a recommendation on the following (research) steps can be given which are necessary to ensure the most efficient implementation and integration processes.

Keywords: drones, future transport networks, high performance transport modes, hyperloops, impact analysis

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Authors: Ayedh Alqahtani, Andrew Whyte

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Life Cycle Cost (LCC) is one of the goals and key pillars of the construction management science because it comprises many of the functions and processes necessary, which assist organisations and agencies to achieve their goals. It has therefore become important to design and control assets during their whole life cycle, from the design and planning phase through to disposal phase. LCCA is aimed to improve the decision making system in the ownership of assets by taking into account all the cost elements including to the asset throughout its life. Current application of LCC approach is impractical during misunderstanding of the advantages of LCC. This main objective of this research is to show a different relationship between capital cost and long-term running costs. One hundred and thirty eight actual building projects in United Kingdom (UK) were used in order to achieve and measure the above-mentioned objective of the study. The result shown that LCC is one of the most significant tools should be considered on the decision making process.

Keywords: building projects, capital cost, life cycle cost, maintenance costs, operation costs

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Authors: Kamran Rashid, Tashfeen M. Azhar, Asad-ur-Rahman Wahla

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Current research aims to understand the role of successful buyer-supplier relationship in achieving supply chain competitiveness in a developing country perspective. Five hypotheses are developed to test structural model. Survey data is collected from the manufacturing sector of Pakistan. Analysis is conducted using Partial Least Squares (PLS) Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) through Smart PLS version 2.0 M3. Results demonstrate positive impact of effective supplier selection, buyer-supplier engagement, and information sharing capability on success of buyer supplier relationship. This successful buyer supplier relationship drives the supply chain firm financial and market performance. Additional analyses with large sample sizes are required in other developing countries to cross validate the results. Current study provides empirical evidence of the role of successful buyer supplier relationship in achieving supply chain competitiveness.

Keywords: supply chain management, successful buyer-supplier relationship, supply chain competitiveness, developing country

Procedia PDF Downloads 643