Search results for: administrative capacity

Authors: Su-Hyun Jung, Young-Su Ryu, Yong-Jun Kim, Hyoung-Kyu Song

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In this paper, a highly efficient coordinated multiple-point (CoMP) scheme for vehicular communication is proposed. The proposed scheme controls the transmit power and applies proper transmission scheme for the various situations. The proposed CoMP scheme provides comparable performance to the conventional dynamic cell selection (DCS) scheme. Moreover, this scheme provides improved power efficiency compared with the conventional joint transmission (JT) scheme. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme can achieve more enhanced performance with the high power efficiency and improve the cell capacity.

Keywords: CoMP, LTE-A, V2I, V2V, V2X.

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Authors: Vishal H. Shukla, Sanjay B. Deshmukh

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Traffic engineering, at its center, is the ability of moving traffic approximately so that traffic from a congested link is moved onto the unused capacity on another link. Traffic Engineering ensures the best possible use of the resources. Now to support traffic engineering in the today’s network, Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is being used which is very helpful for reliable packets delivery in an ongoing internet services. Here a topology is been implemented on GNS3 to focus on the analysis of the communication take place from one site to other through the ISP. The comparison is made between the IP network & MPLS network based on Bandwidth & Jitter which are one of the performance parameters using JPERF simulator.

Keywords: GNS3, JPERF, MPLS, traffic engineering, VMware

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Authors: Jun Ying Lin, Tzu Hsiang Yen, Cha'o Kuang Chen

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Nowadays, the great majority believe that there is great potentiality in hydrogen storage alloy storing hydrogen by physical and chemical absorption. However, the hydrogen storage alloy is limited by high operation temperature. Scientists find that adding transition elements can improve the properties of hydrogen storage alloy. In this research, outstanding improvements of kinetic and thermal properties are given by the addition of Palladium and Titanium hydride to Magnesium-based hydrogen storage alloy. Magnesium-based alloy is the main material, into which TiH2 / Pd are added separately. Following that, materials are milled by a Planetary Ball Miller at 650 rpm. TGA/DSC and PCT measure the capacity, spending time and temperature of abs/des-orption. Additionally, SEM and XRD analyze the structures and components of material. It is clearly shown that Pd is beneficial to kinetic properties. 2MgH2-0.1Pd has the highest capacity of all the alloys listed, approximately 5.5 wt%. Secondly, there are not any new Ti-related compounds found from XRD analysis. Thus, TiH2, considered as the catalyst, leads to the condition of 2MgH2-TiH2 and 2MgH2-TiH2-0.1Pd efficiently absorbing hydrogen in low temperature. 2MgH2-TiH2 can reach roughly 3.0 wt% in 82.4 minutes at 50°C and 8 minutes at 100°C, while2MgH2-TiH2-0.1Pd can reach 2.0 wt% in 400 minutes at 50°C and in 48 minutes at 100°C. The lowest temperature of 2MgH2-0.1Pd and 2MgH2-TiH2 is similar (320°C), otherwise the lowest temperature of 2MgH2-TiH2-0.1Pd decrease by 20°C. From XRD, it can be observed that PdTi2 and Pd3Ti are produced by mechanical alloying when adding Pd as well as TiH2 into MgH2. Due to the synergistic effects between Pd and TiH2, 2MgH2-TiH2-0.1Pd owns the lowest dehydrogenation temperature. Furthermore, the Pressure-Composition-Temperature (PCT) curve of 2MgH2-TiH2-0.1Pd is measured at different temperature, 370°C, 350°C, 320°C and 300°C separately. The plateau pressure is given form the PCT curves above. In accordance to different plateau pressures, enthalpy and entropy in the Van’t Hoff equation can be solved. In 2MgH2-TiH2-0.1Pd, the enthalpy is 74.9 KJ/mol and the entropy is 122.9 J/mol. Activation means that hydrogen storage alloy undergoes repeat abs/des-orpting processes. It plays an important role in the abs/des-orption. Activation shortens the abs/des-orption time because of the increase in surface area. From SEM, it is clear that the grain size and surface become smaller and rougher

Keywords: hydrogen storage materials, magnesium hydride, abs-/des-orption performance, Plateau pressure

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Authors: Sisaynew Tesfaw Admassu

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The strengthening of timber beams can be necessary for several reasons including the increase of live loads (possible in a historical building for a change of destination of use or upgrading to meet new requirements), the reduction of the resistant cross-sections following deterioration (attacks of biological agents such as fungi, and insects) or traumatic events (fires) and the excess of deflection in the members. The main purpose of strengthening an element is not merely to repair it, but also to prevent and minimize the appearance of future problems. This study did an experimental investigation on the behavior of reference and strengthened solid timber beams. The strengthening materials used in this study were CSM-450 glass fiber and steel materials for both flexural and shear strengthening techniques. Twenty-two solid timber beams of Juniperus procera (TID) species with the dimensions of 60 x 90 x 780 mm were used in the present study. The binding material to bond the strengthening materials with timber was general-purpose resin with Luperox® K10 MEKP catalyst. Three beams were used as control beams (unstrengthen beams) while the remaining nineteen beams were strengthened using the strengthening materials for flexure and shear. All the beams were tested for three points loading to failure by using a Universal Testing Machine, UTM-600kN machine. The experimental results showed that the strengthened beams performed better than the unstrengthen beams. The experimental result of flexural strengthened beams showed that the load-bearing capacity of strengthened beams increased between 16.34 – 42.55%. Four layers of Glass Fiber Reinforced polymer on the tension side of the beams was shown to be the most effective way to enhance load-bearing capacity. The strengthened beams also have an enhancement in their flexural stiffness. The stiffness of flexural strengthened beams was increased between 1.18 – 65.53% as compared to the control beams. The highest increment in stiffness has occurred on beams strengthened using 2x60 mm steel plates. The shear-strengthened beams showed a relatively small amount of performance as compared to flexural-strengthened beams; the reason is that the beams are sufficient for shear. The polyester resin used in the experimental work showed good performance in bonding agents between materials. The resin showed more effectiveness in GFRP materials than steel materials.

Keywords: heritage structures, strengthening, stiffness, adhesive, polyester resin, steel plates

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Authors: Catia S. A. Sima, K. Bousson

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Congestion in the Terminal Maneuvering Areas (TMAs) of larger airports impacts all aspects of air traffic flow, not only at national level but may also induce arrival delays at international level. Hence, there is a need to monitor appropriately the air traffic flow in TMAs so that efficient decisions may be taken to manage their occupancy rates. It would be desirable to physically increase the existing airspace to accommodate all existing demands, but this question is entirely utopian and, given this possibility, several studies and analyses have been developed over the past decades to meet the challenges that have arisen due to the dizzying expansion of the aeronautical industry. The main objective of the present paper is to propose concepts to manage and reduce the degree of uncertainty in the air traffic operations, maximizing the interest of all involved, ensuring a balance between demand and supply, and developing and/or adapting resources that enable a rapid and effective adaptation of measures to the current context and the consequent changes perceived in the aeronautical industry. A central task is to emphasize the increase in air traffic flow management capacity to the present day, taking into account not only a wide range of methodologies but also equipment and/or tools already available in the aeronautical industry. The efficient use of these resources is crucial as the human capacity for work is limited and the actors involved in all processes related to air traffic flow management are increasingly overloaded and, as a result, operational safety could be compromised. The methodology used to answer and/or develop the issues listed above is based on the advantages promoted by the application of Markov Chain principles that enable the construction of a simplified model of a dynamic network that describes the air traffic flow behavior anticipating their changes and eventual measures that could better address the impact of increased demand. Through this model, the proposed concepts are shown to have potentials to optimize the air traffic flow management combined with the operation of the existing resources at each moment and the circumstances found in each TMA, using historical data from the air traffic operations and specificities found in the aeronautical industry, namely in the Portuguese context.

Keywords: air traffic flow, terminal maneuvering area, TMA, air traffic management, ATM, Markov chains

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Authors: Madifedile Thasi, Azola Mayeza

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In South Africa, provision of housing to the growing population has been described as one of the greatest challenges facing the government. Between 1994 to 2015, more than 2.5 million housing units were provided by the government for the poorest households and the low-income earners under the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). Yet, the latest census figure revealed that about 2.1 million households still live in shacks and informal dwellings. Human settlements patterns remain dysfunctional across in South Africa because of rapid urbanisation. The housing backlog is growing at a rate of 178 000 units a year. The aforementioned predicament calls the need for innovative approaches to address the issue in a sustainable way and this need not be overemphasized. Aside from the issue of cost, the delivery of more housing units comes with environmental and sustainability issues. The prefabrication building technology has resulted into accelerated housing delivery to a satisfactory level in some countries such as Nigeria and Malaysia that are facing similar issue. It is therefore expected to be a foremost option to address the social housing backlog in South Africa and within the country housing sustainability agenda. This paper appraises the factors responsible for the limited implementation of prefabrication technology in South African housing projects. The objective is to recommend the method and materials that can be best sustained in the country in terms of local availability, cost effectiveness and environmental friendliness. It presents empirical data to support the hypothesis that a wider implementation of prefabrication technology in the social housing projects will be of significant benefit, by providing fast turnaround, cost-effective and sustainable solution that will dent the housing backlog, as well as improving the quality of the social housings. It was found that only 17 000 units of the RDP housings provided were constructed using alternative building technologies. Furthermore, there are variety of prefabricated technologies in the market but mostly have limited production capacity, minimal manufacturing capacity and most materials are imported, which leads to unavailability of the technology for large scale delivery and utilization despite its obvious advantages.

Keywords: prefabrication technology, sustainable social housings, South Africa, housing delivery

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Authors: Avdasheva Svetlanaa, Kryuchkova Polinab

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Comparative social efficiency of private and public enforcement of law is debated. This question is not of academic interest only, it is also important for the development of the legal system and regulations. Generally, involvement of ‘common citizens’ in public law enforcement is considered to be beneficial, while involvement of interest groups representatives is not. Institutional economics as well as law and economics consider the difference between public and private enforcement to be rather mechanical. Actions of bureaucrats in government agencies are assumed to be driven by the incentives linked to social welfare (or other indicator of public interest) and their own benefits. In contrast, actions of participants in private enforcement are driven by their private benefits. However administrative law enforcement may be designed in such a way that it would become driven mainly by individual incentives of alleged victims. We refer to this system as reactive public enforcement. Citizens may prefer using reactive public enforcement even if private enforcement is available. However replacement of public enforcement by reactive version of public enforcement negatively affects deterrence and reduces social welfare. We illustrate the problem of private vs pure public and private vs reactive public enforcement models with the examples of three legislation subsystems in Russia – labor law, consumer protection law and competition law. While development of private enforcement instead of public (especially in reactive public model) is desirable, replacement of both public and private enforcement by reactive model is definitely not.

Keywords: public enforcement, private complaints, legal errors, competition protection, labor law, competition law, russia

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Authors: Da Kuang

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Resilience is a hotly debated topic in many research fields (e.g., engineering, ecology, society, psychology). In flood management studies, we are experiencing the paradigm shift from flood resistance to flood resilience. Flood resilience refers to tolerate flooding through adaptation or transformation. It is increasingly argued that our city as a social-ecological system holds the ability to learn from experience and adapt to flood rather than simply resist it. This research aims to investigate what kinds of adaptation knowledge the frequently flooded village learned from past experience and its advantages and limitations in coping with floods. The study area – Xinnongcun village, located in the west of Wuhan city, is a linear village and continuously suffered from both flash flood and drainage flood during the past 30 years. We have a field trip to the site in June 2017 and conducted semi-structured interviews with local residents. Our research summarizes two types of adaptation knowledge that people learned from the past floods. Firstly, at the village scale, it has formed a collective urban form which could help people live during both flood and dry season. All houses and front yards were elevated about 2m higher than the road. All the front yards in the village are linked and there is no barrier. During flooding time, people walk to neighbors through houses yards and boat to outside village on the lower road. Secondly, at individual scale, local people learned tacit knowledge of preparedness and emergency response to flood. Regarding the advantages and limitations, the adaptation knowledge could effectively help people to live with flood and reduce the chances of getting injuries. However, it cannot reduce local farmers’ losses on their agricultural land. After flood, it is impossible for local people to recover to the pre-disaster state as flood emerges during June and July will result in no harvest. Therefore, we argue that learning from past flood experience could increase people’s adaptive capacity. However, once the adaptive capacity cannot reduce people’s losses, it requires a transformation to a better regime.

Keywords: adaptation, flood resilience, tacit knowledge, transformation

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Authors: Safwan Mawlood Hussien

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Internet of Things (IoT) is a promising technology has received considerable attention in different fields such as health, industry, defence, and agro, etc. Due to the limitation capacity of computing, storage, and communication, IoT objects are more vulnerable to attacks. Many solutions have been proposed to solve security issues, such as key management using symmetric-key ciphers. This study provides a scalable group distribution key management based on ECcryptography; with less transmitted messages The method has been validated through simulations in OMNeT++.

Keywords: elliptic curves, Diffie–Hellman, discrete logarithm problem, secure key exchange, WSN security, IoT security, smart-agro

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Authors: Eugene Y. C. Wong, Daniel Y. W. Mo, Cosmo T. Y. Ng, Jessica K. Y. Chan, Leith K. Y. Chan, Henry Y. K. Lau

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The real-time planning visualisation, precise allocation and loading optimisation in air cargo load planning operations are increasingly important as more considerations are needed on dangerous cargo loading, locations of lithium batteries, weight declaration and limited aircraft capacity. The planning of the unit load devices (ULD) can often be carried out only in a limited number of hours before flight departure. A dynamic air cargo load planning system is proposed with the optimisation of cargo load plan and visualisation of planning results in virtual reality systems. The system aims to optimise the cargo load planning and visualise the simulated loading planning decision on air cargo terminal operations. Adopting simulation tools, Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE) and virtual reality technologies, the results of planning with reference to weight and balance, Unit Load Device (ULD) dimensions, gateway, cargo nature and aircraft capacity are optimised and presented. The virtual reality system facilities planning, operations, education and training. Staff in terminals are usually trained in a traditional push-approach demonstration with enormous manual paperwork. With the support of newly customized immersive visualization environment, users can master the complex air cargo load planning techniques in a problem based training with the instant result being immersively visualised. The virtual reality system is developed with three-dimensional (3D) projectors, screens, workstations, truss system, 3D glasses, and demonstration platform and software. The content will be focused on the cargo planning and loading operations in an air cargo terminal. The system can assist decision-making process during cargo load planning in the complex operations of air cargo terminal operations. The processes of cargo loading, cargo build-up, security screening, and system monitoring can be further visualised. Scenarios are designed to support and demonstrate the daily operations of the air cargo terminal, including dangerous goods, pets and animals, and some special cargos.

Keywords: air cargo load planning, optimisation, virtual reality, weight and balance, unit load device

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Authors: Hasan Bulent Kantarci

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This paper examine how Zakat provide a fair income redistribution and struggle with poverty. To provide a fair income redistribution and struggle with poverty take place among the fundamental tasks of all countries. Each country seeks a solution for this problem according to their political, economical and administrative styles through applying various economic and financial policies. The same situation gets handled via zakat association in the Islam. Nowadays, we observe different versions of zakat in developed countries. The applications such as negative income tax denote merely a difference from the zakat being applied almost the same way under changed names. But the minimum values to donate the zakat (e.g. 85 gr. gold and 40 animals) get altered and various amounts are put into practice. It might be named as negative income tax instead of zakat, nonetheless, these applications are based on the Holy Koran and the hadith released 1400 years ago. Besides, considering the savage and slavery in the world at those times, we might easily recognize the true value of the zakat applied the first time then in Islamic system. Through zakat is enabled an income transfer by the government so that the poor could reach the minimum level of life standard. To whom the zakat would be donated was not left to people’s heart and encouraged to determine according to objective criteria. Since the zakat is obligatory, the transfer do not get forward by hand but via the government and get distributed, which requires a vast government organization. Through applying the zakat as it must be would achieve to reduce the poverty mostly and ensuring the fair income redistribution.

Keywords: Islamic finance, zakat, income redistribution, circle of poverty, negatif income tax

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Authors: Luís R. Silva, Catarina Bento, Ana C. Gonçalves, Fábio Jesus, Branca M. Silva

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Nowadays, the general population is more and more concerned about nutrition and the health implications of an unbalanced diet. Current knowledge regarding the health benefits and antioxidant properties of certain foods such as fruits and vegetables has gained the interest of both the general public and scientific community. Peach (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch) is one of the most consumed fruits worldwide, with low sugar contents and a broad range of nutrients essential to the normal functioning of the body. Six different peach cultivars from the Fundão region in Portugal were evaluated regarding their phenolic composition by LC-DAD and biological activity. The prepared extracts’ capacity to scavenge free-radicals was tested through the stable free radical DPPH• and nitric oxide (•NO). Additionally, antidiabetic potential and protective effects against peroxyl radical (ROO•) induced damage to erythrocytes were also tested. LC-DAD analysis allowed the identification of 17 phenolic compounds, among which 5-O-caffeoylquinic acids and 3-O-caffeoylquinic acids are pointed out as the most abundant. Regarding the antioxidant activity, all cultivars displayed concentration-dependent free-radical scavenging activity against both nitrogen species and DPPH•. In respect to α-glucosidase inhibitory activity, Royal Magister and Royal Glory presented the highest inhibitory activity (IC50 = 11.7 ± 1.4 and 17.1 ± 1.7 μg/mL, respectively), nevertheless all six cultivars presented higher activity than the control acarbose. As for the protective effect of Royal Lu extract on the oxidative damage induced in erythrocytes by ROO•, the results were quite promising showing inhibition IC50 values of 110.0 ± 4.5 μg/mL and 83.8 ± 6.5 μg/mL for hemolysis and hemoglobin oxidation, respectively. The demonstrated activity is of course associated to the peaches’ phenolic profile, rich in phenolic acids and flavonoids with high hydrogen donating capacity. These compounds have great industrial interest for the manufacturing of natural products. The following step would naturally be the extraction and isolation from the plant tissues and large-scale production through biotechnology techniques.

Keywords: antioxidants, functional food, phenolic compounds, peach

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Authors: Sarah Elmammeri

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This paper will represent the postcolonial every day in the journey of asylum seekers through the asylum process in the UK. It represents everyday borders, which are defined as everyday barriers, and obstacles facing asylum seekers and refugees in the host country. These everyday barriers can be legal, financial, social and educational under the umbrella of the racialized administrative border creating a package. The arguments build on a set of 21 semi-structured interviews in English and Arabic. The interviews were conducted in the UK, online via zoom lasting between 25 minutes and 2 hours with asylum seekers, refugees, Non-governmental organisations workers and volunteers. The interviews focus on the meaning of borders both physical and metaphorical and ways to challenge the ongoing postcolonial everyday border practices. The findings conclude that these barriers are there deliberately and intentionally to target asylum seekers and limit their legal right to claim asylum in a form of policy and regulations. People in the asylum process, NGO workers, and refugees relate to this aspect of the everyday borders. Second, these barriers come intertwined together creating a structure that interferes with the daily life of an asylum seeker and later affects people with refugee status creating racialised barriers starting with the structural and official form of it: the asylum process. These structural barriers will be linked forming a multi-level barrier enhancing the racialisation of people who are categorised and selected.

Keywords: everyday borders, asylum policies, inclusion and exclusion, refugees and asylum seekers

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Authors: Alma Mendoza-Ponce, Rogelio Corona-Núñez, Florian Kraxner

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Mexico is a megadiverse country and it has nearly halved its natural vegetation in the last century due to agricultural and livestock expansion. Impacts of land use cover change and climate change are unevenly distributed and spatial prioritization to minimize the affectations on biodiversity is crucial. Global and national efforts for prioritizing biodiversity conservation show that ~33% to 45% of Mexico should be protected. The width of these targets makes difficult to lead resources. We use a framework based on vulnerability and irreplaceability to prioritize conservation efforts in Mexico. Vulnerability considered exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity under two scenarios (business as usual, BAU based, on the SSP2 and RCP 4.5 and a Green scenario, based on the SSP1 and the RCP 2.6). Exposure to land use is the magnitude of change from natural vegetation to anthropogenic covers while exposure to climate change is the difference between current and future values for both scenarios. Sensitivity was considered as the number of endemic species of terrestrial vertebrates which are critically endangered and endangered. Adaptive capacity is used as the ration between the percentage of converted area (natural to anthropogenic) and the percentage of protected area at municipality level. The results suggest that by 2050, between 11.6 and 13.9% of Mexico show vulnerability ≥ 50%, and by 2070, between 12.0 and 14.8%, in the Green and BAU scenario, respectively. From an ecosystem perspective cloud forests, followed by tropical dry forests, natural grasslands and temperate forests will be the most vulnerable (≥ 50%). Amphibians are the most threatened vertebrates; 62% of the endemic amphibians are critically endangered or endangered while 39%, 12% and 9% of the mammals, birds, and reptiles, respectively. However, the distribution of these amphibians counts for only 3.3% of the country, while mammals, birds, and reptiles in these categories represent 10%, 16% and 29% of Mexico. There are 5 municipalities out of the 2,457 that Mexico has that represent 31% of the most vulnerable areas (70%).These municipalities account for 0.05% of Mexico. This multiscale approach can be used to address resources to conservation targets as ecosystems, municipalities or species considering land use cover change, climate change and biodiversity uniqueness.

Keywords: biodiversity, climate change, land use change, Mexico, vulnerability

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Authors: Kedibone Masenya, Memory Tekere, Jasper Rees

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Sorghum is an important cereal crop in the world. In particular, it has attracted breeders due to capacity to serve as food, feed, fiber and bioenergy crop. Like any other plant, sorghum hosts a variety of microbes, which can either, have a neutral, negative and positive influence on the plant. In the current study, regions (V3/V4) of 16 S rRNA were targeted to extensively assess bacterial multitrophic interactions in the phyllosphere of sorghum. The results demonstrated that the presence of a pathogen has a significant effect on the endophytic bacterial community. Understanding these interactions is key to develop new strategies for plant protection.

Keywords: bacteria, multitrophic, sorghum, target sequencing

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Authors: Cuma Şimşek

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Nowadays our globalized world is in a very rapid and sophisticated change. In the information age, notion of ‘information’ has begun to spread faster than ever also in this age, changes and transformation has gained tremendous momentum with technology boom. This continuous change and transformation, increased the competition between existing organizations and corporations. Besides, the organizations which show resistance to change has been put out of action in this competitive environment. It is not possible to sustain the existence of organizations without adapting to change and transformation by isolating itself from developments. As a consequence of improved communication and dialog possibilities by means of increasing knowledge level, there has been made a change of scene in administrative mentality, style and activation, especially in 21th century. Leaders emerge as the most important factor in this process of perception and success. At the same time it is not enough to adapt the alteration with conventional leadership abilities and behaviors. In parallel with alteration, new types of leadership are coming up. The optimal leadership type for our era and a trending topic "Transformational Leadership" is in great demand now. In this research, current situation of the Air Forces which use high-technology weapons efficiently, operates in an environment full of threats and is analyzed. It is evaluated that in order to be ready for war continuously and adjusting itself to changing terms of warfare atmosphere , Air Forces need ‘transformational leaders’ who are innovative, foreseeing and having a vision so that they can develop new methods and strategies for complex problems. Because it is the Air Force which is responsible for being the deterrent force of its country.

Keywords: transformational, change, air force, leadership

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Authors: Mimoun Melliti

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In the wake of the global pandemic, educational systems worldwide faced unprecedented challenges and had to swiftly adapt to new conditions. This necessitated a fundamental shift in assessment processes, as traditional in-person exams became impractical. The present paper aims to investigate how educational systems have adapted to the new conditions imposed by the outbreak of the pandemic. This paper serves as a case study documenting the various decisions, conditions, experiments, and outcomes associated with transitioning the assessment processes of a higher education institution to a fully online format. The participants of this study consisted of 4666 students from health, engineering, science, and humanities disciplines, who were enrolled in general English (Eng101/104) and English for specific purposes (Eng102/113) courses at a preparatory year institution in Saudi Arabia. The findings of this study indicate that online assessment can be effectively implemented given the fulfillment of specific requirements. These prerequisites encompass the presence of competent staff, administrative flexibility, and the availability of necessary infrastructure and technological support. The significance of this case study lies in its comprehensive description of the various steps and measures undertaken to adapt to the "new normal" situation. Furthermore, it evaluates the impact of these measures and offers detailed recommendations for potential similar future scenarios.

Keywords: hybrid learning, testing, adaptive teaching, EFL

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Authors: E. Kilicay, Z. Karahaliloglu, B. Hazer, E. B. Denkbas

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In this study, we have prepared concanavaline A (ConA) functionalized curcumin (CUR) loaded PHBHHx (poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate)) nanoparticles as a novel and efficient drug delivery system. CUR is a promising anticancer agent for various cancer types. The aim of this study was to evaluate therapeutic potential of curcumin loaded PHBHHx nanoparticles (CUR-NPs) and concanavaline A conjugated curcumin loaded NPs (ConA-CUR NPs) for ovarian cancer treatment. ConA was covalently connected to the carboxylic group of nanoparticles by EDC/NHS activation method. In the ligand attachment experiment, the binding capacity of ConA on the surface of NPs was found about 90%. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis showed that the prepared nanoparticles were smooth and spherical in shape. The size and zeta potential of prepared NPs were about 228±5 nm and −21.3 mV respectively. ConA-CUR NPs were characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy which confirmed the existence of CUR and ConA in the nanoparticles. The entrapment and loading efficiencies of different polymer/drug weight ratios, 1/0.125 PHBHHx/CUR= 1.25CUR-NPs; 1/0.25 PHBHHx/CUR= 2.5CUR-NPs; 1/0.5 PHBHHx/CUR= 5CUR-NPs, ConA-1.25CUR NPs, ConA-2.5CUR NPs and ConA-5CUR NPs were found to be ≈ 68%-16.8%; 55%-17.7 %; 45%-33.6%; 70%-15.7%; 60%-17%; 51%-30.2% respectively. In vitro drug release showed that the sustained release of curcumin was observed from CUR-NPs and ConA-CUR NPs over a period of 19 days. After binding of ConA, the release rate was slightly increased due to the migration of curcumin to the surface of the nanoparticles and the matrix integrities was decreased because of the conjugation reaction. This functionalized nanoparticles demonstrated high drug loading capacity, sustained drug release profile, and high and long term anticancer efficacy in human cancer cell lines. Anticancer activity of ConA-CUR NPs was proved by MTT assay and reconfirmed by apoptosis and necrosis assay. The anticancer activity of ConA-CUR NPs was measured in ovarian cancer cells (SKOV-3) and the results revealed that the ConA-CUR NPs had better tumor cells decline activity than free curcumin. The nacked nanoparticles have no cytotoxicity against human ovarian carcinoma cells. Thus the developed functionalized nanoformulation could be a promising candidate in cancer therapy.

Keywords: curcumin, curcumin-PHBHHx nanoparticles, concanavalin A, concanavalin A-curcumin PHBHHx nanoparticles, PHBHHx nanoparticles, ovarian cancer cell

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Authors: Uzma Ahmad

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hyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) is the most turbulent province of Pakistan, sharing a longborder with Afghanistan. For about four decades, KPK is facing a series of international events. The peak was reached after 9/11when region was labelled as posing a major theatre of militancy and terrorism which was intensified when Tehrik Taliban Pakistan (TTP) began attempts to seize the authority of state. One of the main focus of TTP was to damage and uprooting of female education system and infrastructure in KPK which later became the site of a massacre of school children of Army Public School Peshawar on 16 December 2014.It resulted to the launching of Zarb-e-Azb against the TTP insurgency,casualty and crime rates in the KPKas a whole dropped by 40.0% as compared to 2011–13. All this has badly hampered the female education both in terms of quantity and quality. Malala Yousafzai who is now an advocate of female education has been a victim of Talibans brutality in that area. And thelanguage in which she managed to express herself to the International community is English.Keeping in view the situation, the present project was designed with a sole aim to focus on female students of the area which are few in numbers and to investigate some specific area, where they have been confronting problems in the use of grammar, vocabulary,tenses and organization of ideas in writings. The reasons might be the careless attitude, insufficient reading habits, lack of interest and poor knowledge of English language. The methodology was a descriptive one as it shows the effects of the internal efficiency(independent variables) on an intermediate college’s progress(dependent variables). It was a case study since data was collected from a focused group of 60 female students of arts and humanities at Swabi college at Intermediate level. The ultimate focus was to explore the possibilities of creating a Gender friendly environment for female students. This research has proved how the correct use of English language has given them confidence to move ahead side by side with men and to acknowledge their right of self-determination.

Keywords: capacity building, female education, gender friendly, internal efficiency

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Authors: Serges Djoyou Kamga, Gerard Emmanuel Kamdem Kamga

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Any serious constitutionalism entails a system of government characterised by the separation of powers between the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary. The latter is generally in charge of upholding the rule of law and the respect for human rights which are vital for the functioning of any democracy. Therefore, for the judiciary to play its role as a watchdog, it should be independent from other branches of government. The aim of this paper is to examine the independence of the judiciary in South Africa after 20 of democracy. Defining judicial independence as the courts’ ability ‘to decide cases on the basis of established law and the merits of the case, without interference from other political or governmental agents’, the paper examines the extent to which the South African judiciary is independent after twenty years of democracy. As part of assessing the independence of the judiciary, the paper begins by looking at the situation during apartheid, then proceeds with an examination of the post-apartheid legal order. It also examines the institutional independence of the judiciary by looking into its day to day activities which revolve around its self-governance, or administrative and financial independence. In addition, the paper assesses the judges’ individual independence by examining whether judicial appointment, security of tenure, judges’ remuneration and disciplinary actions and the removal of judges from office do not contain loopholes that can hinder judicial independence. Ultimately, the chapter argues that although the South African model of judicial independence is yet to be perfect, it is a good practice that can be emulated by other African countries.

Keywords: judical independence, South Africa, democracy, separation of powers

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Authors: D. T. Tran, H. P. Tran, L. G. Hoang, V. N. H. Bui, Q. T. Nguyen, A. K. Das

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This paper provides some insight information about a current situation of e-procurement implementation in Vietnam, including opportunities and challenges. A case study of Phuc Thien Company which is classified as a medium enterprise in the country, specialising on animal feed production. Since the technological development rapidly changes, companies have implemented advanced technologies in supply chain management to increase efficiency and gain collaboration amidst partners in their manufacturing and development activities. The findings of this research reveal strengths and ongoing weaknesses when Phuc Thien company internally implemented eProcurement system. Although cost savings, visibility of payment and speedy procurement process are one of the largest benefits of eProcurement implementation, the company faces greater hurdles, such as employee capability to use technology and their resistance to change, that overshadow everything else. In terms of governmental policy, the adaptation of e-invoicing has commenced since June 2015 in Vietnam, legal regulations and administrative framework related to e-Procurement carries various ambiguous in its content and extremely fragment. Hence, this adds a great burden to enterprises in general and Phuc Thien in particular in view of creating higher competitive advantage for animal feed industry in Vietnam as well as South East Asia region.

Keywords: procurement, e-procurement, animal feed industry, efficiency

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Authors: Tanios Saliba, Jad Wakim, Elie Awwad

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Clayey soils exhibit undesirable problems in civil engineering project: poor bearing soil capacity, shrinkage, cracking, …etc. On the other hand, the increasing production of bottom ash and its disposal in an eco-friendly manner is a matter of concern. Soil stabilization using bottom ash is a new technic in the geo-environmental engineering. It can be used wherever a soft clayey soil is encountered in foundations or road subgrade, instead of using old technics such as cement-soil mixing. This new technology can be used for road embankments and clayey foundations platform (shallow or deep foundations) instead of replacing bad soil or using old technics which aren’t eco-friendly. Moreover, applying this new technic in our geotechnical engineering projects can reduce the disposal of the bottom ash problem which is getting bigger day after day. The research consists of mixing clayey soil with different percentages of bottom ash at different values of water content, and evaluates the mechanical properties of every mix: the percentages of bottom ash are 10% 20% 30% 40% and 50% with values of water content of 25% 35% and 45% of the mix’s weight. Before testing the different mixes, clayey soil’s properties were determined: Atterbeg limits, soil’s cohesion and friction angle and particle size distribution. In order to evaluate the mechanical properties and behavior of every mix, different tests are conducted: -Direct shear test in order to determine the cohesion and internal friction angle of every mix. -Unconfined compressive strength (stress strain curve) to determine mix’s elastic modulus and compressive strength. Soil samples are prepared in accordance with the ASTM standards, and tested at different times, in order to be able to emphasize the influence of the curing period on the variation of the mix’s mechanical properties and characteristics. As of today, the results obtained are very promising: the mix’s cohesion and friction angle vary in function of the bottom ash percentage, water content and curing period: the cohesion increases enormously before decreasing for a long curing period (values of mix’s cohesion are larger than intact soil’s cohesion) while internal friction angle keeps on increasing even when the curing period is 28 days (the tests largest curing period), which give us a better soil behavior: less cracks and better soil bearing capacity.

Keywords: bottom ash, Clayey soil, mechanical properties, tests

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Authors: Mohammadreza Akbari, Leila Abdollahpour, Sara Akbari, Pooya Soleimani

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Transferring thermo at the field of solid materials for instance tube-shaped structures, causing dynamical vibration at them. Majority of thermal and fluid processes are done engineering science at solid materials, for example, thermo-transferred pipes, fluids, chemical and nuclear reactors, include thermal processes, so, they need to consider the moment solid-fundamental structural strength unto these thermal interactions. Fluid and thermo retentive materials in front of external force to it like thermodynamical force, hydrodynamical force and static force continuously according to a function of time vibrated, and this action causes relative displacement of the structural materials elements, as a result, the moment resistance analysis preservation materials in thermal processes, the most important parameters for design are discussed. Including structural substrate holder temperature and fluid of the administrative and industrial center, is a cylindrical tube that for vibration analysis of cylindrical cells with heat and fluid transfer requires the use of vibration differential equations governing the structure of a tubular and thermal differential equations as the vibrating motive force at double-glazed cylinders.

Keywords: heat transfer, elements in cylindrical coordinates, analytical solving the governing equations, structural vibration

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Authors: Vishnu Satya

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Rural communities form the backbone of our society. These communities are self-contained, for the most part, in how they can sustain themselves. Except for the essentials, they are primarily dependent on the state for their development and prosperity. The state claims to provide these through policies and agencies which are designed to guide their livelihood and future. It is assumed that the state-run policies are effective and are reaching the intended audience. Though in reality, there is an ever-widening gap between the two. The interviews conducted with farmers suggests that the support provided by the state to this marginalized community falls far short of their expectations, leaving them helpless. This paper discusses the methods used in bringing the status quo of the marginalized farmers to the forefront by comparing-and-contrasting the existing rhetoric and reality of the rural diaspora. It is seen from the hands-on oral accounts of farmers that they are left hanging between the state and their farms. Unrepresented, this community's progress and future stand severely affected. The paper presents how the visual medium acts as a catalyst for social advocacy by bridging the gap between administrative services and the marginalized rural communities. The finding was that there exists a disconnect between policymakers and the farming community, which has hindered the progress of the farmers. These two communities live exclusively from each other. In conclusion, it is seen that when the gaps between administrators and farmers are plugged through grass-root efforts utilizing visual medium, the farmer's economic situation got better, and the community prospered.

Keywords: farmers, social advocacy, marginalized, story telling

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Authors: Yoon Suh Song

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Though music education can broaden one’s capacity for mathematical performance, many countries lag behind in music education. Little empirical evidence is found to identify the connection between math and music. Therefore, this research was set out to explore what music-related variables are associated with mathematical performance. The result of our analysis is as follows: A Pearson's Correlation analysis revealed that PISA math score is strongly correlated with students' Intelligence Quotient (IQ). This lays the foundation for further research as to what factors in students’ IQ lead to a better performance in math.

Keywords: music education, mathematical performance, education, IQ

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Authors: Antoine Karam, Lotfi Khiari, Bruno Breton, Alfred Jaouich

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Anthropogenic sources of zinc (Zn), including industrial emissions and effluents, Zn–rich fertilizer materials and pesticides containing Zn, can contribute to increasing the concentration of soluble Zn at levels toxic to plants in acid sandy soils. The application of municipal sewage sludge or biosolids (MBS) which contain metal immobilizing agents on coarse-textured soils could improve the metal sorption capacity of the low-CEC soils. The purpose of this experiment was to evaluate the sorption of Zn in surface samples (0-15 cm) of six Quebec (Canada) soils amended with MBS (pH 6.9) from Val d’Or (Quebec, Canada). Soil samples amended with increasing amounts (0 to 20%) of MBS were equilibrated with various amounts of Zn as ZnCl2 in 0.01 M CaCl2 for 48 hours at room temperature. Sorbed Zn was calculated from the difference between the initial and final Zn concentration in solution. Zn sorption data conformed to the linear form of Freundlich equation. The amount of sorbed Zn increased considerably with increasing MBS rate. Analysis of variance revealed a highly significant effect (p ≤ 0.001) of soil texture and MBS rate on the amount of sorbed Zn. The average values of the Zn-sorption capacity of MBS-amended coarse-textured soils were lower than those of MBS-amended fine textured soils. The two sandy soils (86-99% sand) amended with MBS retained 2- to 5-fold Zn than those without MBS (control). Significant Pearson correlation coefficients between the Zn sorption isotherm parameter, i.e. the Freundlich sorption isotherm (KF), and commonly measured physical and chemical entities were obtained. Among all the soil properties measured, soil pH gave the best significant correlation coefficients (p ≤ 0.001) for soils receiving 0, 5 and 10% MBS. Furthermore, KF values were positively correlated with soil clay content, exchangeable basic cations (Ca, Mg or K), CEC and clay content to CEC ratio. From these results, it can be concluded that (i) municipal biosolids provide sorption sites that have a strong affinity for Zn, (ii) both soil texture, especially clay content, and soil pH are the main factors controlling anthropogenic Zn sorption in the municipal biosolids-amended soils, and (iii) the effect of municipal biosolids on Zn sorption will be more pronounced for a sandy soil than for a clay soil.

Keywords: metal, recycling, sewage sludge, trace element

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Authors: Waleed Alanzi

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The purpose of this qualitative study was to add to the existing literature and provide a more detailed understanding of the individual experiences and perceptions of 15 Deans at the University of Kuwait regarding their first year of planning, developing, and implementing crisis distance education (CDE) in response to the COVID-19 epidemic. An interpretative phenomenological approach was applied, using the thematic analysis of interview transcripts to describe the challenging journeys taken by each of the Deans from the first-person point of view. There was objective evidence, manifested by four primary themes (“Obstacles to the implementation of CDE”; “Planning for CDE”; “Training for CDE,” and “Future Directions”) to conclude that the faculty members, technical staff, administrative staff, and students generally helped each other to overcome the obstacles associated with planning and implementing CDE. The idea that CDE may turn homes into schools and parents into teachers was supported. The planning and implementation of CDE were inevitably associated with a certain amount of confusion, as well as disruptions in the daily routines of staff and students, as well as significant changes in their responsibilities. There were contradictory ideas about the future directions of distance education after the pandemic. Previous qualitative research on the implementation of CDE at higher education institutions in the Arab world has focused mainly on the experiences and perceptions of students; however, little is known about the experiences and perceptions of the students at the University of Kuwait during the COVID19 pandemic, providing a rationale and direction for future research.

Keywords: distance learning, qualitative research, COVID-19 epidemic, Kuwait university

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Authors: Zelal Polat, Şebnem Harsa, Semra Ülkü

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Lactic acid exists in nature optically in two forms, L(+), D(-)-lactic acid, and has been used in food, leather, textile, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. Moreover, L(+)-lactic acid constitutes the raw material for the production of poly-L-lactic acid which is used in biomedical applications. Microbially produced lactic acid was aimed to be recovered from the fermentation media efficiently and economically. Among the various downstream operations, ion exchange chromatography is highly selective and yields a low cost product recovery within a short period of time. In this project, Lactobacillus casei NRRL B-441 was used for the production of L(+)-lactic acid from whey by fermentation at pH 5.5 and 37°C that took 12 hours. The product concentration was 50 g/l with 100% L(+)-lactic acid content. Next, the suitable resin was selected due to its high sorption capacity with rapid equilibrium behavior. Dowex marathon WBA, weakly basic anion exchanger in OH form reached the equilibrium in 15 minutes. The batch adsorption experiments were done approximately at pH 7.0 and 30°C and sampling was continued for 20 hours. Furthermore, the effect of temperature and pH was investigated and their influence was found to be unimportant. All the adsorption/desorption experiments were applied to both model lactic acid and biomass free fermentation broth. The ion exchange equilibria of lactic acid and L(+)-lactic acid in fermentation broth on Dowex marathon WBA was explained by Langmuir isotherm. The maximum exchange capacity (qm) for model lactic acid was 0.25 g La/g wet resin and for fermentation broth 0.04 g La/g wet resin. The equilibrium loading and exchange efficiency of L(+)-lactic acid in fermentation broth were reduced as a result of competition by other ionic species. The competing ions inhibit the binding of L(+)-lactic acid to the free sites of ion exchanger. Moreover, column operations were applied to recover adsorbed lactic acid from the ion exchanger. 2.0 M HCl was the suitable eluting agent to recover the bound L(+)-lactic acid with a flowrate of 1 ml/min at ambient temperature. About 95% of bound L(+)-lactic acid was recovered from Dowex marathon WBA. The equilibrium was reached within 15 minutes. The aim of this project was to investigate the purification of L(+)-lactic acid with ion exchange method from fermentation broth. The additional goals were to investigate the end product purity, to obtain new data on the adsorption/desorption behaviours of lactic acid and applicability of the system in industrial usage.

Keywords: fermentation, ion exchange, lactic acid, purification, whey

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Authors: Justine Ugochukwu Osuagwu, Sazali Abd Wahab

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The performance and operation of NNPC have faced series of attacks by all stakeholders as many have observed lots of inefficiency not only on the part of the management but the staff. This has raised questions of whether their operations and performance are being seriously affected by lack of transformational leadership, and the political competition prevalent in the country. The author has applied the administrative leadership theory and institutional theory as a guide to this study and empirically relates such theories to the study. The study also has utilized the quantitative approach where questionnaires were distributed to 370 participants, and the correctly filled and returned questionnaires were used for the analysis using structural equation modeling. The path coefficient of transformational leadership to performance is strong and positive with β = 0.672; t-value = 14.245; p-value = 0.000. Also, the result found that political competition does not mediate the relationship between transformational leadership and performance of NNPC. (β = -0.008; t-value = -0.600; p- value > 0.05). However, the indirect path is all insignificant, meaning that transformational leadership has relationship with corporate performance.The study found that,while political competition does not serve as a mediator in the relationship between transformational leadership and corporate performance, these styles of leadership have a direct and positive impact on corporate performance. The direct relationship between transformational leadership and political competition was not discovered, despite the fact that political competition has a direct and significant impact, both positive and negative, on corporate performance. As a result, both political competition and transformational leadership have the potential to significantly alter corporate performance.

Keywords: performance, transformational leadership, political competition, corporation performance, Nigeria national petroleum corporation

Procedia PDF Downloads 112

Authors: Robel Habtemariam

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Globally, wind energy and photovoltaics (PV) solar energy are among the leading renewable energy sources (RES) in terms of installed capacity. In order to increase the contribution of RES to the power supply system, large scale energy integration is required, mainly due to wind energy and PV. In this paper, an investigation has been made on the electrical power supply systems of Taiwan and Greece in order to integrate high level of wind and photovoltaic (PV) to increase the penetration of renewable energy resources. Currently, both countries heavily depend on fossil fuels to meet the demand and to generate adequate electricity. Therefore, this study is carried out to look into the two cases power supply system by developing a methodology that includes major power units. To address the analysis, an approach for simulation of power systems is formulated and applied. The simulation is based on the non-dynamic analysis of the electrical system. This simulation results in calculating the energy contribution of different types of power units; namely the wind, PV, non-flexible and flexible power units. The calculation is done for three different scenarios (2020, 2030, & 2050), where the first two scenarios are based on national targets and scenario 2050 is a reflection of ambitious global targets. By 2030 in Taiwan, the input of the power units is evaluated as 4.3% (wind), 3.7% (PV), 65.2 (non-flexible), 25.3% (flexible), and 1.5% belongs to hydropower plants. In Greece, much higher renewable energy contribution is observed for the same scenario with 21.7% (wind), 14.3% (PV), 38.7% (non-flexible), 14.9% (flexible), and 10.3% (hydro). Moreover, it examines the ability of the power systems to deal with the variable nature of the wind and PV generation. For this reason, an investigation has also been done on the use of the combined wind power with pumped storage systems (WPS) to enable the system to exploit the curtailed wind energy & surplus PV and thus increase the wind and PV installed capacity and replace the peak supply by conventional power units. Results show that the feasibility of pumped storage can be justified in the high scenario (that is the scenario of 2050) of RES integration especially in the case of Greece.

Keywords: large scale energy integration, photovoltaics solar energy, pumped storage systems, renewable energy sources

Procedia PDF Downloads 275