Search results for: conditional proportional reversed hazard rate model

Authors: Dongliu Li

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Objective: This study systematically evaluates the incidence and influencing factors of economic toxicity in patients with gynecological malignant tumors. Methods: Literature on economic toxicity of gynecological malignancies were comprehensively searched in Pubmed, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Embase, CINAHL, CNKI, Wanfang Database, Chinese Biomedical Literature database and VIP database. The search period is up to February 2024. Stata 17 software was used to conduct a single-group meta-analysis of the incidence of economic toxicity in gynecological malignant tumors, and descriptive analysis was used to analyze the influencing factors. Results: A total of 11 pieces of literature were included, including 6475 patients with gynecological malignant tumors. The results of the meta-analysis showed that the incidence of economic toxicity in gynecological malignant tumors was 40% (95%CI 31%—48%). The influencing factors of economic toxicity in patients with gynecological malignant tumors include social demographic factors, medical insurance-related factors and disease-related factors. Conclusion: The incidence of economic toxicity in patients with gynecological malignant tumors is high, and medical staff should conduct early screening of patients according to relevant influencing factors, personalized assessment of patients' economic status, early prevention work and personalized intervention measures.

Keywords: gynecological malignancy, economic toxicity, the incidence rate, influencing factors, systematic review

Procedia PDF Downloads 39

Authors: Eka Yuliana, Siska Shabrina Julyan

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The competitive environment and high customer’s churn rate in telecommunication industries lead Indonesian telecommunication companies become strive to offer products with more value. Offering product with more value can encourage customers to keep using the companies product. One of way to retain customer is give a membership card to the customers as practiced by PT. Telkom by giving Telkom Membership Card to PT. Telkom loyal customer. This study aims to determine the influence of Telkom Membership Card customer perceived value on retaining PT. Telkom Indonesia’s customer in 2013-2014 by using quantitative method with causal study. Analythical technique used in this study is Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to test the causal relationship with 216 owner of Telkom Membership Card in Indonesia. This study conclude that: (i) Customer perceived value on Telkom Membership Card is located in fair value zone, (ii) PT. Telkom efforts in order to retain the customers is classified as good, (iii) Customer perceived value is influencing the effort to retain the customer with the probability value less than 0.05 and level of influence 69%. Based on result of this study, PT. Telkom should (i) Improve Telkom Membership Card’s promotion because not all customer of PT. Telkom have the membership card. (iia) Adding Telkom Membership Card’s benefit such as discount at various merchant (iib) Making call center for member of Telkom Membership Card (iii) PT. Telkom should be ensure availability of their service. (iv) PT. Telkom should make a priority to customer who have telkom membership card and offers a better service.For future research should be use different variables.

Keywords: customer perceived value, customer retention, marketing, relationship marketing

Procedia PDF Downloads 325

Authors: Aida Abd El-Razek, Alyaa Salman Madian, Gamila Gaber Ayoub

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Background: Electronic fetal monitoring is an obstetric technology that helps to record any changes in fetal heart rate and uterine activity. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of educational programs on the performance of internship nursing students regarding electronic fetal monitoring in obstetrics and gynecology departments. Design: A quasi-experimental research design (pre- and post-test) was used. Sample: A convenient sample of all internship nursing students (180 internship nursing students) from the Faculty of Nursing at Menoufia University during the academic year 2022-2023). The instruments of this study were a structured, self-administered interview questionnaire consisting of two parts: the socio-demographic characteristics of the study participants and an assessment of internship nursing students’ knowledge regarding electronic fetal monitoring (pre- and post-test). Observational checklist to assess internship nursing students’ performance regarding EFM. Results: There were highly statistically significant differences between the internship nurses' students’ knowledge and performance on the pretest and posttest. Conclusion: An educational program on electronic fetal monitoring carries a vital value for enhancing internship nursing students’ knowledge and performance, which ultimately leads to improved maternal and fetal outcomes. Recommendation: Regular educational programs and workshops about electronic fetal monitoring should be encouraged for all maternity nurses and internship nursing students.

Keywords: educational program, internship nursing students, performance, efficacy

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Authors: ِAbdallah A. A. Shaheen

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Gaza Strip faces economic and political issues such as conflict, siege and urbanization; all these have led to an increase in the air pollution over Gaza Strip. In this study, Particulate matter 10 (PM10) concentration over Gaza Strip has been estimated by Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) data, based on a multispectral algorithm. Simultaneously, in-situ measurements for the corresponding particulate are acquired for selected time period. Landsat and ground data for eleven years are used to develop the algorithm while four years data (2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014) have been used to validate the results of algorithm. The developed algorithm gives highest regression, R coefficient value i.e. 0.86; RMSE value as 9.71 µg/m³; P values as 0. Average validation of algorithm show that calculated PM10 strongly correlates with measured PM10, indicating high efficiency of algorithm for the mapping of PM10 concentration during the years 2000 to 2014. Overall results show increase in minimum, maximum and average yearly PM10 concentrations, also presents similar trend over urban area. The rate of urbanization has been evaluated by supervised classification of the Landsat image. Urban sprawl from year 2000 to 2014 results in a high concentration of PM10 in the study area.

Keywords: PM10, landsat, atmospheric reflectance, Gaza strip, urbanization

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Authors: Changyong Liu, Junda Tong, Feng Xu, Ninggui Huang

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In the injection molding process, the performance of cooling channels is crucial to the part quality. Through the application of conformal cooling channels fabricated via metal additive manufacturing, part distortion, warpage can be greatly reduced and cycle time can be greatly shortened. However, the properties of additively manufactured conformal cooling channels are quite different from conventional drilling processes such as the poorer dimensional accuracy and larger surface roughness. These features have significant influences on its cooling performance. In this study, test molds with the cooling channel diameters of φ2 mm, φ3 mm and φ4 mm were fabricated via selective laser melting and conventional drilling process respectively. A test system was designed and manufactured to measure the pressure difference between the channel inlet and outlet, the coolant flow rate and the temperature variation during the heating process. It was found that the cooling performance of SLM-fabricated channels was poorer than drilled cooling channels due to the smaller sectional area of cooling channels resulted from the low dimensional accuracy and the unmolten particles adhered to the channel surface. Theoretical models were established to determine the friction factor and heat transfer coefficient of SLM-fabricated cooling channels. These findings may provide guidance to the design of conformal cooling channels.

Keywords: conformal cooling channels, selective laser melting, cooling performance, injection molding

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Authors: S. Blanchard, D. Beladjine, K. Beddiar

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Since 2015, the arrival of BIM in the building sector in France has turned the corporation world upside down. Not only constructive practices have been impacted, but also the uses and the men who have undergone important changes. Thus, the new collaborative mode generated by the BIM and the digital model has challenged the supremacy of some construction actors because the process involves working together taking into account the needs of other contributors. New BIM tools have emerged and actors in the act of building must take ownership of them. It is in this context that under the impetus of a European directive and the French government's encouragement of new missions and job profiles have. Moreover, concurrent engineering requires that each actor can advance at the same time as the others, at the whim of the information that reaches him, and the information he has to transmit. However, in the French legal system around public procurement, things are not planned in this direction. Also, a consequent evolution must take place to adapt to the methodology. The new missions generated by the BIM in France require a good mastery of the tools and the process. Also, to meet the objectives of the BIM approach, it is possible to define a typical job profile around the BIM, adapted to the various sectors concerned. The multitude of job offers using the same terms with very different objectives and the complexity of the proposed missions motivated by our approach. In order to reinforce exchanges with professionals or specialists, we carried out a statistical study to answer this problem. Five topics are discussed around the business area: the BIM in the company, the function (business), software used and BIM missions practiced (39 items). About 1400 professionals were interviewed. These people work in companies (micro businesses, SMEs, and Groups) of construction, engineering offices or, architectural agencies. 77% of respondents have the status of employees. All participants are graduated in their trade, the majority having level 1. Most people have less than a year of experience in BIM, but some have 10 years. The results of our survey help to understand why it is not possible to define a single type of BIM Manager. Indeed, the specificities of the companies are so numerous and complex and the missions so varied, that there is not a single model for a function. On the other hand, it was possible to define 3 main professions around the BIM (Manager, Coordinator and Modeler) and 3 main missions for the BIM Manager (deployment of the method, assistance to project management and management of a project).

Keywords: BIM manager, BIM modeler, BIM coordinator, project management

Procedia PDF Downloads 169

Authors: Seunghwan Seo, Woo-Seok Lee, Ji-Sun Shin, Young Kyoung Rhee, Chang-Won Cho, Hee-Do Hong, Kyung-Tae Lee

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Doenjang, known as traditional Korean food, is product of a natural mixed fermentation process carried out by lactic acid bacteria (LAB). Lactobacillus sakei K040706 (K040706) has been accepted as the most populous LAB in over ripened doenjang. Recently, we reported the immunostimulatory effects of K040706 in RAW 264.7 macrophages and in a cyclophosphamide-induced mouse model. In this study, we investigated the ameliorative effects of K040706 in a dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis mouse model. We induced colitis using DSS in 5-week-ICR mice over 14 days with or without 0.1, 1 g/kg/day K040706 orally. The body weight, stool consistency, and gross bleeding were recorded for determination of the disease activity index (DAI). At the end of treatment, animals were sacrificed and colonic tissues were collected and subjected to histological experiments and myeloperoxidase (MPO) accumulation, cytokine determination, qRT-PCR and Western blot analysis. Results showed that K040706 significantly attenuated DSS-induced DAI score, shortening of colon length, enlargement of spleen and immune cell infiltrations into colonic tissues. Histological examinations indicated that K040706 suppressed edema, mucosal damage, and the loss of crypts induced by DSS. These results were correlated with the restoration of tight junction protein expression, such as, ZO-1 and occludin in K040706-treated mice. Moreover, K040706 reduced the abnormal secretions and mRNA expressions of pro-inflammatory mediators, such as nitric oxide (NO), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and interleukin-6 (IL-6). DSS-induced mRNA expression of intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM) and vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM) in colonic tissues was also downregulated by K040706 treatment. Furthermore, K040706 suppressed the protein and mRNA expression of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and phosphorylation of NF-κB and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3). These results suggest that K040706 has an anti-colitic effect by inhibition of intestinal inflammatory responses in DSS-induced colitic mice.

Keywords: Lactobacillus sakei, NF-κB, STAT3, ulcerative colitis

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Authors: N. Laosiripojana, P. Tepamatr

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The influence of bismuth on the water gas shift activities of Pt on ceria was studied. The flow reactor was used to study the activity of the catalysts in temperature range 100-400°C. The feed gas composition contains 5%CO, 10% H₂O and balance N₂. The total flow rate was 100 mL/min. The outlet gas was analyzed by on-line gas chromatography with thermal conductivity detector. The catalytic activities of bimetallic 1%Pt1%Bi/CeO₂ catalyst were greatly enhanced when compared with the activities of monometallic 2%Pt/CeO₂ catalyst. The catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Temperature-Programmed Reduction (TPR) and surface area analysis. X-ray diffraction pattern of Pt/CeO₂ and PtBi/CeO₂ indicated slightly shift of diffraction angle when compared with pure ceria. This result was due to strong metal-support interaction between platinum and ceria solid solution, causing conversion of Ce⁴⁺ to larger Ce³⁺. The distortions inside ceria lattice structure generated strain into the oxide lattice and facilitated the formation of oxygen vacancies which help to increase water gas shift performance. The H₂-Temperature Programmed Reduction indicated that the reduction peak of surface oxygen of 1%Pt1%Bi/CeO₂ shifts to lower temperature than that of 2%Pt/CeO₂ causing the enhancement of the water gas shift activity of this catalyst. Pt played an important role in catalyzing the surface reduction of ceria and addition of Bi alter the reduction temperature of surface ceria resulting in the improvement of the water gas shift activity of Pt catalyst.

Keywords: bismuth, platinum, water gas shift, ceria

Procedia PDF Downloads 351

Authors: Prittesh Patel, Ramar Krishnamurthy

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In the present study, nine strains of C. falcatum obtained from different places and cultivars were characterized for sporulation, growth rate, and 18S rRNA gene sequence. All isolates had characteristic fast-growing sparse and fleecy aerial mycelia on potato dextrose agar with sickle shape conidia (length x width: varied from 20.0 X 3.89 to 25.52 X 5.34 μm) and blackish to orange acervuli with setae (length x width: varied from 112.37X 2.78 to 167.66 X 6.73 μm). They could be divided into two groups on the base of morphology; P1, dense mycelia with concentric growth and P2, sparse mycelia with uneven growth. Genomic DNA isolation followed by PCR amplification with ITS1 and ITS4 primer produced ~550bp amplicons for all isolates. Phylogeny generated by 18S rRNA gene sequence confirmed the variation in isolates and mainly grouped into two clusters; cluster 1 contained CoC671 isolates (cfNAV and cfPAR) and Co86002 isolate (cfTIM). Other isolates cfMAD, cfKAM, and cfMAR were grouped into cluster 2. Remaining isolates did not fall into any cluster. Isolate cfGAN, collected from Co86032 was found highly diverse of all the nine isolates. In a nutshell, we found considerable genetic divergence and morphological variation within C. falcatum accessions collected from different areas of south Gujarat, India and these can be used for the breeding program.

Keywords: Colletotrichum falcatum, ITS, morphology, red rot, sugarcane

Procedia PDF Downloads 131

Authors: M. Zafar-ul Islam

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The Arabian Ostrich Struthio camelus syriacus is a distinct subspecies that became extinct in the wild during the mid-20th century, due to over-hunting and commercial exploitation. The extant of S. c. camelus, a red-necked form that occurs in Northeastern Africa and is considered the most closely related, and possibly the same subspecies as the extinct Arabian form has been chosen for the reintroduction in 1988-89 by obtaining red-necked ostrich from Sudan from a private collection. Few birds were translocated to Mahazat as-Sayd protected area in 25 ha fenced enclosure in 1994. Until now a total of 96 red-necked ostrich have been released in fenced Mahazat as-Sayd, and the estimated population is between 125 to 150 individuals. Since captive flock of ostriches were translocated to Mahazat, their survival rate increased (>41%) by the end of 2000. On an average 22-30 chicks are hatched annually. A total of 137 ostriches recorded dead over the period of 13 years during the drought period. One of the key questions is what proportion of birds makes use of the supplementary food and water provisions, and what happens to those birds that do not use it? Captive-bred and wild-born adult and young ostriches died of starvation and thirst, despite being provisioned with alfalfa and water in several years. The present population of ostrich in Mahazat is more than 300.

Keywords: red-necked ostrich, Struthio camelus camelus, reintroduction, Saudi Arabia, drought

Procedia PDF Downloads 313

Authors: Mallika Supa-Aksorn, Buaream Maneewan, Jiraporn Rojtinnakorn

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For animals, trypsin and chymotrypsin are the 2 proteases that play the important role in protein digestion and involving in growth rate. In many animals, these two enzymes are indicated as growth parameter by feed. Although enzyme assay at optimal condition is significant for its accuracy activity determination. There is less report of trypsin and chymotrypsin. Therefore, in this study, optimization of pH and temperature for trypsin (T) and chymotrypsin (C) in economic species; i.e. Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), sand goby (Oxyeleotoris marmoratus), giant freshwater prawn (Macrobachium rosenberchii) and native chicken (Gallus gallus) were investigated. Each enzyme of each species was assaying for its specific activity with variation of pH in range of 2-12 and temperature in range of 30-80 °C. It revealed that, for Nile tilapia, T had optimal condition at pH 9 and temperature 50-80 °C, whereas C had optimal condition at pH 8 and temperature 60 °C. For sand goby, T had optimal condition at pH 7 and temperature of 50 °C, while C had optimal condition at pH 11 and temperature of 70-75 °C. For juvenile freshwater prawn, T had optimal condition at pH 10-11 and temperature of 60-65 °C, C had optimal condition at pH 8 and temperature of 70°C. For starter native chicken, T has optimal condition at pH 7 and temperature of 70 °C, whereas C had o optimal condition at pH 8 and temperature of 60°C. This information of optimal conditions will be high valuable in further for, actual enzyme measurement of T and C activities that benefit for growth and feed analysis.

Keywords: trypsin, chymotrypsin, Oreochromis niloticus, Oxyeleotoris marmoratus, Macrobachium rosenberchii, Gallus gallus

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Authors: Niveen Hassan-Abbas, Tammie Ronen-Rosenbaum

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Background and purpose: 'Flourishing in marriage' is a concept refers to married individuals’ high positivity ratio regarding their marriage, namely greater reported positive than negative emotions. The study proposes a different approach to marriage which emphasizes the place of the individual himself as largely responsible for his personal flourishing within marriage. Accordingly, the individual's desire to preserve and strengthen his marriage largely determines the marital behavior in a way that will contribute to his marriage success (Actor Effect), regardless the contribution of his or her partner to his marriage success (Partner Effect). Another assumption was that flourishing in marriage could be achieved by two separate processes, where capitalization support increases the positive marriage's evaluations and accommodation decreases the negative one. A theoretical model was constructed, whereby individuals who were committed to their marriage were hypothesized as employing self-control skills by way of two dynamic processes. First, individual’s higher degree of 'capitalization supportive responses' - supportive responses to the partner's sharing of positive personal experiences - was hypothesized as increasing one’s positive evaluations of marriage and thereby one’s positivity ratio. Second, individual’s higher degree of 'accommodation' responses - the ability during conflict situations to control the impulse to respond destructively and instead to respond constructively - was hypothesized as decreasing one’s negative evaluations of marriage and thereby increasing one’s positivity ratio. Methods: Participants were 156 heterosexual Arab couples from different regions of Israel. The mean period of marriage was 10.19 (SD=7.83), ages were 31.53 years for women (SD=8.12) and 36.80 years for men (SD=8.07). Years of education were 13.87 for women (SD=2.84) and 13.23 years for men (SD=3.45). Each participant completed seven questionnaires: socio-demographic, self-control skills, commitment, capitalization support, accommodation, marital quality, positive and negative affect. Using statistical analyses adapted to dyadic research design, firstly descriptive statistics were calculated and preliminary tests were performed. Next, dyadic model based on the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM) were tested using structural equation modeling (SEM). Results: The assumption according to which flourishing in marriage can be achieved by two processes was confirmed. All of the Actor Effect hypotheses were confirmed. Participants with higher self-control used more capitalization support and accommodation responses. Among husbands, unlike wives, these correlations were stronger when the individual's commitment level was higher. More capitalization supportive responses were found to increase positive evaluations of marriage, and greater spousal accommodation was found to decrease negative evaluations of marriage. High positive evaluations and low negative evaluations were found to increase positivity ratio. Not according to expectation, four partner effect paths were found significant. Conclusions and Implications: The present findings coincide with the positive psychology approach that emphasizes human strengths. The uniqueness of this study is its proposal that individuals are largely responsible for their personal flourishing in marriage. This study demonstrated that marital flourishing can be achieved by two processes, where capitalization increases the positive and accommodation decreases the negative. Practical implications include the need to construct interventions that enhance self-control skills for employment of capitalizing responsiveness and accommodation processes.

Keywords: accommodation, capitalization support, commitment, flourishing in marriage, positivity ratio, self-control skills

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Authors: Valeria Bondarenko

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In this paper, we propose two problems related to fractal Brownian motion. First problem is simultaneous estimation of two parameters, Hurst exponent and the volatility, that describe this random process. Numerical tests for the simulated fBm provided an efficient method. Second problem is approximation of the increments of the observed time series by a power function by increments from the fractional Brownian motion. Approximation and estimation are shown on the example of real data, daily deposit interest rates.

Keywords: fractional Brownian motion, Gausssian processes, approximation, time series, estimation of properties of the model

Procedia PDF Downloads 379

Authors: M. Reni Sagayaraj, S. Anand Gnana Selvam, R. Reynald Susainathan

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We analyze stochastic integrals associated with a mutation process. To be specific, we describe the cell population process and derive the differential equations for the joint generating functions for the number of mutants and their integrals in generating functions and their applications. We obtain first-order moments of the processes of the two-way mutation process in first-order moment structure of X (t) and Y (t) and the second-order moments of a one-way mutation process. In this paper, we obtain the limiting behaviour of the integrals in limiting distributions of X (t) and Y (t).

Keywords: stochastic integrals, single–server queue model, catastrophes, busy period

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Authors: S. Teimouri, S. Abbasi

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Milk-fruit juice mixture is a type of soft drinks, which can be produced by mixing milk with pieces of fruits, fruit juices, or fruit juices concentrates. The major problem of these products, mainly the acidic ones, is phase separation which occurs during formulation and storage due to the aggregation of caseins at low pH Short-chain inulin (CLR), long-chain inulin (TEX), native inulin (IQ) and Long-chain inulin (TEX) and short-chain inulin (CLR) combined in different proportions (2o:80, 50:50, and 80:20) were added (2-10 %) to sourcherry juice-milk mixture and their stabilization mechanisms were studied with using rheological and microstructural observations. Stevioside as a bio-sweetener and sugar-replacer was added at last step. Finally, sensory analyses were taken place on stabilized samples. According to the findings, TEX stabilized the mixture at concentration of 8%. MIX and IQ reduced phase separation at high concentration but had not complete effect on stabilization. CLR did not effect on stabilization. Rheological changes and inulin aggregates formation were not observed in CLR samples during the one month storage period. However TEX, MIX and IQ samples formed inulin aggregates and became more thixotropic, elastic and increased the viscosity of mixture. The rate of the inulin aggregates formation and viscosity increasing was in the following order TEX > MIX > IQ. Consequently the mixture which stabilized with inulin and sweetened with stevioside had the prebiotic properties which may suggest to diabetic patients and children.

Keywords: prebiotic, inulin, casein, stabilization, stevioside

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Authors: Kashif Ahmed

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Recent years researchers have been motivated towards extensive exploring of living organism, which could be utilized effectively in intense industrial conditions. The present study shows enhanced production, purification and characterization of industrial enzyme, invertase (Beta-D-fructofuranosidase) from Penicillium lilacinum. Various agricultural based by-products (cotton stalk, sunflower waste, rice husk, molasses and date syrup) were used as energy source. The highest amount of enzyme (13.05 Units/mL) was produced when the strain was cultured on growth medium containing date syrup as energy source. Yeast extract was used as nitrogen source after 96 h of incubation at incubation temperature of 40º C. Initial pH of medium was 8.0, inoculum size 6x10⁶ conidia and 200 rev/min agitation rate. The enzyme was also purified (7 folds than crude) and characterized. Molecular mass of purified enzyme (65 kDa) was determined by 10 % SDS-PAGE. Lineweaver-Burk Plot was used to determine Kinetic constants (Vmax 178.6 U/mL/min and Km 2.76 mM). Temperature and pH optima were 55º C and 5.5 respectively. MnCl₂ (52.9 %), MgSO₄ (48.9 %), BaCl₂ (24.6 %), MgCl₂ (9.6 %), CoCl₂ (5.7 %) and NaCl (4.2 %) enhanced the relative activity of enzyme and HgCl₂ (-92.8 %), CuSO₄ (-80.2 %) and CuCl₂ (-76.6 %) were proved inhibitors. The strain was showing enzyme activity even at extreme conditions of temperature (up to 60º C) and pH (up to 9), so it can be used in industries.

Keywords: invertase, Penicillium lilacinum, submerged fermentation, industrial enzyme

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Authors: Paul Dankers, Juliet Stoltenkamp, Carolynne Kies

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In May 2005, the University of the Western Cape (UWC) established an eLearning Division (ED) that, over the past 18 years, accelerated into the institutionalization of an efficient eLearning Centre. The initial objective of the ED was to incessantly align itself with emerging technologies caused by digital transformation, which progressively impacted Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) globally. In this paper, we present how the UWC eLearning Division (ED) first evolved into the eLearning Development and Support Unit (EDUS), currently called the ‘Centre for Innovative Education and Communication Technologies (CIECT). CIECT was strategically separated from the Department of Information and Communication Services (ICS) in 2009 and repositioned as an independent structure at UWC. Using a comparative research method, we highlight the transformative eLearning landscape at UWC by doing a detailed account of the shift in practices. Our research method will determine the initial vision and outcomes of institutionalizing an eLearning division. The study aims to compare across space or time the eLearning division’s rate of growth. By comparing the progressive growth of the UWCs eLearning division over the years, we will be able to document the successes and achievements of the eLearning division precisely. This study’s outcomes will act as a reference for novel research subjects on formalising eLearning. More research that delves into the effectiveness of having an eLearning division at HEIs in support of students’ teaching and learning is needed.

Keywords: eLearning, institutionalization, teaching and learning, transformation

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Authors: Ma. Dina Datiles Jimenez

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Service strategy and service Innovation has something to do with the success of the foodservice business. The foodservice business nowadays has become more competitive, and technology driven. This study aimed to determine and investigate the service innovation and strategies of the food service industry and the challenges during the pandemic to serve as the basis for a competitive advantage model. The study used mixed methods, including descriptive quantitative and qualitative methods. The Metro Manila foodservice managers were the target population of the study, which consisted of an estimated 1500 respondents from the selected cities. The assessment of service innovation for the following dimensions: product-related dimension; market-related dimension; process-related dimension; and organization-related dimension, when classified according to profile, was very large for age, gender, and educational attainment. When respondents are classified according to profile, the service strategy in terms of customer service strategy, after-sales service strategy, maintenance service strategy, research and development-oriented service strategy, and operational services strategy were all assessed with a very large extent of implementation. There was a significant difference in all four aspects of service innovation when classified based on age. However, for gender, only the market and process dimensions showed significant differences, while the product and organization conveyed no significant differences. Consequently, the evidence was not enough to prove that educational attainment differs from one another on the four aspects of service innovation. There was sufficient evidence to prove that the ages differ from one another in all aspects of service strategies. While gender and educational attainment showed no significant difference in the assessment of service strategies, Training on the trends in the foodservice industry during the pandemic is offered; technical maintenance is evident; the company allotted budget for outsourcing training; the quality control system; and online customer feedback were revealed as major indicators for service strategy. Fear of viruses, limited customers, a minimal work force, and low revenues were identified as challenges faced by the foodservice industry.

Keywords: foodservice industry, service innovation, service strategy, competitive advantage, sustainability, technology

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Authors: Caglayan Hizal, Kutay Yuceturk, Ertugrul Turker Uzun, Hasan Ceylan, Engin Aktas, Gursoy Turan

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Monitoring concepts for structural systems have been investigated by researchers for decades since such tools are quite convenient to determine intervention planning of structures. Despite the considerable development in this regard, the efficient use of monitoring data in reliability assessment, and prediction models are still in need of improvement in their efficiency. More specifically, reliability-based seismic risk assessment of engineering structures may play a crucial role in the post-earthquake decision-making process for the structures. After an earthquake, professionals could identify heavily damaged structures based on visual observations. Among these, it is hard to identify the ones with minimum signs of damages, even if they would experience considerable structural degradation. Besides, visual observations are open to human interpretations, which make the decision process controversial, and thus, less reliable. In this context, when a continuous monitoring system has been previously installed on the corresponding structure, this decision process might be completed rapidly and with higher confidence by means of the observed data. At this stage, the Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) procedure has an important role since it can make it possible to estimate the system reliability based on a recursively updated mathematical model. Therefore, integrating an SHM procedure into the reliability assessment process comes forward as an important challenge due to the arising uncertainties for the updated model in case of the environmental, material and earthquake induced changes. In this context, this study presents a case study on SHM-integrated reliability assessment of the continuously monitored progressively damaged systems. The objective of this study is to get instant feedback on the current state of the structure after an extreme event, such as earthquakes, by involving the observed data rather than the visual inspections. Thus, the decision-making process after such an event can be carried out on a rational basis. In the near future, this can give wing to the design of self-reported structures which can warn about its current situation after an extreme event.

Keywords: condition assessment, vibration-based SHM, reliability analysis, seismic risk assessment

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Authors: I. Martinez-Conesa, E. Garcia-Meca, M. Barradas-Quiroz

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The objective of this study is to assess the impact on earnings management of latest two Hofstede cultural dimensions: long-term orientation and indulgence. Long-term orientation represents the alignment of a society towards the future and indulgence expresses the extent to which a society exhibits willingness, or restrain, to realise their impulses. Additionally, this paper tests if there are relevant differences by testing the moderating role of the legal tradition, Continental versus Anglo-Saxon. Our sample comprises 15 countries: Belgium, Canada, Germany, Spain, France, Great Britain, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Philippines, Portugal, Sweden, and Thailand, with a total of 12,936 observations from 2003 to 2013. Our results show that managers in countries with high levels of long-term orientation reduce their levels of discretionary accruals. The findings do not confirm the effect of indulgence on earnings management. In addition, our results confirm previous literature regarding the effect of individualism, noting that firms in countries with high levels of collectivism might be more inclined to use earnings discretion to protect the welfare of the collective group of firm stakeholders. Uncertainty avoidance results in downwards earnings management as well as high disclosure, suggesting that less manipulation takes place when transparency is higher. Indulgence is the cultural dimension that confronts wellbeing versus survival; dimension is formulated including happiness, the perception of live control and the importance of leisure. Indulgence shows a weak negative correlation with power distance indicating a slight tendency for more hierarchical societies to be less indulgent. Anglo-Saxon countries are a positive effect of individualism and a negative effect of masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and disclosure. With respect to continental countries, we can see a significant and positive effect of individualism and a significant and negative effect of masculinity, long-term orientation, and indulgence. Therefore, we observe the negative effect on earnings management provoked by higher disclosure and uncertainty avoidance only happens in Anglo-Saxon countries. Meanwhile, the improvement in reporting quality motivated by higher long-term orientation and higher indulgence is dominant in Continental countries. Our results confirm that there is a moderating effect of the legal system in the association between culture and earnings management. This effect is especially relevant in the dimensions related to uncertainty avoidance, long term orientation, indulgence, and disclosure. The negative effect of long-term orientation on earnings management only happens in those countries set in continental legal systems because of the Anglo-Saxon legal systems is supported by the decisions of the courts and the traditions, so it already has long-term orientation. That does not occur in continental systems, depending mainly of contend of the law. Sensitivity analysis used with Jones modified CP model, Jones Standard model and Jones Standard CP model confirm the robustness of these results. This paper collaborates towards a better understanding on how earnings management, culture and legal systems relate to each other, and contribute to previous literature by examining the influence of the two latest Hofstede’s dimensions not previously studied in papers.

Keywords: Hofstede, long-term-orientation, earnings management, indulgence

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Authors: Mohamed Hamed

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Population studies, essentially deals with the size, growth, and distribution of the population in a given area. Size, growth, and distribution are determined by three major factors, which are reproduction, mortality, and migration. Of these factors, reproduction is a potent socio-demographic force in vital process of population growth. It is a major component of population growth, and has crucial role in population dynamic, because it measures the rate at which a population increased. In fact the most striking feature of human reproduction is its variation. Its levels are vary widely among nations, countries, geographic regions, ethnic. The variations of reproductive behaviour among married women have been empirically documented in a large numbers of countries. For instance, many researchers in developing and developed countries investigated the differential of reproductive behaviour among married women. Most of these studies found that reproductive behaviour is strongly influenced by the socioeconomic and biological factors.Such as education, income, employment of women, marriage pattern, age at marriage, contraceptive use, education, and employment. However, the above socioeconomic and biological factors are determined by cultural factors surrounded by married women. So, this study is going to find out the effect of culture on reproductive behaviour among married women in Sudan, a case of Shendi town.

Keywords: fertilty pattern, sudan, shendi town, factors affecting reproductive behaviour, married women

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Authors: Imtisal-e-Noor, Andrew Martin, Olli Dahl

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Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP) has developed as a chosen planarization technique in nano-electronics industries for fabrication of the integrated circuits (ICs). These CMP processes release a huge amount of wastewater that contains oxides of nano-particles (silica, alumina, and ceria) and oxalic acid. Since, this wastewater has high solid content (TS), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and turbidity (NTU); therefore, in order to fulfill the environmental regulations, it needs to be treated up to the local and international standards. The present study proposed a unique CMP wastewater treatment method called Membrane Distillation (MD). MD is a non-isothermal membrane separation process, which allows only volatiles, i.e., water vapors to permeate through the membrane and provides 100% contaminants rejection. The performance of the MD technology is analyzed in terms of total organic carbon (TOC), turbidity, TS, COD, and residual oxide concentration in permeate/distilled water while considering different operating conditions (temperature, flow rate, and time). The results present that high-quality permeate has been recovered after removing 99% of the oxide particles and oxalic acid. The distilled water depicts turbidity < 1 NTU, TOC < 3 mg/L, TS < 50 mg/L, and COD < 100 mg/L. These findings clearly show that the MD treated water can be reused further in industrial processes or allowable to discharge in any water body under the stringent environmental regulations.

Keywords: chemical mechanical polishing, environmental regulations, membrane distillation, wastewater treatment

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Authors: Luen Chow Chan

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With the advocacy of green transportation and green traveling, cycling has become increasingly popular nowadays. Physiology and bike design are key factors for the influence of cycling efficiency. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the significance of bike-frame geometric factors on cycling efficiency and muscle activation for different body sizes of non-professional Asian male cyclists. Participants who represented various body sizes, as measured by leg and back lengths, carried out cycling tests using a tailor-assembled road bike with different ergonomic design configurations including seat-height adjustments (i.e., 96%, 100%, and 104% of trochanteric height) and bike frame sizes (i.e., small and medium frames) for an assessable distance of 1 km. A specific power meter and self-developed adaptable surface electromyography (sEMG) were used to measure average pedaling power and cadence generated and muscle activation, respectively. The results showed that changing the seat height was far more significant than the body and bike frame sizes. The sEMG data evidently provided a better understanding of muscle activation as a function of different seat heights. Therefore, the interpretation of this study is that the major bike ergonomic design factor dominating the cycling efficiency of Asian participants with different body sizes was the seat height.

Keywords: bike frame sizes, cadence rate, pedaling power, seat height

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Authors: Dewi Selvia Fardhyanti, Astrilia Damayanti

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Coal tar is a liquid by-product of coal pyrolysis processes. This liquid oil mixture contains various kind of useful compounds such as benzoic aromatic compounds and phenolic compounds. These compounds are widely used as raw material for insecticides, dyes, medicines, perfumes, coloring matters, and many others. The coal tar was collected by pyrolysis process of coal obtained from PT Kaltim Prima Coal and Arutmin-Kalimantan. The experiments typically occurred at the atmospheric pressure in a laboratory furnace at temperatures ranging from 300 to 550oC with a heating rate of 10oC/min and a holding time of 1 hour at the pyrolysis temperature. Nitrogen gas has been used to obtain the inert condition and to carry the gaseous pyrolysis products. The pyrolysis transformed organic materials into gaseous components, small quantities of liquid, and a solid residue (coke) containing fixed amount of carbon and ash. The composition of gas which is produced from the pyrolysis is carbon monoxide, hydrogen, methane, and other hydrocarbon compounds. The gas was condensed and the liquid containing oil/tar and water was obtained. The Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS) was used to analyze the coal tar components. The obtained coal tar has the viscosity of 3.12 cp, the density of 2.78 g/cm3, the calorific value of 11,048.44 cal/g, and the molecular weight of 222.67. The analysis result showed that the coal tar contained more than 78 chemical compounds such as benzene, cresol, phenol, xylene, naphtalene, etc. The total phenolic compounds contained in coal tar is 33.25% (PT KPC) and 17.58% (Arutmin-Kalimantan). The total naphtalene compounds contained in coal tar is 14.15% (PT KPC) and 17.13% (Arutmin-Kalimantan).

Keywords: coal tar, pyrolysis, gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy

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Authors: Maryam Rasool, Farhan Munir, Fahad Nawaz, Saad Ahmad

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A patch antenna operating in the Ultra-Wide Band of frequency (3.1 GHz – 10.6 GHz) is designed with enhanced security from interference from other applications by incorporating the notching technique. Patch antennas in the Ultra-Wide Band are becoming widely famous due to their low power, light weight and high data rate capability. Micro strip patch antenna’s patch can be altered to increase its bandwidth and introduce UWB character in it. The designed antenna is a patch antenna consisting of a conductive sheet of metal mounted over a large sheet of metal called the ground plane with a substrate separating the two. Notched bands are public safety WLAN, WLAN and FSS. Different techniques used to implement the UWB antenna were individually implemented and there results were examined. V shaped patch was then chosen and modified to an arrow shaped patch to give the optimized results operating on the entire UWB region with considerable return loss. The frequency notch prevents the operation of the antenna at a particular range of frequency, hence minimizing interference from other systems. There are countless techniques for introducing the notch but we have used inverted C-shaped slots in the UWB patch to get the notch characteristics as output and also wavelength resonators to introduce notch in UWB band. The designed antenna is simulated in High Frequency Structural Simulator (HFSS) 13.0 by Ansoft.

Keywords: HFSS, Notch, UWB, WLAN

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Authors: Chowdhury Md. Navim Kabir

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Renal impairment is one of the most severe non-communicable diseases around the world. Especially patients with diagnosed/newly diagnosed renal impairment who need surgery are more focused on preoperative and postoperative preparation. Serum creatinine is the prime biochemical marker for assessing renal function, and the level of impairment is widely measured by this marker as well as Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR). Objective: Factors responsible for fluctuating serum creatinine during preoperative and postoperative periods and minimizing the process of serum creatinine is the ultimate goal of this study. Method: 37 patients participated in this cross-sectional study who were previously diagnosed/newly diagnosed. They were admitted to different tertiary-level hospitals for emergency or elective surgery. Fifteen patients were admitted in the renal function impairment stage and 22 were admitted as normal patients’. Values of creatinine at the pre-admission stage and 2nd/3rd post-admission follow-up were compared. Results: 0.41 was the average of 22 patients' creatinine between pre-admission and 2nd/3rd follow-up. The responsible factor like prolonged staying, immobilization, co-morbidities, different preoperative antibiotics and Non-Steroidal Anti Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) were also inducers for creatinine elevation. After postoperative hemodialysis rapid decrease of creatinine is seen in normal patients, but this decrease is very much minor in Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) diagnosed patients.

Keywords: CKD, Meropenam, NSAID, comorbidities, immobilized

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Authors: Maamar Yahiaoui, Abdelrrahmene Kechich, Ismail Elkhallile Bousserhene

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This article presents a study in simulation by means of MATLAB/Simulink software of the nonlinear control in positioning of a linear synchronous machine with the esteemed force of load, to have effective control in the estimator in all tests the wished trajectory follows and the disturbance of load start. The results of simulation prove clearly that the control proposed can detect the reference of positioning the value estimates of load force equal to the actual value.

Keywords: mathematical model, Matlab, PMLSM, control, linearization, estimator, force, load, current

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Authors: Maryam Enteshari, Kooshan Nayebzadeh, Abdorreza Mohammadi

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In this study, the oxidative stability of soybean oil under different storage temperatures (4 and 25˚C) and during 6-month shelf-life was investigated by various analytical methods and headspace-liquid phase microextraction (HS-LPME) coupled to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Oxidation changes were monitored by analytical parameters consisted of acid value (AV), peroxide value (PV), p-Anisidine value (p-AV), thiobarbituric acid value (TBA), fatty acids profile, iodine value (IV), and oxidative stability index (OSI). In addition, concentrations of hexanal and heptanal as secondary volatile oxidation compounds were determined by HS-LPME/GC-MS technique. Rate of oxidation in soybean oil which stored at 25˚C was so higher. The AV, p-AV, and TBA were gradually increased during 6 months while the amount of unsaturated fatty acids, IV, and OSI decreased. Other parameters included concentrations of both hexanal and heptanal, and PV exhibited increasing trend during primitive months of storage; then, at the end of third and fourth months a sudden decrement was understood for the concentrations of hexanal and heptanal and the amount of PV, simultaneously. The latter parameters increased again until the end of shelf-time. As a result, the temperature and time were effective factors in oxidative stability of soybean oil. Also intensive correlations were found for soybean oil at 4 ˚C between AV and TBA (r2=0.96), PV and p-AV (r2=0.9), IV and TBA (-r2=0.9), and for soybean oil stored at 4˚C between p-AV and TBA (r2=0.99).

Keywords: headspace-liquid phase microextraction, oxidation, shelf-life, soybean oil

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Authors: Liping Wu, Durga Bhakta Pokharel, Junhua Dong, Changgang Wang, Lin Zhao, Wei Ke, Nan Chen

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Hazenite conversion coating was deposited on AZ31 Mg alloy in a deaerated phosphate solution containing 0.1 M K₂HPO₄ and 0.1 M Na₂HPO₄ (Na₀.₁K0₀.₁) with pH 9 at −0.8 V. The coating mechanism of hazenite was elucidated by in situ potentiostatic current decay, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), electron probe micro-analyzer (EPMA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The volume of H₂ evolved during potentiostatic polarization was measured by a gas collection apparatus. The degradation resistance of the hazenite coating was evaluated in simulated body fluid (SBF) at 37℃ by using potentiodynamic polarization (PDP). The results showed that amorphous Mg(OH)₂ was deposited first, followed by the transformation of Mg(OH)₂ to amorphous MgHPO₄, subsequently the conversion of MgHPO₄ to crystallized K-struvite (KMgPO₄·6H₂O), finally the crystallization of crystallized hazenite (NaKMg₂(PO₄)₂·14H₂O). The deposited coating was composed of four layers where the inner layer is comprised of Mg(OH)₂, the middle layer of Mg(OH)₂ and MgHPO₄, the top layer of Mg(OH)₂, MgHPO₄ and K-struvite, the topmost layer of Mg(OH)₂, MgHPO₄, K-struvite and hazenite (NaKMg₂(PO₄)₂·14H₂O). The PD results showed that the hazenite coating decreased the corrosion rate by two orders of magnitude.

Keywords: magnesium alloy, potentiostatic technique, hazenite, mineral conversion coating

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Authors: Reem Muaid, Thomas Chesney

Abstract:

Background: Attitude towards organ donation is predominantly positive in the UK; however, the donation rate remains low. To develop more effective interventions, this research aims to examine the behavioural barriers in organ donations using Q methodology to elicit patterns of overlap among different barriers and motivators. Method: A Q methodology study was conducted with 40 participants aged 19-64 who were asked to rank 47 statements on issues that are associated with organ donation. By-person factor analysis using Centroid method and Varimax rotation was conducted to bring out patterns in the way statements were ranked to obtain groupings of participants who had arranged the statements in similar fashion. Results: Four viewpoints were extracted: The Realist, the Optimist Hesitant, the Pessimist Determinant, and the Empathetic. Salient barriers to organ donation presented in each viewpoint suggest that perceived lack of knowledge, anxiety, mistrust in the healthcare system, and lack of cue to action are the main barriers to organ donation. Consensus statements suggest that religion and family agreement are inconsequential if the attitude to organ donation is well-formed. Conclusion: There are different attitudes around deceased organ donation that were uncovered using Q methodology. These results suggest that people respond to behavioural change campaigns differently depending on their own perceptions of organ donation. We argue that a paradigm shift in behavioural interventions is underpinned by understanding the overlapping yet distinctive nature of perceived perspectives.

Keywords: organ donation, Q methodology, behavioural interventions, post Q Survey

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