Search results for: reciprocal social behavior

Authors: D. Y. Fong, C. Y. Kuo, Y. T. Chiang, W. C. Lin

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Objectives: Qigong is an ancient Chinese practice in pursuit of a healthier body and a more peaceful mindset. It emphasizes on the restoration of vital energy (Qi) in body, mind, and spirit. The practice is the combination of gentle movements and mild breathing which help the doers reach the condition of tranquility. On account of the features of Qigong, first, we use cross-sectional methodology to compare the differences among the varied levels of Qigong practitioners on cognitive function with event-related potential (ERP) and electroencephalography (EEG). Second, we use the longitudinal methodology to explore the effects on the Qigong trainees for pretest and posttest on ERP and EEG. Current study adopts Attentional Network Test (ANT) task to examine the participants’ cognitive function, and aging-related researches demonstrated a declined tread on the cognition in older adults and exercise might ameliorate the deterioration. Qigong exercise integrates physical posture (muscle strength), breathing technique (aerobic ability) and focused intention (attention) that researchers hypothesize it might improve the cognitive function in aging adults. Method: Sixty participants were involved in this study, including 20 young adults (21.65±2.41 y) with normal physical activity (YA), 20 Qigong experts (60.69 ± 12.42 y) with over 7 years Qigong practice experience (QE), and 20 normal and healthy adults (52.90±12.37 y) with no Qigong practice experience as experimental group (EG). The EG participants took Qigong classes 2 times a week and 2 hours per time for 24 weeks with the purpose of examining the effect of Qigong intervention on cognitive function. ANT tasks (alert network, orient network, and executive control) were adopted to evaluate participants’ cognitive function via ERP’s P300 components and P300 amplitude topography. Results: Behavioral data: 1.The reaction time (RT) of YA is faster than the other two groups, and EG was faster than QE in the cue and flanker conditions of ANT task. 2. The RT of posttest was faster than pretest in EG in the cue and flanker conditions. 3. No difference among the three groups on orient, alert, and execute control networks. ERP data: 1. P300 amplitude detection in QE was larger than EG at Fz electrode in orient, alert, and execute control networks. 2. P300 amplitude in EG was larger at pretest than posttest on the orient network. 3. P300 Latency revealed no difference among the three groups in the three networks. Conclusion: Taken together these findings, they provide neuro-electrical evidence that older adults involved in Qigong practice may develop a more overall compensatory mechanism and also benefit the performance of behavior.

Keywords: Qigong, cognitive function, aging, event-related potential (ERP)

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Authors: Evrim Colak, Andriy E. Serebryannikov, Pavel V. Usik, Ekmel Ozbay

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Working with a dielectric photonic crystal (PC) structure which does not include surface corrugations, unidirectional transmission and dual-beam splitting are observed under normal incidence as a result of the strong diffractions caused by the embedded defect layer. The defect layer has twice the period of the regular PC segments which sandwich the defect layer. Although the PC has even number of rows, the structural symmetry is broken due to the asymmetric placement of the defect layer with respect to the symmetry axis of the regular PC. The simulations verify that efficient splitting and occurrence of strong diffractions are related to the dispersion properties of the Floquet-Bloch modes of the photonic crystal. Unidirectional and bi-directional splitting, which are associated with asymmetric transmission, arise due to the dominant contribution of the first positive and first negative diffraction orders. The effect of the depth of the defect layer is examined by placing single defect layer in varying rows, preserving the asymmetry of PC. Even for deeply buried defect layer, asymmetric transmission is still valid even if the zeroth order is not coupled. This transmission is due to evanescent waves which reach to the deeply embedded defect layer and couple to higher order modes. In an additional selected performance, whichever surface is illuminated, i.e., in both upper and lower surface illumination cases, incident beam is split into two beams of equal intensity at the output surface where the intensity of the out-going beams are equal for both illumination cases. That is, although the structure is asymmetric, symmetric bidirectional transmission with equal transmission values is demonstrated and the structure mimics the behavior of symmetric structures. Finally, simulation studies including the examination of a coupled-cavity defect for two different permittivity values (close to the permittivity values of GaAs or Si and alumina) reveal unidirectional splitting for a wider band of operation in comparison to the bandwidth obtained in the case of a single embedded defect layer. Since the dielectric materials that are utilized are low-loss and weakly dispersive in a wide frequency range including microwave and optical frequencies, the studied structures should be scalable to the mentioned ranges.

Keywords: asymmetric transmission, beam deflection, blazing, bi-directional splitting, defect layer, dual beam splitting, Floquet-Bloch modes, isofrequency contours, line defect, oblique incidence, photonic crystal, unidirectionality

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Authors: WooJin KANG

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Contrary to the ideal, in the cartelized democracy, meritocracy is revealed to be a system that gives arrogance to the winners and humiliation to the losers, and more and more studies are asserting the upper-class bias of meritocracy. However, only some studies have analyzed the determinants of the perception of meritocracy and fairness among young people. This article was an attempt to fill this gap. According to the empirical results of this article, the determinants of fairness of the meritocracy in the youth were multidimensional. The social status model, the political ideology model, and the future prospect model all significantly impacted the perception of meritocracy fairness among young people. Contrary to the predictions of the system justification theory and the compensatory control theory of previous studies, the lower-class youth were critical of meritocracy. In addition, the more negative the future outlook, the less they accepted the fairness of meritocracy. In addition, ideological debates over solutions to inequality of opportunity, which began in earnest during the 20th presidential election, turned out to be a variable that significantly influenced the perception of fairness based on meritocracy among young people. The results of the empirical analysis in this article reaffirmed the multidimensional structure of the youth. This suggests the need for policy responses leading to education tailored to various subgroups within the youth.

Keywords: Meritocracy, Exam-Meritocracy, Fairness, Multiple-inequality

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Authors: Naomi Sato, Tomonori Sato, Kenji Masui, Rob Stanborough

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To date, there are few studies on the subjective experiences of patients with chronic low-back pain (CLBP). The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of CLBP patients’ perceptions and attitudes regarding pain. Individual, semi-constructed interviews were conducted with 7 Japanese and 10 Americans who had been diagnosed with CLBP. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed based on a content analysis approach. The study proposal was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the first author’s affiliate university. All participants provided written consent. Participants’ ages ranged from 48 to 82. Five main categories were emerged, namely, 'There are no reasons for long-term chronic pain,' 'Just will not worsen,' 'Have something to help me cope,' 'Pain restricts my life,' and 'Have something to relieve me.' Participants lived with CLBP, which could sometimes be avoided as a result of the coping strategies that they employed, and due to which they sometimes felt helpless, despite their efforts. As a result, they had mixed feelings, which included resignation, resoluteness, and optimism. However, their perceptions and attitudes toward pain seemed to differ based on their backgrounds, including biological, social, religious, and cultural status. There is a need for the development of a scale in future studies, to enable quantitative measurement of individuals’ perceptions of and attitudes toward pain. There is also a need for an investigation of factors influencing perceptions and attitudes toward pain.

Keywords: attitude, chronic low-back pain, perception, qualitative study

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Authors: Sevdenur Onger, Ali Asram Sagiroglu

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Hyperpigmentation is a cosmetically unappealing skin problem caused by an overabundance of melanin in the skin. Its pathophysiology is caused by melanocytes being exposed to paracrine melanogenic stimuli, which can upregulate melanogenesis-related enzymes (such as tyrosinase) and cause melanosome formation. Tyrosinase is linked to the development of melanosomes biochemically, and it is the main target of hyperpigmentation treatment. therefore, decreasing tyrosinase activity to reduce melanosomes has become the main target of hyperpigmentation treatment. Niacinamide (NA) is a natural chemical found in a variety of plants that is used as a skin-whitening ingredient in cosmetic formulations. NA decreases melanogenesis in the skin by inhibiting melanosome transfer from melanocytes to covering keratinocytes. Furthermore, NA protects the skin from reactive oxygen species and acts as a main barrier with the skin, reducing moisture loss by increasing ceramide and fatty acid synthesis. However, it is very difficult for hydrophilic compounds such as NA to penetrate deep into the skin. Furthermore, because of the nicotinic acid in NA, it is an irritant. As a result, we've concentrated on strategies to increase NA skin permeability while avoiding its irritating impacts. Since nanotechnology can affect drug penetration behavior by controlling the release and increasing the period of permanence on the skin, it can be a useful technique in the development of whitening formulations. Liposomes have become increasingly popular in the cosmetics industry in recent years due to benefits such as their lack of toxicity, high penetration ability in living skin layers, ability to increase skin moisture by forming a thin layer on the skin surface, and suitability for large-scale production. Therefore, liposomes containing NA were developed for this study. Different formulations were prepared by varying the amount of phospholipid and cholesterol and examined in terms of particle sizes, polydispersity index (PDI) and pH values. The pH values of the produced formulations were determined to be suitable with the pH value of the skin. Particle sizes were determined to be smaller than 250 nm and the particles were found to be of homogeneous size in the formulation (pdi<0.30). Despite the important advantages of liposomal systems, they have low viscosity and stability for topical use. For these reasons, in this study, liposomal cream formulations have been prepared for easy topical application of liposomal systems. As a result, liposomal cream formulations containing NA have been successfully prepared and characterized. Following the in-vitro release and ex-vivo diffusion studies to be conducted in the continuation of the study, it is planned to test the formulation that gives the most appropriate result on the volunteers after obtaining the approval of the ethics committee.

Keywords: delivery systems, hyperpigmentation, liposome, niacinamide

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Authors: Sara M. Ismael, Ali H. Al-Badi

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The rapid development and growth of technology has changed the method of obtaining information for educators and learners. Technology has created a new world of collaboration and communication among people. Incorporating new technology into the teaching process can enhance learning outcomes. Billions of individuals across the world are now connected together, and are cooperating and contributing their knowledge and intelligence. Time is no longer wasted in waiting until the teacher is ready to share information as learners can go online and get it immediately. The objectives of this paper are to understand the reasons why changes in teaching and learning methods are necessary, to find ways of improving them, and to investigate the challenges that present themselves in the adoption of new ICT tools in higher education institutes. To achieve these objectives two primary research methods were used: questionnaires, which were distributed among students at higher educational institutes and multiple interviews with faculty members (teachers) from different colleges and universities, which were conducted to find out why teaching and learning methodology should change. The findings show that both learners and educators agree that educational technology plays a significant role in enhancing instructors’ teaching style and students’ overall learning experience; however, time constraints, privacy issues, and not being provided with enough up-to-date technology do create some challenges.

Keywords: e-books, educational technology, educators, e-learning, learners, social media, Web 2.0, LMS

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Authors: A. Pedro, T. Goldschmidt

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Dyspraxia affects approximately 5-6% of school aged children. Utilising an ecological framework, this study aimed to (1) explore the awareness and understanding of dyspraxia or similar disorders among preschool parents and (2) to explore what skills are required or sought after by parents of children presenting with dyspraxia. A qualitative methodological approach with an exploratory design was employed in this study. A total of 15 parents were purposively selected from urban mainstream preschools in the Cape Town metropole region. Data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews and analysed thematically according to Braun and Clarke (2006). Participants were knowledgeable of their rights throughout the research process. The findings reveal that parents understanding of dyspraxia hinges on observable characteristics of their children’s abilities in comparison to typically developing children. Although parents are aware of ways to explore various avenues to better assist their child, they desire more social support and skills in terms of resources to inform them about their child’s difficulties as well as different techniques to better manage their child’s condition. Findings indicate that regular contact between preschool teachers and parents of children presenting with dyspraxia is an important factor in children’s academic success. The implications of the findings are related to the awareness of dyspraxia and similar learning disorders among both parents and teachers.

Keywords: awareness and understanding, dyspraxia, parents, preschool

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Authors: Elizelle Juanee Cilliers

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Recent planning thinking has laid the foundations for a general sense of best practice that aims to enhance the quality of life, suggesting an open and participatory process. It is accepted that integration of top-down and bottom-up approaches may lead to efficient action in environments and sustainable planning and development, although it is also accepted that such an integrated approach has various challenges of implementation. A flexible framework in which the strengths of both the top-down and bottom-up approaches were explored in this research, based on the EU Interreg VALUE Added project and five case studies where student education and student involvement played a crucial role within the participation process of the redesign of the urban environment. It was found that international student workshops were an effective tool to integrate bottom-up and top-down structures, as it acted as catalyst for communication, interaction, creative design, quick transformation from planning to implementation, building social cohesion, finding mutual ground between stakeholders and thus enhancing overall quality of life and quality of environments. It offered a good alternative to traditional participation modes and created a platform for an integrative planning approach. The role and importance of education and integration within the urban environment were emphasized.

Keywords: top-down, bottom-up, flexible, student involvement

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Authors: Minh Nguyen

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Today, QR or Quick Response Codes are prevalent, and mobile/smart devices can efficiently read and understand them. Therefore, we can see their appearance in many areas, such as storing web pages/websites, business phone numbers, redirecting to an app download, business location, social media. The popularity of the QR Code is mainly because of its many advantages, such as it can hold a good amount of information, is small, easy to scan and read by a general RGB camera, and it can still work with some damages on its surface. However, there are still some issues. For instance, some areas needed to be kept untouched for its successful decode (e.g., the “Finder Patterns,” the “Quiet Zone,” etc.), the capability of built-in auto-correction is not robust enough, and it is not flexible enough for many application such as Augment Reality (AR). We proposed a new Colour Quick Response Code that has several advantages over the original ones: (1) there is no untouchable area, (2) it allows up to 40% of the entire code area to be damaged, (3) it is more beneficial for Augmented Reality applications, and (4) it is back-compatible and readable by available QR Code scanners such as Pyzbar. From our experience, our Colour Quick Response Code is significantly more flexible on damage compared to the original QR Code. Our code is believed to be suitable in situations where standard 2D Barcodes fail to work, such as curved and shiny surfaces, for instance, medical blood test sample tubes and syringes.

Keywords: QR code, computer vision, image processing, 2D barcode

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Authors: Pascual García, Francisco Ochoa, Jessica Ordoñez

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The links between migration and development have been widely written and analyzed from different perspectives. However, the nexus between entrepreneurship and migration is of recent interest. The different studies related to this have focused on the ventures of ethnic enclaves, or on transnational businesses, which link the community of origin and destination. Beyond this perspective, this work analyzes the return migration, (a few studies until now, but forming part of a theoretical body of migration). As a result of the European crisis started between 2007-2008. Many Ecuadorians who lived in Europe, decided to return to their place of origin. The rise of the price of the oil and commodities presented a better panorama in Ecuador than in Europe. Faced with the magnitude of returnees, the opportunities for entrepreneurship in Ecuador increased (Accumulation of human capital, social capital, learned skills and capital). Thus there is an interest in the possibility of returned migrants in the country to start a business in their place of origin. The following study is the result of this. A survey of 110 returned migrants was carried out in the south of Ecuador and, using a Probit econometric model, we determined that the variables specified as geographic area, sex, education level are not significant, so they are not determinant when undertaking. However, time abroad and skills learned, if they were significant at the time of the decision to start a business.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, development, migration, returned migration

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Authors: Kaushik Vaideeswaran, Jean Gobet, Patrick Margraf, Olha Sereda

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Nitrocarburisation is a surface hardening technique often applied to improve the wear resistance of steel surfaces. It is considered to be a promising solution in comparison with other processes such as flame spraying, owing to the formation of a diffusion layer which provides mechanical integrity, as well as its cost-effectiveness. To improve other tribological properties of the surface such as the coefficient of friction (COF), dry lubricants are utilized. Currently, the lifetime of steel components in many applications using either of these techniques individually are faced with the limitations of the two: high COF for nitrocarburized surfaces and low wear resistance of dry lubricant coatings. To this end, the current study involves the creation of a hybrid surface using the impregnation of a dry lubricant on to a nitrocarburized surface. The mechanical strength and hardness of Gerster SA’s nitrocarburized surfaces accompanied by the impregnation of the porous outermost layer with a solid lubricant will create a hybrid surface possessing both outstanding wear resistance and a low friction coefficient and with high adherence to the substrate. Gerster SA has the state-of-the-art technology for the surface hardening of various steels. Through their expertise in the field, the nitrocarburizing process parameters (atmosphere, temperature, dwelling time) were optimized to obtain samples that have a distinct porous structure (in terms of size, shape, and density) as observed by metallographic and microscopic analyses. The porosity thus obtained is suitable for the impregnation of a dry lubricant. A commercially available dry lubricant with a thermoplastic matrix was employed for the impregnation process, which was optimized to obtain a void-free interface with the surface of the nitrocarburized layer (henceforth called hybrid surface). In parallel, metallic samples without nitrocarburisation were also impregnated with the same dry lubricant as a reference (henceforth called reference surface). The reference and the nitrocarburized surfaces, with and without the dry lubricant were tested for their tribological behavior by sliding against a quenched steel ball using a nanotribometer. Without any lubricant, the nitrocarburized surface showed a wear rate 5x lower than the reference metal. In the presence of a thin film of dry lubricant ( < 2 micrometers) and under the application of high loads (500 mN or ~800 MPa), while the COF for the reference surface increased from ~0.1 to > 0.3 within 120 m, the hybrid surface retained a COF < 0.2 for over 400m of sliding. In addition, while the steel ball sliding against the reference surface showed heavy wear, the corresponding ball sliding against the hybrid surface showed very limited wear. Observations of the sliding tracks in the hybrid surface using Electron Microscopy show the presence of the nitrocarburized nodules as well as the lubricant, whereas no traces of the lubricant were found in the sliding track on the reference surface. In this manner, the clear advantage of combining nitrocarburisation with the impregnation of a dry lubricant towards forming a hybrid surface has been demonstrated.

Keywords: dry lubrication, hybrid surfaces, improved wear resistance, nitrocarburisation, steels

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Authors: Laurisa Peters, Usha Barahmand, Maria Stalias-Mantzikos, Naila Shamsina, Kerry Aguero

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In the current study, the authors sought to examine whether the links between moral and sexual disgust and misophonia are mediated by mental contamination. An internationally diverse sample of 283 adults (193 females, 76 males, and 14 non-binary individuals) ranging in age from 18 to 60 years old was recruited from online social media platforms and survey recruitment sites. The sample completed an online battery of scales that consisted of the New York Misophonia Scale, State Mental Contamination Scale, and the Three-Domain Disgust Scale. The hypotheses were evaluated using a series of mediations performed using the PROCESS add-on in SPSS. Correlations were found between emotional and aggressive-avoidant reactions in misophonia, mental contamination, pathogen disgust, and sexual disgust. Moral disgust and non-aggressive reactions in misophonia failed to correlate significantly with any of the other constructs. Sexual disgust had direct and indirect effects, while pathogen disgust had only direct effects on aspects of misophonia. These findings partially support our hypothesis that mental contamination mediates the link between disgust propensity and misophonia while also confirming that pathogen-based disgust is not associated with mental contamination. Findings imply that misophonia is distinct from obsessive-compulsive disorder. Further research into the conceptualization of moral disgust is warranted.

Keywords: misophonia, moral disgust, pathogen disgust, sexual disgust, mental contamination

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Authors: Mkhokheli Sithole, Brenda N. Muchapondwa

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Food security is becoming a critical issue for people residing mainly in the rural areas where frequent droughts interrupt food production, reduce income, compromise the ability to save and erode livelihoods. This tends to increase the vulnerability of poor households to food and income insecurity, hence, malnutrition. There is an emerging need for DRR strategies to complement the existing rain fed crop production based livelihoods. One of such strategies employed by the community of Nerumedzo in Bikita district is the harvesting of Encosternum delegorguei insect. This article analyses the livelihood impacts of Encosternum delegorguei insect as a DRR strategy. The research used a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches. The insect samples were tested in the laboratory for their nutritional composition while surveys were done on a sample of 40 community members. Participatory observations and 5 focus group discussions were also done. The results revealed that harvesting the Encosternum delegorguei insects provides a livelihood for the locals by complementing crop production thereby mitigating potential negative effects of frequent droughts. The insects are now a significant source of income to poor households in the community.

Keywords: disaster risk reduction, livelihoods, human, social sciences

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Authors: Mahtab Abdollahi Sarvi, Siamak Epackachi, Ali Imanpour

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Reinforced concrete shear walls are commonly used as the lateral load-resisting system of mid- to high-rise office or residential buildings around the world. Design of such systems is often governed by wind rather than seismic effects, in particular in low-to-moderate seismic regions. The current design philosophy as per the majority of building codes under wind loads require elastic response of lateral load-resisting systems including reinforced concrete shear walls when subjected to the rare design wind load, resulting in significantly large wall sections needed to meet strength requirements and drift limits. The latter can highly influence the design in upper stories due to stringent drift limits specified by building codes, leading to substantial added costs to the construction of the wall. However, such walls may offer limited to moderate over-strength and ductility due to their large reserve capacity provided that they are designed and detailed to appropriately develop such over-strength and ductility under extreme wind loads. This would significantly contribute to reducing construction time and costs, while maintaining structural integrity under gravity and frequently-occurring and less frequent wind events. This paper aims to investigate the over-strength and ductility capacity of several imaginary office buildings located in Edmonton, Canada with a glance at earthquake design philosophy. Selected models are 10- to 25-story buildings with three types of reinforced concrete shear wall configurations including rectangular, barbell, and flanged. The buildings are designed according to National Building Code of Canada. Then fiber-based numerical models of the walls are developed in Perform 3D and by conducting nonlinear static (pushover) analysis, lateral nonlinear behavior of the walls are evaluated. Ductility and over-strength of the structures are obtained based on the results of the pushover analyses. The results confirmed moderate nonlinear capacity of reinforced concrete shear walls under extreme wind loads. This is while lateral displacements of the walls pass the serviceability limit states defined in Pre standard for Performance-Based Wind Design (ASCE). The results indicate that we can benefit the limited nonlinear response observed in the reinforced concrete shear walls to economize the design of such systems under wind loads.

Keywords: concrete shear wall, high-rise buildings, nonlinear static analysis, response modification factor, wind load

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Authors: Farzaneh Farrokhfar, Mohammad Khazaie

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The 16th and 17th centuries coincide with the classical age of Ottoman art history. Simultaneously with this age and in the eastern neighborhood of the Ottoman state, the Safavid Shiite state emerged, which, despite political and religious differences with the Ottomans, played an important role in cultural and artistic exchanges with Anatolia. The harmony of arts, including architecture, is one of the most important manifestations of cultural exchange between the two regions, which shows the intellectual commonalities of the two regions. In parallel with the production of works of art, the registration of information and identities of Ottoman and Safavid artists and craftsmen has been done by many historians and biographers, some of whom, fortunately, are available to us today and can be evaluated. This research first intends to read historical documents and reports related to the architects of the two Ottoman states in Anatolia and Safavid states in Iran in the 16th and 17th centuries and then examines the status of architects' information records and their location in the two regions. The results reveal the names and identities of some Ottoman and Safavid architects in the 16th and 17th centuries and show the method of recording information in the documents of the two regions. This research is done in a comparative historical method, and the method of collecting its resources is a documentary library.

Keywords: classical era, Ottoman architecture, Safavid architecture, Central Asian historical documents

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Authors: Mónika Garai-Fodor, Nikoett Huszak

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In the present study, we investigate the cognitive aspects of conscious consumer behaviour among Generation Z members. In our view, conscious consumption can greatly help to foster social responsibility, environmental and health-conscious behaviour, and ethical consumerism. We believe that it is an important educational task to promote and reinforce consumer behaviour among young people that increases and creates community value. In this study, we analysed the dimensions of young people's conscious consumer behaviour and its manifestation in concrete forms of behaviour, purchasing, and consumer decisions. As a result of a survey conducted through a snowball sampling procedure, the responses of 200 respondents who are members of Generation Z were analysed. The research analysed young people's perceptions and opinions of conscious living and their perceptions of self-conscious consumer behaviour. The primary research used a pre-tested standardised online questionnaire. Data were evaluated using bivariate and multivariate analyses in addition to descriptive statistics. The research presents results that are valid for the sample, and we plan to continue with a larger sample survey and extend it to other generations. Our main objective is to analyse what conscious living means to young people, what behavioural elements they associate with it, and what activities they themselves undertake in this context.

Keywords: generation Z, conscious consumption, primary research, sustainability

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Authors: A. T. Perez Fontenla, S. Sgobba, A. Bartkowska, Y. Askar, M. Dalemir Celuch, A. Newborough, M. Karppinen, H. Haalien, S. Deleval, S. Larcher, C. Charvet, L. Bruno, R. Trant

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The present study investigates the corrosion behavior of copper (Cu) based conducts predominantly brazed with Sil-Fos (self-fluxing copper-based filler with silver and phosphorus) within various cooling circuits of demineralized water across different particle accelerator components at CERN. The study covers a range of sample service time, from a few months to fifty years, and includes various accelerator components such as quadrupoles, dipoles, and bending magnets. The investigation comprises the established sample extraction procedure, examination methodology including non-destructive testing, evaluation of the corrosion phenomena, and identification of commonalities across the studied components as well as analysis of the environmental influence. The systematic analysis included computed microtomography (CT) of the joints that revealed distributed defects across all brazing interfaces. Some defects appeared to result from areas not wetted by the filler during the brazing operation, displaying round shapes, while others exhibited irregular contours and radial alignment, indicative of a network or interconnection. The subsequent dry cutting performed facilitated access to the conduct's inner surface and the brazed joints for further inspection through light and electron microscopy (SEM) and chemical analysis via Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Brazing analysis away from affected areas identified the expected phases for a Sil-Fos alloy. In contrast, the affected locations displayed micrometric cavities propagating into the material, along with selective corrosion of the bulk Cu initiated at the conductor-braze interface. Corrosion product analysis highlighted the consistent presence of sulfur (up to 6 % in weight), whose origin and role in the corrosion initiation and extension is being further investigated. The importance of this study is paramount as it plays a crucial role in comprehending the underlying factors contributing to recently identified water leaks and evaluating the extent of the issue. Its primary objective is to provide essential insights for the repair of impacted brazed joints when accessibility permits. Moreover, the study seeks to contribute to the improvement of design and manufacturing practices for future components, ultimately enhancing the overall reliability and performance of magnet systems within CERN accelerator facilities.

Keywords: accelerator facilities, brazed copper conducts, demineralized water, magnets

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Authors: Roman Girma Teshome

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The intersection between development and human rights has been the point of scholarly debate for a long time. Consequently, a number of principles, which extend from the right to development to the human rights-based approach to development, have been adopted to understand the dynamics between the two concepts. Despite these attempts, the exact relationship between development and human rights has not been fully discovered yet. However, the inevitable interdependence between the two notions and the idea that development efforts must be undertaken by giving due regard to human rights guarantees has gained momentum in recent years. On the other hand, the emergence of sustainable development as a widely accepted approach in development goals and policies makes this unsettled convergence even more complicated. The place of sustainable development in human rights law discourse and the role of the latter in ensuring the sustainability of development programs call for a systematic study. Hence, this article seeks to explore the relationship between development and human rights, particularly focusing on the place given to sustainable development principles in international human right law. It will further quest whether there is a right to sustainable development recognized therein. Accordingly, the article asserts that the principles of sustainable development are directly or indirectly recognized in various human rights instruments, which provides an affirmative response to the question raised hereinabove. This work, therefore, will make expeditions through international and regional human rights instruments as well as case laws and interpretative guidelines of human rights bodies to prove this hypothesis.

Keywords: sustainable development, human rights, the right to development, the human rights-based approach to development, environmental rights, economic development, social sustainability

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Authors: Mehtap Öztürk, Adem Öğüt, Emine Öğüt

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Leader member exchange is considered as relationship-based approach to leadership. The focal point of this theory is that effective leadership processes occur when leaders and followers are able to develop mature leadership relationships and thus gain access to a variety of benefits these relationships bring. In this context, it can be claimed that the quality of leader member exchange appears to have a strong affect on perceived organizational support and reduce turnover intention. The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between the levels of leader member exchange, perceived organizational support and turnover intention on the employees of a health institution operating in the province of Konya. A field study based on survey method on 134 physicians who are employees of a health institution operating in the mentioned sample. In accordance with this purpose, it has been observed that there is a negative and statistically significant relationship between leader member exchange and turnover intention. Furthermore, it has been also realized that there is a negative and statistically significant relationship between perceived organizational support and turnover intention.

Keywords: leader member exchange, perceived organizational support, social exchange theory, turnover intention

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Authors: Gwyneth Bernier

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An authoritative literature review of peer-reviewed journals and edited books on East African refugees' coping strategies identifies the four most common coping skills among this group as the following: (1) relying on faith, religion, or another belief system, (2) turning to communities or social supports, (3) cognitive reframing--in other words, finding meaning in one's traumas or hardships--and (4) finding hope for the future, especially through education. However, this review recognizes that there are gaps in knowledge in this field and that the validity of these general findings must be further investigated in East African refugees who are women, have not been resettled in Western countries, and belong to specific nationality groups. This review also suggests studies that build on the current body of research begin to use qualitative methods of data collection and analysis. This paper aims to bridge part of that gap in understanding using a qualitative methodology. Specifically, it provides a more holistic view of East African refugees' psychological coping mechanisms through its analysis of trends observed across life story interviews from two participant groups: Sudanese refugee women in Cairo's informal settlements, Egypt and Congolese refugee women in Rwanda's Mahama camp.

Keywords: Congolese refugees, coping mechanisms, refugee women, Sudanese refugees

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Authors: Nynke de Jong, Inge G. P. Duimel-Peeters

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The flipped classroom as an instructional strategy and a type of blended learning that reverses the traditional learning environment by delivering instructional content, off- and online, in- and outside the classroom, has been implemented in a 4-weeks module focusing on ageing in Europe at the Maastricht University. The main aim regarding the organization of this module was implementing flipped classroom-principles in order to create meaningful learning opportunities, while educational technologies are used to deliver content outside of the classroom. Technologies used in this module were an online interactive real time lecture from England, two interactive face-to-face lectures with visual supports, one group session including role plays and team-based learning meetings. The cohort of 2015-2016, using educational technologies, was compared with the cohort of 2014-2015 on module evaluation such as organization and instructiveness of the module, who studied the same content, although conforming the problem-based educational strategy, i.e. educational base of the Maastricht University. The cohort of 2015-2016 with its specific organization, was also more profound evaluated on outcomes as (1) experienced duration of the lecture by students, (2) experienced content of the lecture, (3) experienced the extent of the interaction and (4) format of lecturing. It was important to know how students reflected on duration and content taken into account their background knowledge so far, in order to distinguish between sufficient enough regarding prior knowledge and therefore challenging or not fitting into the course. For the evaluation, a structured online questionnaire was used, whereby above mentioned topics were asked for to evaluate by scoring them on a 4-point Likert scale. At the end, there was room for narrative feedback so that interviewees could express more in detail, if they wanted, what they experienced as good or not regarding the content of the module and its organization parts. Eventually, the response rate of the evaluation was lower than expected (54%), however, due to written feedback and exam scores, we dare to state that it gives a good and reliable overview that encourages to work further on it. Probably, the response rate may be explained by the fact that resit students were included as well, and that there maybe is too much evaluation as some time points in the program. However, overall students were excited about the organization and content of the module, but the level of self-directed behavior, necessary for this kind of educational strategy, was too low. They need to be more trained in self-directness, therefore the module will be simplified in 2016-2017 with more clear and fewer topics and extra guidance (step by step procedure). More specific information regarding the used technologies will be explained at the congress, as well as the outcomes (min and max rankings, mean and standard deviation).

Keywords: blended learning, flipped classroom, public health, self-directness

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Authors: Mounir Baccar, Imen Jmal

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Because of the rise in energy costs, thermal storage systems designed for the heating and cooling of buildings are becoming increasingly important. Energy storage can not only reduce the time or rate mismatch between energy supply and demand but also plays an important role in energy conservation. One of the most preferable storage techniques is the Latent Heat Thermal Energy Storage (LHTES) by Phase Change Materials (PCM) due to its important energy storage density and isothermal storage process. This paper presents a numerical study of the solidification of a PCM (paraffin RT27) in a rectangular thermal storage exchanger for air conditioning systems taking into account the presence of natural convection. Resolution of continuity, momentum and thermal energy equations are treated by the finite volume method. The main objective of this numerical approach is to study the effect of natural convection on the PCM solidification time and the impact of fins number on heat transfer enhancement. It also aims at investigating the temporal evolution of PCM solidification, as well as the longitudinal profiles of the HTF circling in the duct. The present research undertakes the study of two cases: the first one treats the solidification of PCM in a PCM-air heat exchanger without fins, while the second focuses on the solidification of PCM in a heat exchanger of the same type with the addition of fins (3 fins, 5 fins, and 9 fins). Without fins, the stratification of the PCM from colder to hotter during the heat transfer process has been noted. This behavior prevents the formation of thermo-convective cells in PCM area and then makes transferring almost conductive. In the presence of fins, energy extraction from PCM to airflow occurs at a faster rate, which contributes to the reduction of the discharging time and the increase of the outlet air temperature (HTF). However, for a great number of fins (9 fins), the enhancement of the solidification process is not significant because of the effect of confinement of PCM liquid spaces for the development of thermo-convective flow. Hence, it can be concluded that the effect of natural convection is not very significant for a high number of fins. In the optimum case, using 3 fins, the increasing temperature of the HTF exceeds approximately 10°C during the first 30 minutes. When solidification progresses from the surfaces of the PCM-container and propagates to the central liquid phase, an insulating layer will be created in the vicinity of the container surfaces and the fins, causing a low heat exchange rate between PCM and air. As the solid PCM layer gets thicker, a progressive regression of the field of movements is induced in the liquid phase, thus leading to the inhibition of heat extraction process. After about 2 hours, 68% of the PCM became solid, and heat transfer was almost dominated by conduction mechanism.

Keywords: heat transfer enhancement, front solidification, PCM, natural convection

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Authors: Fatema Tasmia, Brishti Majumder, Atiqur Rahman

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Attaining appropriate comfort conditions in a place where the climate is hot and humid can be perplexing. Especially, when it is resided at a congested place like old Dhaka Bangladesh, the provision of giving cross ventilation and building with proper orientation is quite difficult. Courtyards are the part of buildings which are used as space for outdoor household activities, social gathering and it is also proved to have indoor thermal comfort as an effect of courtyard. This paper aims to investigate the effect of courtyard in indoor thermal environment of a room adjacent to the courtyard and a room next to transitional space after a courtyard through field measurements of a case study house. The field measurement was conducted in a two-storey house. Among different aspects of thermal environment, the study of this paper is based on the analysis of temperature in both situations. Ventilation or air movement was considered to have no impact because of the rooms’ layout and location. Other aspects and their variables were considered as constant (especially material) for accuracy and avoidance of confusion. This study focuses on the outcome that can ultimately contribute to the configuration of courtyards and in its relation to indoor space while achieving thermal comfort.

Keywords: courtyard, old Dhaka, temperature, thermal comfort, transitional space

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Authors: Mehrnaz Mostafavi

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Recent advances in single-molecule protein identification (ID) and quantification techniques are poised to revolutionize proteomics, enabling researchers to delve into single-cell proteomics and identify low-abundance proteins crucial for biomedical and clinical research. This paper introduces a different approach to single-molecule protein ID and quantification using tri-color amino acid tags and a plasmonic nanopore device. A comprehensive simulator incorporating various physical phenomena was designed to predict and model the device's behavior under diverse experimental conditions, providing insights into its feasibility and limitations. The study employs a whole-proteome single-molecule identification algorithm based on convolutional neural networks, achieving high accuracies (>90%), particularly in challenging conditions (95–97%). To address potential challenges in clinical samples, where post-translational modifications affecting labeling efficiency, the paper evaluates protein identification accuracy under partial labeling conditions. Solid-state nanopores, capable of processing tens of individual proteins per second, are explored as a platform for this method. Unlike techniques relying solely on ion-current measurements, this approach enables parallel readout using high-density nanopore arrays and multi-pixel single-photon sensors. Convolutional neural networks contribute to the method's versatility and robustness, simplifying calibration procedures and potentially allowing protein ID based on partial reads. The study also discusses the efficacy of the approach in real experimental conditions, resolving functionally similar proteins. The theoretical analysis, protein labeler program, finite difference time domain calculation of plasmonic fields, and simulation of nanopore-based optical sensing are detailed in the methods section. The study anticipates further exploration of temporal distributions of protein translocation dwell-times and the impact on convolutional neural network identification accuracy. Overall, the research presents a promising avenue for advancing single-molecule protein identification and quantification with broad applications in proteomics research. The contributions made in methodology, accuracy, robustness, and technological exploration collectively position this work at the forefront of transformative developments in the field.

Keywords: nano proteomics, nanopore-based optical sensing, deep learning, artificial intelligence

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Authors: Adeyemi Kamil Hamzah

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The contiguity of nations in international system suggests that world is a composite of socio-economic unit with people exploring and exploiting the potentials in the world via migrations. Thus, cross border migration has made positive contributions to social and economic development of individuals and nations by increasing the household incomes of the host countries. However, the cross border migrations in West Africa are becoming part of a dynamic and unstable world migration system. This is due to the nature and consequences of trans-border crimes in West Africa, with both short and long term effects on the socio-economic viability of developing countries like West African States. The paper identified that migration influenced cross-border crimes as well as the high spate of insurgencies in the sub-region. Furthermore, the consequential effect of a global village has imbalanced population flows, making some countries host and parasites to others. Also, stern and deft cross-border rules and regulations, as well as territorial security and protections, ameliorate cross border crimes and migration in West African sub-regions. Therefore, the study concluded that cross border migration is the linchpin of all kinds of criminal activities which affect the security of states in the sub-region.

Keywords: cross-border migration, border crimes, security, West Africa, development, globalisation

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Authors: Godiva Kwan, Winton Au, Fanny Cheung

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Authenticity, being true to oneself and acting in congruence with one’s values and beliefs, is a basic human strength, and is instrumental to understanding well-being. While dispositional authenticity was found to be associated with positive affect and subjective well-being, others have demonstrated that individuals assumed different levels of authenticity when they took up different social roles, suggesting that state authenticity can be an alternative mechanism. This study examined the relation between workplace authenticity and job satisfaction. We hypothesize that state authenticity at work will be predicted by psychological safety climate (organizational climate where employees feel safe to speak up without being embarrassed or rejected). Employees are expected to experience higher subjective well-being and job satisfaction as a result of being authentic at work. Survey results provided support to the hypotheses. Psychological safety climate enhanced employees’ authenticity state at work, which in turn improved well-being and job satisfaction. In conclusion, we found that employees become more authentic at work in an organizational climate where they feel safe to express themselves, leading to a higher job satisfaction and well-being. The current study contributes to the understanding of underlying mechanisms behind experiencing authenticity at work among employees in Hong Kong. Our findings are expected to provide insights and to raise organizations’ awareness of creating an open and trustful culture in order to enhance job satisfaction of employees through encouraging them to “be themselves”.

Keywords: authenticity, job satisfaction, psychological safety climate, organizational climate

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Authors: Chu Liu

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With the development of society and the changes of the times, the requirements for the cultivation of learners are different. In the 21st century, STEM education has become a boom in the development of education in various countries, aiming to improve the comprehensive ability of learners in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The rise of robot education provides an effective way for STEM education to cultivate computational thinking ability, interdisciplinary ability, problem-solving ability, and teamwork ability. Although robot education has been developed in China for several years, it still lacks a standard curriculum system. This article uses programming software as a platform, through the research and analysis of 'Basic Education Information Technology Curriculum Standards (2012 Edition)', combines with the actual learning situation of learners, tries to conduct teaching project design research, and aims at providing references for the teaching ideas and method of robot education courses. In contemporary society, technological advances increasingly require creativity. Innovative comprehensive talents urgently need a radical and effective education reform to keep up with social changes. So in this context, robot teaching design can be used for students. The tendency of creativity to influence is worth to be verified.

Keywords: STEM education, robot teaching, primary and secondary school students, tendency of creativity

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Authors: Osman Adiguzel

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Shape memory effect is a peculiar property exhibited by certain alloy systems and based on martensitic transformation, and shape memory properties are closely related to the microstructures of the material. Shape memory effect is linked with martensitic transformation, which is a solid state phase transformation and occurs with the cooperative movement of atoms by means of lattice invariant shears on cooling from high-temperature parent phase. Lattice twinning and detwinning can be considered as elementary processes activated during the transformation. Thermally induced martensite occurs as martensite variants, in self-accommodating manner and consists of lattice twins. Also, this martensite is called the twinned martensite or multivariant martensite. Deformation of shape memory alloys in martensitic state proceeds through a martensite variant reorientation. The martensite variants turn into the reoriented single variants with deformation, and the reorientation process has great importance for the shape memory behavior. Copper based alloys exhibit this property in metastable β- phase region, which has DO3 –type ordered lattice in ternary case at high temperature, and these structures martensiticaly turn into the layered complex structures with lattice twinning mechanism, on cooling from high temperature parent phase region. The twinning occurs as martensite variants with lattice invariant shears in two opposite directions, <110 > -type directions on the {110}- type plane of austenite matrix. Lattice invariant shear is not uniform in copper based ternary alloys and gives rise to the formation of unusual layered structures, like 3R, 9R, or 18R depending on the stacking sequences on the close-packed planes of the ordered lattice. The unit cell and periodicity are completed through 18 atomic layers in case of 18R-structure. On the other hand, the deformed material recovers the original shape on heating above the austenite finish temperature. Meanwhile, the material returns to the twinned martensite structures (thermally induced martensite structure) in one way (irreversible) shape memory effect on cooling below the martensite finish temperature, whereas the material returns to the detwinned martensite structure (deformed martensite) in two-way (reversible) shape memory effect. Shortly one can say that the microstructural mechanisms, responsible for the shape memory effect are the twinning and detwinning processes as well as martensitic transformation. In the present contribution, x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) studies were carried out on two copper-based ternary alloys, CuZnAl, and CuAlMn.

Keywords: shape memory effect, martensitic transformation, twinning and detwinning, layered structures

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Authors: Anna Petr Safrankova, Karla Hrbackova

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The education of socially disadvantaged students is in the long term spotlight of many pedagogical researches in both Czech and foreign environment. These researches among others investigate this topic from the point of view of individual compensatory measure which tries to overcome or remove the social disadvantage. The focus of the study is to highlight the important role of teachers in the education of this specific group of students, among others in terms of their (teachers´) pre-graduate training. The aim of the study is to point out the importance of teachers´ self-efficacy. The study is based on the assumption that the teacher's self-efficacy may significantly affect the teacher's perception of a particular group of students and thereby affect the education of the students. The survey involved 245 teachers from the two regions in the Czech Republic. In the research were used TES questionnaire (with the dimensions personal teaching efficacy – PTE and general teaching efficacy – GTE) by Gibson and Dembo and the semantic differential (containing 12 scales with bipolar adjectives) which investigated the components of teachers' attitudes toward socially disadvantaged students. It was found that teachers’ self-efficacy significantly affects the teachers’ perception of the group of socially disadvantaged students. Based on this finding we believe that it is necessary to work with this concept (prepare teachers to educate this specific group of students) already during higher education and especially during the pre-graduate teachers training.

Keywords: teachers, socially disadvantaged students, semantic differential, teachers self-efficacy

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Authors: Šárka Hradilová, Aleš Panáček, Radek Zbořil

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Nanotechnologies are considered the most promising fields with high added value, brings new possibilities in various sectors from industry to medicine. With the growing of interest in nanomaterials and their applications, increasing nanoparticle production leads to increased exposure of people and environment with ‘human made’ nanoparticles. Nanoparticles (NPs) are clusters of atoms in the size range of 1–100 nm. Metal nanoparticles represent one of the most important and frequently used types of NPs due to their unique physical, chemical and biological properties, which significantly differ from those of bulk material. Biological properties including toxicity of metal nanoparticles are generally determined by their size, size distribution, shape, surface area, surface charge, surface chemistry, stability in the environment and ability to release metal ions. Therefore, the biological behavior of NPs and their possible adverse effect cannot be derived from the bulk form of material because nanoparticles show unique properties and interactions with biological systems just due to their nanodimensions. Silver and gold NPs are intensively studied and used. Both can be used for instance in surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy, a considerable number of applications of silver NPs is associated with antibacterial effects, while gold NPs are associated with cancer treatment and bio imaging. Antibacterial effects of silver ions are known for centuries. Silver ions and silver-based compounds are highly toxic to microorganisms. Toxic properties of silver NPs are intensively studied, but the mechanism of cytoxicity is not fully understood. While silver NPs are considered toxic, gold NPs are referred to as toxic but also innocuous for eukaryotic cells. Therefore, gold NPs are used in various biological applications without a risk of cell damaging, even when we want to suppress the growth of cancer cells. Thus, gold NPs are toxic or harmless. Because most studies comparing particles of various sizes prepared in various ways, and testing is performed on different cell lines, it is very difficult to generalize. The novelty and significance of our research is focused to the complex biological effects of silver and gold NPs prepared by the same method, have the same parameters and the same stabilizer. That is why we can compare the biological effects of pure nanometals themselves based on their chemical nature without the influence of other variable. Aim of our study therefore is to compare the cytotoxic effect of two types of noble metal NPs focusing on the mechanisms that contribute to cytotoxicity. The study was conducted on murine fibroblasts by selected common used tests. Each of these tests monitors the selected area related to toxicity and together provides a comprehensive view on the issue of interactions of nanoparticles and living cells.

Keywords: cytotoxicity, gold nanoparticles, mechanism of cytotoxicity, silver nanoparticles

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