Search results for: risk management failure

Authors: Y. Fekir, K. Mederbal, M. A. Hammadouche, D. Anteur

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The cultural park of the Tassili, occupying a large area of Algeria, is characterized by a rich vegetative biodiversity to be preserved and managed both in time and space. The management of a large area (case of Tassili), by its complexity, needs large amounts of data, which for the most part, are spatially localized (DEM, satellite images and socio-economic information etc.), where the use of conventional and traditional methods is quite difficult. The remote sensing, by its efficiency in environmental applications, became an indispensable solution for this kind of studies. Multispectral imaging sensors have been very useful in the last decade in very interesting applications of remote sensing. They can aid in several domains such as the de¬tection and identification of diverse surface targets, topographical details, and geological features. In this work, we try to extract vegetative areas using fusion techniques between data acquired from sensor on-board the Earth Observing 1 (EO-1) satellite and Landsat ETM+ and TM sensors. We have used images acquired over the Oasis of Djanet in the National Park of Tassili in the south of Algeria. Fusion technqiues were applied on the obtained image to extract the vegetative fraction of the different classes of land use. We compare the obtained results in vegetation end member extraction with vegetation indices calculated from both Hyperion and other multispectral sensors.

Keywords: Landsat ETM+, EO1, data fusion, vegetation, Tassili, Algeria

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Authors: Sirimanee Banjong

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This study aimed to 1) develop pre-service teachers’ leadership skills through camp-based learning, and 2) develop pre-service teachers’ teamwork skills through camp-based learning. An applied research methodology was used. The target group was derived from a purposive selection. It involved 32 fourth-year students in Early Childhood Education Program enrolling in a course entitled Seminar in Early Childhood Education provided during the second semester of the academic year 2013. The treatment was camp-based learning activities which applied a PDCA process including four stages: 1) plan, 2) do, 3) check, and 4) act. Research instruments were a learning camp program, a camp-based learning management plan, a 5-level assessment form for leadership skills and a 5-level assessment form for assessing teamwork skills. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results were: 1) pre-service teachers’ leadership skills yielded the before treatment average score at ¯("x" )=3.4, S.D.= 0.62 and the after-treatment average score at ¯("x" ) 4.29, S.D.=0.66 pre-service teachers’ teamwork skills yielded the before-treatment average score at ¯("x" )=3.31, S.D.= 0.60 and the after-treatment average score at ¯("x" )=4.42, S.D.= 0.66. Both differences were statistically significant at the .05 level. Thus, the pre-service teachers’ leadership and teamwork skills were significantly improved through the camp-based learning approach.

Keywords: learning camp, leadership skills, teamwork skills, pre-service teachers

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Authors: H. K. Ramaraju

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World is in deep trouble and deeper denial. Worse, the denial is now entirely on the side of action. It is well accepted that climate change is a reality. Scientists say we need to cap temperature increases at 2°C to avoid catastrophe, which means capping emissions at 450 ppm .We know global average temperatures have already increased by 0.8°C and there is enough green house gas in the atmosphere to lead to another 0.8°C increase. There is still a window of opportunity, a tiny one, to tackle the crisis. But where is the action? In the 1990’s, when the world did even not understand, let alone accept, the crises, it was more willing to move to tackle climate change. Today we are in reverse in gear. The rich world has realized it is easy to talk big, but tough to take steps to actually reduce emissions. The agreement was that these countries would reduce so that the developing World could increase. Instead, between 1990 and 2006, their carbon dioxide emissions increased by a whopping 14.5 percent, even green countries of Europe are unable to match words with action. Stop deforestation and take a 20 percent advantage in our carbon balance sheet, with out doing anything at home called REDD (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation) and push for carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies. There are warning signs elsewhere and they need to be read correctly and acted up on , if not the cases like flood –act of nature or manmade disaster. The full length paper orient in proper understanding of the issues and identifying the most appropriate course of action.

Keywords: catastrophe, deforestation, emissions, waste water

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Authors: Eurico Lima Basto, Ofélia Pinto, Anabela Silva, Amélia Ferreira-Da-Silva

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The purpose if this study is two-fold: on the one hand, to identify the accounting information systems implemented in third sector organizations, as well as its components, its tools and the decisions and control purposes they serve; on the other hand, and by confronting these two theories - institutional theory versus rational choice – we intent to go further by understanding the reasons behind the adoption of the aforementioned tools. Data has been collected from third sector organizations operating in Portugal. Our sample includes all juridical types of organizations such as foundations, cooperative, associations or private institutions of social solidarity. The questionnaire contained sixteen close-ended questions and four open-questions. Results confirm the theoretical perspective of institutionalism. Most third sector organizations operating in Portugal implemented only traditional accounting tools like standard accounting statements, cost accounting, budgeting. Moreover, there is clear evidence that the decisions about the implementation of these tools were coercive oriented. With this study it is intended to contribute to a better understanding of the context of third sector organizations in Portugal, in particular the role that accounting plays in this sector, with a special focus on management accounting tools, and the factors that influence their use and the degree of their usefulness in the process of decision making.

Keywords: third sector, accounting tools, institutional theory, Portugal, descriptive research

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Authors: Kawser Ahmed, K. Bousson, Milca F. Coelho

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4D flight trajectory optimization is one of the key ingredients to improve flight efficiency and to enhance the air traffic capacity in the current air traffic management (ATM). The present paper explores the iterative dynamic programming (IDP) as a potential numerical optimization method for 4D flight trajectory optimization. IDP is an iterative version of the Dynamic programming (DP) method. Due to the numerical framework, DP is very suitable to deal with nonlinear discrete dynamic systems. The 4D waypoint representation of the flight trajectory is similar to the discretization by a grid system; thus DP is a natural method to deal with the 4D flight trajectory optimization. However, the computational time and space complexity demanded by the DP is enormous due to the immense number of grid points required to find the optimum, which prevents the use of the DP in many practical high dimension problems. On the other hand, the IDP has shown potentials to deal successfully with high dimension optimal control problems even with a few numbers of grid points at each stage, which reduces the computational effort over the traditional DP approach. Although the IDP has been applied successfully in chemical engineering problems, IDP is yet to be validated in 4D flight trajectory optimization problems. In this paper, the IDP has been successfully used to generate minimum length 4D optimal trajectory avoiding any obstacle in its path, such as a no-fly zone or residential areas when flying in low altitude to reduce noise pollution.

Keywords: 4D waypoint navigation, iterative dynamic programming, obstacle avoidance, trajectory optimization

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Authors: Kyonghoon Kim, Wonyoung Park, Taeil Park

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In 1994, Korea experienced a national tragedy of Seongsu Bridge collapse. The accident was severe enough to alert governmental officers to the problem of existing management policy for national infrastructures. As a result, government legislated the ‘Guidelines for the safety inspection and test of infrastructure’ which have been utilized as the primary tool to make decision for the maintenance and rehabilitation of infrastructure for last twenty years. Although it is clear that the guideline established a basics how to evaluate and manage the condition of infrastructures in systematic manner, it is equally clear that the guideline needs improvements in order to obtain reasonable investment decisions for budget allocation. Because its inspection and evaluation procedures mainly focused on the structural condition of infrastructures, it was hard to make decision when the infrastructures were in same level of structural condition. In addition, it did not properly reflect various aspects of infrastructures such as performance, public demand, capacity, etc., which were more valuable to public. Regardless of the importance, these factors were commonly neglected in governmental decision-making process, because there factors were somewhat subjective and difficult to quantify in rational manner. Thus, this study proposes a framework to properly evaluate the serviceability indicators using AHP and Fuzzy approach. The framework is expected to assist governmental agency in establishing effective investment strategies for budget planning.

Keywords: infrastructure, evaluation, serviceability, fuzzy

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Authors: Pedro Esteban

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Today’s electrical networks, including microgrids, are evolving into smart grids. The smart grid concept brings the idea that the power comes from various sources (continuous or intermittent), in various forms (AC or DC, high, medium or low voltage, etc.), and it must be integrated into the electric power system in a smart way to guarantee a continuous and reliable supply that complies with power quality and energy efficiency standards and grid code requirements. This idea brings questions for the different players like how the required power will be generated, what kind of power will be more suitable, how to store exceeding levels for short or long-term usage, and how to combine and distribute all the different generation power sources in an efficient way. To address these issues, there has been lots of development in recent years on the field of on-grid and off-grid hybrid power systems (HPS). These systems usually combine one or more modes of electricity generation together with energy storage to ensure optimal supply reliability and high level of energy security. Hybrid power systems combine power generation and energy storage technologies together with real-time energy management and innovative power quality and energy efficiency improvement functionalities. These systems help customers achieve targets for clean energy generation, they add flexibility to the electrical grid, and they optimize the installation by improving its power quality and energy efficiency.

Keywords: microgrids, hybrid power systems, energy storage, power quality improvement

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Authors: Davit Khachatryan, Shuo Xiang

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Numerous published studies on the use of prazosin in the treatment of PTSD-related sleep disturbances in adult population have resulted in updates to the recommendation for prazosin for nightmares that showed its strength of evidence elevated from C to B in the US Department of Veterans Affairs clinical practice guideline. In addition, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine clinical practice guideline gave prazosin a level-A recommendation for the treatment of PTSD-associated nightmares. The aim of this review is to summarize the available literature for prazosin use for nightmares and other sleep disturbances in children and adolescents with PTSD. Method: A comprehensive search for studies on prazosin use for sleep disturbances in child and adolescent population with PTSD has been performed. We looked at MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, AMED, Scopus, Web of Science, and Cochrane CENTRAL databases. Results: Compared to adult population with similar psychopathology, the available literature in child and adolescent population is scarce. Despite increased interest in prazosin in the management of PTSD, only six studies investigating this medication in children and adolescents have been published. Conclusion: A large randomized control trial on this topic is needed for more definite evidence on the efficacy and safety of prazosin in the treatment of nightmares in children and adolescents with PTSD.

Keywords: guidelines, prazosin, PTSD, sleep disturbance

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Authors: Lichung Jen, Yi Chun Liu, Kuan-Wei Lee

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Fruitful data has been accumulated in database nowadays and is commonly used as support for decision-making. In the healthcare industry, hospital, for instance, ordering pharmacy inventory is one of the key decision. With large drug inventory, the current cost increases and its expiration dates might lead to future issue, such as drug disposal and recycle. In contrast, underestimating demand of the pharmacy inventory, particularly standing drugs, affects the medical treatment and possibly hospital reputation. Prescription behaviour of hospital physicians is one of the critical factor influencing this decision, particularly irregular prescription behaviour. If a drug’s usage amount in the month is irregular and less than the regular usage, it may cause the trend of subsequent stockpiling. On the contrary, if a drug has been prescribed often than expected, it may result in insufficient inventory. We proposed a hierarchical Bayesian mixture model with two components to identify physicians’ regular/irregular prescription patterns with probabilities. Heterogeneity of hospital is considered in our proposed hierarchical Bayes model. The result suggested that modeling the prescription patterns of physician is beneficial for estimating the order quantity of medication and pharmacy inventory management of the hospital. Managerial implication and future research are discussed.

Keywords: hierarchical Bayesian model, poission mixture model, medicines prescription behavior, irregular behavior

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Authors: Ogunremi Beatrice, Oluwole David Adebayo

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Public secondary school students are face with some challenges from the parents, government and teachers in school. Some of the challenges that arises from the parents are lack of attention and adequate communication. From the government are unavailability of useful instructional materials, competent and professionally trained teachers for each subject the students do in school. The challenges that arise from the teachers most often are mismanagement of time, inability to understand the capacity of the student and lack class management and follow up. This study investigated self-regulation, emotional intelligence, self-efficacy and goal orientation as predictors of school engagement among public secondary school students in Ibadan. A structured questionnaire was administered on 258 students from six mixed secondary schools in Ibadan. Pearson Product Moment Correlation method was used for data analysis. Four hypothesis were raised and answered, the results showed there is positive and significant relationships between school engagement among public secondary school students and each of the independent variable: Self-regulation, Emotional intelligence, Self-efficacy, Goal orientation. On the basis of these findings, it was recommended that the parents have to encourage their children on how to be goal oriented ,build their self-efficacy skill, to be self-regulated and emotionally intelligent in order to be effective in school and be able to increase their intellectual ability.

Keywords: emotional intelligence, self-efficacy, goal orientation, school engagement, self-regulation

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Authors: Mina Bakhshi

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Nowadays, issues such as various types of pollution, problems caused by energy consumption, population density, social activities, difficulties related to urban access and communication, transportation, etc., have challenged different communities and become the subject of their discussions. In response to this issue, theories and movements have emerged to achieve sustainable urban development, including the smart growth movement. This theory emphasizes that the physical growth and expansion of cities should serve the community and the environment, aiming to improve the quality of life and promote the use of renewable energy resources for sustainability. The smart city network system not only improves the economic situation of the society and benefits the environment but also enables the achievement of important issues such as sustainable development, continuity, and diversity of energy resources. In this article, we investigate the impact of using renewable energy sources on optimizing energy consumption and reducing pollution caused by fossil fuels with the help of smart city development. The aim of this article is to introduce renewable energy sources and their utilization as a solution to address the energy crisis and reduce environmental pollution. This research has attempted to introduce the smart city and the use of renewable energy sources as a method for solving many urban problems and achieving efficient urban control and management.

Keywords: smart city, renewable energy sources, sustainable development, sustainable city

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Authors: Vinti Davar

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Introduction: Childhood overweight increases the risk for certain medical and psychological conditions. Millions of school-age children worldwide are affected by serious yet easily treatable and preventable illnesses that inhibit their ability to learn. Healthier children stay in school longer, attend more regularly, learn more and become healthier and more productive adults. Schools are an important setting for nutrition education because one can reach most children, teachers and parents. These years offer a key window for shaping their lifetime habits, which have an impact on their health throughout life. Against this background, an attempt was made to impart nutrition education to school children in Haryana state of India to promote healthy food choices and assess the effectiveness of this program. Methodology: This study was completed in two phases. During the first phase, pre-intervention anthropometric and dietary survey was conducted; the teaching materials for nutrition intervention program were developed and tested; and the questionnaire was validated. In the second phase, an intervention was implemented in two schools of Kurukshetra, Haryana for six months by personal visits once a week. A total of 350 children in the age group of 6-12 years were selected. Out of these, 279 children, 153 boys and 126 girls completed the study. The subjects were divided into four groups namely: underweight, normal, overweight and obese based on body mass index-for-age categories. A power point colorful presentation to improve the quality of tiffin, snacks and meals emphasizing inclusion of all food groups especially vegetables every day and fruits at least 3-4 days per week was used. An extra 20 minutes of aerobic exercise daily was likewise organized and a healthy school environment created. Provision of clean drinking water by school authorities was ensured. Selling of soft drinks and energy-dense snacks in the school canteen as well as advertisements about soft drink and snacks on the school walls were banned. Post intervention, anthropometric indices and food selections were reassessed. Results: The results of this study reiterate the critical role of nutrition education and promotion in improving the healthier food choices by school children. It was observed that normal, overweight and obese children participating in nutrition education intervention program significantly (p≤0.05) increased their daily seasonal fruit and vegetable consumption. Fat and oil consumption was significantly reduced by overweight and obese subjects. Fast food intake was controlled by obese children. The nutrition knowledge of school children significantly improved (p≤0.05) from pre to post intervention. A highly significant increase (p≤0.00) was noted in the nutrition attitude score after intervention in all four groups. Conclusion: This study has shown that a well-planned nutrition education program could improve nutrition knowledge and promote positive changes in healthy food choices. A nutrition program inculcates wholesome eating and active life style habits in children and adolescents that could not only prevent them from chronic diseases and early death but also reduce healthcare cost and enhance the quality of life of citizens and thereby nations.

Keywords: children, eating habits healthy food, obesity, school going, fast foods

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Authors: C. Fernandez-Plaza, I. Abad, E. Diaz, I. Diaz

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Births occurring before the 37th week of gestation are considered preterm births. A threat of preterm is defined as the beginning of regular uterine contractions, dilation and cervical effacement between 23 and 36 gestation weeks. To author's best knowledge, the factors that determine the beginning of the birth are not completely defined yet. In particular, the incidence of sleep habits on preterm births is weekly studied. The aim of this study is to develop a model to predict the factors affecting premature delivery on pregnancy, based on the above potential risk factors, including those derived from sleep habits and light exposure at night (introduced as 12 variables obtained by a telephone survey using two questionnaires previously used by other authors). Thus, three groups of variables were included in the study (maternal, fetal and sleep habits). The study was approved by Research Ethics Committee of the Principado of Asturias (Spain). An observational, retrospective and descriptive study was performed with 481 births between January 1, 2015 and May 10, 2016 in the University Central Hospital of Asturias (Spain). A statistical analysis using SPSS was carried out to compare qualitative and quantitative variables between preterm and term delivery. Chi-square test qualitative variable and t-test for quantitative variables were applied. Statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) between preterm vs. term births were found for primiparity, multi-parity, kind of conception, place of residence or premature rupture of membranes and interruption during nights. In addition to the statistical analysis, machine learning methods to look for a prediction model were tested. In particular, tree based models were applied as the trade-off between performance and interpretability is especially suitable for this study. C5.0, recursive partitioning, random forest and tree bag models were analysed using caret R-package. Cross validation with 10-folds and parameter tuning to optimize the methods were applied. In addition, different noise reduction methods were applied to the initial data using NoiseFiltersR package. The best performance was obtained by C5.0 method with Accuracy 0.91, Sensitivity 0.93, Specificity 0.89 and Precision 0.91. Some well known preterm birth factors were identified: Cervix Dilation, maternal BMI, Premature rupture of membranes or nuchal translucency analysis in the first trimester. The model also identifies other new factors related to sleep habits such as light through window, bedtime on working days, usage of electronic devices before sleeping from Mondays to Fridays or change of sleeping habits reflected in the number of hours, in the depth of sleep or in the lighting of the room. IF dilation < = 2.95 AND usage of electronic devices before sleeping from Mondays to Friday = YES and change of sleeping habits = YES, then preterm is one of the predicting rules obtained by C5.0. In this work a model for predicting preterm births is developed. It is based on machine learning together with noise reduction techniques. The method maximizing the performance is the one selected. This model shows the influence of variables related to sleep habits in preterm prediction.

Keywords: machine learning, noise reduction, preterm birth, sleep habit

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Authors: Kimberly Samaha

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The Bio-Hub Ecosystem model was developed to address a critical area of concern within the global energy market regarding biomass as a feedstock for power plants. Yet the lack of an economically-viable business model for bioenergy facilities has resulted in the continuation of idled and decommissioned plants. This study analyzed data and submittals to the Born Global Maine Innovation Challenge. The Innovation Challenge was a global innovation challenge to identify process innovations that could address a ‘whole-tree’ approach of maximizing the products, byproducts, energy value and process slip-streams into a circular zero-waste design. Participating companies were at various stages of developing bioproducts and included biofuels, lignin-based products, carbon capture platforms and biochar used as both a filtration medium and as a soil amendment product. This case study shows the QCA (Qualitative Comparative Analysis) methodology of the prequalification process and the resulting techno-economic model that was developed for the maximizing profitability of the Bio-Hub Ecosystem through continuous expansion of system waste streams into valuable process inputs for co-hosts. A full site plan for the integration of co-hosts (biorefinery, land-based shrimp and salmon aquaculture farms, a tomato green-house and a hops farm) at an operating forestry-based biomass to energy plant in West Enfield, Maine USA. This model and process for evaluating the profitability not only proposes models for integration of forestry, aquaculture and agriculture in cradle-to-cradle linkages of what have typically been linear systems, but the proposal also allows for the early measurement of the circularity and impact of resource use and investment risk mitigation, for these systems. In this particular study, profitability is assessed at two levels CAPEX (Capital Expenditures) and in OPEX (Operating Expenditures). Given that these projects start with repurposing facilities where the industrial level infrastructure is already built, permitted and interconnected to the grid, the addition of co-hosts first realizes a dramatic reduction in permitting, development times and costs. In addition, using the biomass energy plant’s waste streams such as heat, hot water, CO₂ and fly ash as valuable inputs to their operations and a significant decrease in the OPEX costs, increasing overall profitability to each of the co-hosts bottom line. This case study utilizes a proprietary techno-economic model to demonstrate how utilizing waste streams of a biomass energy plant and/or biorefinery, results in significant reduction in OPEX for both the biomass plants and the agriculture and aquaculture co-hosts. Economically viable Bio-Hubs with favorable environmental and community impacts may prove critical in garnering local and federal government support for pilot programs and more wide-scale adoption, especially for those living in severely economically depressed rural areas where aging industrial sites have been shuttered and local economies devastated.

Keywords: bio-economy, biomass energy, financing, zero-waste

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Authors: Naomi Grigoryan, Alexandros Loutsioli Daskalakis, Anna Elisse Uy, Yihe Huang, Aude Laurent (Webanck)

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In response to the building and construction sectors accounting for a third of all energy demand and emissions, the European Union has placed new laws and regulations in the construction sector that emphasize material circularity, energy efficiency, biodiversity, and social impact. Existing design tools assess sustainability in early-stage design for products or buildings; however, there is no standardized methodology for measuring the circularity performance of building components. Existing assessment methods for building components focus primarily on carbon footprint but lack the comprehensive analysis required to design for circularity. The research conducted in this paper covers the parameters needed to assess sustainability in the design process of architectural products such as doors, windows, and facades. It maps a framework for a tool that assists designers with real-time sustainability metrics. Considering the life cycle of building components such as façades, windows, and doors involves the life cycle stages applied to product design and many of the methods used in the life cycle analysis of buildings. The current industry standards of sustainability assessment for metal building components follow cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA), track Global Warming Potential (GWP), and document the parameters used for an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD). Developed by the Ellen Macarthur Foundation, the Material Circularity Indicator (MCI) is a methodology utilizing the data from LCA and EPDs to rate circularity, with a "value between 0 and 1 where higher values indicate a higher circularity+". Expanding on the MCI with additional indicators such as the Water Circularity Index (WCI), the Energy Circularity Index (ECI), the Social Circularity Index (SCI), Life Cycle Economic Value (EV), and calculating biodiversity risk and uncertainty, the assessment methodology of an architectural product's impact can be targeted more specifically based on product requirements, performance, and lifespan. Broadening the scope of LCA calculation for products to incorporate aspects of building design allows product designers to account for the disassembly of architectural components. For example, the Material Circularity Indicator for architectural products such as windows and facades is typically low due to the impact of glass, as 70% of glass ends up in landfills due to damage in the disassembly process. The low MCI can be combatted by expanding beyond cradle-to-grave assessment and focusing the design process on disassembly, recycling, and repurposing with the help of real-time assessment tools. Design for Disassembly and Urban Mining has been integrated within the construction field on small scales as project-based exercises, not addressing the entire supply chain of architectural products. By adopting more comprehensive sustainability metrics and incorporating uncertainty calculations, the sustainability assessment of building components can be more accurately assessed with decarbonization and disassembly in mind, addressing the large-scale commercial markets within construction, some of the most significant contributors to climate change.

Keywords: architectural products, early-stage design, life cycle assessment, material circularity indicator

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Authors: Ariyaratna Athugala

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Mass media play a significant role in democratic societies. The Political Economy of the Mass Media postulates that elite media interlock with other institutional sectors in ownership, and editorial management effectively circumscribing their ability to remain analytically detached from other dominant institutional sectors. The production of meaning in news discourse is not valued neutral, but part of a larger process of presenting a hegemonic understanding of the world to audiences as the “production of consent.” The horse race model argues that “the raw material of news” pressures six bands that ultimately shape the news audiences receive. The six bands are as follows: Crown piece (raw material), brow band (professionalism), throat latch (gatekeeper), a bit (construction), nose band (perception), and reins (ownership). dThe horse race model suggests that media ultimately serve to “manufacture consent” for a range of self-serving elite opinion options. These bands determine what events are deemed newsworthy, how they are covered, where they are placed within the media and how much coverage they receive. Highly descriptive in nature, the horse race model of communication is concerned with the question of whether media can be seen to play a hegemonic role in the society oriented towards legitimization, hegemonic pressures and ideological construction.

Keywords: hegemonic pressures, horse race, ideological construction, six bands

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Authors: Theophilius Adekunle Tinuoye

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Trade unions are groups formed essentially to promote, articulate and enhance the welfare of workers. They are expected to defend the workers interests and participate actively in workplace exchanges. But for trade unions to function effectively and actualize their lofty aspirations in the context of the current dynamic and ever-changing industrial relations context, they must not only have qualified and competent leaders, but also flexible and effective structure, systems, organograms, constitution, and administrative processes in place to compliment their policies and programmes. An important aspect of industrial relations is the existence of cordial tripartite or bipartite interactions between stakeholders and other social partners that are indispensable to the creation of positive and mutually beneficial exchanges and outcomes. This paper canvassed that unions must be structurally viable and administratively cohesive in order to be effective, pragmatic, functional and remain relevant. It also argued that weak, structurally deficient and less organized unions often find it immensely difficult to actualize workers goals. Finally, it outlined basic principles that will enhance union administration, guarantee that unions will continue to satisfy the yearnings of its members in these trying times and finally foster peaceful industrial relations climate and cordial labor relations between trade unions, employers /management and government.

Keywords: governance, labor relations, trade unions, workers

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Authors: Shizra Waris, Bilal Shoaib, Munib Ahmad

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Background; The using of clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) may recover unceasing disease organization, which requires regular visits to multiple health professionals, treatment monitoring, disease control, and patient behavior modification. The objective of this survey is to determine if these CDSSs improve the processes of unceasing care including diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of diseases. Though artificial intelligence is not a new idea it has been widely documented as a new technology in computer science. Numerous areas such as education business, medical and developed have made use of artificial intelligence Methods: The survey covers articles extracted from relevant databases. It uses search terms related to information technology and viral hepatitis which are published between 2000 and 2016. Results: Overall, 80% of studies asserted the profit provided by information technology (IT); 75% of learning asserted the benefits concerned with medical domain;25% of studies do not clearly define the added benefits due IT. The CDSS current state requires many improvements to hold up the management of liver diseases such as HCV, liver fibrosis, and cirrhosis. Conclusion: We concluded that the planned model gives earlier and more correct calculation of hepatitis B and it works as promising tool for calculating of custom hepatitis B from the clinical laboratory data.

Keywords: detection, hapataties, observation, disesese

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Authors: Y. N. Fung, R. Liu, T. M. Choi

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Over the past decades, previous studies have explored different consumers’ attitudes towards sustainable fashion and how these attitudes affect consumer behaviors. Researchers have attempted to provide solutions for product suppliers (e.g., retailers, designers, developers, and manufacturers) through studying consumers’ attitudes towards sustainable fashion. However, based on the studies of consumer attitudes, investigations on the sales and market share of sustainable sportswear products remain under-explored. Gaps may exist between the consumers’ expectations and the developed sustainable sportswear products. In this study, a novel study has been carried out to examine the attitude gaps existing between the sustainable sportswear suppliers’ (SSSs) and the sustainable sportswear consumers (SSCs). This study firstly identifies the key attitudes towards sustainable sportswear product development. It analyses how sustainable attitudes affect the products being developed, as well as the effects of the attitude’s difference between the SSSs and the SSCs on the consumers’ satisfaction towards sportswear product consumption. A gap analysis research framework is adopted with the use of collected questionnaire survey data. The results indicate that a significant difference exists between SSSs and SSCs’ attitudes towards sustainable design, manufacture, product features, and branding. Based on in-depth interviews, the major causes of the difference in attitudes are studied to provide managerial insights for sustainable sportswear product management and business development.

Keywords: sustainability, sportswear, attitude, gap analysis, suppliers, consumers

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Authors: Rudolph Carl Barrientos, Juwaln Diego Descallar, Rainer James Palmiano

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Household Appliance Scheduling Systems (HASS) coupled with a Time-of-Use (TOU) pricing scheme, a form of Demand Side Management (DSM), is not widely utilized in the Philippines’ residential electricity sector. This paper’s goal is to encourage distribution utilities (DUs) to adopt HASS and TOU by analyzing the effect of household schedulers on the electricity price and load profile in a residential environment. To establish this, a city based on an implemented survey is generated using Monte Carlo Analysis (MCA). Then, a Binary Particle Swarm Optimization (BPSO) algorithm-based HASS is developed considering user satisfaction, electricity budget, appliance prioritization, energy storage systems, solar power, and electric vehicles. The simulations were assessed under varying levels of user compliance. Results showed that the average electricity cost, peak demand, and peak-to-average ratio (PAR) of the city load profile were all reduced. Therefore, the deployment of the HASS and TOU pricing scheme is beneficial for both stakeholders.

Keywords: appliance scheduling, DSM, TOU, BPSO, city-wide simulation, electric vehicle, appliance prioritization, energy storage system, solar power

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Authors: Z. I Jeeva

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The establishment of municipalities in South Africa has been a long and difficult process; 25 years later, it still appears to be evolving. In 1994, the new democratic government undertook to restructure the country’s racially segregated administrative structure by integrating areas to form cohesive municipal entities that would allow for the more efficient administration management of the regions. It planned to achieve this within a short seven-year period from 1993 to 2000, which was to be divided into three phases, namely, the pre-interim phase from 1994 to1995, the interim phase from 1996 to 1999, and the post-interim phase from 2000 onwards. However, the extensive integrated municipal approach was easier to pen on paper than to implement in practice. This paper seeks to explore the South African spatial reform process from 1993 to 2020, by analyzing policy documents and literature in order to determine how exactly the government attempted to achieve this. The study found that the spatial restructuring process was particularly complex since the democratic government inherited an unequal society located on a fragmented spatial landscape of which there was limited knowledge with many unresolved issues. Furthermore, the study found that there is a lack of literature on the topic from an urban planning perspective and calls for further research to ensure the formation of more efficient administrative regions.

Keywords: categorization, demarcation, municipalities, racial integration, spatial reform

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Authors: Tharsinithevy Kirupananthan, Thivahary Geretharan

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Since creation of agricultural enterprises going to reflect the micro and macro level development of Sri Lanka, it is vey important to study the entrepreneurial trends of Agricultural Undergraduates. Likert scale scoring method was used to assess the responses of involvement, Role model effect, aware of demands, confidence and willingness. 37.8% were strongly agreed to do full time business. The average score for to do agriculture businesses were between agree and strongly agree. The average scores for role model effects were less than agree. Average score for aware of needs of society was less than agree. 75.7% of them were able to identify the demands of the society. The demands identified were human capital, self sufficient domestic production, safe and nutritional foods. The confidence of having enough skills score was less than agree. 64.1% of them were owned special skills to carry out entrepreneurial activities. Such skills were possession of different human capitals management skills. The willingness responses scores were more than agree. 61.5% of them were discussed their business plan. Their dream plans were development of new food products, Quality planting materials, harmless method of cultivation and floricultural industry. Those were supported by government policies and other related organizations.

Keywords: agricultural undergraduates, entrepreneurial trends, likert scale Sri Lanka

Procedia PDF Downloads 378

Authors: Manju Bala Jassi

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The Covid 19 pandemic has badly mauled Dubai’s GDP heavily dependent on hospitality, tourism, entertainment, logistics, property and the retail sectors. In the context of the World Health protocols on social distancing for better maintenance of health and hygiene, the revival of the battered tourism and hospitality sectors has serious lessons for designers- interiors and public places. The tangible and intangible aesthetic elements and design –ambiance, materials, furnishings, colors, lighting and interior with architectural design issues of tourism and hospitality need a rethink to ensure a memorable tourist experience. Designers ought to experiment with sustainable places of tourism and design, develop, build and projects are aesthetic and leave as little negative impacts on the environment and public as possible. In short, they ought to conceive public spaces that makes use of little untouched materials and energy, and creates pollution and waste that are minimal. The spaces can employ healthier and more resource-efficient prototypes of construction, renovation, operation, maintenance, and demolition and thereby mitigate the environment impacts of the construction activities and it is sustainable These measures encompass the hospitality sector that includes hotels and restaurants which has taken the hardest fall from the pandemic. The paper sought to examine building energy efficiency and materials and design employed in public places, green buildings to achieve constructive sustainability and to establish the benefits of utilizing energy efficiency, green materials and sustainable design; to document diverse policy interventions, design and Spatial dimensions of tourism and hospitality sectors; to examine changes in the hospitality, aviation sector especially from a design perspective regarding infrastructure or operational constraints and additional risk-mitigation measures; to dilate on the nature of implications for interior designers and architects to design public places to facilitate sustainable tourism and hospitality while balancing convenient space and their operations' natural surroundings. The qualitative research approach was adopted for the study. The researcher collected and analyzed data in continuous iteration. Secondary data was collected from articles in journals, trade publications, government reports, newspaper/ magazine articles, policy documents etc. In depth interviews were conducted with diverse stakeholders. Preliminary data indicates that designers have started imagining public places of tourism and hospitality against the backdrop of the government push and WHO guidelines. For instance, with regard to health, safety, hygiene and sanitation, Emirates, the Dubai-based airline has augmented health measures at the Dubai International Airport and on board its aircraft. It has leveraged high tech/ Nano-tech, social distancing to encourage least human contact, flexible design layouts to limit the occupancy. The researcher organized the data into thematic categories and found that the Government of Dubai has initiated comprehensive measures in the hospitality, tourism and aviation sectors in compliance with the WHO guidelines.

Keywords: Covid 19, design, Dubai, hospitality, public spaces, tourism

Procedia PDF Downloads 148

Authors: Mateusz Janas

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Innovative implementations in the micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSME) sector are among the essential activities considering the current market realities, technological advancements, and digitization trends. MSMEs play a crucial role and significantly influence the economic conditions of countries, as their competitiveness directly impacts the global economy. Business development and investment in innovation and technology are integral parts of every modern enterprise's strategy, seeking to maintain and achieve a desired competitive position. The instability of the socio-economic environment, along with contemporary changes in artificial intelligence implementation and digitization, requires businesses to adopt increasingly newer solutions and actions. Enterprises must strive to survive in the global market and build competitive positions, especially in uncertain conditions. Being aware of the significance of innovative actions is crucial for MSMEs as it enables them to enhance their operations and expand their scope. It is essential for managers and executives of MSMEs to be focused on development and innovation, as their approach will also impact their employees, emphasizing results and maximizing the company's value. Managers of MSMEs must be aware of various threats, costs, opportunities, and gains that can arise from implementing new technical and organizational solutions. Businesses must view development as an integral part of their strategy and continuously strive for improvement.

Keywords: innovation, SME, develop, management

Procedia PDF Downloads 50

Authors: A. Kourou, A. Ioakeimidou, V. Avramea

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Planning for natural disasters and emergencies is something every school or educational institution must consider, regardless of its size or location. Preparedness is the key to save lives if a disaster strikes. School disaster management mirrors individual and family disaster prevention, and wider community disaster prevention efforts. This paper presents the usage of E-PreS System as a helpful, managerial tool during the school earthquake drill, in order to support schools in developing effective disaster and emergency plans specific to their local needs. The project comes up with a holistic methodology using real-time evaluation involving different categories of actors, districts, steps and metrics. The main outcomes of E-PreS project are the development of E-PreS web platform that host the needed data of school emergency planning; the development of E-PreS System; the implementation of disaster drills using E-PreS System in educational premises and local schools; and the evaluation of E-PreS System. Taking into consideration that every disaster drill aims to test and valid school plan and procedures; clarify and train personnel in roles and responsibilities; improve interagency coordination; identify gaps in resources; improve individual performance; and identify opportunities for improvement, E-PreS Project was submitted and approved by the European Commission (EC).

Keywords: disaster drills, earthquake preparedness, E-PreS System, school emergency plans

Procedia PDF Downloads 219

Authors: Tomasz Balabanski, Anna Biedunkiewicz

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Research on basic bacteriological and physicochemical parameters conducted by state institutions (Provincial Sanitary and Epidemiological Station and District Sanitary and Epidemiological Station) are limited to bathing waters under constant sanitary and epidemiological supervision. Unfortunately, no routine or monitoring tests are carried out for the presence of microfungi. This also applies to beach sand used for recreational purposes. The purpose of the planned own research was to determine the diversity of the mycobiota present on supervised and unsupervised sandy beaches, on the shores of lakes, of municipal baths used for recreation. The research material consisted of microfungi isolated from April to October 2019 from sandy beaches of supervised and unsupervised lakes located within the administrative boundaries of the city of Olsztyn (North-Eastern Poland, Europe). Four lakes, out of the fifteen available (Tyrsko, Kortowskie, Skanda, and Ukiel), whose bathing waters are subjected to routine bacteriological tests, were selected for testing. To compare the diversity of the mycobiota composition on the surface and below the sand mixing layer, samples were taken from two depths (10 cm and 50 cm), using a soil auger. Micro-fungi from sand samples were obtained by surface inoculation on an RBC medium from the 1st dilution (1:10). After incubation at 25°C for 96-144 h, the average number of CFU/dm³ was counted. Morphologically differing yeast colonies were passaged into Sabouraud agar slants with gentamicin and incubated again. For detailed laboratory analyses, culture methods (macro- and micro-cultures) and identification methods recommended in diagnostic mycological laboratories were used. The conducted research allowed obtaining 140 yeast isolates. The total average population ranged from 1.37 × 10⁻² CFU/dm³ before the bathing season (April 2019), 1.64 × 10⁻³ CFU/dm³ in the season (May-September 2019), and 1.60 × 10⁻² CFU/dm³ after the end of the season (October 2019). More microfungi were obtained from the surface layer of sand (100 isolates) than from the deeper layer (40 isolates). Reported microfungi may circulate seasonally between individual elements of the lake ecosystem. From the sand/soil from the catchment area beaches, they can get into bathing waters, stopping periodically on the coastal phyllosphere. The sand of the beaches and the phyllosphere are a kind of filter for the water reservoir. The presence of microfungi with various pathogenicity potential in these places is of major epidemiological importance. Therefore, full monitoring of not only recreational waters but also sandy beaches should be treated as an element of constant control by appropriate supervisory institutions, allowing recreational areas for public use so that the use of these places does not involve the risk of infection. Acknowledgment: 'Development Program of the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn', POWR.03.05.00-00-Z310/17, co-financed by the European Union under the European Social Fund from the Operational Program Knowledge Education Development. Tomasz Bałabański is a recipient of a scholarship from the Programme Interdisciplinary Doctoral Studies in Biology and Biotechnology (POWR.03.05.00-00-Z310/17), which is funded by the 'European Social Fund'.

Keywords: beach, microfungi, sand, yeasts

Procedia PDF Downloads 88

Authors: Chung Yan Natalia Yeung, Man Kit Indy Ho, Kin Yu Stan Chan, Ho Pui Kipper Lam, Man Wah Genie Tong, Tze Chung Jim Luk

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Excessive foot pronation is a well-known risk factor of knee and foot injuries such as patellofemoral pain, patellar and Achilles tendinopathy, and plantar fasciitis. Low-Dye taping (LDT) application is not uncommon for basketball players to control excessive foot pronation for pain control and injury prevention. The primary potential benefits of using LDT include providing additional supports to medial longitudinal arch and restricting the excessive midfoot and subtalar motion in weight-bearing activities such as running and landing. Meanwhile, restrictions provided by the rigid tape may also potentially limit functional joint movements and sports performance. Coaches and athletes need to weigh the potential benefits and harmful effects before making a decision if applying LDT technique is worthwhile or not. However, the influence of using LDT on basketball-related performance such as explosive and reactive strength is not well understood. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the change of drop jump (DJ) and countermovement jump (CMJ) performance before and after LDT application for collegiate male basketball players. In this within-subject crossover study, 12 healthy male basketball players (age: 21.7 ± 2.5 years) with at least 3-year regular basketball training experience were recruited. Navicular drop (ND) test was adopted as the screening and only those with excessive pronation (ND ≥ 10mm) were included. Participants with recent lower limb injury history were excluded. Recruited subjects were required to perform both ND, DJ (on a platform of 40cm height) and CMJ (without arms swing) tests in series during taped and non-taped conditions in the counterbalanced order. Reactive strength index (RSI) was calculated by using the flight time divided by the ground contact time measured. For DJ and CMJ tests, the best of three trials was used for analysis. The difference between taped and non-taped conditions for each test was further calculated through standardized effect ± 90% confidence intervals (CI) with clinical magnitude-based inference (MBI). Paired samples T-test showed significant decrease in ND (-4.68 ± 1.44mm; 95% CI: -3.77, -5.60; p < 0.05) while MBI demonstrated most likely beneficial and large effect (standardize effect: -1.59 ± 0.27) in LDT condition. For DJ test, significant increase in both flight time (25.25 ± 29.96ms; 95% CI: 6.22, 44.28; p < 0.05) and RSI (0.22 ± 0.22; 95% CI: 0.08, 0.36; p < 0.05) were observed. In taped condition, MBI showed very likely beneficial and moderate effect (standardized effect: 0.77 ± 0.49) in flight time, possibly beneficial and small effect (standardized effect: -0.26 ± 0.29) in ground contact time and very likely beneficial and moderate effect (standardized effect: 0.77 ± 0.42) in RSI. No significant difference in CMJ was observed (95% CI: -2.73, 2.08; p > 0.05). For basketball players with pes planus, applying LDT could substantially support the foot by elevating the navicular height and potentially provide acute beneficial effects in reactive strength performance. Meanwhile, no significant harmful effect on CMJ was observed. Basketball players may consider applying LDT before the game or training to enhance the reactive strength performance. However since the observed effects in this study could not generalize to other players without excessive foot pronation, further studies on players with normal foot arch or navicular height are recommended.

Keywords: flight time, pes planus, pronated foot, reactive strength index

Procedia PDF Downloads 143

Authors: Andrea Bertocchi, Alessio Barnaba Di Fonzo, Davide Talarico, Simone Rivaroli, Jeff Konin

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The patient is a 89 years old male (180cm/85kg) retired notary former golfer with no past medical history. He describes a progressive ideomotor slowdown for 14 months. The disorder is characterized by short-term memory deficits and, for some months, also by unstable walking with a broad base with skidding and risk of falling at directional changes and urinary urgency. There were also episodes of aggression towards his wife and staff. At the time, the patient takes no prescribed medications. He has difficulty eating, dressing, and some problems with personal hygiene. In the initial visit, the patient was alert, cooperating, and performed simple tasks; however, he has a hearing impairment, slowed spontaneous speech, and amnestic deficit to the short story. Ideomotor apraxia is not present. He scored 20 points in the MMSE. From a motor function, he has deficits using Medical Research Council (MRC) 3-/5 in bilateral lower limbs and requires maximum assistance from sit to stand with existing premature fatigue. He’s unable to walk for about 1 month. Tremors and hypertonia are absent. BERG was unable to be administered, and BARTHEL was obtained 45/100. An Amyloid Angiopathy is suspected and then confirmed at the neurological examination. Therehabilitation objectives were the recovery of mobility and reinforcement of the UE/LE, especially legs, for recovery of standing and walking. The cognitive aspect was also an essential factor for the patient's recovery. The literature doesn’t demonstrate any particular studies regarding motor and cognitive rehabilitation on this pathology. Failing to manage his attention on exercise and tending to be disinterested and falling asleep constantly, we used golf-specific gestures to stimulate his mind to work and get results because the patient has memory recall of golf related movement. We worked for 4 months with a frequency of 3 sessions per week. Every session lasted for 45 minutes. After 4 months of work, the patient walked independently with the use of a stick for about 120 meters without stopping. MRC 4/5 AI bilaterally andpostural steps performed independently with supervision. BERG 36/56. BARTHEL 65/100. 6 Minutes Walking Test (6MWT), at the beginning, it wasn’t measurable, now, he performs 151,5m with Numeric Rating Scale 4 at the beginning and 7 at the end. Cognitively, he no longer has episodes of aggression, although the short-term memory and concentration deficit remains. Amyloid Angiopathy is a mix of motor and cognitive disorder. It is worth the thought that cerebral amyloid angiopathy manifests with functional deficits due to strokes and bleedings and, as such, has an important rehabilitation indication, as classical stroke is not associated with amyloidosis. Exploring the motor patterns learned at a young age and remained in the implicit and explicit memory of the patient allowed us to set up effective work and to obtain significant results in the short-middle term. Surely many studies will still be done regarding this pathology and its rehabilitation, but the importance of the cognitive sphere applied to the motor sphere could represent an important starting point.

Keywords: amyloid angiopathy, cognitive rehabilitation, golf, motor disorder

Procedia PDF Downloads 109

Authors: Jolanta Brodowska-Szewczuk

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The article includes the results and conclusions from empirical researches that had been done. The research focuses on the impact of investments made in small and medium-sized enterprises financed from EU funds on the competitiveness of these companies. The researches includes financial results in sales revenue and net income, expenses, and many other new products/services on offer, higher quality products and services, more modern methods of production, innovation in management processes, increase in the number of customers, increase in market share, increase in profitability of production and provision of services. The main conclusions are that, companies with direct investments under this measure shall apply the modern methods of production. The consequence of this is to increase the quality of our products and services. Furthermore, both small and medium-sized enterprises have introduced new products and services. Investments were carried out, thus enabling better work organization in enterprises. Entrepreneurs would guarantee higher quality of service, which would result in better relationships with their customers, what is more, noting the rise in number of clients. More than half of the companies indicated that the investments contributed to the increase in market share. Same thing as for market reach and brand recognition of particular company. An interesting finding is that, investments in small enterprises were more effective than medium-sized enterprises.

Keywords: competitiveness, efficiency, EU funds, small and medium-sized enterprises

Procedia PDF Downloads 372

Authors: E. Elgohary, R. Abdelazyz

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The research aims to clarify the effect of the marketing culture on improving the e-service quality for foreign and domestic information technology companies in the Arab Republic of Egypt. So the researcher sought to include the dimensions of the marketing culture, which are (customer service, management style, sales mission, internal communications, technology, wages and rewards, innovation) as measures of marketing culture for its effect on improving the e-service quality in this research. The research population consists of employees and customers of the companies under study. The research problem was the following question: What is the effect of the actual application of marketing culture on improving the e-service quality? To answer that, three main hypotheses were adopted, and they were tested by statistical means for the data collected through a questionnaire prepared and distributed for this purpose. Accordingly, the research presented a set of results, the most important of which are: the need to pay attention to the dimensions of the marketing culture to improve the e-service quality, foreign companies were the most popular companies in applying the marketing culture compared to local companies. The research also recommends designing a system to continuously measure the performance of electronic service providers and work on spreading the culture of innovation among employees, linking reward programs to the extent of commitment to applying the elements of marketing culture while doing business.

Keywords: marketing culture, e-service quality, measurement models, quality measurements

Procedia PDF Downloads 208