Search results for: local conditions

Authors: Hassan Wajid

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We will commend accommodating an environmentally friendly architectural proposal that is extremely common/usual but whose features will make it a sustainable space. In this experiment, the natural and artificial built space is being proposed in such a way that deals with Environmental, Ecological, and Economic Criteria under different climatic conditions. Moreover, the criteria against ecology-environment-economics reflect in the different modules which are being experimented with and analyzed by multiple research groups. The ecological, environmental, and economic services are provided used as units of production side by side, resulting in local job creation and saving resources, for instance, conservation of rainwater, soil formation or protection, less energy consumption to achieve Net Zero, and a stable climate as a whole. The synthesized results from the collected data suggest several aspects to consider when designing buildings for beginning the design process under the supervision of instructors/directors who are responsible for developing curricula and sustainable goals. Hence, the results of the research and the suggestions will benefit the sustainable design through multiple results, heat analysis of different small modules, and comparisons. As a result, it is depleted as the resources are either consumed or the pollution contaminates the resources.

Keywords: optimization, ecology, environment, sustainable solution

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Authors: Scott R. Butler

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Ontario, Canada’s largest province, is in the midst of an interesting experiment in mandated asset management planning for local governments. At the beginning of 2021, Ontario’s 444 municipalities were responsible for the management of 302,864 lane kilometers of roads that have a replacement cost of $97.545 billion CDN. Roadways are by far the most complex, expensive, and extensive assets that a municipality is responsible for overseeing. Since adopting Ontario Regulation 588/47: Asset Management Planning for Municipal Infrastructure in 2017, the provincial government has established prescriptions for local road authorities regarding asset category and levels of service being provided. This provincial regulation further stipulates that asset data such as extent, condition, and life cycle costing are to be captured in manner compliant with qualitative descriptions and technical metrics. The Ontario Good Roads Association undertook an exercise to aggregate the road-related data contained within the 444 asset management plans that municipalities have filed with the provincial government. This analysis concluded that collectively Ontario municipal roadways have a $34.7 billion CDN in deferred maintenance. The ill-state of repair of Ontario municipal roads has lasting implications for province’s economic competitiveness and has garnered considerable political attention. Municipal efforts to address the maintenance backlog are stymied by the extremely limited fiscal parameters municipalities must operate within in Ontario. Further exacerbating the program are provincially designed programs that are ineffective, administratively burdensome, and not necessarily aligned with local priorities or strategies. This paper addresses how municipal asset management plans – and more specifically, the data contained in these plans – can be used to design innovative policy frameworks, flexible funding programs, and new levels of service that respond to these funding challenges, as well as emerging issues such as local economic development and climate change. To fully unlock the potential that Ontario Regulation 588/17 has imposed will require a resolute commitment to data standardization and horizontal collaboration between municipalities within regions.

Keywords: transportation, municipal asset management, subnational policy design, subnational funding program design

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Authors: Chidiebere Samuel Ijeoma

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The impact and importance of technology in all domains of existence cannot be overemphasized. It is like a double-edged sword which can be both constructive and destructive. The paper, therefore, tends to evaluate the impact of technology so far in the teaching and learning of French language in Nigeria. According to the study, the traditional methods of teaching French as a Foreign Language and recognized as our cultural methods of knowledge transfer are being fast replaced by digitalization in teaching. This, the research tends to portray and suggest the best way forward. In the Nigerian Primary Education System, the use of some local and cultural Instructional materials (teaching aids) is now almost history which the paper frowns at. Consequently, the study has these questions to ask?; Where are the chalks and blackboards? Where are the ‘Handworks’ (local brooms) submitted by school children as part of their Continuous Assessment? Finally, the research is in no way against the application of technology in the Nigerian French Language Teaching System but tries to draw a curtain between Technological methods of teaching French as a Foreign Language and the Original Nigerian System of teaching the language before the arrival of technology.

Keywords: French language teaching, future, impact, importance of technology

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Authors: Jung-Hun Cho, Tae-Heon Moon, Sun-Young Heo

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A lot of urban problems, caused by urbanization and industrialization, have occurred around the world. In particular, the creation of satellite towns, which was attributed to the explicit expansion of the city, has led to the traffic problems and the hollowization of old towns, raising the necessity of urban regeneration in old towns along with the aging of existing urban infrastructure. To select urban regeneration priority regions for the strategic execution of urban regeneration in Korea, the number of population, the number of businesses, and deterioration degree were chosen as standards. Existing standards had a limit in coping with solving urban problems fundamentally and rapidly changing reality. Therefore, it was necessary to add new indicators that can reflect the decline in relevant cities and conditions. In this regard, this study selected Busan Metropolitan City, Korea as the target area as a leading city, where urban regeneration such as an international port city has been activated like Yokohama, Japan. Prior to setting the urban regeneration priority region, the conditions of reality should be reflected because uniform and uncharacterized projects have been implemented without a quantitative analysis about population behavior within the region. For this reason, this study conducted a characterization analysis and type classification, based on the user behaviors by using representative floating population of the big data, which is a hot issue all over the society in recent days. The target areas were analyzed in this study. While 23 regions were classified as three types in existing Busan Metropolitan City urban regeneration priority region, 23 regions were classified as four types in existing Busan Metropolitan City urban regeneration priority region in terms of the type classification on the basis of user behaviors. Four types were classified as follows; type (Ⅰ) of young people - morning type, Type (Ⅱ) of the old and middle-aged- general type with sharp floating population, type (Ⅲ) of the old and middle aged-24hour-type, and type (Ⅳ) of the old and middle aged with less floating population. Characteristics were shown in each region of four types, and the study results of user behaviors were different from those of existing urban regeneration priority region. According to the results, in type (Ⅰ) young people were the majority around the existing old built-up area, where floating population at dawn is four times more than in other areas. In Type (Ⅱ), there were many old and middle-aged people around the existing built-up area and general neighborhoods, where the average floating population was more than in other areas due to commuting, while in type (Ⅲ), there was no change in the floating population throughout 24 hours, although there were many old and middle aged people in population around the existing general neighborhoods. Type (Ⅳ) includes existing economy-based type, central built-up area type, and general neighborhood type, where old and middle aged people were the majority as a general type of commuting with less floating population. Unlike existing urban regeneration priority region, these types were sub-divided according to types, and in this study, approach methods and basic orientations of urban regeneration were set to reflect the reality to a certain degree including the indicators of effective floating population to identify the dynamic activity of urban areas and existing regeneration priority areas in connection with urban regeneration projects by regions. Therefore, it is possible to make effective urban plans through offering the substantial ground by utilizing scientific and quantitative data. To induce more realistic and effective regeneration projects, the regeneration projects tailored to the present local conditions should be developed by reflecting the present conditions on the formulation of urban regeneration strategic plans.

Keywords: floating population, big data, urban regeneration, urban regeneration priority region, type classification

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Authors: A. Nurgiartiningsih, G. Ciptadi, S. B. Siswijono

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This research was done to identify the performance and breeding potency of Local Buffalo in Kangean Island, Sumenep, East Java, Indonesia. Materials used were buffalo and farmer in Kangean Island. Method used was survey with purposive sampling method. Qualitative trait and existing breeding system including the type of production system were directly observed. Quantitative trait consisted of chest girth, body weight and wither height were measured and recorded. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance applying software GENSTAT 14. Results showed the purposes of buffalo breeding in Kangean Island were for production of calves, saving, religion tradition, and buffalo racing. The combination between grazing and cut and carry system were applied in Kangean Island. Forage, grass and agricultural waste product were available abundantly especially, during the wet season. Buffalo in Kangean Island was categorized as swamp buffalo with 48 chromosomes. Observation on qualitative trait indicated that there were three skin color types: gray (81.25%), red (10.42%) and white/albino (8.33%). Analysis on quantitative trait showed that there was no significant difference between male and female buffalo. The performance of male buffalo was 132.56 cm, 119.33 cm and 174.11 cm, for the mean of body length, whither height and chest girth, respectively. The performance of female buffalo were 129.8 cm, 114.0 cm and 166.2 cm, for mean of body length, wither height and chest girth (CG), respectively. The performance of local buffalo in Kangean Island was categorized well. Kangean Island could be promoted as center of buffalo breeding and conservation. For optimal improvement of population number and its genetics value, government policy in buffalo breeding program should be implemented.

Keywords: chromosome, qualitative trait, quantitative trait, swamp buffalo

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Authors: Rajeshwari Balasubramanian, Margit Van Wessel, Nandini Deo

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The participation of women in local bodies witnessed a rise after the implementation of 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Indian Constitution which created quotas for women representatives. However, even when participation increased, it did not translate into meaningful contributions by women in local bodies. This led some civil society organisations (CSOs) to begin working with women panchayat representatives in various states to build their capacity for political participation. The focus of this paper is to study capacity building training by CSOs in Jharkhand. The paper maps how the training helps women elected representatives to negotiate their autonomy at multiple levels. The paper describes the capacity building program conducted by an international feminist organisation along with its seven local partners in Jharkhand. The central question that the study asks is: How does capacity building training by CSOs in Jharkhand impact the autonomy of elected women representatives? It uses a qualitative research methodology based on empirical data gathered through field visits in four districts of Jharkhand (Chatra, Hazaribagh, East Singhbum and Ranchi) where the program was implemented for three years. The study found that women elected representatives had to develop strategies to negotiate their choice to move out of their homes and attend the training conducted by CSOs. The ability to participate in the training programs itself was a significant achievement of personal autonomy for many women. The training provided them a platform to voice their opinion and appreciate their own value as panchayat leaders. This realization allowed them to negotiate their presence and a space for themselves in Gram panchayats. A Foucauldian approach to analyze capacity building workshops might lead us to see them as systems in which CSOs impose a form of governmentality on rural elected representatives. Instead, what we see here is a much more complex negotiation of agency in which the CSO creates spaces and practices that allow women to achieve their own forms of autonomy. The study concludes that the impact of the training on the autonomy of these women is based on their everyday negotiations of time, space and mobility. Autonomy for these elected women representatives is also contextual and relative, as they seem to realize it during the training process. The training allows the women to not only negotiate their participation in panchayats but also challenge everyday practices that are rooted in patriarchy.

Keywords: autonomy, feminist organization, local bodies, political participation

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Authors: Shahid Noor, Kazim Najjad, Muhammad Nasir, Irshad Bhutto, Abdul Samad Memon, Khurram Anwar, Tehseen Riaz, Mian Muhammad Hanif, Nauman A. Mallik, Saeed Ahmed, Israr Ahmed, Ali Yasir

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Background: Musculoskeletal pain is the most common complaint presented to the health practitioner. It is well known that untreated or under-treated pain can have a significant negative impact on an individual’s quality of life (QoL). Objectives: This study was conducted across 10 sites in six (6) major cities of Pakistan to evaluate the tolerability, safety, and the clinical response of Nuberol Forte® (Paracetamol 650 mg + Orphenadrine 50 mg) to musculoskeletal pain in routine Pakistani practice and its impact on improving the patient’s QoL. Design & Methods: This NFORT-EFFECT observational, prospective multicenter study was conducted in compliance with Good Clinical Practice guidelines and local regulatory requirements. The study sponsor was "The Searle Company Limited, Pakistan. To maintain the GCP compliances, the sponsor assigned the CRO for the site and data management. Ethical approval was obtained from an independent ethics committee. The IEC reviewed the progress of the study. Written informed consent was obtained from the study participants, and their confidentiality was maintained throughout the study. A total of 399 patients with known prescreened musculoskeletal conditions and pain who attended the study sites were recruited, as per the inclusion/exclusion criteria (clinicaltrials.gov ID# NCT04765787). The recruited patients were then prescribed Paracetamol (650 mg) and Orphenadrine (50 mg) combination (Nuberol Forte®) for 7 to 14 days as per the investigator's discretion based on the pain intensity. After the initial screening (visit 1), a follow-up visit was conducted after 1-2 weeks of the treatment (visit 2). Study Endpoints: The primary objective was to assess the pain management response of Nuberol Forte treatment and the overall safety of the drug. The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) scale was used to measure pain severity. Secondary to pain, the patients' health-related quality of life (HRQoL) was also assessed using the Muscle, Joint Measure (MJM) scale. The safety was monitored on the first dose by the patients. These assessments were done on each study visit. Results: Out of 399 enrolled patients, 49.4% were males, and 50.6% were females with a mean age of 47.24 ± 14.20 years. Most patients were presented with Knee Osteoarthritis (OA), i.e., 148(38%), followed by backache 70(18.2%). A significant reduction in the mean pain score was observed after the treatment with the combination of Paracetamol and Orphenadrine (p<0.05). Furthermore, an overall improvement in the patient’s QoL was also observed. During the study, only ten patients reported mild adverse events (AEs). Conclusion: The combination of Paracetamol and Orphenadrine (Nuberol Forte®) exhibited effective pain management among patients with musculoskeletal conditions and also improved their QoL.

Keywords: musculoskeletal pain, orphenadrine/paracetamol combination, pain management, quality of life, Pakistani population

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Authors: A. Ozkose

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This study was conducted to determination of yield and yield components of some fodder beet types (Amarilla Barres, Feldherr, Kyros, Magnum, and Rota) under the Konya region conditions. Fodder beet was obtained from the Selcuk University, Faculty of Agriculture, at 2006-2007 season and the experiment was established in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. Differences among the averages of the fodder beet cultivars are statistically important in terms of all the characteristics investigated. Leaf attitude value was 1.2–2.2 (1=erect; 5= prostrate), root shape scale value was (1=spheroidal – 9=cylindrical), root diameter 11.0–12.2 cm, remaining part of root on the ground was 6.3–13.7 cm, root length was 21.4 – 29.6 cm, leaf yield 1592 – 1917 kg/da, root yield was 10083–12258 kg/da, root dry matter content was %8.2– 18.6 and root dry matter yield was 889–1887 kg/da. As a result of the study, it was determined that fodder beet cultivars are different conditions in terms of yield and yield components. Therefore, determination of appropriate cultivars for each region affect crop yield importantly.

Keywords: fedder beet, root yield, yield components, Konya, agriculture

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Authors: Rahaf Suleiman Altallaa

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City planning involves making plans, organizing and dealing with the cities urban areas. It attempts to organize socio-spatial relationships at exceptional ranges of governance Urban planning offers the social, monetary and environmental effects of defining spatial obstacles and the influence on the spatial distribution of resources. The dreams and methods of reaching such dissemination vary extensively traditionally and geographically and are often challenged through traditional strategies that expose the political nature of application interventions and the bounds of technical know-how claims. Space, network, argument, and postcolonial debates address how present-day socio-spatial organization is formed, what needs to or should not trade, and the way it underscores whether or not a good plan will contribute to a given situation. Inside the absence of an agreed-upon technical justification for the planning exercise, the planning idea has a tendency to focus on normative processes, positioning making plans as an area for participatory democracy.

Keywords: environmental governance, environmental planning, environmental management, sustainable competitiveness, sustainability

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Authors: Ayse Cagil Kandemir, Derya Erdem, Markus Niederberger, Ralph Spolenak

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Dip Pen nanolithography (DPN), which is a tip based method, serves a novel approach to produce nano and micro-scaled patterns due to its high resolution and pattern flexibility. It is introduced as a new constructive scanning probe lithography (SPL) technique. DPN delivers materials in the form of an ink by using the tip of a cantilever as pen and substrate as paper in order to form surface architectures. First studies rely on delivery of small organic molecules on gold substrate in ambient conditions. As time passes different inks such as; polymers, colloidal particles, oligonucleotides, metallic salts were examined on a variety of surfaces. Discovery of DPN also enabled patterning with multiple inks by using multiple cantilevers for the first time in SPL history. Specifically, polymer inks, which constitute a flexible matrix for various materials, can have a potential in MEMS, NEMS and drug delivery applications. In our study, it is aimed to construct polymer patterns using DPN by studying wetting behavior of polymer on semiconductor, metal and polymer surfaces. The optimum viscosity range of polymer and effect of environmental conditions such as humidity and temperature are examined. It is observed that there is an inverse relation with ink viscosity and depletion time. This study also yields the optimal writing conditions to produce consistent patterns with DPN. It is shown that written dot sizes increase with dwell time, indicating that the examined writing conditions yield repeatable patterns.

Keywords: dip pen nanolithography, polymer, surface patterning, surface science

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Authors: M. Salih Taci, N. Tayebi, I. Bozkır

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This paper investigates the operation of a sinusoidal supplied autotransformer on the different states of magnetic polarity of primary and secondary terminals for four different step-up and step-down analytical conditions. In this paper, a new analytical modeling and equations for dot-marked and polarity-based step-up and step-down autotransformer are presented. These models are validated by the simulation of current and voltage waveforms for each state. PSpice environment was used for simulation.

Keywords: autotransformer modeling, autotransformer simulation, step-up autotransformer, step-down autotransformer, polarity

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Authors: R. Maher, D. Marchant, F. Fazel

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Choking in sport has been defined as ‘an acute performance breakdown’, and is generally explained through a range of contributory antecedents, factors, and explanatory theories. The influence of mental antecedents on an athlete’s performance under pressure has been widely examined through numerous studies. Researchers have only recently begun to investigate the influence of physical effort and associated residual fatigue as a potential contributor to choking in sport. Consequently, the initial aim of the present study was to examine the extent to which both physical exertion and pressure affect free-throw shooting performance. It was hypothesized that the free-throw shooting scores would decline under manipulated conditions. Design and Methods: Using a within-subjects design, 50 student-athletes were assigned to four manipulated conditions: (a) higher pressure-running, (b) higher pressure-no running, (c) lower pressure-running, and (d) lower pressure-no running. The physical exertion was manipulated by including a 56 meter shuttle-run in two of the running conditions. The pressure was manipulated with the presence of an audience, video-recording, performance contingent rewards, and weighting successful shots in the higher pressure conditions. A repeated measure analysis of variance was used to analyse the data. Results: The free-throw performance significantly deteriorated under manipulated physical exertion F (1, 49) = 10.13, p = .003, ηp 2 = .17 and pressure conditions F (1, 49) = 5.25, p = .02, ηp 2 = .09. The lowest free-throw scores were observed in the higher pressure-running condition, whereas the highest free-throw scores were reported in the lower pressure-no running condition. Conclusions: Physical exertion and the associated residual fatigue were contributors to choking. The results of the present study herald a new concept in choking research and yield a practical platform for use by athletes, coaches, and sport psychologists to better manage the psychological and physiological aspects of performance under pressure.

Keywords: anxiety, basketball, choking, fatigue, free-throw shooting, physical exertion

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Authors: M. Khalfa, H. Khachai, F. Chiker, K. Bougherara, R. Khenata, G. Murtaza, M. Harmel

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A theoretical study of structural, elastic, electronic and thermodynamic properties of Fe2VX, (with X = Al and Ga), were studied by means of the full-relativistic version of the full-potential augmented plane wave plus local orbitals method. For exchange and correlation potential we used both generalized-gradient approximation (GGA) and local-density approximation (LDA). Our calculated ground state properties like as lattice constants, bulk modulus and elastic constants appear more accurate when we employed the GGA rather than the LDA approximation, and these results agree very well with the available experimental and theoretical data. Further, prediction of the thermal effects on some macroscopic properties of Fe2VAl and Fe2VGa are given in this paper using the quasi-harmonic Debye model in which the lattice vibrations are taken into account. We have obtained successfully the variations of the primitive cell volume, volume expansion coefficient, heat capacities and Debye temperature with pressure and temperature in the ranges of 0–40 GPa and 0–1500 K.

Keywords: full Heusler, FP-LAPW, electronic properties, thermal properties

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Authors: Seyed Mehran Kazemi, Bahare Fatemi

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Sudoku is a logic-based combinatorial puzzle game which is popular among people of different ages. Due to this popularity, computer softwares are being developed to generate and solve Sudoku puzzles with different levels of difficulty. Several methods and algorithms have been proposed and used in different softwares to efficiently solve Sudoku puzzles. Various search methods such as stochastic local search have been applied to this problem. Genetic Algorithm (GA) is one of the algorithms which have been applied to this problem in different forms and in several works in the literature. In these works, chromosomes with little or no information were considered and obtained results were not promising. In this paper, we propose a new way of applying GA to this problem which uses more-informed chromosomes than other works in the literature. We optimize the parameters of our GA using puzzles with different levels of difficulty. Then we use the optimized values of the parameters to solve various puzzles and compare our results to another GA-based method for solving Sudoku puzzles.

Keywords: genetic algorithm, optimization, solving Sudoku puzzles, stochastic local search

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Authors: Jessica Scher Lisa, Eric Shyman

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Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neuro-developmental disorder that is characterized by persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction (i.e. deficits in social-emotional reciprocity, nonverbal communicative behaviors, and establishing/maintaining social relationships), as well as by the presence of repetitive behaviors and perseverative areas of interest (i.e. stereotyped or receptive motor movements, use of objects, or speech, rigidity, restricted interests, and hypo or hyperactivity to sensory input or unusual interest in sensory aspects of the environment). Additionally, diagnoses of ASD require the presentation of symptoms in the early developmental period, marked impairments in adaptive functioning, and a lack of explanation by general intellectual impairment or global developmental delay (although these conditions may be co-occurring). Over the past several decades, many theories have been developed in an effort to explain the root cause of ASD in terms of atypical central cognitive processes. The field of neuroscience is increasingly finding structural and functional differences between autistic and neurotypical individuals using neuro-imaging technology. One main area this research has focused upon is in visuospatial processing, with specific attention to the notion of ‘weak central coherence’ (WCC). This paper offers an analysis of findings from selected studies in order to explore research that challenges the ‘deficit’ characterization of a weak central coherence theory as opposed to a ‘superiority’ characterization of strong local coherence. The weak central coherence theory has long been both supported and refuted in the ASD literature and has most recently been increasingly challenged by advances in neuroscience. The selected studies lend evidence to the notion of amplified localized perception rather than deficient global perception. In other words, WCC may represent superiority in ‘local processing’ rather than a deficit in global processing. Additionally, the right hemisphere and the specific area of the extrastriate appear to be key in both the visual and lexicosemantic process. Overactivity in the striate region seems to suggest inaccuracy in semantic language, which lends itself to support for the link between the striate region and the atypical organization of the lexicosemantic system in ASD.

Keywords: autism spectrum disorder, neurology, visual processing, weak coherence

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Authors: Shu-Yen Wang, Shyh-Huei Hwang

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Designated as an important architectural complex of settlement by the Ministry of Culture, Hua-Zhai Settlement located in Wang-An Township, Peng-Hu County, of Taiwan has been progressively restored year by year and is now at the revitalization and reutilization stage. Over the last 5 years, YunTech has participated in the restoration project while being in compliance with the Bureau of Cultural Heritage’s spirit of 'Living Heritage Conservation'. In this study, reflections have been made to evaluate the contemporariness of traditional settlement development from the aspects of revitalization and reutilization. On the one hand, the connection between settlers’ experiences and emotions have been clarified through the living nodes, collective memory, and social-cultural connotation. On the other hand, activity design has promoted the reconstruction of living nodes and facilitated the reconnection of collective memory, enabling us to explore the contemporariness of living nodes after the reconstruction. With the adoption of literature review, participant observation, and interview analysis methods, this study concludes the following results: 1) The node reconstruction brings back the memories and makes emotional connections: the spatial collective memory is composed of different components. During the reconstruction of node space, villagers participated not only in the narration of the history but also in the restoration of the space. This process enables villagers to bring back their memories and make emotional connections thereto. 2) Villagers’ understanding towards revitalization has been facilitated through node reconstruction: as a medium of this project, activity design has facilitated node reconstruction by offering villagers a natural environment to build up emotional connections to the settlement. This also enables us to better understand the meaning of settlement activation for the local community. 3) New connections are established in life between villagers and the university through the construction of living nodes: through the local implementation of node reconstruction, new connections have been established in life between villagers who participated in the project and the university. In the meantime, the university’s entrance to the community has also been revalued.

Keywords: collective memory, local sense of belonging, reconstruction of living nodes, the important architectural complex of Wang-An Hua-Zhai settlement

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Authors: I. Dangeard, S. Meineri, M. Dupré

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large body of research on energy consumption reveals that regular information on energy consumption produces a positive effect on behavior. The present research aims to test this feedback paradigm on waste management. A small-scale experiment on residual household waste was performed in a large french urban area, in partnership with local authorities, as part of the development of larger-scale project. A two-step door-to-door recruitment scheme led to 85 households answering a questionnaire. Among them, 54 accepted to participate in a study on waste (second step). Participants were then randomly assigned to one of the 3 experimental conditions : self-reported feedback on curbside waste, external feedback on waste weight based on information technologies, and no feedback for the control group. An additional control group was added, including households who were not requested to answer the questionnaire. Household residual waste was collected every week, and tags on curbside bins fed a database with waste weight of households. The feedback period lasted 14 weeks (february-may 2014). Quantitative data on waste weight were analysed, including these 14 weeks and the 7 previous weeks. Households were then contacted by phone in order to confirm the quantitative results. Regarding the recruitment questionnaire, results revealed high pro-environmental attitude on the NEP scale, high recycling behavior level and moderate level of source reduction behavior on the adapted 3R scale, but no statistical difference between the 3 experimental groups. Regarding the feedback manipulation paradigm, waste weight reveals important differences between households, but doesn't prove any statistical difference between the experimental conditions. Qualitative phone interviews confirm that recycling is a current practice among participants, whereas source reduction of waste is not, and mainly appears as a producer problem of packaging limitation. We conclude that triggering waste prevention behaviors among recycling households involves long-term feedback and should promote benchmarking, in order to clearly set waste reduction as an objective to be managed through feedback figures.

Keywords: eco-feedback, household waste, waste reduction, experimental research

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Authors: Jalal M. Abdallah

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This paper presents experimental studies carried out on a three phase transformer to investigate and develop the transformer models, which help in testing procedures, describing and evaluating the transformer dielectric conditions process and methods such as: the partial discharge (PD) localization in windings. The measurements are based on the transfer function methods in transformer windings by frequency response analysis (FRA). Numbers of tests conditions were applied to obtain the sensitivity frequency responses of a transformer for different type of faults simulated in a particular phase. The frequency responses were analyzed for the sensitivity of different test conditions to detect and identify the starting of small faults, which are sources of PD. In more detail, the aim is to explain applicability and sensitivity of advanced PD measurements for small short circuits and its localization. The experimental results presented in the paper will help in understanding the sensitivity of FRA measurements in detecting various types of internal winding short circuits in the transformer.

Keywords: frequency response analysis (FRA), measurements, transfer function, transformer

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Authors: Sergio Andres Rojas, Julian Benavides Franco, Juan Tomas Sayago

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An increasing amount of research demonstrates how market mood affects financial markets, but their primary goal is to demonstrate how Trump's tweets impacted US interest rate volatility. Following that lead, this work evaluates the effect that Trump's tweets had during his presidency on local and international stock markets, considering not just volatility but the direction of the movement. Three indexes for Trump's tweets were created relating his activity with movements in the S&P500 using natural language analysis and machine learning algorithms. The indexes consider Trump's tweet activity and the positive or negative market sentiment they might inspire. The first explores the relationship between tweets generating negative movements in the S&P500; the second explores positive movements, while the third explores the difference between up and down movements. A pseudo-investment strategy using the indexes produced statistically significant above-average abnormal returns. The findings also showed that the pseudo strategy generated a higher return in the local market if applied to intraday data. However, only a negative market sentiment caused this effect on daily data. These results suggest that the market reacted primarily to a negative idea reflected in the negative index. In the international market, it is not possible to identify a pervasive effect. A rolling window regression model was also performed. The result shows that the impact on the local and international markets is heterogeneous, time-changing, and differentiated for the market sentiment. However, the negative sentiment was more prone to have a significant correlation most of the time.

Keywords: market sentiment, Twitter market sentiment, machine learning, natural dialect analysis

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Authors: Mardianto

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Education and learning are now grown rapidly. Synergy of techonology especially instructional technology in the learning activities are very big influence on the effectiveness of learning and creativity to achieve optimal results. But on the other hand there is a education value that is difficult to be articulated through character-forming technology such as honesty, discipline, hard work, heroism, and so forth. Learning strategy and storytelling from the past until today is still an option for teachers to convey the message of character values. With the material was loaded from the local culture (stories folklore), the combination of learning objectives (build character child) strategy, and traditional methods (storytelling and story), and the preservation of local culture (dig tale folklore) is critical to maintaining the nation's culture. In the context of maintaining the nation's culture, then since the age of the child at the level of government elementary school a necessity. Globalization, the internet and technology sometimes feel can displace the role of the teacher in the learning activities. To the oral tradition is a mainstay of storytelling should be maintained and preserved. This research was conducted at the elementary school in the city of Medan, North Sumatra Indonesia, with a random sampling technique, the 27 class teachers were respondents who were randomly assigned to the Madrasah Ibtdaiyah (Islamic Elementary School) both public and private. Research conducted at the beginning of 2014 refers to a curriculum that is being transformed in the environment ministry Republic Religion Indonesia. The results of this study indicate that; the declining skills of teachers to develop storytelling this can be seen from; 74.07% of teachers have never attended a special training storytelling, 85.19% no longer nasakah new stories, only 22.22% are teachers who incorporate methods of stories in the learning plan. Most teachers are no longer concerned with storytelling, among those experiencing difficulty in developing methods because the story; 66.67% of children are more interested in children's cartoons like Bobo boy, Angrybirds and others, 59.26 children prefer other activities than listening to a story. The teachers hope, folklore books should be preserved, storytelling training should be provided by the government through the ministry of religion, race or competition of storytelling should be scheduled, writing a new script-based populist storytelling should be provided immediately. The teachers’ hope certainly not excessive, by realizing the story method becomes articulation as the efforts of child character development based populist, therefore the local knowledge can be a strong fortress facing society in the era of progress as at present, and future.

Keywords: story telling, local wisdom, education, technology development

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Authors: Zeynep Balci

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This article examines the historical points of connection between Celtic Bagpipes and ‘’Tulum’’, which is a type of bagpipes that is culturally played mostly in Eastern Black Sea Regions of Turkey and Georgia, and melodic similarities of the pieces composed for such instruments with respect to sociological and geographical factors. Although the cultural centers of Celtic Bagpipes and ‘’Tulum’’ are separated, they share common geographical conditions, which show similar effects on the development of the folk tunes for such instruments. Geographic living conditions and the social lives that people created under the influence of their surroundings stand out most in ethnic music, and it can be argued that separated groups of people living under similar conditions might have closeness in their social lives and, thus, their ethnic music. Hence, the aim of this research is to understand the musical deviations and unification of the two culturally separated social lives lived near similar mountains and plateaus in two different regions of the world by comparing two closely related ethnic aerophones.

Keywords: bagpipes, Celts, Black Sea, Turkish people

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Authors: Yang Zheng, Wei Sun

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This paper describes a new approach which can be used to interpret the experimental creep deformation data obtained from miniaturized thin plate bending specimen test to the corresponding uniaxial data based on an inversed application of the reference stress method. The geometry of the thin plate is fully defined by the span of the support, l, the width, b, and the thickness, d. Firstly, analytical solutions for the steady-state, load-line creep deformation rate of the thin plates for a Norton’s power law under plane stress (b → 0) and plane strain (b → ∞) conditions were obtained, from which it can be seen that the load-line deformation rate of the thin plate under plane-stress conditions is much higher than that under the plane-strain conditions. Since analytical solution is not available for the plates with random b-values, finite element (FE) analyses are used to obtain the solutions. Based on the FE results obtained for various b/l ratios and creep exponent, n, as well as the analytical solutions under plane stress and plane strain conditions, an approximate, numerical solutions for the deformation rate are obtained by curve fitting. Using these solutions, a reference stress method is utilised to establish the conversion relationships between the applied load and the equivalent uniaxial stress and between the creep deformations of thin plate and the equivalent uniaxial creep strains. Finally, the accuracy of the empirical solution was assessed by using a set of “theoretical” experimental data.

Keywords: bending, creep, thin plate, materials engineering

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Authors: Supranee Sittikan, Darunee Jongudomkarn, Rutja Phuphaibul

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Thai’s families with disabilities are diverse, poor economy, low education disproportionately characterized their living that includes stress and suffering. This article reports a preliminary study using a qualitative case study with six disabilities (five physical and one mental problem) Their six family caregivers who perceived they were managing well with their conditions as well. Data were collected by in-depth interviews during November-December 2017 in North-East of Thailand. Preliminary results were found factors of moving in comprised of three themes as followings Karma: the families believe that the disability happened because of bad-karma which attached to them. From the reason, the members of families have to deserve and accept it. Family attachment: the families believe in the importance of being the family so they have to take good care in one another whether happy or suffering Community support: the families can get more to received helping hands from local health care providers and community health volunteers. These activities are very important to be representative in taking the families through health accessibility, which help them face with disabling problems. Nevertheless, the study needs further exploring on other families’ and health care team's perspective in larger scales leading to develop an appropriate health care service system which can support and promote the well-being of the families living with disabilities in the future.

Keywords: families with disabilities, Karma, family attachment, community support

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Authors: Rashad Al-Hindi

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The aims of the study were to isolate and identify potential probiotic lactic acid bacteria due to their therapeutic and food preservation importance. Sixty-three suspected lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains were isolated from thirteen different raw milk and fermented milk product samples of various animal origins manufactured indigenously in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia using de Man, Rogosa and Sharpe (MRS) agar medium and various incubation conditions. The identification of forty-six selected LAB strains was performed using molecular methods (16S rDNA gene sequencing). The LAB counts in certain samples were higher under microaerobic incubation conditions than under anaerobic conditions. The identified LAB belonged to the following genera: Enterococcus (16 strains), Lactobacillus (9 strains), Weissella (10 strains), Streptococcus (8 strains) and Lactococcus (3 strains), constituting 34.78%, 19.57%, 21.74%, 17.39% and 6.52% of the suspected isolates, respectively. This study noted that the raw milk and traditional fermented milk products of Saudi Arabia, especially stirred yogurt (Laban) made from camel milk, could be rich in LAB. The obtained LAB strains in this study will be tested for their probiotic potentials in another ongoing study.

Keywords: dairy, LAB, probiotic, Saudi Arabia

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Authors: Thet Su Hlaing, Shoichi Kojima

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The growing desire for better indoor thermal performance with moderate energy consumption is becoming an issue for challenging today’s built environment. Studies related to the effective way of enhancing indoor thermal comfort had been done by approaching in numerous ways. Few studies have been focused on the correlation between building material and indoor thermal comfort of vernacular house. This paper analyzes the thermal comfort conditions of Bamboo House, mostly located in a hot and humid region. Depending on the roofing material, how the indoor environment varies will be observed through monitoring indoor and outdoor comfort measurement of Bamboo house as well as occupants’ preferable comfort condition. The result revealed that the indigenous roofing material mostly influences the indoor thermal environment by performing to have less effect from the outdoor temperature. It can keep the room cool with moderate thermal comfort, especially in the early morning and night, in the summertime without mechanical device assistance. After analyzing the performance of roofing material, which effect on indoor thermal comfort for 24 hours, it can be efficiently managed the time for availing mechanical cooling devices and make it supply only the necessary period of a day, which will lead to a partially reduce energy consumption.

Keywords: bamboo house, hot and humid climate, indoor thermal comfort, local indigenous roofing material

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Authors: Abdurraheem A. Yakub

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Housing is one of the needs of mankind and is one of the best indicators of a person’s standard of living. This research was set out to analyze the housing qualities and conditions in Kano. Primary data was collected through both Personal observations where the researcher carried out an inspection of the study area prior to interview/implementation of questionnaires and took into consideration the type of housing units, construction materials and services available as well as the environmental condition of the study area. This was followed by an interview which was done through personal contact with the various people related to the study. In the course of doing that, questions were asked orally and notes were taken to record the responses. Thereafter, the Questionnaire was implemented which was earlier designed to elicit information from households in the study area using well-structured questions related to the type of facilities provided in the housing unit, types of houses and response with regard to quality of their houses and neighborhoods, tenure of house. The research work looked at the prevailing housing qualities and conditions and the state of the existing facilities and amenities within the environment and offered recommendations on policies and measures that could help improve the situation.

Keywords: housing provision, housing quality, housing standard, housing condition, housing affordability and housing facilities

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Authors: Domingos Vita, Patrick Brady

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Background: There is a tuberculosis (TB) epidemic in Angola that has been getting worse for more than a decade despite the active implementation of the DOTS strategy. The aim of this study was to directly interrogate healthcare workers involved in TB control on what they consider to be the drivers of the TB epidemic in Angola. Methods: Twenty four in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with medical staff working in this field in the provinces of Luanda and Benguela. Results: The healthcare professionals see the migrant working poor as a particular problem for the control of TB. These migrants are constructed as ‘Rural People’ and are seen as non-compliant and late-presenting. This is a stigmatized and marginal group contending with the additional stigma associated with TB infection. The healthcare professionals interviewed also see the interruption of treatment and self medication generally as a better explanation for the TB epidemic than urbanization or lack of medication. Conclusions: The local narrative is in contrast to previous explanations used elsewhere in the developing world. To be effective policy must recognize the local issues of the migrant workforce, interruption of treatment and the stigma associated with TB in Angola.

Keywords: Africa, Angola, migrants, qualitative, research, tuberculosis

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Authors: Diogo de Carvalho Cabral

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This article offers a non-declensionist account of tropical deforestation, arguing that, rather than social stamp upon the environment or ecological endgame, deforestation is part of social site-making and remaking, the process through which humans produce sociality by carrying out nature-mediated – and therefore nature-transforming – practices that inevitably reset the very conditions of those practices. Human landscape-shaping inadvertently alters other species’ habitats –most often decimating them, but sometimes improving them–, the outcomes of which always resonate back upon human inhabitation and land use. Despite the overall tendency of biotic homogenization resulting from modern deforestation processes, there are always winners, i.e., species that gain competitive advantages enabling them to thrive in the novel ecosystems. Here it is examined one such case of deforestation-boosted species, namely leafcutter ants, which wrought havoc in the rural landscapes of nineteenth-century Brazil by defoliating a wide range of crops. By combining Historical GIS analysis and qualitative interpretation, it is shown how agricultural deforestation might have changed the ant species' biogeographies, and how in turn these changes – construed as 'infestation' – stimulated social innovations and rearrangements such as technical ingenuity, legal-administrative practices, and even local electoral arenas.

Keywords: deforestation, leafcutter ants, nineteenth-century Brazil, socio-ecological change

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Authors: Kamila Dus-Szachniewicz, Artur Bednarkiewicz, Katarzyna Gdesz-Birula, Slawomir Drobczynski

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In modern oncology hyperthermia (HT) is defined as a controlled tumor heating. HT treatment temperatures range between 40–48 °C and can selectively damage heat-sensitive cancer cells or limit their further growth, usually with minimal injury to healthy tissues. Despite many advantages, conventional whole-body and regional hyperthermia have clinically relevant side effects, including cardiac and vascular disorders. Additionally, the lack of accessibility of deep-seated tumor sites and impaired targeting micrometastases renders HT less effective. It is believed that above disadvantages can significantly overcome by the application of biofunctionalized microparticles, which can specifically target tumor sites and become activated by an external stimulus to provide a sufficient cellular response. In our research, the unique optical tweezers system have enabled capturing the silica microparticles, primary cells and tumor spheroids in highly controllable and reproducible environment to study the impact of localized heat stimulation on normal and pathological cell and within multicellular tumor spheroid. High throughput spheroid model was introduced to better mimic the response to HT treatment on tumors in vivo. Additionally, application of local heating of tumor spheroids was performed in strictly controlled conditions resembling tumor microenvironment (temperature, pH, hypoxia, etc.), in response to localized and nonhomogeneous hyperthermia in the extracellular matrix, which promotes tumor progression and metastatic spread. The lack of precise control over these well- defined parameters in basic research leads to discrepancies in the response of tumor cells to the new treatment strategy in preclinical animal testing. The developed approach enables also sorting out subclasses of cells, which exhibit partial or total resistance to therapy, in order to understand fundamental aspects of the resistance shown by given tumor cells in response to given therapy mode and conditions. This work was funded by the National Science Centre (NCN, Poland) under grant no. UMO-2017/27/B/ST7/01255.

Keywords: cancer spheroids, hyperthermia, microparticles, optical tweezers

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Authors: Zita Fomukong Andam

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The decision on where to host sport events does not depend on the national politicians or specific international sport event bodies but also involves the residents of the hosting country. Sport tourism is one of the fast growing industries in the world. Cameroonians consider sport as a point of unity and growth within the country. It has a huge variety of sporting activities like swimming, canoe racing, tug of war and most especially soccer well known as football. The football national team made an impact in 1990 at the FIFA world cup. They also won the African Nations Cup five times. Being the winner of the 2017 African Cup of Nations, they are to host the 2019 African cup of Nations. The purpose of this research is to analyse the impacts of sport tourism event in Cameroon and specifically examine how this event influences the residents. A deep research discourse conducted with randomly selected 300 inbound residents and 200 Cameroonian residents living abroad. Survey questionnaires, interviews and direct observations were carried out as a method of collecting data. The results showed that sport events brings a lot of prestige and honor to the country; generate revenues to the country’s economy and particularly to the local businesses. On the other hand, the results showed that the local residents lose their intimacy, privacy, and their daily life routine is affected. In addition to this, they face negative social inequalities and environmental impacts. Understanding these results the national government and international bodies might be able to contribute to future studies and propose efficient measures to maximize the positive benefits and minimize the negative benefits.

Keywords: sport Tourism, economic impact, resident altitude, african Cup of nations

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