Search results for: quality of life index

Authors: Syeda Fahria Hoque Mimmi, Aparna Islam

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Genetically engineered (GE) plants are the need of time for increased demand for food. A complete set of regulations need to be followed from the development of a GE plant to its release into the environment. The whole regulation system is categorized into separate stages for maintaining the proper biosafety. Environmental risk assessment (ERA) is one of such crucial stages in the whole process. ERA identifies potential risks and their impacts through science-based evaluation where it is done in a case-by-case study. All the countries which deal with GE plants follow specific guidelines to conduct a successful ERA. In this study, ERA guidelines of 4 developing and 4 developed countries, including Bangladesh, were compared. ERA guidelines of countries such as India, Canada, Australia, the European Union, Argentina, Brazil, and the US were considered as a model to conduct the comparison study with Bangladesh. Initially, ten parameters were detected to compare the required data and information among all the guidelines. Surprisingly, an adequate amount of data and information requirements (e.g., if the intended modification/new traits of interest has been achieved or not, the growth habit of GE plants, consequences of any potential gene flow upon the cultivation of GE plants to sexually compatible plant species, potential adverse effects on the human health, etc.) matched between all the countries. However, a few differences in data requirement (e.g., agronomic conventions of non-transformed plants, applicants should clearly describe experimental procedures followed, etc.) were also observed in the study. Moreover, it was found that only a few countries provide instructions on the quality of the data used for ERA. If these similarities are recognized in a more framed manner, then the approval pathway of GE plants can be shared.

Keywords: GE plants, ERA, harmonization, ERA guidelines, Information and data requirements

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Authors: Mohammed Qutishat, Omar Al-Omari, Kholoud Al-Damery, Mohammed Al-Qadiri

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Objective: The current study aims to explore the relationship between Night Eating Syndrome and the experiences of Fear of Missing out (FOMO) among college students in Oman. Methods: The study adopted a descriptive correlational design. The total sample was 366 based on defined inclusion criteria. The questionnaires were distributed over one month during the spring semester of 2020. We used a self-report instrument as a measurement tool to investigate the extents of the research phenomena, and it consists of two major sections: fear of missing out Questionnaires and Night Eating Questionnaire. Results: The respondents' age ranged between 18 and 30. The majority of the participants were female 76.7% (204), single 97.7% (266), in their third academic year 28.6% (76), live in –campus, 57.1% (152). The findings of this study showed that fear of missing out experiences are significantly correlated with age (P=.010), gender (P= .005), and daily sleeping hours (P= .007). However, night eating experiences are significantly associated with age (p=018), living arrangement (P= .017), and sleeping hours (P= .000). Conclusion: This article can define a limiting aspect of the relationship between fear of missing out and night eating behaviors. During academic life, students may find themselves overloaded and use their smartphones to do the simplest tasks they have, leading them to skip their meals frequently and interfere with their eating patterns and psychological function. Health awareness programs or the implementation of healthy eating standards and technology uses can be introduced for undergraduates.

Keywords: fear of missing out, night eating syndrome, smartphone, addiction

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Authors: Rajkumar Ghosh

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The study presents an overview of the many uses and approaches for estimating out-of-sequence thrust movement in earthquake mitigation. The study investigates how knowing and forecasting thrust movement during seismic occurrences might assist to effective earthquake mitigation measures. The review begins by discussing out-of-sequence thrust movement and its importance in earthquake mitigation strategies. It explores how typical techniques of estimating thrust movement may not capture the full complexity of seismic occurrences and emphasizes the benefits of include out-of-sequence data in the analysis. A thorough review of existing research and studies on out-of-sequence thrust movement estimates for earthquake mitigation. The study demonstrates how to estimate out-of-sequence thrust movement using multiple data sources such as GPS measurements, satellite imagery, and seismic recordings. The study also examines the use of out-of-sequence thrust movement estimates in earthquake mitigation measures. It investigates how precise calculation of thrust movement may help improve structural design, analyse infrastructure risk, and develop early warning systems. The potential advantages of using out-of-sequence data in these applications to improve the efficiency of earthquake mitigation techniques. The difficulties and limits of estimating out-of-sequence thrust movement for earthquake mitigation. It addresses data quality difficulties, modelling uncertainties, and computational complications. To address these obstacles and increase the accuracy and reliability of out-of-sequence thrust movement estimates, the authors recommend topics for additional study and improvement. The study is a helpful resource for seismic monitoring and earthquake risk assessment researchers, engineers, and policymakers, supporting innovations in earthquake mitigation measures based on a better knowledge of thrust movement dynamics.

Keywords: earthquake mitigation, out-of-sequence thrust, satellite imagery, seismic recordings, GPS measurements

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Authors: Michael Adedotun Oke

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This paper, therefore, under study the various multiplier usages of the different Animal Dungs, from the animals such as Rabbits, Cows, Fishes, Sheep, and Poultry manure in the areas council of the Federal Capital Territory Abuja, Nigeria. Thus the various observations, with the pictorial representation, that was taken with the field survey from the different farms in Gwagawalada. Shows that the rabbits dungs are being used in some of the vegetables and crop farms, which serves as the nutrients, reduces the cost of production, ensure profitability, which also increases the different vegetative growth, early maturity, and the development of the crop and this is also applicable to some crops like maize, sweet potatoes. While the manure of the poultry products are being incorporated to fish ponds and the cows dungs are being used to serve as some manure to some certain crops, e.g. Okro, Maize, Pepper. Which provides the necessary nutritious values, but the various number of quantity of different bags of the various application are lacking, and the time of usage, it is also a life germane questions, which there are needs for further adaptive research, that will be involved and the reintroduction of new technology, that will be used in terms of the different methodology such as broadcasting and ring applications, of the dungs at large, while the seasons of the various applications. Thus the paper, therefore, suggested a training programs and production of manuals that will guide the various applications and usage and the effective dissemination of the various used of the simple technology, that will advances and teaching of a new mode of and the time of applications and the various quantity to used, during the applications.

Keywords: animals, usage, livestock, dungs, feaces, gwagawalada

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Authors: Isabel Martins, Orlando Pereira, Ana Martins

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This study aims to highlight that, in changing environments, organisations need to adapt their behaviours to the demands of the new economic reality. The main purpose of this study focuses on the relationship between entrepreneurship, innovation with learning as the mediating factor. It is within this entrepreneurial spirit that literature reveals a concern with the current economic perspective towards knowledge and considers it as both the production factor par excellence and a source of entrepreneurial capacity and innovation. Entrepreneurship is a mind-set focused on identifying opportunities of economic value and translates these into the pursuit of business opportunities through innovation. It connects art and science and is a way of life, as opposed to a simple mode of business creation and profiteering. This perspective underlines the need to develop the global individual for the globalised world, the strategic key to economic and social development. The objective of this study is to explore the notion that relational capital which is established between the entrepreneur and all the other economic role players both inside and outside the organization, is indeed determinant in developing the entrepreneurial capacity. However, this depends on the organizational culture of innovation. In this context, entrepreneurship is an ‘entrepreneurial capital’ inherent in the organization that is not limited to skills needed for work. This study is a critique of extant literature review which will be also be supported by primary data collection gathered to study graduates’ perceptions towards their entrepreneurial capital. Limitations are centered on both the design and of the sample of this study. This study is of added value for both scholars and organisations in the current innovation economy.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, innovation, learning, relational capital

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Authors: Thi Phuong Lan Nguyen

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Vietnamese English Language Teacher Education (ELTE) has been changing a lot in response to the rapidly evolving socio-economic context requirements. The Vietnamese government assigns the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) primary tasks to have policy changes to prepare for ELTE development in the globalization and socialization process. Many educational policies have been made to develop ELTE, however, they seem not to address the new global or social demands. The issue is that there are still significant disparities between the national policy and the institutional implementation. This study is to investigate the alignment between ELTE institutional curriculum, pedagogies, and MOET standards. This study used a mixed-method with the data sources from policy documents, a survey, and 33 interviews conducted with the lecturers and administrators from eleven Vietnamese ELTE institutions. The data have been analysed to understand the gap between policy and practice. The initial findings are (i) a low alignment of curriculum and language proficiency standards and (ii) a moderate alignment between curriculum and future-career skills standards. Many pedagogical challenges have been found. In order to address these gaps, it is necessary for the curriculum to be standards-based designed. It is also vital for professional development in order to improve the quality teaching. The study offers multiple perspectives on a complex issue. The study is meaningful not only to educational governance, but also to teaching practitioners, English language researchers, and English language learners. The significance lies in its relevance to English teaching careers across all parts of Vietnam, it yet remains relevant to ELTE in other countries teaching English as a foreign language.

Keywords: alignment, curriculum, educational policy, English language teaching, pedagogy, standards

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Authors: Zhou Yang, Heli Sun, Jianbin Huang, Jizhong Zhao, Shaojie Qiao

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Traffic prediction is essential in a multitude of ways in modern urban life. The researchers of earlier work in this domain carry out the investigation chiefly with two major focuses: (1) the accurate forecast of future values in multiple time series and (2) knowledge extraction from spatial-temporal correlations. However, two key considerations for traffic prediction are often missed: the completeness of raw data and the full context of the prediction timestamp. Concentrating on the two drawbacks of earlier work, we devise an approach that can address these issues in a two-phase framework. First, we utilize the raw trajectories to a greater extent through building a VLA table and data compression. We obtain the intra-trajectory features with graph-based encoding and the intertrajectory ones with a grid-based model and the technique of back projection that restore their surrounding high-resolution spatial-temporal environment. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to study direct feature extraction from raw trajectories for traffic prediction and attempt the use of raw data with the least degree of reduction. In the prediction phase, we provide a broader context for the prediction timestamp by taking into account the information that are around it in the training dataset. Extensive experiments on several well-known datasets have verified the effectiveness of our solution that combines the strength of raw trajectory data and prediction context. In terms of performance, our approach surpasses several state-of-the-art methods for traffic prediction.

Keywords: traffic prediction, raw data utilization, context building, data reduction

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Authors: Emmanuel Iyamuremye

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Extreme rainfall events have caused significant damage to agriculture, ecology, and infrastructure, disruption of human activities, injury, and loss of life. They also have significant social, economic, and environmental consequences because they considerably damage urban as well as rural areas. Early detection of extreme maximum rainfall helps to implement strategies and measures, before they occur, hence mitigating the consequences. Extreme value theory has been used widely in modeling extreme rainfall and in various disciplines, such as financial markets, the insurance industry, failure cases. Climatic extremes have been analyzed by using either generalized extreme value (GEV) or generalized Pareto (GP) distributions, which provides evidence of the importance of modeling extreme rainfall from different regions of the world. In this paper, we focused on Peak Over Thresholds approach, where the Poisson-generalized Pareto distribution is considered as the proper distribution for the study of the exceedances. This research also considers the use of the generalized Pareto (GP) distribution with a Poisson model for arrivals to describe peaks over a threshold. The research used statistical techniques to fit models that used to predict extreme rainfall in Kigali. The results indicate that the proposed Poisson-GP distribution provides a better fit to maximum monthly rainfall data. Further, the Poisson-GP models are able to estimate various return levels. The research also found a slow increase in return levels for maximum monthly rainfall for higher return periods, and further, the intervals are increasingly wider as the return period is increasing.

Keywords: exceedances, extreme value theory, generalized Pareto distribution, Poisson generalized Pareto distribution

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Authors: Genevieve Jorolan-Quintero

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After the devastation caused by typhoon Haiyan in the southeastern part of the Philippines in 2012, there was this intense need among the indigenous communities to ‘reconcile’ with nature. The belief that the deluge, which claimed thousands of lives, was caused by the destruction of the environment because of humanities’ greed and carelessness was widespread and strong. The rift had to be mended. Nature had to be appeased. For this, the balyan (priestess) was called in to perform a ritual. Only she can communicate with the spirits. The communities depend on her spiritual intervention as she alone has the power to invoke the spirits of nature. Among the indigenous people, the balyan is most often also a magdadawot (bard) who possesses the knowledge especially about the folk epics and the skill to chant them. The balyan is the communities’ repository of knowledge. When one passes away, a whole library of tribal knowledge and wisdom is lost. The oral traditions embody the life values, ideals, customs, and even the history of the First Nations People. These include the myths, epics, legends, riddles, and songs. The indigenous system is patriarchal, but is actually indirectly matriarchal reflecting the authority of the woman. Disputes within the community are heard and tried by the Council of Elders. However, the balyan is often consulted for her opinion. Her advice is deemed significant and most often necessary. These are three instances that highlight the significant role of the balyan among the indigenous communities in the Philippines, especially among the Mandaya tribe who live in the southern region of the country. This paper highlights the unique kind of leadership of the Mandaya woman – as priestess and bard - and her impact on the lives of her people.

Keywords: balyan, bard, magdadawot, mandaya

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Authors: Suwarsono, Ario S. Baskoro, Gandjar Kiswanto, Budiono

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Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is a relatively new technique for joining metal. In some cases on aluminum joining, FSW gives better results compared with the arc welding processes, including the quality of welds and produces less distortion.FSW welding process for a light structure and thin materials requires small forces as possible, to avoid structure deflection. The joining process on FSW occurs because of melting temperature and compressive forces, the temperature generation of caused by material deformation and friction between the cutting tool and material. In this research, High speed rotation of spindle was expected to reduce the force required for deformation. The welding material was Aluminum A1100, with thickness of 0.4 mm. The tool was made of HSS material which was shaped by micro grinding process. Tool shoulder diameter is 4 mm, and the length of pin was 0.6 mm (with pin diameter= 1.5 mm). The parameters that varied were the plunge speed (2 mm/min, 3 mm/min, 4 mm/min). The tool speed is fixed at 33,000 rpm. Responses of FSSW parameters to analyze were Axial Force (Z-Force), Temperature and the Shear Strength of welds. Research found the optimum µFSSW parameters, it can be concluded that the most important parameters in the μFSSW process was plunge speed. lowest plunge speed (2 mm / min) causing the lowest axial force (110.40 Newton). The increases of plunge speed will increase the axial force (maximum Z-Farce= 236.03 Newton), and decrease the shear strength of welds.

Keywords: friction stir spot welding, aluminum A1100, plunge speed, axial force, shear strength

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Authors: Hedi Dghim, Ahmed El-Naggar, Istvan Erlich

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Power electronic converters are being introduced in low voltage (LV) grids at an increasingly rapid rate due to the growing adoption of power electronic-based home appliances in residential grid. Photovoltaic (PV) systems are considered one of the potential installed renewable energy sources in distribution power systems. This trend has led to high distortion in the supply voltage which consequently produces harmonic currents in the network and causes an inherent voltage unbalance. In order to investigate the effect of harmonic distortions, a case study of a typical LV grid configuration with high penetration of 3-phase and 1-phase rooftop mounted PV from southern Germany was first considered. Electromagnetic transient (EMT) simulations were then carried out under the MATLAB/Simulink environment which contain detailed models for power electronic-based loads, ohmic-based loads as well as 1- and 3-phase PV. Note that, the switching patterns of the power electronic circuits were considered in this study. Measurements were eventually performed to analyze the distortion levels when PV operating under different solar irradiance. The characteristics of the load-side harmonic impedances were analyzed, and their harmonic contributions were evaluated for different distortion levels. The effect of the high penetration of PV on the harmonic distortion of both positive and negative sequences was also investigated. The simulation results are presented based on case studies. The current distortion levels are in agreement with relevant standards, otherwise the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) increases under low PV power generation due to its inverse relation with the fundamental current.

Keywords: harmonic distortion analysis, power quality, PV systems, residential distribution system

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Authors: Tesfaldet Mekonnen Estifanos, Chen Hui, Afewerki Weldezgi

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Background: Youth in general and young females in particular, remain at the center of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Sexual risk-taking among young unmarried women is relatively high and are the most vulnerable and highly exposed to HIV/AIDS. Improvements in the status of HIV/AIDS knowledge and acceptance attitude towards people living with HIV (PLWHIV) plays a great role in averting the incidence of HIV/AIDS. Thus, the aim of the study was to explore the level and correlates of HIV/AIDS knowledge and accepting attitude toward PLWHIV. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using data from the Uganda Demographic Health Survey 2016 (UDHS-2016). National level representative household surveys using a multistage cluster probability sampling method, face to face interviews with standard questionnaires were performed. Unmarried women aged 15-24 years with a sample size of 2019 were selected from the total sample of 8674 women aged 15-49 years and were analyzed using SPSS version 23. Independent variables such as age, religion, educational level, residence, and wealth index were included. Two binary outcome variables (comprehensive HIV/AIDS knowledge and acceptance attitude toward PLWHIV) were utilized. We used the chi-square test as well as multivariate regression analysis to explore correlations of explanatory variables with the outcome variables. The results were reported by odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence interval (95% CI), taking a p-value less than 0.05 as significant. Results: Almost all (99.3%) of the unmarried women aged 15-24 years were aware of HIV/AIDS, but only 51.2% had adequate comprehensive knowledge on HIV/AIDS. Only 69.4% knew both methods: using a condom every time had sex, and having only one faithful uninfected partner can prevent HIV/AIDS transmission. About 66.6% of the unmarried women reject at least two common local misconceptions about HIV/AIDS. Moreover, an alarmingly few (20.3%) of the respondents had a positive acceptance attitude to PLWHIV. On multivariate analysis, age (20-24 years), living in urban, being educated and wealthier, were predictors of having adequate comprehensive HIV/AIDS knowledge. On the other hand, research participants with adequate comprehensive knowledge about HIV/AIDS were highly likely (OR, 1.94 95% CI, 1.52-2.46) to have a positive acceptance attitude to PLWHIV than those with inadequate knowledge. Respondents with no education, Muslim, and Pentecostal religion were emerged less likely to have a positive acceptance attitude to PLWHIV. Conclusion: This study found out the highly accepted level of awareness, but the knowledge and positive acceptance attitude are not encouraging. Thus, expanding access to comprehensive sexuality and strengthening educational campaigns on HIV/AIDS in communities, health facilities, and schools is needed with a greater focus on disadvantaged women having low educational level, poor socioeconomic status, and those residing in rural areas. Sexual risk behaviors among the most affected people - young women have also a role in the spread of HIV/AIDS. Hence, further research assessing the significant contributing factors for sexual risk-taking might have a positive impact on the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Keywords: acceptance attitude, HIV/AIDS, knowledge, unmarried women

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Authors: Supriadi Hardianto, Aditya Daniswara

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Today's workplace, flooded by millennial Generation or known also as Generation Y. A common problem that faced by the company towards Gen Y is a high turnover rate, attitudes problem, communication style, and different work style than the older generation. This is common in private sector. The objective of this study is to get a better understanding of the Gen Y Career Attitude at the workplace. The subject of this study is focusing on 430 respondent of Gen Y which age between 20 – 35 years old who works for a private company. The Questionnaire as primary data source captured 9 aspects of career attitude based on Career Attitudes Strategy Inventory (CASI). This Survey distributes randomly among Gen Y in the IT Industry (125 Respondent) and Manufacture Company (305 Respondent). A Random deep interview was conducted to get the better understanding of the etiology of their primary obstacles. The study showed that most of Indonesia Gen Y have a moderate score on Job satisfaction but in the other aspects, Gen Y has the lowest score on Skill Development, Career Worries, Risk-Taking Style, Dominant Style, Work Involvement, Geographical Barrier, Interpersonal Abuse, and Family Commitment. The top 5 obstacles outside that 9 aspects that faced by Gen Y are 1. Lower communication & networking support; 2. Self-confidence issues; 3. Financial Problem; 4. Emotional issues; 5. Age. We also found that parent perspective toward the way they are nurturing their child are not aligned with their child’s real life. This research fundamentally helps the organization and other Gen Y’s Stakeholders to have a better understanding of Gen Y Career Attitude at the workplace.

Keywords: career attitudes, CASI, Gen Y, career attitude at workplace

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Authors: Ya-Hui Lee, Chien-Hung Hsieh, Ching-Yi Lu

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Demographic aging is the major problem that Taiwanese society is facing, and retirement life adaptation is the most concerning issue. In recent years, studies have suggested that in order to have successful aging and retirement planning, a view for the future is necessary. In Taiwan, civil servants receive better pensions and retirement benefits than do other industries. Therefore, their retirement preparation is considerably more significant than other senior groups in Taiwan. The purpose of this study is to understand the correlation of proactive coping and retirement planning of senior civil servants in Taiwan. The method is conducted by questionnaire surveys, with 342 valid questionnaires collected. The results of this study are: 1. The background variables of the interviewees, including age, perceived economic statuses, and retirement statuses, are all significantly related to their proactive coping and retirement planning. 2. Regarding age, the interviewees with ages 55 and above have better proactive coping and retirement planning than those with ages 45 and below. 3. In the aspect of perceived economic statuses, the participants who feel “very good” economic statuses have better proactive coping ability and retirement readiness than those who feel “bad” and “very bad”. 4. Retirees have better proactive coping and retirement planning than those who are still working. 5. Monthly income is significant in retirement planning only. The participants’ retirement planning would be better if they have higher incomes. Furthermore, the participants’ retirement planning would be better if their revenue were €1453~€1937, than if their revenue were below €968. 6. There are positive correlations between proactive coping and retirement planning. 7. Proactive coping can predict retirement planning. The result of this study will be provided as references to the Taiwan government for educational retirement planning policies.

Keywords: proactive coping, retirement planning, civil servants, demographic aging

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Authors: E. M. Vieira, C. S. Vieira, L. P. Bonifácio, L. M. de Oliveira Ciabati, A. C. A. Franzon, F. S. Zaratini, J. A. C. Sanchez, M. S. Andrade, J. P. Dias de Souza

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The quality of prenatal care is key to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality. Communication between the health service and users can stimulate prevention and care. M-health has been an important and low cost strategy to health education. The PRENACEL programme (prenatal in the cell phone) was developed. It consists of a programme of information via SMS from the 20^th week of pregnancy up to 12^th week after delivery. Messages were about prenatal care, birth, contraception and breastfeeding. Communication of the pregnant woman asking questions about their health was possible. The objective of this study was to evaluate the implementation of PRENACEL as a useful complement to the standard prenatal care. Twenty health clinics were selected and randomized by cluster, 10 as the intervention group and 10 as the control group. In the intervention group, women and their partner were invited to participate. The control group received the standard prenatal care. All women were interviewed in the immediate post-partum and in the 12^th and 24^th week post-partum. Most women were married, had more than 8 years of schooling and visit the clinic more than 6 times during prenatal care. The intervention group presented lowest percentage of higher economic participants (5.6%), less single mothers and no drug user. It also presented more prenatal care visits than the control group and it was less likely to present Severe Acute Maternal Mortality when compared to control group as well as higher percentage of partners (75.4%) was present at the birth compared to control group. Although the study is still being carried out, preliminary data are showing positive results of the compliance of women to prenatal care.

Keywords: cellphone, health technology, prenatal care, prevention

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Authors: Tuğçe Arslan

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In the dark and gloomy times of the Middle Ages, high, majestic, and frightening structures were revealed in the architectural field. Thus, gothic architecture began to find a place for itself in different areas and spread its influence. Gothic has found its place in almost every literary genre and manages to show itself as the dominant genre in the works it enters. It has exploited many concepts, such as a chest full of bad feelings, and creates a gloomy, scary, frightening, and pessimistic mood in the story with these concepts. One of the essential concepts it uses while creating these feelings is the concept of “Doppelganger.” With this concept, the authors make sense of the uncanny; at this point, they allow the spaces to act like characters, just like the uncanny feeling Edgar Allan Poe creates in his story “The Fall of the House of the Usher.” In this story by Edgar Allan Poe, attention should be paid to the symbolic link between the two, as “House of Usher” refers to the family and the building. And indeed, it is possible to see this minor rift as representative of a breakdown in family unity, specifically between Madeline and Roderick. Because although the home is not alive, it has some supernatural features that make it look like a living, breathing being. Therefore, the remainder of this paper will argue that apart from the apparent twins, the house should also qualify as a Doppelganger in the story. This study will first explore the physical and mental disorders of the twins and their journey to complement each other; next, in an attempt to demonstrate how the house as a non-living needs to be considered as a Doppelganger of the twins, a close reading on the house depictions will be scrutinized.

Keywords: Edgar Allan Poe, doppelganger, uncanny, gothic, space, home

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Authors: Loubna Hamami, Bouchaib Nassereddine

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Due to the evolution of technologies, the need to observe and manage hostile environments, and reduction in size, wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are becoming essential and implicated in the most fields of life. WSNs enable us to change the style of living, working and interacting with the physical environment. The agricultural sector is one of such sectors where WSNs are successfully used to get various benefits. For successful agricultural production, the irrigation system is one of the most important factors, and it plays a tactical role in the process of agriculture domain. However, it is considered as the largest consumer of freshwater. Besides, the scarcity of water, the drought, the waste of the limited available water resources are among the critical issues that touch the almost sectors, notably agricultural services. These facts are leading all governments around the world to rethink about saving water and reducing the volume of water used; this requires the development of irrigation practices in order to have a complete and independent system that is more efficient in the management of irrigation. Consequently, the selection of WSNs in irrigation system has been a benefit for developing the agriculture sector. In this work, we propose a prototype for a complete and intelligent irrigation system based on wireless sensor networks and we present and discuss the design of this prototype. This latter aims at saving water, energy and time. The proposed prototype controls water system for irrigation by monitoring the soil temperature, soil moisture and weather conditions for estimation of water requirements of each plant.

Keywords: precision irrigation, sensor, wireless sensor networks, water resources

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Authors: Gatot Dwi Hendro, Hayyan ul Haq

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This work aims to explore the strategy in embodying the ecological validity in creating the sustainability of public policy, particularly in strengthening the green economy in Indonesia. This green economy plays an important role in supporting the national development in Indonesia, as it is a part of the national policy that posits the primary priority in Indonesian governance. The green economy refers to the national development covering strategic natural resources, such as mining, gold, oil, coal, forest, water, marine, and the other supporting infrastructure for products and distribution, such as fabrics, roads, bridges, and so forth. Thus, all activities in those national development should consider the sustainability. This sustainability requires the strong commitment of the national and regional government, as well as the local governments to put the ecology as the main requirement for issuing any policy, such as licence in mining production, and developing and building new production and supporting infrastructures for optimising the national resources. For that reason this work will focus on the strategy how to embody the ecological values and norms in the public policy. In detail, this work will offer the method, i.e. legal techniques, in visualising and embodying the norms and public policy that valid ecologically. This ecological validity is required in order to maintain and sustain our collective life.

Keywords: ecological validity, sustainable development, coherence, Indonesian Pancasila values, environment, marine

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Authors: Rui Lança, Elisa Silva, Fátima Farinha, Miguel José Oliveira, Manuel Duarte Pinheiro, Cátia Miguel

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Tourism has a great potential to bring up progress across the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). If well managed and monitored, the tourism sector can create quality jobs, reduce poorness and offer incentives for environmental preservation, helping on the transition towards more inclusive and resilient economies. However, without proper safeguards and investments, expansion of the tourism market will increase pressure on biodiversity and the ecosystems on which the livelihoods of local communities depend. Competitivity is a key dimension in tourism, sustainable tourism challenge new dimensions to competitivity, namely environmental, social, institutional and economic achieve a medium and long-term competitivity. It is undoubtedly clear on the tourism sector, the importance of the region sustainability in the current touristic destinations offer. The basis of a tourism region prosperity will depend on /of it. The OBSERVE project intends to be an instrument for monitoring and evaluating the sustainability levels of the Algarve region. Its main objective is to provide environmental, economic, social-cultural and institutional indicators to support the decision-making process for a sustainable growth of the region. The project´s main goal is a digital portal with the most relevant indicators to allow evaluating and communicating the performance of the region in a sustainable growth perspective. This paper presents the OBSERVE project and highlights the potential contribution to a broad perspective of competitivity and its contribution for different stakeholders and the touristic value chain. Limitations and opportunities are also discussed.

Keywords: sustainable tourism, competitivity, OBSERVE project, Algarve region

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Authors: I. Hilia, C. Hange, F. Hakala, M. Matheus, C. Jansen, J. Hidinwa, O. Awofolu

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The article reports on the occurrences, level, and mobility of selected trace metals in environmental samples. The conceptual basis was to examine the possible influence of anthropogenic activities and the impact on human and environmental health. Environmental samples (soil, plant and lower animal) were randomly collected from stratified study/sampling areas, preserved and pre-treated before analysis. Mineral acid digestion procedure was employed for the isolation of metallic contents in samples, and elemental qualitative and quantitative analysis was by ICP-OES. Analytical protocol was validated through the quality assurance process and was found acceptable with quantitative metallic recoveries in the range of 85-90%; hence considered applicable for the analyses of environmental samples. The mean concentration of analysed metals in soil samples ranged from 53.2- 2532.8 mg/kg (Cu); 59.5- 2020.1 mg/kg (Zn); 1.80 – 21.26 mg/kg (Cd) and 19.6- 140.9 mg/kg (Pb). The mean level in grass samples ranged from 9.33 – 38.63 mg/kg (Cu); 64.20-105.18 mg/kg (Zn); 0.28–0.73 mg/kg (Cd) and 0.53 -16.26 mg/kg (Pb) while the mean level in lower animal sample (beetle) varied from 9.6 - 105.3 mg/kg (Cu); 134.1-297.2 mg/kg (Zn); 0.63 – 3.78 (Cd) and 8.0 – 29.1 mg/kg (Pb) across sample collection points (SCPs) 1-4 respectively. Metallic transfer factors (TFs) were in the order Zn >Cd > Cu > Pb with metal Pollution Indices (MPIs) in the order SCP1 > SCP2 > SCP3 > SCP4. About 60-70 % of analysed metals were above the maximum allowable limits (MALs) in soil and plant samples. Results obtained revealed the general prevalence of analysed metals at all sampled sites with indication of metallic mobility across the food chain which portrayed dire consequences for environmental and human health. Systematic environmental remediation and pollution abatement strategies are recommended.

Keywords: trace metals, pollution, human health, Incidences, ICP-OES

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Authors: Fangfei Li

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This research was conducted to explore how Chinese overseas students, who rarely received teacher feedback during their undergraduate studies in China, engaged in a different feedback provision context in the UK universities. In particular, this research provides some insights into Chinese students’ perspectives on how they made sense of the teacher feedback they obtained and how they took it on board in their assignments. Research questions in this study are 1) What are Chinese overseas students’ perceptions of teacher feedback on courses in UK higher education? 2) How do they respond to the teacher feedback they obtained? 3) What factors might influence their engagement with teacher feedback? Multiple case studies of five Chinese overseas students in a UK university have been carried out to address the research questions. The main data collection instruments are various types of semi-structured interviews, consisting of background interviews, scenario-based activities, stimulated recall sessions and retrospective interviews. Research findings indicate that student engagement with teacher feedback is a complex learning process incorporating several stages: from initial teacher input to ultimate transformational learning. Apart from students interpreting teachers’ comments/suggestions by themselves, students’ understandings of and responses to teacher feedback could also be influenced by pre-submission guidance, peer discussion, use of exemplars and post-submission discussion with teachers. These are key factors influencing students to make use of teacher feedback. Findings also reveal that the level of students’ reflections on tutor feedback influences the quality of their assignments and even their future learning. To sum up, this paper will discuss the current concepts of teacher feedback in existing studies and research findings of this study from which reconceptualization of teacher feedback has occurred.

Keywords: Chinese students, student engagement, teacher feedback, the UK higher education

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Authors: David P. Tantua, Abdulkader Helwan

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Biometrics has been recently used for the human identification systems using the biological traits such as the fingerprints and iris scanning. Identification systems based biometrics show great efficiency and accuracy in such human identification applications. However, these types of systems are so far based on some image processing techniques only, which may decrease the efficiency of such applications. Thus, this paper aims to develop a human palmprint identification system using multi-layer perceptron neural network which has the capability to learn using a backpropagation learning algorithms. The developed system uses images obtained from a public database available on the internet (CASIA). The processing system is as follows: image filtering using median filter, image adjustment, image skeletonizing, edge detection using canny operator to extract features, clear unwanted components of the image. The second phase is to feed those processed images into a neural network classifier which will adaptively learn and create a class for each different image. 100 different images are used for training the system. Since this is an identification system, it should be tested with the same images. Therefore, the same 100 images are used for testing it, and any image out of the training set should be unrecognized. The experimental results shows that this developed system has a great accuracy 100% and it can be implemented in real life applications.

Keywords: biometrics, biological traits, multi-layer perceptron neural network, image skeletonizing, edge detection using canny operator

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Authors: J. Y. Ijato, A. Adewumi, H. O Yakubu, O. O. Olajide, B. O. Ojo, B. A. Adanikin

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Post-harvest fruit rot pathogens are one of the major factors that are responsible for food security challenges in developing countries like Nigeria. These pathogens also cause fruit food poisoning. Biocidal effects of ethanolic extracts of Khaya grandifoliola, Hyptis suaveolens, Zingiber officinale, Calophyllum inophyllum, Datura stramonium on the mycelia growth of fungal rot pathogens of pineapple fruit was investigated, the ethanolic extracts of these test plants exhibited high significant inhibitory effects on the rot pathogens, the highest ethanolic extract inhibition of Zingiber officinale was on Aspergillus flavus (38.40%) at 1.0g/ml while the least inhibitory effect was on Aspergillus fumigatus (23.10%) at 1.0g/ml, the highest ethanol extract inhibition of Datura stramonium was on Aspergillus tubingensis (24.00%) at 1.0g/ml while the least inhibitory effect was 10.00% on Colletotrichum fruticola at 1.0g/ml, the highest ethanol extract inhibition of Calophyllum inophyllum was on Trichoderma harzianum (18.50%) at 1.0g/ml while the least inhibitory effect was on Aspergillus flavus (15.00%) at 1.0g/ml, the highest ethanol extract inhibition of Hyptis suaveolens was on Aspergillus fumigatus (35.00%) at 1.0g/ml while the least inhibitory effect was on Aspergillus niger (20.00%) at 1.0g/ml, the highest ethanol extract inhibition of Khaya grandifoliola was on Aspergillus flavus (35.00%) at 1.00g/ml while the least inhibitory effect was on Aspergillus fumigates (22.00%) at 1.0g/ml, the antifungal capacity of these test plant extracts on rot causing fungi on pineapple fruit reveals the possibility of their use by farmers and fruit traders as alternative to chemical fungicide that portends great threat to human and environmental health.

Keywords: fruit rot, pathogens, plant extracts, pineapple, food poisoning

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Authors: Jhuang Jin-Jhong, Hsieh Wei-Fan

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Climate change causes natural disasters persistently. Therefore, nowadays environmental planning objective tends to the issues of respecting nature and coexisting with nature. As a result, the natural environment analysis, e.g., the analysis of topography, soil, hydrology, climate, vegetation, is highly emphasized. On the other hand, Feng Shui has been a criterion of site selection for residence in Eastern since the ancient times and has had farther influence on site selection for castles and even for temples and tombs. The primary criterion of site selection is judging the quality of Long: mountain range, Sha: nearby mountains, Shui: hydrology, Xue: foundation, Xiang: aspect, which are similar to the environmental variables of mountain range, topography, hydrology and aspect. For the reason, a lot researchers attempt to probe into the connection between the criterion of Feng Shui and environmental planning factors. Most researches only discussed with the composition and theory of space of Feng Shui, but there is no research which explained Feng Shui through the environmental field. Consequently, this study reviewed the theory of Feng Shui through the environmental planning viewpoint and assembled essential composition factors of Feng Shui. The results of this study point. From literature review and comparison of theoretical meanings, we find that the ideal principles for planning the Feng Shui environment can also be used for environmental planning. Therefore, this article uses 12 ideal environmental features used in Feng Shui to contrast the natural aspects of the environment and make comparisons with previous research and classifies the environmental factors into climate, topography, hydrology, vegetation, and soil.

Keywords: the composition of Feng Shui, environmental planning, site selection, main components of the Feng Shui environment

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Authors: Vaibhav Barve

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Reversible information hiding has drawn a lot of interest as of late. Being reversible, we can restore unique computerized data totally. It is a plan where mystery data is put away in digital media like image, video, audio to maintain a strategic distance from unapproved access and security reason. By and large JPEG bit stream is utilized to store this key data, first JPEG bit stream is encrypted into all around sorted out structure and then this secret information or key data is implanted into this encrypted region by marginally changing the JPEG bit stream. Valuable pixels suitable for information implanting are computed and as indicated by this key subtle elements are implanted. In our proposed framework we are utilizing RC4 algorithm for encrypting JPEG bit stream. Encryption key is acknowledged by framework user which, likewise, will be used at the time of decryption. We are executing enhanced least significant bit supplanting steganography by utilizing genetic algorithm. At first, the quantity of bits that must be installed in a guaranteed coefficient is versatile. By utilizing proper parameters, we can get high capacity while ensuring high security. We are utilizing logistic map for shuffling of bits and utilization GA (Genetic Algorithm) to find right parameters for the logistic map. Information embedding key is utilized at the time of information embedding. By utilizing precise picture encryption and information embedding key, the beneficiary can, without much of a stretch, concentrate the incorporated secure data and totally recoup the first picture and also the original secret information. At the point when the embedding key is truant, the first picture can be recouped pretty nearly with sufficient quality without getting the embedding key of interest.

Keywords: data embedding, decryption, encryption, reversible data hiding, steganography

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Authors: L. Masilionyte, S. Maiksteniene

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Alternative farming systems are used to cultivate high quality food products and retain the viability and fertility of soil. The field experiments of different farming systems were conducted at Joniškėlis Experimental Station of the Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry in 2006–2013. The soil of the experimental site was Endocalcari-Endohypogleyic Cambisol (CMg-n-w-can). In different farming systems, farmyard manure, straw and green manure catch crops used for fertilization both in the soil low in humus and in the soil moderate in humus. In the 0–20 cm depth layer, it had a more significant effect on soil moisture than on other physical soil properties. In the agricultural systems, in which catch crops had been grown, soil physical characteristics did not differ significantly before their biomass incorporation, except for the moisture content, which was lower in rainy periods and higher in drier periods than in the soil without catch crops. Soil bulk density and porosity in the topsoil layer were more dependent on soil humus content than on agricultural measures used: in the soil moderate in humus content, compared with the soil low in humus, bulk density was by 1.4 % lower, and porosity by 1.8 % higher. The research findings create a possibility to make improvements in alternative cropping systems by choosing organic fertilizers and catch crops’ combinations that have the sustainable effect on soil and that maintain the sustainability of soil productivity parameters. Rational fertilization systems, securing the stability of soil productivity parameters and crop rotation productivity will promote a development of organic agriculture.

Keywords: agro-measures, soil physical parameters, organic farming, sustainable farming

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Authors: Jiashu Shen

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With the increase in the prevalence of divorce, the impact of divorce on children’s sexual and reproductive health has received wide attention, while few studies have investigated parent marital relationship. This study aims to study the relation of both parent divorce and perceived parental marital relationship with children’s sexual behaviors among Chinese university or vocational college students. The study used data from “National College Student Survey on Sexual and Reproductive Health 2019”, an internet-based survey conducted from November 2019 to February 2020, in 241 universities or vocational colleges in China. Statistical analyses were conducted to assess the relationship of perceived parental marital relationship and parents’ divorce of distinct occurrence time with sexual intercourse, risky sexual behaviors, unintended health outcomes and sexual abuse. Among 51,124 university or vocational college students, those whose parents had divorced accounted for 10.72%. Better perceived parental relationship was associated with a lower likelihood to have sexual intercourse (male: OR: 0.83, 95%CI: 0.80-0.86; female: OR: 0.73, 95%CI: 0.70-0.75), sexual abuse, risky sexual behaviors and unintended health outcomes. Divorce was also found to be associated with higher risk of sexual abuse, risky sexual behaviors and unintended health outcomes. The findings highlight the importance of parental marital relationship and divorce in risky sexual behavior among young adults. The findings may provide implications on intervention programs targeting at children with divorced parents from an early stage.

Keywords: college students, divorce, family relationship, sexual behavior

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Authors: Akhila Sara Varughese

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In the postmodern society, visual narratives became an emerging genre in the field of literature. Graphic literature focuses on the literal and symbolic layer of interpretation. The most salient feature of graphic literature is its exploration of the public history of events and life narratives. The Indian graphic literature re-interprets the canon, style and the form of texts in Indian Writing in English and it demands a new literacy and the structure of the English literature. With the help of visual-verbal language, the graphic narratives discuss various facets of contemporary India. Graphic novels have firmly identified itself with the art of storytelling because of its capability of expressing human experiences to the most. In the textual novels, the author usually deserts the imagination of the readers, but in the case of graphic narratives, due to the presence of visual elements, the interpretation becomes simpler. India is the second most populous country in the world with a long tradition of history and culture. Indian literature always tries to reconstruct Indian history in various modes of representation. The present paper focuses on the fictional articulation of Indian history through the graphic narratives and analyses how some historical events in India portrays. The paper also traces the differences in rendering the history in graphic novels with that of textual novels. The paper discusses how much the blending of words and images helps in represent the Indian history by analyzing the graphic novels like Kashmir Pending by Naseer Ahmed, Delhi Calm by Vishwajyoti Ghosh and Munnu by Malik Sajad.

Keywords: graphic novels, Indian history, representation, visual-verbal literacy

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Authors: Jianli Jiang, Bai-Chen Xie

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The climate issue has aroused global concern. Achieving sustainable development is a good path for countries to mitigate environmental and climatic pressures, although there are many difficulties. The first step towards sustainable development is to evaluate the environmental efficiency of the energy industry with proper methods. The power sector is a major source of CO2, SO2, and NOx emissions. Evaluating the environmental efficiency (EE) of power systems is the premise to alleviate the terrible situation of energy and the environment. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) has been widely used in efficiency studies. However, measuring the efficiency of a system (be it a nation, region, sector, or business) is a challenging task. The classic DEA takes the decision-making units (DMUs) as independent, which neglects the interaction between DMUs. While ignoring these inter-regional links may result in a systematic bias in the efficiency analysis; for instance, the renewable power generated in a certain region may benefit the adjacent regions while the SO2 and CO2 emissions act oppositely. This study proposes a spatial network DEA (SNDEA) with a slack measure that can capture the spatial spillover effects of inputs/outputs among DMUs to measure efficiency. This approach is used to study the EE of China's power system, which consists of generation, transmission, and distribution departments, using a panel dataset from 2014 to 2020. In the empirical example, the energy and patent inputs, the undesirable CO2 output, and the renewable energy (RE) power variables are tested for a significant spatial spillover effect. Compared with the classic network DEA, the SNDEA result shows an obvious difference tested by the global Moran' I index. From a dynamic perspective, the EE of the power system experiences a visible surge from 2015, then a sharp downtrend from 2019, which keeps the same trend with the power transmission department. This phenomenon benefits from the market-oriented reform in the Chinese power grid enacted in 2015. The rapid decline in the environmental efficiency of the transmission department in 2020 was mainly due to the Covid-19 epidemic, which hinders economic development seriously. While the EE of the power generation department witnesses a declining trend overall, this is reasonable, taking the RE power into consideration. The installed capacity of RE power in 2020 is 4.40 times that in 2014, while the power generation is 3.97 times; in other words, the power generation per installed capacity shrank. In addition, the consumption cost of renewable power increases rapidly with the increase of RE power generation. These two aspects make the EE of the power generation department show a declining trend. Incorporation of the interactions among inputs/outputs into the DEA model, this paper proposes an efficiency evaluation method on the basis of the DEA framework, which sheds some light on efficiency evaluation in regional studies. Furthermore, the SNDEA model and the spatial DEA concept can be extended to other fields, such as industry, country, and so on.

Keywords: spatial network DEA, environmental efficiency, sustainable development, power system

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Authors: Nadezda Sergunicheva, Victoria Vasilenko

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The emotional sphere is one of the most important aspects of the child's development and significant factor in his psychological well-being. Present research aims to identify the relationships between emotional characteristics of preschoolers and parameters of family interaction: emotional interaction, parental styles, family adaptation, and cohesion. The study involved 40 people from Saint-Petersburg: 20 children (10 boys and 10 girls) from 5 to 6 years, Mage = 5 years 4 months and 20 mothers. Methods used were: Test 'Emotional identification' by E.Izotova, Empathy test by T. Gavrilova, Children's fears test by A. Zakharov, M. Panfilova, 'Parent-child emotional interaction questionnaire' by E. Zakharova, 'Analysis of family relationships questionnaire by E. Eidemiller and V. Yustitskis, Family Adaptation and Cohesion Scales (FACES III) by D. X. Olson, J. Portner, I. Lavi. Сorrelation analysis revealed that the higher index of underdevelopment of parental feelings, the lower the child’s ability to identify emotions (p < 0,05), but at the same time, the higher ability to understand emotional states (p < 0,01), as in the case of hypoprotection (p < 0,05). Two last correlations can be explained by compensatory mechanism. This is also confirmed by negative correlations between maternal educational uncertainty and child’s ability to understand emotional states and between indulgence and child’s ability to perceive emotional states (p < 0,05). The more pronounced the phobia of a child's loss, the higher egocentric nature of child’s empathy (p < 0,05). The child’s fears have the greatest number of relationships with the characteristics of family interaction. The more pronounced mother’s positive feelings in interaction, emotional support, acceptance of himself as a parent, desire for physical contact with child and the more adaptive the family system, the less the total number of child’s fears (p < 0,05). The more the mother's ability to perceive the child's state, positive feelings in interaction, emotional support (p < 0,01), unconditional acceptance of the child, acceptance of himself as a parent and the desire for physical contact (p < 0,05), the less the amount child’s spatial fears. Socially-mediated fears are associated with less pronounced mother's positive feelings in interaction, less emotional support and deficiency of demands, obligations (p < 0,05). Fears of animals and fairy-tale characters positively correlated with the excessive demands, obligations and excessive sanctions (p < 0,05). The more emotional support (p < 0,01), mother's ability to perceive the child's state, positive feelings in interaction, unconditional acceptance of the child, acceptance of himself as a parent (p < 0,05), the less the amount child’s fears of nightmares. This kind of fears is positively correlated with excessive demands, prohibitions (p < 0,05). The more adaptive the family system (p < 0,01), the higher family cohesion, mother's acceptance of himself as a parent and preference to childish traits (p < 0,05), the less fear of death. Thus, the children's fears have the closest relationships with the characteristics of family interaction. The severity of fears, especially spatial, is connected, first of all, with the emotional side of the mother-parent interaction. Fears of animals and fairy-tale characters are associated with some characteristics of the parental styles, connected with the rigor of mothers. Correlations of the emotional identification are contradictory and require further clarification. Research is supported by RFBR №18-013-00990.

Keywords: emotional characteristics, family interaction, fears, parental styles, preschoolers

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