Search results for: Technology Management.

Authors: Ronak Mishra, Sachin Kale

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Background: The clinical outcome of a new fixation device (femoral neck system, FNS) for femoral neck fractures is not described properly. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the functional outcome of the patients of femoral neck fractures treated with FNS. Methods: A retrospective study was done among patients aged 60 years or less. On the basis of inclusion and exclusion criteria a final sample size of 30 was considered. Blood loss, type of fracture internal fixation, and length of clinical follow-up were all acquired from patient records. The volume of blood loss was calculated. The mean and standard deviation of continuous variables were reported (with range). Harris Hip score (HHS) And Post op xrays at intervals(6 weeks, 6 months ,12 months ) we used to clinically asses the patient. Results: Out of all 60% were females and 40% were males. The mean age of the patients was. 44.12(+-) years The comparison of functional outcomes of the patients treated with FNS using Harris Hip Score. It showed a highly significant comparison between the patients at post operatively , 6 weeks and 3 months and 12 months . There were no postoperative complications seen among the patients. Conclusion: FNS offers superior biomechanical qualities and greatly improved overall build stability. It allows for a significant reduction in operation time, potentially lowering risks and consequences associated with surgery.

Keywords: FNS, trauma, hip, neck femur fracture, minimally invasive surgery

Procedia PDF Downloads 53

Authors: Lara Dutil-Fafard, Caroline Rhéaume, Patrick Archambault, Daniel Lafond, Neal W. Pollock

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Improving resources for medical autonomy of astronauts in prolonged space missions, such as a Mars mission, requires not only technology development, but also decision-making support systems. The Advanced Crew Medical System - Medical Condition Requirements study, funded by the Canadian Space Agency, aimed to create knowledge content and a scenario-based query capability to support medical autonomy of astronauts. The key objective of this study was to create a prototype tool for identifying medical infrastructure requirements in terms of medical knowledge, skills and materials. A multicriteria decision-making method was used to prioritize the highest risk medical events anticipated in a long-term space mission. Starting with those medical conditions, event sequence diagrams (ESDs) were created in the form of decision trees where the entry point is the diagnosis and the end points are the predicted outcomes (full recovery, partial recovery, or death/severe incapacitation). The ESD formalism was adapted to characterize and compare possible outcomes of medical conditions as a function of available medical knowledge, skills, and supplies in a given mission scenario. An extensive literature review was performed and summarized in a medical condition database. A PostgreSQL relational database was created to allow query-based evaluation of health outcome metrics with different medical infrastructure scenarios. Critical decision points, skill and medical supply requirements, and probable health outcomes were compared across chosen scenarios. The three medical conditions with the highest risk rank were acute coronary syndrome, sepsis, and stroke. Our efforts demonstrate the utility of this approach and provide insight into the effort required to develop appropriate content for the range of medical conditions that may arise.

Keywords: decision support system, event-sequence diagram, exploration mission, medical autonomy, scenario-based queries, space medicine

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Authors: Ranju Chowdhury, Santosh K. Sarkar

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Trace element accumulation potential of ten mangrove species in individual plant tissues (leaves, bark and root/pneumatophore) along with host sediments was carried out at 2 study sites of diverse environmental stresses of Indian Sundarban Wetland, a UNESCO world heritage site. The study was undertaken with the following objectives: (i) to investigate the extent of accumulation and the distribution of trace metals in plant tissues (ii) to determine whether sediment trace metal levels are correlated with trace metal levels in tissues and (iii) to find out the suitable candidate for phytoremediation species. Mangrove sediments showed unique potential in many- fold increase for most trace metals than plant tissues due to their inherent physicochemical properties. The concentrations of studied 11 trace elements (expressed in µg g -1) showed wide range of variations in host sediment with the following descending order: Fe (2865.31-3019.62) > Mn (646.04- 648.47 > Cu (35.03- 41.55) > Zn (32.51- 36.33) > Ni (34.4- 36.60) > Cr (27.5- 29.54) > Pb (11.6- 20.34) > Co (6.79- 8.55) > As (3.22- 4.41) > Cd (0.19- 0.22) > Hg (0.06- 0.07). The ranges of concentration of trace metals (expressed in µg g -1) for As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn in plant tissues were 0.006- 0.31, 0.02- 2.97, 0.10- 4.80, 0.13- 6.49, 4.46- 48.30, 9.20- 938.13, 0.02- 0.13, 9.8- 1726.24, 5.41- 11.34, 0.04 - 7.64, 3.81- 52.20 respectively. Among all trace elements, Cd and Zn were highly bioaccumulated in Excoecaria agallocha (2.97 and 52.20 µg g -1 respectively). The bio- concentration factor (BCF) showed its maximum value (15.5) in E. agallocha for Cd, suggesting that it can be considered as a high-efficient plant for trace metal bioaccumulation. Therefore, phytoremediation could be extensively used for the removal of the toxic contaminants for sustainable management of Sundarban coastal regions.

Keywords: Indian Sundarban, mangroves, phytoremediation, trace elements

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Authors: Anju Elizbath Peter, S. M. Shiva Nagendra, Indumathi M.Nambi

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The deliberate fires initiated by dump managers and human scavengers to reduce the volume of waste and recovery of valuable metals/materials are common at municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal sites in developed country. A large amount of toxic gases released due to this act is responsible for the deterioration of regional and local air quality, which causes visibility impairment and acute respiratory diseases. The present study was aimed at the characterization of MSW and emission characteristics of burning of MSW in the laboratory. MSW samples were collected directly from the one of the open dumpsite located in Chennai city. Solid waste sampling and laboratory analysis were carried out according to American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards. Results indicated the values of moisture content, volatile solids (VS) and calorific values of solid waste samples were 16.67%,8%,9.17MJ/kg, respectively. The elemental composition showed that the municipal solid waste contains 25.84% of carbon, 3.69% of hydrogen, 1.57% of nitrogen and 0.26% of sulphur. The calorific value of MSW was found to be 9.17 MJ/Kg which is sufficient to facilitate self-combustion of waste. The characterization of emissions from the burning of 1 kg of MSW in the test chamber showed a total of 90 mg/kg of PM10 and 243 mg/kg of PM2.5. The current research study results will be useful for municipal authorities to formulate guideline and policy structure regarding the MSW management to reduce the impact of air emissions at an open dump site.

Keywords: characterization, MSW, open burning, PM10, PM2.5

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Authors: Mufide Cotuk, Muslim Bakir

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National education in Turkey aims to provide superior education opportunities to students in order to develop their intellectual abilities in accordance with contemporary pedagogy. Physical education (PE) plays an important role in this context. Various factors affect the quality and efficiency of the process of PE. Factors related to governance are crucially important, especially those of authority and responsibility. For educational institutions at high school level, the factors affecting authority and responsibility have not been clearly delineated. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine authority and responsibility of PE teachers as the balance between them. The study sample consisted of 60 PE teachers (19 women, 41 men) at 57 high schools in Istanbul (65% state and 35% private institutions). All PE teachers completed the study questionnaire collecting demographic and institutional data as knowledge and attitudes regarding authority and responsibility issues. The determination of authority and responsibility of PE teachers has been grounded on the law for government officials, course-passing regulations, and school sports regulations. The PE teachers declared as the primary source of their authority and responsibility ‘school sports regulations’ (56,7% of PE teachers), ‘course-passing regulations’ (36,7% of PE teachers) and ‘the law for government officials’ (30,0% of PE teachers). The PE teachers mentioned that the school administration burdened them with additional responsibilities (58,3% of PE teachers). Such ‘additional’ responsibilities were primarily related to ‘disciplinary regulations’ (21,7% of PE teachers) and ‘maintenance of school order’ (16,0% of PE teachers). In conclusion, authority and responsibility of PE teachers were not well balanced. As authority issues were not clearly stated, ‘compulsory’ responsibilities increased causing this imbalance.

Keywords: authority, PE teacher, responsibility, sport management

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Authors: Saeed Sayyad Hagh Shomar

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Traffic congestion pricing in urban streets is one of the most suitable options for solving the traffic problems and environment pollutions in the cities of the country. Unlike its acceptable outcomes, there are problems concerning the necessity to pay by the mass. Regarding the fact that public response in order to succeed in this strategy is so influential, studying their response and behavior to get the feedback and improve the strategies is of great importance. In this study, a questionnaire was used to examine the public reactions to the traffic congestion pricing schemes at the center of Tehran metropolis and the factors involved in people’s decision making in accepting or rejecting the congestion pricing schemes were assessed based on the data obtained from the questionnaire as well as the international experiences. Then, by analyzing and comparing the schemes, guidelines to reduce public objections to them are discussed. The results of reviewing and evaluating the public reactions show that all the pros and cons must be considered to guarantee the success of these projects. Consequently, with targeted public education and consciousness-raising advertisements, prior to initiating a scheme and ensuring the mechanism of the implementation after the start of the project, the initial opposition is reduced and, with the gradual emergence of the real and tangible benefits of its implementation, users’ satisfaction will increase.

Keywords: demand management, international experiences, traffic congestion pricing, public acceptance, public reactions, public objection

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Authors: P. Sindhumole, K. Soumya, R. Renjimol

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Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the major staple food crop over the world. It is prone to a number of biotic and abiotic stresses, out of which Bacterial Leaf Blight (BLB), caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae, is the most rampant. Management of this disease through chemicals or any other means is very difficult. The best way to control BLB is by the development of Host Plant Resistance. BLB resistance is not an activity of a single gene but it involves a cluster of more than thirty genes reported. Among these, Xa5 and Xa13 genes are two important ones, which can be diagnosed through marker assisted selection using closely linked molecular markers. During 2014, the first phase of field screening using forty traditional rice genotypes was carried out and twenty resistant symptomless genotypes were identified. Molecular characterisation of these genotypes using RM 122 SSR marker revealed the presence of Xa5 gene in thirteen genotypes. Forty-two traditional rice genotypes were used for the second phase of field screening for BLB resistance. Among these, sixteen resistant genotypes were identified. These genotypes, along with two susceptible check genotypes, were subjected to marker assisted selection for Xa13 gene, using the linked STS marker RG-136. During this process, presence of Xa13 gene could be detected in ten resistant genotypes. In future, these selected genotypes can be directly utilised as donors in Marker assisted breeding programmes for BLB resistance in rice.

Keywords: oryza sativa, SSR, STS, marker, disease, breeding

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Authors: John C. Munene, Florence Nansubuga

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The study set out to examine a number of theories that have directly or indirectly implied that words are potent but that the potency depends on the context or practice in which they are utilised. The theories include the Freudian theory of Cathexis, which directly suggests that ambiguous events when named become potent as well as the word that is used to name them. We briefly examine Psychological differentiation, which submit that ambiguity is often a result of failure to distinguish figure from ground. The investigate Prospecting Theory, which suggests that in a situation when people have to make decisions, they have options to utilise intuition or reasoned judgment. It suggests that more often than not, the tendency is to utilise intuition especially when generic heuristics such as representativeness and similarity are available. That usage of these heuristics may depend on lack of a salience or accessibility of the situation due to ambiguity. We also examine Activity Theory, which proposes that meaning of words emerge directly and dialectically from the activities in which they are used. The paper argues that the power of words will depend on either or all of the theories mentioned above. To examine this general proposition we test the utilization of a generic competence framework in a local setting. The assumption is that generic frameworks are inherently ambiguous and lack the potency normally associated with the competence concept in the management of human resources. A number of case studies provide initial supporting evidence for the general proposition.

Keywords: competence, meaning, operationalisation, power of words

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Authors: Abisha Isaac Mohanlal

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Amidst all suspicions and cynicism raised by the legal fraternity, Artificial Intelligence has found its way into the legal system and has revolutionized the conventional forms of legal services delivery. Be it legal argumentation and research or resolution of complex legal disputes; artificial intelligence has crept into all legs of modern day legal services. Its impact has been largely felt by way of big data, legal expert systems, prediction tools, e-lawyering, automated mediation, etc., and lawyers around the world are forced to upgrade themselves and their firms to stay in line with the growth of technology in law. Researchers predict that the future of legal services would belong to artificial intelligence and that the age of human lawyers will soon rust. But as far as the Judiciary is concerned, even in the developed countries, the system has not fully drifted away from the orthodoxy of preferring Natural Intelligence over Artificial Intelligence. Since Judicial decision-making involves a lot of unstructured and rather unprecedented situations which have no single correct answer, and looming questions of legal interpretation arise in most of the cases, discretion and Emotional Intelligence play an unavoidable role. Added to that, there are several ethical, moral and policy issues to be confronted before permitting the intrusion of Artificial Intelligence into the judicial system. As of today, the human judge is the unrivalled master of most of the judicial systems around the globe. Yet, scientists of Artificial Intelligence claim that robot judges can replace human judges irrespective of how daunting the complexity of issues is and how sophisticated the cognitive competence required is. They go on to contend that even if the system is too rigid to allow robot judges to substitute human judges in the recent future, Artificial Intelligence may still aid in other judicial tasks such as drafting judicial documents, intelligent document assembly, case retrieval, etc., and also promote overall flexibility, efficiency, and accuracy in the disposal of cases. By deconstructing the major challenges that Artificial Intelligence has to overcome in order to successfully invade the human- dominated judicial sphere, and critically evaluating the potential differences it would make in the system of justice delivery, the author tries to argue that penetration of Artificial Intelligence into the Judiciary could surely be enhancive and reparative, if not fully transformative.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, judicial decision making, judicial systems, legal services delivery

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Authors: Vijay Goud, Ramasamy Alagirusamy, Apurba Das, Dinesh Kalyanasundaram

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Thermoplastic composites render new opportunities as effective processing technology while crafting newer complications into processing. One of the notable challenges is in achieving thorough wettability that is significantly deterred by the high viscosity of the long molecular chains of the thermoplastics. As a result of high viscosity, it is very difficult to impregnate the resin into a tightly interlaced textile structure to fill the voids present in the structure. One potential solution to the above problem, is to pre-deposit resin on the fiber, prior to consolidation. The current study compares DREF spinning, powder coating and film stacking methods of predeposition of resin onto fibers. An investigation into the flexural properties of unidirectional composites (UDC) produced from blending of carbon fiber and polypropylene (PP) matrix in varying forms of fiber, powder and film are reported. Dr. Ernst Fehrer (DREF) yarns or friction spun hybrid yarns were manufactured from PP fibers and carbon tows. The DREF yarns were consolidated to yield unidirectional composites (UDCs) referred to as UDC-D. PP in the form of powder was coated on carbon tows by electrostatic spray coating. The powder-coated towpregs were consolidated to form UDC-P. For the sake of comparison, a third UDC referred as UDC-F was manufactured by the consolidation of PP films stacked between carbon tows. The experiments were designed to yield a matching fiber volume fraction of about 50 % in all the three UDCs. A comparison of mechanical properties of the three composites was studied to understand the efficiency of matrix wetting and impregnation. Approximately 19% and 68% higher flexural strength were obtained for UDC-P than UDC-D and UDC-F respectively. Similarly, 25% and 81% higher modulus were observed in UDC-P than UDC-D and UDC-F respectively. Results from micro-computed tomography, scanning electron microscopy, and short beam tests indicate better impregnation of PP matrix in UDC-P obtained through electrostatic spray coating process and thereby higher flexural strength and modulus.

Keywords: DREF spinning, film stacking, flexural strength, powder coating, thermoplastic composite

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Authors: Vassiliki Drosou, Theoni Oikonomou

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EU-SOLARIS will form a new legal entity to explore and implement improved rules and procedures for Research Infrastructures (RI) for Concentrated Solar Thermal (CST) and solar chemistry technologies, in order to optimize RI development and R&D coordination. It is expected to be the first of its kind, where industrial needs and private funding will play a significant role. The success of EU-SOLARIS initiative will be the establishment of a new governance body, aided by sustainable financial models. EU-SOLARIS is expected to be an important tool, which will provide the most complete, high quality scientific infrastructure portfolio at international level and to facilitate researchers' access to highly specialised research infrastructure through a single access point. This will be accomplished by linking scientific communities, industry and universities involved in the CST sector. The access to be offered by EU-SOLARIS will guarantee the direct contact of experienced scientists with newcomers and interested students. The set of RIs participating in EU-SOLARIS will offer access to state of the art infrastructures, high-quality services, and will enable users to conduct high quality research. Access to these facilities will contribute to the enhancement of the European research area by: -Opening installations to European and non-European scientists, coming from both academia and industry, thus improving co-operation. -Improving scientific critical mass in domains where knowledge is now widely dispersed. -Generating strong Europe-wide R&D project consortia, increasing the competitiveness of each member alone. EU-SOLARIS will be created in the framework of a European project, co-funded by the 7th Framework Programme of the European Union –whose initiative is to foster, contribute and promote the scientific and technological development of the CST and solar chemistry technologies. Primary objective of EU-SOLARIS is to contribute to the improvement of the state of the art of these technologies with the aim of preserving and reinforcing the European leadership in this field, in which EU-SOLARIS is expected to be a valuable instrument. EU-SOLARIS scope, activities, objectives, current status and vision will be given in the article. Moreover, the rules, processes and criteria regulating the access to the research infrastructures included in EU-SOLARIS will be presented.

Keywords: concentrated solar thermal (CST) technology, renewable energy sources, research infrastructures, solar chemistry

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Authors: John Adeboye Oyeboade, Pius Olatunji Olaojo, Kuburay Folashade Yusuf, John Oluwaseye Adebayo

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Web-based Information Resources (WBIR) are increasingly becoming essential tools for students to accomplish academic tasks. Preliminary observation revealed that many polytechnic libraries in Southwestern Nigeria do not subscribe or renew subscriptions to WBIR academic databases, and students use free-based electronic resources. Hence, this study was carried out to investigate socioeconomic status and use of WBIR by public polytechnic students in Southwestern Nigeria. Six public polytechnics out of the 16 offerings of Higher National Diploma (HND) programs were selected by stratified random sampling to reflect federal and state polytechnics. A proportionate size sampling technique was used to select 1,463 HND students. The instruments used were Socioeconomic status (SeS) (α=0.81) and WBIR used for Academic Tasks (α=0.98) scales. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson’s product-moment correlation at a 0.05 level of significance. Students’ SeS ( =79.10) was moderate. Online reference sources ( =3.97), Web 2.0 ( =3.50), and social media ( =3.00) were regularly used WBIR. WBIR use ( =53.34) was moderate. The students used WBIR for project writing ( =3.46) and class assignments ( =3.42). The Students’ SeS (r=0.59) had significant relationships with WBIR use. Socioeconomic status directly influenced the use of WBIR for academic tasks. Management of polytechnics should provide WBIR subscriptions for students’ use in the polytechnic e-libraries.

Keywords: public polytechnic students, polytechnic libraries, socioeconomic status, Web-based information resources

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Authors: Omneya Messallam, Sara S. Fouad

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The Modernist Movement initially flourished in France, Holland, Germany and the Soviet Union. Many architects and designers were inspired and followed its principles. Two of its most important architects (Gerrit Rietveld and Ludwig Mies van de Rohe) were introduced in this paper. Each did not follow the other’s principles and had their own particular rules; however, they shared the same features of the Modernist International Style, such as Anti-historicism, Abstraction, Technology, Function and Internationalism/ Universality. Key Modernist principles translated into high expectations, which sometimes did not meet the inhabitants’ aspirations of living comfortably; consequently, leading to a conflict and misunderstanding between the designer and their clients’ needs. Therefore, historical case studies (the Schroder and the Farnsworth houses) involving two Modernist pioneer architects have been chosen. This paper is an attempt to explore some of the influential factors affecting buildings design such as: needs, gender, and question concerning commonalities between both designers and their clients. The three aspects and two designers explored here have been chosen because they have been influenced the researchers to understand the impact of those factors on the design process, building’s performance, and the dweller’s satisfaction. This is a descriptive/ analytical research based on two historical comparative case studies that involve several steps such as: key evaluation questions (KEQs), observations, document analysis, etc. The methodology is based on data collation and finding validations. The research aims to state a manifest to regulate the relation between architects and their clients to reach the optimum building performance and functional interior design that suits their clients’ needs, reflects the architects’ character, and the school they belong to. At the end, through the investigation in this paper, the different needs between both the designers and the clients have been seen not only in the building itself but also it could convert the inhabitant’s life in various ways. Moreover, a successful relationship between the architect and their clients could play a significant role in the success of projects. In contrast, not every good design or celebrated building could end up with a successful relationship between the designer and their client or full-fill the inhabitant’s aspirations.

Keywords: architect’s character, building’s performance, commonalities, client’s character, gender, modernist movement, needs

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Authors: W. H. Zheng, J. Li, F. J. Hong

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Thin liquid film evaporation in ultrathin nanoporous membranes, which reduce the viscous resistance while still maintaining high capillary pressure and efficient liquid delivery, is a promising thermal management approach for high-power electronic devices cooling. Given the challenges and technical limitations of experimental studies for accurate interface temperature sensing, complex manufacturing process, and short duration of membranes, a dimensionless lattice Boltzmann method capable of restoring thermophysical properties of working fluid is particularly derived. The evaporation of R134a to its pure vapour ambient in nanoporous membranes with the pore diameter of 80nm, thickness of 472nm, and three porosities of 0.25, 0.33 and 0.5 are numerically simulated. The numerical results indicate that the highest heat transfer coefficient is about 1740kW/m²·K; the highest heat flux is about 1.49kW/cm² with only about the wall superheat of 8.59K in the case of porosity equals to 0.5. The dissipated heat flux scaled with porosity because of the increasing effective evaporative area. Additionally, the self-regulation of the shape and curvature of the meniscus under different operating conditions is also observed. This work shows a promising approach to forecast the membrane performance for different geometry and working fluids.

Keywords: high heat flux, ultrathin nanoporous membrane, thin film evaporation, lattice Boltzmann method

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Authors: Rajender Lal, Seema Kaushik

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The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946 when it was not held because of the Second World War. Its 20th edition took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, which was won by Germany. The World Cup is the most widely viewed and followed sporting event in the world, exceeding even the Olympic Games; the cumulative audience of all matches of the 2006 FIFA World Cup was estimated to be 26.29 billion with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the final match, a ninth of the entire population of the planet. General-interest newspapers typically publish news articles and feature articles on national and international news as well as local news. The news includes political events and personalities, business and finance, crime, severe weather, and natural disasters; health and medicine, science, and technology; sports; and entertainment, society, food and cooking, clothing and home fashion, and the arts. It became curiosity to investigate that how much coverage is given to this most widely viewed international event as compared to other sports in India. Hence, the present study was conducted with the aim of examining the comparative coverage of FIFA World Cup 2014 and other sports in the four leading Newspapers of India including Hindustan Times, The Hindu, The Times of India, and The Tribune. Specific objectives were to measure the source of news, type of news items and the placement of news related to FIFA World Cup and other sports. Representative sample of ten editions each of the four English dailies was chosen for the purpose of the study. The analysis was based on the actual scanning of data from the representative sample of the dailies for the period of the competition. It can be concluded from the analysis that this event was given maximum coverage by the Hindustan Times while other sports were equally covered by The Hindu.

Keywords: coverage analysis, FIFA World Cup 2014, Hindustan Times, the Hindu, The Times of India, The Tribune

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Authors: Kolawole Taiwo Olabode

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This is a comparative study of ICTs adoption and use in selected manufacturing industries in for development. This study was carried out 2004 and was repeated 2013 (nine years after) using the same selected manufacturing industries to assess the level, improvement and extent ICT facilities used in these companies. The theory of modernization was explored to explain some developmental issues in this study. The same semi-structured questionnaire and IDI were used to elicit data on the subject matter. About 24.9% of the total workers (1,247) were sampled for this study using quota sampling technique. SPSS was used to analysis the quantitative data. The qualitative data was used to buttress the quantitative data. Findings indicated that Seven-Up Bottling Company and Frigoglass Glass Industry still remained Intensive ICT Users while only Niger Match Nigeria Limited still remained Non-Intensive ICT User while unfortunately, Askar Paint Nigeria Limited has gone liquidated. It is also important to discover that only the Intensive ICT users improved on relevant ICT facilities. The existing problems of ICT adoption and used in these companies remained the same in Niger Match Limited. The study concluded that for a society to be developed, management and government at all levels must do all things necessary to ensure that all existing organisations must be ICT compliance for workers and organisational performance and to enhance nation’s development in order to compete with other companies for global standard or recognition.

Keywords: ICT, intensive ICT-users, entrepreneurial, manufacturing industries, industries and development

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Authors: Timothy Wale Olaosebikan

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The adverse effect of the Covid-19 outbreak and lock-downs on the world economy has coursed a major disrupt in mostly all sectors. The educational sector is not exempted from this disruption as it is one of the most affected sectors in the world. Similarly, most developing countries are still struggling to adopt/ adapt with the 21st-century advancement of technology, which includes e-learning/ e-education. Furthermore, one is left to wonder of the possibility of these countries surviving this disruption on their various educational systems that may no longer be business as usual after the Covid Pandemic era. This study evaluates the e-learning process of educational systems, especially in developing countries. The collection of data for the study was effected through the use of questionnaires with sampling drawn by stratified random sampling. The data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings of the study show that about 30% of developing countries have fully adopted the e-learning system, about 45% of these countries are still struggling to upgrade while about 25% of these countries are yet to adopt the e-learning system of education. The study concludes that the sudden closure of educational institutions around the world during the Covid Pandemic period should facilitate a teaching pedagogy of e-learning and virtual delivery of courses and programmes in these developing countries. If this approach can be fully adopted, schools might have to grapple with the initial teething problems, given the sudden transition just in order to preserve the welfare of students. While progress should be made to transit as the case may be, lectures and seminars can be delivered through the web conferencing site-zoom. Interestingly, this can be done on a mobile phone. The demands of this approach would equally allow lecturers to make major changes to their work habits, uploading their teaching materials online, and get to grips with what online lecturing entails. Consequently, the study recommends that leaders of developing countries, regulatory authorities, and heads of educational institutions must adopt e-learning into their educational system. Also, e-learning should be adopted into the educational curriculum of students, especially from elementary school up to tertiary level. Total compliance to the e-learning system must be ensured on the part of both the institutions, stake holders, lecturers, tutors, and students. Finally, collaborations with developed countries and effective funding for e-learning integration must form the heart of their cardinal mission.

Keywords: Covid pandemic, developing countries, educational system, e-learning

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Authors: Pattaka Sa-Ngimnet

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That the University as we have known it is no longer serving the needs of the vast majority of students and potential students has been a topic of much discussion. Institutions of higher education, in this age of global culture, are in a process of metamorphosis. Technology is being used to allow more students, older students, working students and disabled students, who cannot attend conventional classes, to have greater access to higher education through the internet. But change must come about only after much evaluation and experimentation or education will simply become a commodity as, in some cases, it already has. This paper will be concerned with the meaning and methods of change and evaluation as they are applied to institutions of higher education. Organization’s generally have different goals and different approaches in order to be successful. However, the means of reaching those goals requires rational and effective planning. Any plans for successful change in any institution must take into account both effectiveness and efficiency and the differences between them. “Effectiveness” refers to an adequate means of achieving an objective. “Efficiency” refers to the ability to achieve an objective without waste of time or resources (The Free Dictionary). So an effective means may not be efficient and an efficient means may not be effective. The goal is to reach a synthesis of effectiveness and efficiency that will maximize both to the extent each is limited by the other. This focus of this paper then is to determine how an educational institution can become either successful or oppressive depending on the kinds of planning, evaluating and changes that operate by and on the administration. If the plan is concerned only with efficiency, the institution can easily become oppressive and lose sight of its purpose of educating students. If it is overly concentrated on effectiveness, the students may receive a superior education in the short run but the institution will face operating difficulties. In becoming only goal oriented, institutions also face problems. Simply stated, if the institution reaches its goals, the stake holders may become satisfied and fail to change and keep up with the needs of the times. So goals should be seen only as benchmarks in a process of becoming even better in providing quality education. Constant and consistent evaluation is the key to making all these factors come together in a successful process of planning, testing and changing the plans as needed. The focus of the evaluation has to be considered. Evaluations must take into account progress and needs of students, methods and skills of instructors, resources available from the institution and the styles and objectives of administrators. Thus the role of evaluation is pivotal in providing for the maximum of both effective and efficient change in higher education institutions.

Keywords: change, effectiveness, efficiency, education

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Authors: Petchpong Mayukhachot

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The purposes of this research were (1) to develop a distance training package on topic of Production of Handbook and Report writing for innovative learning and teaching for Vocational Teachers of Office of The Vocational Education Commission; (2) to study the effects of using the distance training package on topic Production of Handbook and Report writing for innovative learning and teaching for Vocational Teachers of Office of The Vocational Education Commission. and (3) to study the samples’ opinion on the distance training package on topic Production of Handbook and Report writing for innovative learning and teaching for Vocational Teachers of Office of The Vocational Education Commission Research and Development was used in this research. The purposive sampling group of this research was 39 Vocational Teachers of Office of The Vocational Education Commission. Instruments were; (1) the distance training package, (2) achievement tests on understanding of Production of Handbook and Report writing for innovative learning and teaching and learning activities to develop practical skills, and (3) a questionnaire for sample’s opinion on the distance training package. Percent, Mean, Standard Deviation, the E1/E2 efficiency index and t-test were used for data analysis. The findings of the research were as follows: (1) The efficiency of the distance training package was established as 80.90 / 81.90. The distance training package composed of the distance training package document and a manual for the distance training package. The distance training package document consisted of the name of the distance training package, direction for studying the distance training package, content’s structure, concepts, objectives, and activities after studying the distance training package. The manual for the distance training package consisted of the explanation of the distance training package and objectives, direction for using the distance training package, training schedule, documents as a manual of speech, and evaluations. (2) The effects of using the distance training package on topic Production of Handbook and Report writing for innovative learning and teaching for Vocational Teachers of Office of The Vocational Education Commission were the posttest average scores of achievement on understanding of Technology and Occupations teaching for development of critical thinking of the sample group were higher than the pretest average scores. (3) The most appropriate of trainees’ opinion were contents of the distance training package is beneficial to performance. That can be utilized in Teaching or operations. Due to the content of the two units is consistent and activities assigned to the appropriate content.

Keywords: distance training package, handbook writing for innovative learning, teaching report writing for innovative learning, teaching

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Authors: Ilaria Lucrezia Amerise

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The statistical modelling of precipitation data for a given portion of territory is fundamental for the monitoring of climatic conditions and for Hydrogeological Management Plans (HMP). This modelling is rendered particularly complex by the changes taking place in the frequency and intensity of precipitation, presumably to be attributed to the global climate change. This paper applies the Wakeby distribution (with 5 parameters) as a theoretical reference model. The number and the quality of the parameters indicate that this distribution may be the appropriate choice for the interpolations of the hydrological variables and, moreover, the Wakeby is particularly suitable for describing phenomena producing heavy tails. The proposed estimation methods for determining the value of the Wakeby parameters are the same as those used for density functions with heavy tails. The commonly used procedure is the classic method of moments weighed with probabilities (probability weighted moments, PWM) although this has often shown difficulty of convergence, or rather, convergence to a configuration of inappropriate parameters. In this paper, we analyze the problem of the likelihood estimation of a random variable expressed through its quantile function. The method of maximum likelihood, in this case, is more demanding than in the situations of more usual estimation. The reasons for this lie, in the sampling and asymptotic properties of the estimators of maximum likelihood which improve the estimates obtained with indications of their variability and, therefore, their accuracy and reliability. These features are highly appreciated in contexts where poor decisions, attributable to an inefficient or incomplete information base, can cause serious damages.

Keywords: generalized extreme values, likelihood estimation, precipitation data, Wakeby distribution

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Authors: Xiaoping Zhang, Fengying Yan

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The implementation of the 'Urban Design Management Measures' requires that the master urban design should aim at creating a livable urban space. However, to our best knowledge, the existing researches and practices of master urban design not only focus less on the livable space but also face a number of problems such as paying more attention to the image of the city, ignoring the people-oriented and lacking dynamic continuity. In order to make the master urban design can better guide the construction of city. Firstly, the paper proposes the livable city hierarchy system to meet the needs of different groups of people and then constructs the framework of livable goal-oriented master urban design based on the theory of livable content and the ideological origin of people-oriented. Secondly, the paper takes the master urban design practice of Zibo as a sample and puts forward the design strategy of strengthening the pattern, improve the quality of space, shape the feature, and establish a series of action plans based on the strategy of urban space development. Finally, the paper explores the method system of livable goal-oriented master urban design from the aspects of safety pattern, morphology pattern, neighborhood scale, open space, street space, public interface, style feature, public participation and action plans.

Keywords: livable, master urban design, public participation, zibo city

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Authors: Lamia Bensissaid

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Goals: Endometriosis affects 6 to 10% of women of childbearing age. 17 to 44% of them have ovarian endometriomas. Medical and surgical treatments represent the two therapeutic axes with which PMA can be associated. Laparoscopic intraperitoneal ovarian cystectomy is described as the reference technique in the management of endometriomas by learned societies (CNGOF, ESHRE, NICE). However, it leads to a significant short-term reduction in the AMH level and the number of antral follicles, especially in cases of bilateral cystectomy, large cyst size or cystectomy after recurrence. Often, the disease is at an advanced stage with several surgical patients. Most have adhesions, which increase the risk of surgical complications and suboptimal resection and, therefore recurrence of the cyst. These results led to a change of opinion towards a conservative approach. Sclerotherapy is an old technique which acts by fibrinoid necrosis. It consists of injecting a sclerosing agent into the cyst cavity. Results : Recurrence was less than 15% for a 12-month follow-up; these rates are comparable to those of surgery. It does not seem to have a negative impact on ovarian reserve, but this is not sufficiently evaluated. It has an advantage in IVF pregnancy rates compared to cystectomy, particularly in cases of recurrent endometriomas. It has the advantages: · To be done on an outpatient basis. · To be inexpensive. · To avoid sometimes difficult and iterative surgery: · To allow an increase in pregnancy rates and the preservation of the ovarian reserve compared to iterative surgery. · of great interest in cases of bilateral endometriomas (kissing ovaries) or recurrent endometriomas. Conclusions: Ethanol sclerotherapy could be a good alternative to surgery.

Keywords: Endometrioma, Sclerotherapy, infertility, Ethanol

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Authors: B. F. Dada, B. S. Ewulo, M. A. Awodun, S. O. Ajayi

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Aggregate soil carbon distribution and stock in the soil in the form of a carbon pool is important for soil fertility and sequestration. The amount of carbon pool and other nutrients statues of the soil are to benefit plants, animal and the environment in the long run. This study was carried out at Akure North and South Local Government; the study area is one of the 18 Local Government Areas of Ondo State in the Southwest geo-political zone of Nigeria. The sites were divided into Map Grids and geo-referenced with Global Positioning System (GPS). Horizons were designated and morphological description carried out on the field. Pedons were characterized and classified according to USDA soil taxonomy. The local government area shares boundaries with; Ikere Local Government (LG) in the North, Ise Orun LG in the northwest, Ifedore LG in the northeast Akure South LG in the East, Ose LG in the South East, and Owo LG in the South. SOC-pool at Federal College of Agriculture topsoil horizon A2 is significantly higher than all horizons, 67.83 th⁻¹. The chemical properties of the pedons have shown that the soil is very strongly acidic to neutral reaction (4.68 – 6.73). The nutrients status of the soil topsoil A1 and A2 generally indicates that the soils have a low potential for retaining plant nutrients, and therefore call for adequate soil management.

Keywords: soil organic carbon (SOC), horizon, pedon, Akure

Procedia PDF Downloads 118

Authors: Pawamana Ramachandra, Jitesh Gupta, Saranga P. Pogula

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In verification of high volume and complex packet processing IPs, finer control of flow management aspects (for example, rate, bits/sec etc.) per flow class (or a virtual channel or a software thread) is needed. When any Software/Universal Verification Methodology (UVM) thread arbitration is left to the simulator (e.g., Verilog Compiler Simulator (VCS) or Incisive Enterprise Simulator core simulation engine (NCSIM)), it is hard to predict its pattern of resulting distribution of bandwidth by the simulator thread arbitration. In many cases, the patterns desired in a test scenario may not be accomplished as the simulator might give a different distribution than what was required. This can lead to missing multiple traffic scenarios, specifically deadlock and starvation related. We invented a component (namely Flow Manager Verification IP) to be intervening between the application (test case) and the protocol VIP (with UVM sequencer) to control the bandwidth per thread/virtual channel/flow. The Flow Manager has knobs visible to the UVM sequence/test to configure the required distribution of rate per thread/virtual channel/flow. This works seamlessly and produces rate stimuli to further harness the Design Under Test (DUT) with asymmetric inputs compared to the programmed bandwidth/Quality of Service (QoS) distributions in the Design Under Test.

Keywords: flow manager, UVM sequencer, rated traffic generation, quality of service

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Authors: Lei Zhang

Abstract:

The carbon cycle greatly influences global change, and the land cover changes contribute to the status and rate of the carbon budget in ecosystems. This paper proposes a land cover classification system for mapping land cover, the national ecological environment assessment, and estimating carbon storage in ecosystems. The classification system consists of basic land cover classes at levels Ⅰ and Ⅱ and auxiliary features at level III. The basic 38 classes characterizing land cover features are derived from 19 criteria referring to composition, structure, pattern, phenology, etc. The basic classes reflect the status of carbon storage in ecosystems. The auxiliary classes at level III complement the attributes of higher levels by 9 criteria. The 5 environmental criteria of temperature, moisture, landform, aspect and slope mainly reflect the potential and intensity of carbon storage in ecosystems. The disturbance of vegetation succession caused by land use type influences the vegetation carbon budget. The other 3 vegetation cover criteria, growth period, and species characteristics further refine the vegetation types. The hierarchical structure of the land cover map (the classes of levels Ⅰ and Ⅱ) is independent of the products of level III, which is helpful for land cover product management and applications. The classification system has been adopted in the Chinese national land cover database for the carbon budget in ecosystems at a 30 m scale.

Keywords: classification system, land cover, ecosystem, carbon storage, object based

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Authors: Peeyush Verma, Anil Kumar, Anju Rawlley, Chanchal Mehra

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India's school-going population is largely served by an educational system that is, in most rural parts, stuck with methods that emphasize rote learning, endless examinations, and monotonous classroom activities. Rural government schools are generally seen as having poor infrastructure, poor support system and low motivation for teaching as well as learning. It was experienced during the survey of this project that there is lesser motivation of rural boys and girls to attend their schools and still less likely chances to study science, tabooed as “difficult”. An experiment was conducted with the help of Rural Knowledge Network Project through Department of Science and Technology, Govt of India in five remote villages of Sehore District in Madhya Pradesh (India) during 2012-2015. These schools are located about 50-70 Km away from Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh and can distinctively qualify as average rural schools. Three tier methodology was adapted to unfold the experiment. In first tier randomly selected boys and girls from these schools were taken to a daylong visit to the Regional Science Centre located in Bhopal. In second tier, randomly selected half of those who visited earlier were again taken to the Science Centre to make models of Science. And in third tier, all the boys and girls studying science were exposed to video lectures and study material through web. The results have shown an interesting face towards learning science among youths in rural schools through peer learning or incremental learning. The students who had little or no interest in learning science became good learners and queries started pouring in from the neighbourhood village as well as a few parents requested to take their wards in the project to learn science. The paper presented is a case study of the experiment conducted in five rural schools of Sehore District. It reflects upon the methodology of developing awareness and interest among students and finally engaging them in popularising science through peer-to-peer learning using incremental learning elements. The students, who had a poor perception about science initially, had changed their attitude towards learning science during the project period. The results of this case, however, cannot be generalised unless replicated in the same setting elsewhere.

Keywords: popularisation of science, science temper, incremental learning, peer-to-peer learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 289

Authors: C. A. Anser Pasha

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In this paper, a new Vehicular Speed Detection Camera System that is applicable as an alternative to traditional radars with the same accuracy or even better is presented. The real-time measurement and analysis of various traffic parameters such as speed and number of vehicles are increasingly required in traffic control and management. Image processing techniques are now considered as an attractive and flexible method for automatic analysis and data collections in traffic engineering. Various algorithms based on image processing techniques have been applied to detect multiple vehicles and track them. The SDCS processes can be divided into three successive phases; the first phase is Objects detection phase, which uses a hybrid algorithm based on combining an adaptive background subtraction technique with a three-frame differencing algorithm which ratifies the major drawback of using only adaptive background subtraction. The second phase is Objects tracking, which consists of three successive operations - object segmentation, object labeling, and object center extraction. Objects tracking operation takes into consideration the different possible scenarios of the moving object like simple tracking, the object has left the scene, the object has entered the scene, object crossed by another object, and object leaves and another one enters the scene. The third phase is speed calculation phase, which is calculated from the number of frames consumed by the object to pass by the scene.

Keywords: radar, image processing, detection, tracking, segmentation

Procedia PDF Downloads 437

Authors: Julie Ann L. Gadin, Andrearose C. Igano, Carl Joseph S. Ignacio, Christopher C. Bacungan

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Corn production has become an important and pervasive industry in the Visayas for many years. Its role as a substitute commodity to rice heightens demand for health-particular consumers. Unfortunately, the corn industry is confronted with several challenges, such as weak institutions. Considering these issues, the paper examined the factors that influence corn production in the three administrative regions in the Visayas, namely, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, and Eastern Visayas. The data used was retrieved from a variety of publicly available data sources such as the Philippine Statistics Authority, the Department of Agriculture, the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation, and the International Disaster Database. Utilizing a dataset from 2002 to 2019, the indicators were tested using three multiple linear regression (MLR) models. Results showed that the land area harvested (p=0.02), and the value of corn production (p=0.00) are statistically significant variables that influence corn production in the Visayas. Given these findings, it is suggested that the policy of forest conversion and sustainable land management should be effective in enabling farmworkers to obtain land to grow corn crops, especially in rural regions. Furthermore, the Biofuels Act of 2006, the Livestock Industry Restructuring and Rationalization Act, and supported policy, Senate Bill No. 225, or an Act Establishing the Philippine Corn Research Institute and Appropriating Funds, should be enforced inclusively in order to improve the demand for the corn-allied industries which may lead to an increase in the value and volume of corn production in the Visayas.

Keywords: corn, industry, production, MLR, Visayas

Procedia PDF Downloads 161

Authors: Chia Yu Chen, Shu Fen Wu, Chen-Fuh Lam, I-Ling Tsai, Shu Jiuan Chen, Yen Ling Liu

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Aim: It remains undetermined that whether increased work stress may affect the job satisfaction and career loyalty among nursing staffs in the operating room. The long-term goal of this study is to lengthen the professional life of operating room nurses by attenuating the work stress and enhancing their contentment in work. Method: This was a cross-sectional, descriptive study performed in a metropolitan teaching hospital in the southern Taiwan between May 2017 to July 2017. A structured self-administered questionnaire, modified from the Occupational Stress Indicator-2 (OSI-2) and Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) manual was collected from the operating room nurses. Chi-square test was used to analyze the categorical data and Pearson correlation was used to analyze the association between two numerical datasets (SPSS version 20.0). Results: The response rate was 80% (80/100) and a total of 73 (73%) completed forms were eventually proceeded for analysis. The average scores for work stress and job satisfaction of the operating room nurses were 145.96±32.91 and 47.38±6.07, respectively. The correlation coefficients of work stress versus job satisfaction and organizational identity were (r=-0.338, p=0.003 and r=-0.354, p=0.002), respectively. There were more nurses who took rotating shift quitted works from the operating room than those who took only dayshift (2＝5.176, p<0.05). Nurses who reported of having lower job satisfaction were associated with significantly higher turnover intention (t=3.714, p< 0.01). Following multivariate regression analysis, rotating shift and low job satisfaction were identified as the two independent predictors of intention to quit from working in the operating room. Conclusion: Our study clearly demonstrates that increased work stress significantly attenuates job satisfaction and organizational identity. Rotating shift is associated with higher work stress, lower job satisfaction, and higher turnover intention, which is consistent with the previous surveys carried out in the department of medical technology. Therefore, improvement of working quality in the operating rooms is essential to increase the retain intention of the well-trained nursing staffs. Further investigation into types of work shifts and other strategies of attenuating stress in workplace is currently undertaken in order to improve the job satisfaction and to decrease turnover intention in the operating room.

Keywords: rotating shift, work stress, job satisfaction, turnover intention

Procedia PDF Downloads 164

Authors: Farnia Nayar Parshi, Mohammad Shariful Islam

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Though earth construction is an ancient technology, researchers are working on increasing its strength by adding different types of stabilizers. Ordinary Portland cement for sandy soil and lime for clayey soil is very popular practice as well as recommended by various authorities for making stabilized blocks for satisfactory performance. The addition of these additives improves compressive strength but fails to improve ductility. The addition of both synthetic and natural fibers increases both compressive strength and ductility. Studies are conducted to make earth blocks more cost-effective, energy-efficient and sustainable. In this experiment, an agricultural waste banana fiber and biochar is used to study the compressive stress-strain behavior of earth blocks made with four types of soil low plastic clay, sandy low plastic clay, very fine sand and medium to fine sand. Biochar is a charcoal-like carbon usually produced from organic or agricultural waste in high temperatures through a controlled condition called pyrolysis. In this experimental study, biochar was collected from BBI (Bangladesh Biochar Initiative) produced from wood flakes around 400 deg. Celsius. Locally available PPC (Portland Pozzolana Cement) is used. 5 cm × 5 cm × 5 cm earth blocks were made with eight different combinations such as bare soil, soil with 6% cement, soil with 6% cement and 5% biochar, soil with 6% cement, 5% biochar and 1% fiber, soil with 1% fiber, soil with 5% biochar and 1% fiber and soil with 6% cement and 1% fiber. All samples were prepared with 10-12% water content. Uniaxial compressive strength tests were conducted on 21 days old earth blocks. Stress-strain diagram shows that the addition of banana fiber improved compressive strength drastically, but the combined effect of fiber and biochar is different based on different soil types. For clayey soil, 6% cement and 1% fiber give maximum compressive strength of 991 kPa, and for very fine sand, a combination of 5% biochar, 6% cement and 1% fiber gives maximum compressive strength of 522 kPa as well as ductility. For medium-to-find sand, 6% cement and 1% fiber give the best result, 1530 kPa, among other combinations. The addition of fiber increases not only ductility but also compressive strength as well. The effect of biochar with fiber varies with the soil type.

Keywords: banana fiber, biochar, cement, compressed stabilized earth blocks, compressive strength

Procedia PDF Downloads 97