Search results for: impact assessment

Authors: Benmessaoud Hassen

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We propose in this study to address the impact of socio-economic and environmental impact on the physical environment, especially their spatiotemporal dynamics in semi-arid and arid eastern Aurès. Including 11 municipalities, the study area spreads out over a relatively large surface area of about 60.000 ha. The hindsight is quite important and is determined by 03 days of analysis of environmental variation spread over thirty years (between 1987 and 2007). The multi-source data acquired in this context are integrated into a geographic information system (GIS).This allows, among other indices to calculate areas and classes for each thematic layer of the 4 layers previously defined by a method inspired MEDALUS (Mediterranean Desertification and Land Use).The database created is composed of four layers of information (population, livestock, farming and land use). His analysis in space and time has been supplemented by a validation of the ground truth. Once the database has corrected it used to develop the comprehensive map with the calculation of the index of socio-economic and environmental (ISCE). The map supports and the resulting information does not consist only of figures on the present situation but could be used to forecast future trends.

Keywords: impact of socio-economic and environmental, spatiotemporal dynamics, semi-arid environments, GIS, Eastern Aurès

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Authors: Elizabeth Malebogo Mosepele

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Road transport has become increasingly common in the world; people rely on road networks for transportation purpose on a daily basis. However, environmental impact of roads on surrounding landscapes extends their potential effects even further. This study investigates the impact of road network on natural vegetation. The study will provide baseline knowledge regarding roadside vegetation and would be helpful in future for conservation of biodiversity along the road verges and improvements of road verges. The general hypothesis of this study is that the amount and condition of road side vegetation could be explained by road network conditions. Remote sensing techniques were used to analyze vegetation conditions. Landsat 8 OLI image was used to assess vegetation cover condition. NDVI image was generated and used as a base from which land cover classes were extracted, comprising four categories viz. healthy vegetation, degraded vegetation, bare surface, and water. The classification of the image was achieved using the supervised classification technique. Road networks were digitized from Google Earth. For observed data, transect based quadrats of 50*50 m were conducted next to road segments for vegetation assessment. Vegetation condition was related to road network, with the multinomial logistic regression confirming a significant relationship between vegetation condition and road network. The null hypothesis formulated was that 'there is no variation in vegetation condition as we move away from the road.' Analysis of vegetation condition revealed degraded vegetation within close proximity of a road segment and healthy vegetation as the distance increase away from the road. The Chi Squared value was compared with critical value of 3.84, at the significance level of 0.05 to determine the significance of relationship. Given that the Chi squared value was 395, 5004, the null hypothesis was therefore rejected; there is significant variation in vegetation the distance increases away from the road. The conclusion is that the road network plays an important role in the condition of vegetation.

Keywords: Chi squared, geographic information system, multinomial logistic regression, remote sensing, road side vegetation

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Authors: Divya Palaniappan

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Early Childhood assessment tools must measure the quality and the appropriateness of a curriculum with respect to culture and age of the children. Preschool assessment tools lack psychometric properties and were developed to measure only few areas of development such as specific skills in music, art and adaptive behavior. Existing preschool assessment tools in India are predominantly informal and are fraught with judgmental bias of observers. The World of Discovery TM curriculum focuses on accelerating the physical, cognitive, language, social and emotional development of pre-schoolers in India through various activities. The curriculum caters to every child irrespective of their dominant intelligence as per Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligence which concluded "even students as young as four years old present quite distinctive sets and configurations of intelligences". The curriculum introduces a new theme every week where, concepts are explained through various activities so that children with different dominant intelligences could understand it. For example: The ‘Insects’ theme is explained through rhymes, craft and counting corner, and hence children with one of these dominant intelligences: Musical, bodily-kinesthetic and logical-mathematical could grasp the concept. The child’s progress is evaluated using an assessment tool that measures a cluster of inter-dependent developmental areas: physical, cognitive, language, social and emotional development, which for the first time renders a multi-domain approach. The assessment tool is a 5-point rating scale that measures these Developmental aspects: Cognitive, Language, Physical, Social and Emotional. Each activity strengthens one or more of the developmental aspects. During cognitive corner, the child’s perceptual reasoning, pre-math abilities, hand-eye co-ordination and fine motor skills could be observed and evaluated. The tool differs from traditional assessment methodologies by providing a framework that allows teachers to assess a child’s continuous development with respect to specific activities in real time objectively. A pilot study of the tool was done with a sample data of 100 children in the age group 2.5 to 3.5 years. The data was collected over a period of 3 months across 10 centers in Chennai, India, scored by the class teacher once a week. The teachers were trained by psychologists on age-appropriate developmental milestones to minimize observer’s bias. The norms were calculated from the mean and standard deviation of the observed data. The results indicated high internal consistency among parameters and that cognitive development improved with physical development. A significant positive relationship between physical and cognitive development has been observed among children in a study conducted by Sibley and Etnier. In Children, the ‘Comprehension’ ability was found to be greater than ‘Reasoning’ and pre-math abilities as indicated by the preoperational stage of Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. The average scores of various parameters obtained through the tool corroborates the psychological theories on child development, offering strong face validity. The study provides a comprehensive mechanism to assess a child’s development and differentiate high performers from the rest. Based on the average scores, the difficulty level of activities could be increased or decreased to nurture the development of pre-schoolers and also appropriate teaching methodologies could be devised.

Keywords: child development, early childhood assessment, early childhood curriculum, quantitative assessment of preschool curriculum

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Authors: Muhammad Irfan

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The UN General Assembly has advocated improving energy efficiency by SDG criteria to promote global economic growth. Pakistan is confronted with financial obstacles when it comes to acquiring energy efficiency because of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic and political instability, budgetary strains, and poor financial circumstances. The study examines how cutting-edge financing approaches like FinTech, financial inclusion, and green financing affect Pakistan's energy consumption. It finds noteworthy outcomes. The study's results have demonstrated the important impact of these funding methods on energy conservation. The best and most helpful finance tool for energy efficiency is green financing; yet, because of differences in characteristics, workings, and financial institutions, FinTech, and financial inclusion play a smaller role in Pakistan. The researchers propose that to achieve energy efficiency, FinTech activities and funding criteria such as green bonds should be reviewed. It also advised authorities to create energy system-friendly regulations for green finance in Pakistan.

Keywords: green finance, FinTech, financial inclusion, energy efficiency, Pakistan

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Authors: Mohammad Saraj Sharifzai, Keisuke Kitagawa, Mohammad Kamil Halimee, Javid Habib, Daishi Sakaguchi

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The overall goal of this paper is to examine the suitability and potential of the policies addressing the sustainability and affordability of housing for returnees, and to determine the impact of this policy on housing delivery for Afghan refugees. Housing is a central component of the settlement experience of refugees. A positive housing situation can facilitate many aspects of integration. Unaffordable, and unsafe housing, however, can cause disruptions in the entire settlement process. This paper aims to identify a suite of built forms for housing that is both affordable and environmentally sustainable for Afghan refugees. The result was the development of a framework that enables the assessment of the overall performance of various types of housing development in all zones of the country. There is very little evidence that the present approach of housing provision to the vagaries of market forces has provided affordable housing, especially for Afghan refugees. There is a need to incorporate social housing into the policy to assist people who cannot afford to have their own houses.

Keywords: Afghan refugees, housing policy, affordability, social housing, housing provision, environmental sustainability principles, resettlement

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Authors: Grace O. Akinlade, Danjuma D. Maza, Oluwakemi O. Olawolu, Delight O. Babalola, John A. O. Oyekunle, Joshua O. Ojo

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The Mokuro area of Ile-Ife, South West Nigeria, was well known for gold mining in the past (about twenty years ago). However, the place has since been reclaimed and converted to residential area without any environmental risk assessment of the impact of the mining tailings on the environment. Soil, water, and plant samples were collected from 4 different locations around the mine-turned-residential area. Soil samples were pulverized and sieved into finer particles, while the plant samples were dried and pulverized. All the samples were digested and analyzed for As, Pb, Cd, and Zn using atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). From the analysis results, the hazard index (HI) was then calculated for the metals. The soil and plant samples were air dried and pulverized, then weighed, after which the samples were packed into special and properly sealed containers to prevent radon gas leakage. After the sealing, the samples were kept for 28 days to attain secular equilibrium. The concentrations of 40K, 238U, and 232Th in the samples were measured using a cesium iodide (CsI) spectrometer and URSA software. The AAS analysis showed that As, Pb, Cd (Toxic metals), and Zn (essential trace metals) are in concentrations lower than permissible limits in plants and soil samples, while the water samples had concentrations higher than permissible limits. The calculated health indices (HI) show that HI for water is >1 and that of plants and soil is <1. Gamma spectrometry result shows high levels of activity concentrations above the recommended limits for all the soil and plant samples collected from the area. Only the water samples have activity concentrations below the recommended limit. Consequently, the absorbed dose, annual effective dose, and excess lifetime cancer risk are all above the recommended safe limit for all the samples except for water samples. In conclusion, all the samples collected from the area are either contaminated with toxic metals or they pose radiological hazards to the consumers. Further detailed study is therefore recommended in order to be able to advise the residents appropriately.

Keywords: toxic metals, gamma spectrometry, Ile-Ife, radiological hazards, gold mining

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Authors: Seyedeh Mersedeh Banijamali, Ali Rajabzadeh

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Industrial development in recent centuries has been replaced by a sustainable development. The industry executives, particularly in the development countries are looking for procedures to protect the environment, improve their organization's performance. One of these approaches is the green supply chain management. Green supply chain management approach as a comprehensive approach to environmental management that contains all flows from suppliers to producers and ultimately to consumers, in many industries, particularly in the Steel industry, which has a strategic role in the country's industrial and economic development, has been receiving significant attention. The purpose of this study is examining the impact of green supply chain on chain operational performance in the Steel industry and formulating model for it. In this way, first the components of green supply chain (in 5 dimensions, planning, sourcing, making, delivery and return) have been prioritized through TOPSIS decision technique and then impact of these components on operational performance has been modeled with model dynamic systems and Vensim software. This research shows that green supply chain has a positive impact on operational performance and improve it.

Keywords: green supply chain, the dimensions of the green supply chain, operational performance, steel industry, dynamical systems

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Authors: Varsha Hemant Patil, Swati A. Bhavsar, Abolee H. Patil

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Image quality assessment plays an important role in image evaluation. This paper aims to present an investigation of classic techniques in use for image quality assessment, especially for super-resolution imaging. Researchers have contributed a lot towards the development of super-resolution imaging techniques. However, not much attention is paid to the development of metrics for testing the performance of developed techniques. In this paper, the study report of existing image quality measures is given. The paper classifies reviewed approaches according to functionality and suitability for super-resolution imaging. Probable modifications and improvements of these to suit super-resolution imaging are presented. The prime goal of the paper is to provide a comprehensive reference source for researchers working towards super-resolution imaging and suggest a better framework for measuring the performance of super-resolution imaging techniques.

Keywords: interpolation, MSE, PSNR, SSIM, super resolution

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Authors: Romain Ben Taleb, Aurélie Montarnal, Matthieu Lauras, Mathieu Dahan, Romain Miclo

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To be competitive and sustainable, any company has to maximize its value. However, unlike listed companies that can assess their values based on market shares, most Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) which are non-listed cannot have direct and live access to this critical information. Traditional accounting reports only give limited insights to SME decision-makers about the real impact of their day-to-day decisions on the company’s performance and value. Most of the time, an SME’s financial valuation is made one time a year as the associated process is time and resource-consuming, requiring several months and external expertise to be completed. To solve this issue, we propose in this paper a value-oriented metamodel that enables real-time and dynamic assessment of the SME’s value based on the large definition of their assets. These assets cover a wider scope of resources of the company and better account for immaterial assets. The proposal, which is illustrated in a case study, discusses the benefits of incorporating assets in the SME valuation.

Keywords: SME, metamodel, decision support system, financial valuation, assets

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Authors: Mohammadmehdi Torfehnejada, Serhan Senso

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Aftershock collapse capacity of Special Steel Moment Frames (SSMFs) is evaluated under aftershock earthquakes by considering building heights 8 and 12 stories. The assessment evaluates the residual collapse capacity under aftershock excitation when various levels of damage have been induced by the mainshock. For this purpose, incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) under aftershock follows the mainshock imposing the intended damage level. The study results indicate that aftershock collapse capacity of this structure may decrease remarkably when the structure is subjected to large mainshock damage. The capacity reduction under aftershock is finally related to the mainshock damage level through regression equations.

Keywords: aftershock collapse capacity, special steel moment frames, mainshock-aftershock sequences, incremental dynamic analysis, mainshock damage

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Authors: Francesco Gallucci, Mariangela Salerno, Ettore Guerriero, Manfredi Amalfi, Giancarlo Chiatti, Fulvio Palmieri

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The paper deals with the experimental activities on a biomass combustion test-bed. More in detail, experimental campaigns have been devoted to investigate the operation of a biomass moving grate furnace. A research-oriented facility based on a moving grate furnace (350kW) has been set up in order to perform experimental activities in a wide range of test configurations. The paper reports the description of the complete biomass-plant and the assessment of the system operation. As the first step, the chemical and physical properties of the used wooden biomass have been preliminarily investigated. Once the biomass fuel has been characterized, investigations have been devoted to point out the operation of the furnace. It has been operated at full load, highlighting the influence of biomass combustion parameters on particulate matter and gaseous emission.

Keywords: biomass, combustion, experimental, pollutants

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Authors: Akanle Florence Foluso, Richard Oni, Ola Tolulo, Lani Ofie

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Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Society’s attitude to mental health and primary prevention is the key instrument in a better understanding of the mental illness. This paper attempted to investigate the effect of community education and early intervention and rehabilitation in minimizing the impact of mental illness. The study involved 50 adolescents who were randomly selected and assigned to two groups, the control and the experimental. Subjects in the experimental group were exposed to treatment, while those in the control group were not. The subject exposed to treatment had an increased understanding of what mental illness is. Those with mental illness were better understood, less feared, less discriminated against, and tertiary prevention strategies were reported to minimize the impact of mental illness when it occurs

Keywords: community, health, improve, status

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Authors: Boopen Seetanah, R. V. Sannassee, Sheereen Fauzel, Robin Nunkoo

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The bulk of research on the impact of research and development (R&D) has been carried out in developed economies where the intensity of R&D expenditure has been relatively high and stable for many years. However, there is a paucity of similar studies in developing countries. In this paper, we provide empirical estimates of the impact of R&D investment on economic growth in a developing African economy (Mauritius) where R&D expenditure intensity has been low initially, but rising, albeit moderately in recent years. Using a dynamic time series analysis over the period 1980 to 2014 in a Vector Autoregressive framework, R & D is shown to have a positive and significant effect on the economic progress of the island, although the impact is considerably less when compared to both other ingredients of growth and also to reported elasticities fromdeveloped economies . Interestingly, there is evidence of bicausality between R & D and growth. furthermore, R & D positively impacts on both domestic and foreign investment, suggesting the possibilities of indirect effects.

Keywords: R & D, VECM, Africa, Mauritius

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Authors: Achim Washington, Reece Clothier, Jose Silva

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System Safety Regulations (SSR) are a central component to the airworthiness certification of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). There is significant debate on the setting of appropriate SSR for UAS. Putting this debate aside, the challenge lies in how to apply the system safety process to UAS, which lacks the data and operational heritage of conventionally piloted aircraft. The limited knowledge and lack of operational data result in uncertainty in the system safety assessment of UAS. This uncertainty can lead to incorrect compliance findings and the potential certification and operation of UAS that do not meet minimum safety performance requirements. The existing system safety assessment and compliance processes, as used for conventional piloted aviation, do not adequately account for the uncertainty, limiting the suitability of its application to UAS. This paper discusses the challenges of undertaking system safety assessments for UAS and presents current and envisaged research towards addressing these challenges. It aims to highlight the main advantages associated with adopting a risk based framework to the System Safety Performance Requirement (SSPR) compliance process that is capable of taking the uncertainty associated with each of the outputs of the system safety assessment process into consideration. Based on this study, it is made clear that developing a framework tailored to UAS, would allow for a more rational, transparent and systematic approach to decision making. This would reduce the need for conservative assumptions and take the risk posed by each UAS into consideration while determining its state of compliance to the SSR.

Keywords: Part 1309 regulations, risk models, uncertainty, unmanned aircraft systems

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Authors: Andrés Lara Guillén, José M. Soriano Disla, Gemma Castejón Martínez, David Fernández-Gutiérrez

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The worldwide population is exponentially increasing, which causes a rising demand for food, energy and non-renewable resources. These demands must be attended to from a circular economy point of view. Under this approach, the obtention of strategic products from biowaste is crucial for the society to keep the current lifestyle reducing the environmental and social issues linked to the lineal economy. This is the main objective of the VALUEWASTE project. VALUEWASTE is about valorizing urban biowaste into proteins for food and feed and biofertilizers, closing the loop of this waste stream. In order to achieve this objective, the project validates three value chains, which begin with the anaerobic digestion of the biowaste. From the anaerobic digestion, three by-products are obtained: i) methane that is used by microorganisms, which will be transformed into microbial proteins; ii) digestate that is used by black soldier fly, producing insect proteins; and iii) a nutrient-rich effluent, which will be transformed into biofertilizers. VALUEWASTE is an innovative solution, which combines different technologies to valorize entirely the biowaste. However, it is also required to demonstrate that the solution is greener than other traditional technologies (baseline systems). On one hand, the proteins from microorganisms and insects will be compared with other reference protein production systems (gluten, whey and soybean). On the other hand, the biofertilizers will be compared to the production of mineral fertilizers (ammonium sulphate and synthetic struvite). Therefore, the aim of this study is to provide that biowaste valorization can reduce the environmental impacts linked to both traditional proteins manufacturing processes and mineral fertilizers, not only at a pilot-scale but also at an industrial one. In the present study, both baseline system and VALUEWASTE solution are evaluated through the Environmental Life Cycle Assessment (E-LCA). The E-LCA is based on the standards ISO 14040 and 14044. The Environmental Footprint methodology was the one used in this study to evaluate the environmental impacts. The results for the baseline cases show that the food proteins coming from whey have the highest environmental impact on ecosystems compared to the other proteins sources: 7.5 and 15.9 folds higher than soybean and gluten, respectively. Comparing feed soybean and gluten, soybean has an environmental impact on human health 195.1 folds higher. In the case of biofertilizers, synthetic struvite has higher impacts than ammonium sulfate: 15.3 (ecosystems) and 11.8 (human health) fold, respectively. The results shown in the present study will be used as a reference to demonstrate the better environmental performance of the bio-based products obtained through the VALUEWASTE solution. Other originalities that the E-LCA performed in the VALUEWASTE project provides are the diverse direct implications on investment and policies. On one hand, better environmental performance will serve to remove the barriers linked to these kinds of technologies, boosting the investment that is backed by the E-LCA. On the other hand, it will be a germ to design new policies fostering these types of solutions to achieve two of the key targets of the European Community: being self-sustainable and carbon neutral.

Keywords: anaerobic digestion, biofertilizers, circular economy, nutrients recovery

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Authors: Amirhossein Karamoozian, Desheng Wu, Behzad Abbasnejad

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Building information modelling (BIM) is a new technology to enhance the efficiency of project management in the construction industry. In addition to the potential benefits of this useful technology, there are various risks and obstacles to applying it in construction projects. In this study, a decision making approach is presented for risk assessment in BIM adoption in construction projects. Various risk factors of exerting BIM during different phases of the project lifecycle are identified with the help of Delphi method, experts’ opinions and related literature. Afterward, Shannon’s entropy and Fuzzy TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Situation) are applied to derive priorities of the identified risk factors. Results indicated that lack of knowledge between professional engineers about workflows in BIM and conflict of opinions between different stakeholders are the risk factors with the highest priority.

Keywords: risk, BIM, fuzzy TOPSIS, construction projects

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Authors: Bisi Olawoyin

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The idea of knowledge sharing facilitated by the internet and complemented by a collaborative offline process in form of shared workshops called Makerspaces has become an attractive economic development agenda worldwide. Towards this end, Nigeria has established a number of Technology Incubation Centers (TICs) across the country with a view to using them as institutional mechanisms for commercializing Research and Development results; thus helping to promote venture creation and economic development. This study thus examines the impact of the nurturing by the TICs, on the performance of selected incubated enterprises that have grown into medium scale businesses in different sectors of the economy. The objective is to determine the extent to which the process of incubation has contributed to their growth in relation to similar businesses that developed outside the TICs. Six enterprises nurtured by TICs and six others outside, these were selected for the study. Data were collected in respect of the twelve enterprises covering their first five years of operation. Performances in terms of annual turnover, market share, and product range were analysed by scatter diagram plotted to show these variables against time and on comparative basis between TIC and non-TIC enterprises. Results showed an initial decline in performance for most of the incubatees in the first two years due to sluggish adjustment to withdrawal of subsidies enjoyed at the TICs. However, four of them were able to catch up with improved performance and surpass their non–TIC counterparts consistently from the third year. Analysis of year on year performance also showed average growth rate of 7% and 5 % respectively for TIC and non–TIC enterprises. The study, therefore, concludes that TICs have great role to play in nurturing new, innovative businesses but sees the need for government to address the provision of critical facilities especially electricity and utilities that constitute critical cost components for businesses. It must also address the issue of investment grants, loans including the development of technology/industrial parks that will serve to boost business survival.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, incubation, innovation, makerspaces

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Authors: Yao Meng, Mahroo Eftekhari, Dennis Loveday

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Currently, there are two types of heating systems in Chinese residential buildings, with respect to the controllability of the heating system, one is an old heating system without any possibility of controlling room temperature and another is a new heating system that provides temperature control of individual rooms. This paper is aiming to evaluate the impact of potential variables on the energy performance of old and new buildings respectively in China, and to explore how the use of individual room temperature control would change occupants’ heating behaviour and thermal comfort in Chinese residential buildings and its impact on the building energy performance. In the study, two types of residential buildings have been chosen, the new building install personal control on the heating system, together with ‘pay for what you use’ tariffs. The old building comprised uncontrolled heating with payment based on floor area. The studies were carried out in each building, with a longitudinal monitoring of indoor air temperature, outdoor air temperature, window position. The occupants’ behaviour and thermal sensation were evaluated by questionnaires. Finally, use the simulated analytic method to identify the impact of influence variables on energy use for both types of buildings.

Keywords: residential buildings, China, design parameters, energy efficiency, simulation analytics method

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Authors: M. Alwetaishi, Giulia Sonetti

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It is architecturally accepted that building form and design is considered as one of the most important aspects in affecting indoor temperature. The total area of building plan might be identical, but the design will have a major influence on the total area of external walls. This will have a clear impact on the amount of heat exchange with outdoor. Moreover, it will affect the position and area of glazing system. This has not received enough consideration in research by the specialists, since most of the publications are highlighting the impact of building envelope in terms of physical heat transfer in buildings. This research will investigate the impact of orientation of various building forms in various climatic regions. It will be concluded that orientation and glazing to wall ratio were recognized to be the most effective variables despite the shape of the building. However, linear ad radial forms were found more appropriate shapes almost across the continent.

Keywords: architectural building design, building form, building design in different climate, indoor air temperature

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Authors: Gulnaz Erkomaishvili

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Introduction: The paper assesses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the activities of small and medium-sized enterprises in Georgia, identifies their problems, and analyzes the state economic policy measures. During the pandemic, entrepreneurs named the imposition of restrictions, access to financial resources, shortage of qualified personnel, high tax rates, unhealthy competition in the market, etc. as the main challenges. The Georgian government has had to take special measures to mitigate the crisis impact caused by the pandemic. For example - in 2020, they mobilized more than 1,6 billion Gel for various eventsto support entrepreneurs. Small and medium-sized entrepreneurship development strategy is presented based on the research; Corresponding conclusions are made, and recommendations are developed. Objectives: The object of research is small and medium-sized enterprises and economic-political decisions aimed at their promotion.Methodology: This paper uses general and specific methods, in particular, analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, scientific abstraction, comparative and statistical methods, as well as experts’ evaluation. In-depth interviews with experts were conducted to determine quantitative and qualitative indicators; Publications of the National Statistics Office of Georgia are used to determine the regularity between analytical and statistical estimations. Also, theoretical and applied research of international organizations and scientist-economists are used. Contributions: The COVID-19pandemic has had a significant impact on small and medium-sized enterprises. For them, Lockdown is a major challenge. Total sales volume decreased. At the same time, the innovative capabilities of enterprises and the volume of sales in remote channels have increased. As for the assessment of state support measures by small and medium-sizedentrepreneurs, despite the existence of support programs, a large number of entrepreneurs still do not evaluate the measures taken by the state positively. Among the desirable measures to be taken by the state, which would improve the activities of small and medium-sized entrepreneurs, who negatively or largely negatively assessed the activity of the state, named: tax incentives/exemption from certain taxes at the initial stage; Need for periodic trainings/organization of digital technologies, marketing training courses to improve the qualification of employees; Logic and adequacy of criteria when awarding grants and funding; Facilitating the finding of investors; Less bureaucracy, etc.

Keywords: small and medium enterprises, small and medium entrepreneurship, economic policy for small and medium entrepreneurship development, government regulations in Georgia, COVID-19 pandemic

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Authors: Ali Ocholi

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The study was conducted to analyze the impact of agro-allied industries on rural dwellers in Benue state, Nigeria. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select the respondents for the study. Primary data were collected through the use of structured questionnaires administered on 366 respondents from the selected communities; the data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The result of Mann-Whitney (U) statistics showed that water availability (14350) and good road network (15082.00) were the only social impact derived from the industries by the rural dwellers. The study recommended that right and proper policies and programmes should be put in place by the government to mandate all private and public agro-allied industries to embark on projects that would be in favour of the rural dwellers where the agro-allied industries are situated.

Keywords: agriculture, agro-allied industry, rural dwellers, Benue state

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Authors: Rajkumar Ghosh

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Earthquakes are natural disasters that pose a significant risk to human life and infrastructure. Effective earthquake mitigation measures require a thorough understanding of the dynamics of seismic occurrences, including thrust movement. Traditionally, estimating thrust movement has relied on typical techniques that may not capture the full complexity of these events. Therefore, investigating alternative approaches, such as incorporating out-of-sequence thrust movement data, could enhance earthquake mitigation strategies. This review aims to provide an overview of the applications of out-of-sequence thrust movement in earthquake mitigation. By examining existing research and studies, the objective is to understand how precise estimation of thrust movement can contribute to improving structural design, analyzing infrastructure risk, and developing early warning systems. The study demonstrates how to estimate out-of-sequence thrust movement using multiple data sources, including GPS measurements, satellite imagery, and seismic recordings. By analyzing and synthesizing these diverse datasets, researchers can gain a more comprehensive understanding of thrust movement dynamics during seismic occurrences. The review identifies potential advantages of incorporating out-of-sequence data in earthquake mitigation techniques. These include improving the efficiency of structural design, enhancing infrastructure risk analysis, and developing more accurate early warning systems. By considering out-of-sequence thrust movement estimates, researchers and policymakers can make informed decisions to mitigate the impact of earthquakes. This study contributes to the field of seismic monitoring and earthquake risk assessment by highlighting the benefits of incorporating out-of-sequence thrust movement data. By broadening the scope of analysis beyond traditional techniques, researchers can enhance their knowledge of earthquake dynamics and improve the effectiveness of mitigation measures. The study collects data from various sources, including GPS measurements, satellite imagery, and seismic recordings. These datasets are then analyzed using appropriate statistical and computational techniques to estimate out-of-sequence thrust movement. The review integrates findings from multiple studies to provide a comprehensive assessment of the topic. The study concludes that incorporating out-of-sequence thrust movement data can significantly enhance earthquake mitigation measures. By utilizing diverse data sources, researchers and policymakers can gain a more comprehensive understanding of seismic dynamics and make informed decisions. However, challenges exist, such as data quality difficulties, modelling uncertainties, and computational complications. To address these obstacles and improve the accuracy of estimates, further research and advancements in methodology are recommended. Overall, this review serves as a valuable resource for researchers, engineers, and policymakers involved in earthquake mitigation, as it encourages the development of innovative strategies based on a better understanding of thrust movement dynamics.

Keywords: earthquake, out-of-sequence thrust, disaster, human life

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Authors: Eva Queheille, Franck Taillandier, Nadia Saiyouri

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Waste management has become a major issue in demolition works, because of its environmental impact (energy consumption, resource consumption, pollution…). However, improving waste management requires to take also into account the overall demolition process and to consider demolition main objectives (e.g. cost, delay). Establishing a strategy with these conflicting objectives (economic and environment) remains complex. In order to provide a decision-support for demolition companies, a multi-objective optimization model was developed. In this model, a demolition strategy is computed from a set of 80 decision variables (worker team composition, machines, treatment for each type of waste, choice of treatment platform…), which impacts the demolition objectives. The model has experimented on a real-case study (demolition of several buildings in France). To process the optimization, different optimization algorithms (NSGA2, MOPSO, DBEA…) were tested. Results allow the engineer in charge of this case, to build a sustainable demolition strategy without affecting cost or delay.

Keywords: deconstruction, life cycle assessment, multi-objective optimization, waste management

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Authors: Sarbjit Singh, Amit Kumar Lal

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In India there is no governing body to control advertisement apart from ASCI due to which most of the companies are targeting children in their advertisements that have a negative impact on their behaviour. The main purpose of this research paper is to find out the impact of the television advertisement on the behaviour of the children as observed and reported by parents. The exploratory research design is adopted by using in-depth interviews with 20 parents in various cities of Punjab on the basis semi-structured interviews a self-administered structured Questionnaire was developed for data collection. Exploratory factor analysis using varimax rotation is used to analyse the data from 100 parents from the conjoint cities of Punjab. (Jalandhar, Amritsar and Ludhiana) The finding suggests that children demand those products which are more advertised. Parents believe that television advertisements are affecting the study of their children. Moreover, the children are becoming more violent, stubborn and rebellious. They try to start copying from the advertisements and indulge in bad habits. Children demand, nag and pester their parents to purchase the advertised product. This research paper would help advertisers to understand children behaviour towards advertisements and more over what should be done to control the negative impact of advertisement on children. Advertisers can also understand the parental perception towards advertisement.

Keywords: advertisement, consumer behaviour, children perception, teen marketing

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Authors: Muhammad Wasif, Asif Ahmed Shaikh, Sarosh Hashmat Lodi, Muhammad Aslam Bhutto, Riazuddin

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Risk Management System is quite popular in profit- based organizations, health and safety and project management fields since the last few decades. But due to rapidly changing environment and requirement of ISO 9001:2015 standards, public-sector institution, especially higher education institutes are also performing risk assessment to monitor the performance of the institution and aligning it with the latest benchmark. In this context, NED University of Engineering and Technology performed research and developed a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the risk assessment, its monitoring and control. In this research, risks are broken into the four sources, namely; Internal Academics Risks, External Academics Risks, Internal Non-academic Risks, External Non-academic Risks. Risks are identified by the management at all levels. Severity and likelihood of the risks are assigned based on the previous audit results and the customer complains. Risk Ratings are calculated to orderly arrange the risk according to the Risk Rating, and controls for the risks are designed, which are assigned to the responsible person. At the end of the article, result and analysis on the different sources of risk are discussed in details and the conclusion is drawn. Discussion on few sample risks are presented in this article. Hence it is presented in the research that the Risk Management System can be applied in a Higher Education Institute to effectively control the risks which might affect the scope and Quality Management System of an organization.

Keywords: higher education, quality management system, risk assessment, risk management

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Authors: C. Akhras

Abstract:

Change is the life blood of business. Dynamic factors inspire change yet may act as barriers, influencing the company’s position in the market and challenging its organizational mission and culture. Today, the business context has globalized with business enterprises in the North and South joint in mergers and the East forges a strategic alliance with the West. Moreover, given that very little remains stable in certain industries, national business goals in the millennial marketplaces might be rapid, accelerated, and differentiated growth while distinctive competitive advantage might mark new qualitative excellence in others. In a new age culture marked by change, organizations, leaders, and followers are impacted; indigenous business leaders seem to have a very important role to play in change management. This case study was carried out on 178 business employees employed in local industry to evaluate perceptions of indigenous business leadership, workplace assessment, and organizational change management in the Middle East and North Africa. Three research questions were posed: (1) In your work context, do you think business leaders are essentially changing agents? (2) In your work context, is workplace change more effective in business leaders perceived as a hierarchical change agent rather than those perceived as an empowering change agent? (3) In your work context, is workplace change more efficient in business leaders perceived as a hierarchical change agent rather than those perceived as an empowering change agent? The results of the study and its limitations imposed by time and space indicate that more comprehensive research is required in this area.

Keywords: catalyst, change management, business enterprise, workplace assessment

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Authors: Siti Hajar Ya’acob, Nor Sayzwani Sukri, Farah Khaliz Kedri, Rozidaini Mohd Ghazi, Nik Raihan Nik Yusoff, Aweng A/L Eh Rak

Abstract:

Flood event that occurred in mid-December 2014 in East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia has driven attention from the public nationwide. Apart from loss and damage of properties and belongings, the massive flood event has introduced environmental disturbances on surface water resources in such flood affected area. A study has been conducted to measure the physical and chemical composition of Galas River and Pergau River prior to identification the flood impact towards environmental deterioration in surrounding area. Samples that have been collected were analyzed in-situ using YSI portable instrument and also in the laboratory for acid digestion and heavy metals analysis using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS). Results showed that range of temperature (0C), DO (mg/L), Ec (µs/cm), TDS (mg/L), turbidity (NTU), pH, and salinity were 25.05-26.65, 1.51-5.85, 0.032-0.054, 0.022-0.035, 23.2-76.4, 3.46-7.31, and 0.01-0.02 respectively. The results from this study could be used as a primary database to evaluate the status of water quality of the respective river after the massive flood.

Keywords: flood, river, heavy metals, AAS

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Authors: P. L. Madhushi Kavindya

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Sri Lanka is a developing country where hydrology plays an important role in its economic and social growth, followed by irrigation and power generation. Therefore, reservoirs are a principal element of the culture and social status of Sri Lankans. The emergence of a newly built reservoir goes along with a community relocation process which eventually causes alterations in the cultural landscape around it. From the 18th century, the emergence of reservoirs has caused major impacts on the landscape of Sri Lanka. Foremost aspects can be identified as the increased and decreased value of the cultural landscape around a reservoir. Community relocation in regard to reservoir projects is discussed as a key factor in the research. The study further carries out observations and findings of the relocation process of reservoirs in global and local contexts. Consequently, the study discusses the vast study area of ‘cultural landscape’ in brief and its behavior overall. Besides, specific data about reservoir-related cultural landscapes in a worldwide context, along with facts about the evolution, has been discussed. The significance and diversity of the Sri Lankan reservoir-related cultural landscape are explored in the succeeding study. This study will mainly identify the existing constraints and tendencies regarding the relocation process in an overall status. The base for the research has been laid thereafter by broadening the study on alterations which occur in the cultural landscape in relevance to reservoir-related relocation. Uma Oya multipurpose development project is selected as the exemplary study area considering its visible impacts. This analysis will indicate strategies, theories, and methods that can be applied to apprehend the impact of the relocation process on the cultural landscape of reservoirs. The research was carried out by conducting the Uma Oya multipurpose development project case study and by defining its cultural landscape and process of relocation. A suitable theoretical framework is developed in order to assess the set of vulnerable areas of a cultural landscape which are likely to change due to relocation. A questionnaire survey is done in order to assess socio-economic aspects, and a GIS data analysis is conducted to analyze the impact on physical aspects. Findings show that the impacts of the cultural landscape fall under both positive and negative categories. It also shows that the previous condition before resettlement and post stages have significant changes, where the previous condition had more socio-economic benefits for the community. And it also shows a clear alteration pattern of physical environment changes. These specifically developed theories, areas of assessment, and strategies, along with the outcomes, can be used for any location with geographical similarities worldwide.

Keywords: cultural diffusion theory, cultural landscape, physical aspects, relocation, reservoirs, socio-economic aspects

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Authors: Felipe A. Guth, Shane Ward, Kevin McDonnell

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The assessment of disease levels in crop fields is an important and time-consuming task that generally relies on expert knowledge of trained individuals. Image classification in agriculture problems historically has been based on classical machine learning strategies that make use of hand-engineered features in the top of a classification algorithm. This approach tends to not produce results with high accuracy and generalization to the classes classified by the system when the nature of the elements has a significant variability. The advent of deep convolutional neural networks has revolutionized the field of machine learning, especially in computer vision tasks. These networks have great resourcefulness of learning and have been applied successfully to image classification and object detection tasks in the last years. The objective of this work was to propose a new method based on deep learning convolutional neural networks towards the task of disease level monitoring. Common RGB images of winter wheat were obtained during a growing season. Five categories of disease levels presence were produced, in collaboration with agronomists, for the algorithm classification. Disease level tasks performed by experts provided ground truth data for the disease score of the same winter wheat plots were RGB images were acquired. The system had an overall accuracy of 84% on the discrimination of the disease level classes.

Keywords: crop disease assessment, deep learning, precision agriculture, residual neural networks

Procedia PDF Downloads 306

Authors: Nadir A. Carreon, Christa Sonderer, Aakarsh Rao, Roman Lysecky

Abstract:

With the advent of complex software and increased connectivity, the security of life-critical medical devices is becoming an increasing concern, particularly with their direct impact on human safety. Security is essential, but it is impossible to develop completely secure and impenetrable systems at design time. Therefore, it is important to assess the potential impact on the security and safety of exploiting a vulnerability in such critical medical systems. The common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) calculates the severity of exploitable vulnerabilities. However, for medical devices it does not consider the unique challenges of impacts to human health and privacy. Thus, the scoring of a medical device on which human life depends (e.g., pacemakers, insulin pumps) can score very low, while a system on which human life does not depend (e.g., hospital archiving systems) might score very high. In this paper, we propose a medical vulnerability scoring system (MVSS) that extends CVSS to address the health and privacy concerns of medical devices. We propose incorporating two new parameters, namely health impact, and sensitivity impact. Sensitivity refers to the type of information that can be stolen from the device, and health represents the impact on the safety of the patient if the vulnerability is exploited (e.g., potential harm, life-threatening). We evaluate fifteen different known vulnerabilities in medical devices and compare MVSS against two state-of-the-art medical device-oriented vulnerability scoring systems and the foundational CVSS.

Keywords: common vulnerability system, medical devices, medical device security, vulnerabilities

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