Search results for: achievement in agricultural economics concepts
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 5136

Search results for: achievement in agricultural economics concepts

3756 Conceptual Model for Logistics Information System

Authors: Ana María Rojas Chaparro, Cristian Camilo Sarmiento Chaves

Abstract:

Given the growing importance of logistics as a discipline for efficient management of materials flow and information, the adoption of tools that permit to create facilities in making decisions based on a global perspective of the system studied has been essential. The article shows how from a concepts-based model is possible to organize and represent in appropriate way the reality, showing accurate and timely information, features that make this kind of models an ideal component to support an information system, recognizing that information as relevant to establish particularities that allow get a better performance about the evaluated sector.

Keywords: system, information, conceptual model, logistics

Procedia PDF Downloads 496
3755 Environmental Sustainability Practice in Resort Hotels: Case of Resort Hotels in Bishoftu, Ethiopia

Authors: Mohammed Aman Kassim

Abstract:

This study aims to investigate attitudes of resort hotel managers toward environmental sustainability practice in Bishoftu Town, Ethiopia. Six resorts were selected out of twelve by using systematic sampling method and totally fifty-six managers were taken for the survey. The findings revealed that more than 99% of hotel managers possess positive attitudes but low level of performance. Owners’ attitudes and personal beliefs, government regulation and incentives for good achievement were the most important factors that motivate or influence the adoptions of environmental sustainability practices. Hotel managers’ environmental attitudes more significantly influenced by their social demographics, such as level of education and age. Therefore, in order to increase hotels commitment to become more sustainable, some measurement should be implemented, such as vigorous support of the government, cooperation with hotel associations, continuous behaviors of hotel environmental protection, and local community participation in environmental practice.

Keywords: environmental attitude, environmental sustainability, hotel managers, resorts

Procedia PDF Downloads 242
3754 Teaching for Change: Instructional Support in a Bilingual Setting

Authors: S. J. Hachar

Abstract:

The goal of this paper is to provide educators an overview of international practices supporting young learners, arming us with adequate information to lead effective change. We will report on research and observations of Service Learning Projects conducted by one South Texas University. The intent of the paper is also to provide readers an overview of service learning in the preparation of teacher candidates pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education. The objective of noting the efficiency and effectiveness of programs leading to literacy and oral fluency in a native language and second language will be discussed. This paper also highlights experiential learning for academic credit that combines community service with student learning. Six weeks of visits to a variety of community sites, making personal observations with faculty members, conducting extensive interviews with parents and key personnel at all sites will be discussed. The culminating Service Learning Expo will be reported as well.

Keywords: elementary education, junior achievement, service learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 322
3753 Performance Assessment of Islamic Banks in the Light of Maqasid Al-Shariah

Authors: Asma Ammar

Abstract:

Being different in theory and practice from their conventional counterparts, this research aims to assess the performance of Islamic banks beyond the financial performance by emphasizing their ethical and social identity based on the higher purposes of Islamic law, namely Maqasid al-Shariah. Using Imam al-Ghazali’s theory of Maqasid al-Shariah and Sekaran’s (2000) method, we develop a Maqasid-based index including the five objectives of Shariah (preservation of life, religion, intellect, posterity, and wealth). Our sample covers 9 Islamic banks considered among the largest Islamic banks in the world. For the five years of study (2017-2021), our results reveal that the highest score is performed by Bank Muamalat while the least score is given to Dubai Islamic Bank. The overall Maqasid performance of the sample is unimpressive, indicating that there is a lack of achievement in Maqasid al-Shariah performance of Islamic banks. Consequently, serious measures should be taken by Islamic banks to improve their Maqasid performance and thus contribute effectively to the socio-economic development of the countries in which they operate.

Keywords: Maqasid al-Shariah, Maqasid al-Shariah index, Islamic banks, performance assessment

Procedia PDF Downloads 76
3752 Development of a Web-Based Application for Intelligent Fertilizer Management in Rice Cultivation

Authors: Hao-Wei Fu, Chung-Feng Kao

Abstract:

In the era of rapid technological advancement, information technology (IT) has become integral to modern life, exerting significant influence across diverse sectors and serving as a catalyst for development in various industries. Within agriculture, the integration of IT offers substantial benefits, notably enhancing operational efficiency. Real-time monitoring systems, for instance, have been widely embraced in agriculture, effectively improving crop management practices. This study specifically addresses the management of rice panicle fertilizer, presenting the development of a web application tailored to handle data associated with rice panicle fertilizer management. Leveraging the normalized difference red edge index, this application optimizes the quantity of rice panicle fertilizer used, providing recommendations to agricultural stakeholders and service providers in the agricultural information sector. The overarching objective is to minimize costs while maximizing yields. Furthermore, a robust database system has been established to store and manage relevant data for future reference in rice cultivation management. Additionally, the study utilizes the Representational State Transfer software architectural style to construct an application programming interface (API), facilitating data creation, retrieval, updating, and deletion for users via the HyperText Transfer Protocol methods. Future plans involve integrating this API with third-party services to incorporate it into larger frameworks, thus catering to the diverse requirements of various third-party services.

Keywords: application programming interface, HyperText Transfer Protocol, nitrogen fertilizer intelligent management, web-based application

Procedia PDF Downloads 61
3751 Computational Analysis of Adaptable Winglets for Improved Morphing Aircraft Performance

Authors: Erdogan Kaygan, Alvin Gatto

Abstract:

An investigation of adaptable winglets for enhancing morphing aircraft performance is described in this paper. The concepts investigated consist of various winglet configurations fundamentally centered on a baseline swept wing. The impetus for the work was to identify and optimize winglets to enhance the aerodynamic efficiency of a morphing aircraft. All computations were performed with Athena Vortex Lattice modelling with varying degrees of twist and cant angle considered. The results from this work indicate that if adaptable winglets were employed on aircraft’s improvements in aircraft performance could be achieved.

Keywords: aircraft, drag, twist, winglet

Procedia PDF Downloads 584
3750 Improving the Teaching and Learning of Basic Mathematics: An Imperative for Sustainable Development

Authors: Dahiru Bawa Muhammad

Abstract:

Mathematics is accorded a prime position in basic education curriculum because it is envisaged to be an important tool in preparing children for life after school as well as equipping them with skills needed for secondary and higher education. As a result of this, the subject is made compulsory from primary through secondary school and candidates are expected to offer it and pass before fulfilling the requirement for higher education. Against this backdrop, this paper overviewed the basic education programme, context of teaching and learning mathematics at basic education level in Katsina State of Nigeria, relevance of the subject to different fields of human endeavours, challenges threatening the utility of the subject as a tool for the achievement of the goals of basic education programme and concluded by recommending how teaching and learning of mathematics can be improved for even development of citizens within nation states and enhanced/mutual sustainable development of nations in the global village.

Keywords: basic education, junior secondary school education, mathematical centre

Procedia PDF Downloads 461
3749 Trends in Domestic Terms of Trade of Agricultural Sector of Pakistan

Authors: Anwar Hussain, Muhammad Iqbal

Abstract:

The changes in the prices of the agriculture commodities combined with changes in population and agriculture productivity affect farmers’ profitability and standard of living. This study intends to estimate various domestic terms of trade for agriculture sector and also to assess the volatility in the standard of living and profitability of farmers. The terms of trade has been estimated for Pakistan and its provinces using producer prices indices, consumer price indices, input prices indices and quantity indices using the data for the period 1990-91 to 2008-09. The domestic terms of trade of agriculture sector has been improved in terms of both approaches i.e. the ratio of producer prices indices to consumer prices indices and the real per capita income approach. However, the cross province estimates indicated that the terms of trade also improved for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Punjab while Balochistan’s domestic terms of trade deteriorated drastically. In other words the standard of living of the farmers in Pakistan and its provinces except Balochistan improved. Using the input prices, the domestic terms of trade deteriorated for Pakistan as a whole and its provinces as well. This also explores that as a whole the profitability of the farmers reduced during the study period. The farmers pay more prices for inputs as compared to they receive for their produce. This further indicates that the poverty at the gross root level has been increased. Further, summing, the standard of living of the farmers improved but their profitability reduced, which indicates that the farmers do not completely rely on the farm income but also utilize some other sources of income for their livelihood. The study supports to give subsidies on farm inputs so as to improve the profitability of the farmers.

Keywords: agricultural terms of trade, farmers’ profitability, farmers’ standard of living, consumer and producer price indices, quantity indices

Procedia PDF Downloads 466
3748 Climate Change Effects and Cocoa Farmers Coping Strategies in Ilaro Local Government Area of Ogun State, Nigeria

Authors: Irene Oluwatosin Uwabor

Abstract:

Climate change is a global phenomenon which affects the environment and undermines agricultural activities, in particular, cocoa production in Nigeria. This study, therefore, assessed the farmers ‘coping strategies to climate change effects in Ilaro Local Government Area of Ogun State, Nigeria. A simple random sampling technique was used to select twenty-five cocoa farmers from each of the selected six wards to make up 150 cocoa farmers as sample size for this study. Descriptive statistics and chi-square analysis were used for the data analysis. The results showed that the average age of the respondents was 43.8 years and male dominated (80.00%) cocoa production. Most of the respondents had some level of formal education (93.4%). The mean of household and year of experience in cocoa farming were eight people and 11.6 years respectively. Family and Hired labour (41.3%) was the common source of labour to the respondents and majority (86.0%) of the respondents were aware of climate change. The study concluded that respondents experienced low yield and high rate of deformed beans in the pods due to climate change. The adjustment strategies used were planting of diseases and pest resistant cocoa varieties, using of heavy mulching, diversification into other non- agricultural income generating activities and tree crops cultivation to provide shade. Also, significant relationships existed between personal characteristics (χ²= 62.24, df = 6, p = 0.00), adjustment strategies (χ²= 103.1, df = 4, p = 0.00) and effect of climate change. It is hereby recommend that extension service providers should intensify more effort and advocating for improved agronomic practices to increase cocoa productivity in the study area.

Keywords: cocoa farmers, coping strategies, climate change, ilaro

Procedia PDF Downloads 211
3747 Learning Physics Concepts through Language Syntagmatic Paradigmatic Relations

Authors: C. E. Laburu, M. A. Barros, A. F. Zompero, O. H. M. Silva

Abstract:

The work presents a teaching strategy that employs syntagmatic and paradigmatic linguistic relations in order to monitor the understanding of physics students’ concepts. Syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations are theoretical elements of semiotics studies and our research circumstances and justified them within the research program of multi-modal representations. Among the multi-modal representations to learning scientific knowledge, the scope of action of syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations belongs to the discursive writing form. The use of such relations has the purpose to seek innovate didactic work with discourse representation in the write form before translate to another different representational form. The research was conducted with a sample of first year high school students. The students were asked to produce syntagmatic and paradigmatic of Newton’ first law statement. This statement was delivered in paper for each student that should individually write the relations. The student’s records were collected for analysis. It was possible observed in one student used here as example that their monemes replaced and rearrangements produced by, respectively, syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations, kept the original meaning of the law. In paradigmatic production he specified relevant significant units of the linguistic signs, the monemas, which constitute the first articulation and each word substituted kept equivalence to the original meaning of original monema. Also, it was noted a number of diverse and many monemas were chosen, with balanced combination of grammatical (grammatical monema is what changes the meaning of a word, in certain positions of the syntagma, along with a relatively small number of other monemes. It is the smallest linguistic unit that has grammatical meaning) and lexical (lexical monema is what belongs to unlimited inventories; is the monema endowed with lexical meaning) monemas. In syntagmatic production, monemas ordinations were syntactically coherent, being linked with semantic conservation and preserved number. In general, the results showed that the written representation mode based on linguistic relations paradigmatic and syntagmatic qualifies itself to be used in the classroom as a potential identifier and accompanist of meanings acquired from students in the process of scientific inquiry.

Keywords: semiotics, language, high school, physics teaching

Procedia PDF Downloads 131
3746 Dilution of Saline Irrigation Based on Plant's Physiological Responses to Salt Stress Following by Re-Watering

Authors: Qaiser Javed, Ahmad Azeem

Abstract:

Salinity and water scarcity are major environmental problems which are limiting the agricultural production. This research was conducted to construct a model to find out appropriate regime to dilute saline water based on physiological and electrophysiological properties of Brassica napus L., and Orychophragmus violaceus (L.). Plants were treated under salt-stressed concentrations of NaCl (NL₁: 2.5, NL₂: 5, NL₃: 10; gL⁻¹), Na₂SO₄ (NO₁: 2.5, NO₂: 5, NO₃: 10; gL⁻¹), and mixed salt concentration (MX₁: NL₁+ NO₃; MX₂: NL₃+ NO₁; MX₃: NL₂+ NO₂; gL⁻¹) and 0 as control, followed by re-watering. Growth, physiological and electrophysiology traits were highly restricted under high salt concentration levels at NL₃, NO₃, MX₁, and MX₂, respectively. However, during the rewatering phase, growth, electrophysiological, and physiological parameters were recovered well. Consequently, the increase in net photosynthetic rate was noted under moderate stress condition which was 44.13, 37.07, and 43.01%, respectively in Orychophragmus violaceus (L.) and 44.94%, 53.45%, and 63.04%, respectively were found in Brassica napus L. According to the results, the best dilution point was 5–2.5% for NaCl and Na₂SO₄ alternatively, whereas it was 10–0.0% for the mixture of salts. Therefore, the effect of salinity in O. violaceus and B. napus may also be reduced effectively by dilution of saline irrigation. It would be a better approach to utilize dilute saline water for irrigation instead of applies direct saline water to plant. This study provides new insight in the field of agricultural engineering to plan irrigation scheduling considering the crop ability to salt tolerance and irrigation water use efficiency by apply specific quantity of irrigation calculated based on the salt dilution point. It would be helpful to balance between irrigation amount and optimum crop water consumption in salt-affected regions and to utilize saline water in order to safe freshwater resources.

Keywords: dilution model, plant growth traits, re-watering, salt stress

Procedia PDF Downloads 159
3745 A Feasibility Study on Producing Bio-Coal from Orange Peel Residue by Using Torrefaction

Authors: Huashan Tai, Chien-Hui Lung

Abstract:

Nowadays people use massive fossil fuels which not only cause environmental impacts and global climate change, but also cause the depletion of non-renewable energy such as coal and oil. Bioenergy is currently the most widely used renewable energy, and agricultural waste is one of the main raw materials for bioenergy. In this study, we use orange peel residue, which is easier to collect from agricultural waste to produce bio-coal by torrefaction. The orange peel residue (with 25 to 30% moisture) was treated by torrefaction, and the experiments were conducted with initial temperature at room temperature (approximately at 25° C), with heating rates of 10, 30, and 50°C / min, with terminal temperatures at 150, 200, 250, 300, 350℃, and with residence time of 10, 20, and 30 minutes. The results revealed that the heating value, ash content and energy densification ratio of the solid products after torrefaction are in direct proportion to terminal temperatures and residence time, and are inversely proportional to heating rates. The moisture content, solid mass yield, energy yield, and volumetric energy density of the solid products after torrefaction are inversely proportional to terminal temperatures and residence time, and are in direct proportion to heating rates. In conclusion, we found that the heating values of the solid products were 1.3 times higher than those of the raw orange peels before torrefaction, and the volumetric energy densities were increased by 1.45 times under operating parameters with terminal temperature at 250°C, residence time of 10 minutes, and heating rate of 10°C / min of torrefaction. The results indicated that the residue of orange peel treated by torrefaction improved its energy density and fuel properties, and became more suitable for bio-fuel applications.

Keywords: biomass energy, orange, torrefaction

Procedia PDF Downloads 289
3744 Low Temperature Biological Treatment of Chemical Oxygen Demand for Agricultural Water Reuse Application Using Robust Biocatalysts

Authors: Vedansh Gupta, Allyson Lutz, Ameen Razavi, Fatemeh Shirazi

Abstract:

The agriculture industry is especially vulnerable to forecasted water shortages. In the fresh and fresh-cut produce sector, conventional flume-based washing with recirculation exhibits high water demand. This leads to a large water footprint and possible cross-contamination of pathogens. These can be alleviated through advanced water reuse processes, such as membrane technologies including reverse osmosis (RO). Water reuse technologies effectively remove dissolved constituents but can easily foul without pre-treatment. Biological treatment is effective for the removal of organic compounds responsible for fouling, but not at the low temperatures encountered at most produce processing facilities. This study showed that the Microvi MicroNiche Engineering (MNE) technology effectively removes organic compounds (> 80%) at low temperatures (6-8 °C) from wash water. The MNE technology uses synthetic microorganism-material composites with negligible solids production, making it advantageously situated as an effective bio-pretreatment for RO. A preliminary technoeconomic analysis showed 60-80% savings in operation and maintenance costs (OPEX) when using the Microvi MNE technology for organics removal. This study and the accompanying economic analysis indicated that the proposed technology process will substantially reduce the cost barrier for adopting water reuse practices, thereby contributing to increased food safety and furthering sustainable water reuse processes across the agricultural industry.

Keywords: biological pre-treatment, innovative technology, vegetable processing, water reuse, agriculture, reverse osmosis, MNE biocatalysts

Procedia PDF Downloads 129
3743 Effectiveness of the Use of Polycarboxylic Ether Superplasticizers in High Performance Concrete Containing Silica Fume

Authors: Alya Harichane, Badreddine Harichane

Abstract:

The incorporation of polycarboxylate ether superplasticizer (PCE) and silica fume (SF) in high-performance concretes (HPC) leads to the achievement of remarkable rheological and mechanical improvements. In the fresh state, PCEs are adsorbed on cement particles and dispersants, in turn promoting the workability of the concrete. Silica fume enables a very well compacted concrete to be obtained, which is characterized by high mechanical parameters in its hardened state. Some PCEs are incompatible with silica fume, which can result in the loss of slump and in poor rheological behavior. The main objective of the research is the study of the influence of three types of PCEs, which all have a different molecular architecture, on the rheological and mechanical behavior of high-performance concretes containing 10% of SF as a partial replacement of cement. The results show that the carboxylic density of PCE has an influence on its compatibility with SF.

Keywords: polycarboxylate-ether superplasticizer, rheology, compressive strength, high-performance concrete, silica fume

Procedia PDF Downloads 76
3742 Holistic Approach to Teaching Mathematics in Secondary School as a Means of Improving Students’ Comprehension of Study Material

Authors: Natalia Podkhodova, Olga Sheremeteva, Mariia Soldaeva

Abstract:

Creating favorable conditions for students’ comprehension of mathematical content is one of the primary problems in teaching mathematics in secondary school. Psychology research has demonstrated that positive comprehension becomes possible when new information becomes part of student’s subjective experience and when linkages between the attributes of notions and various ways of their presentations can be established. The fact of comprehension includes the ability to build a working situational model and thus becomes an important means of solving mathematical problems. The article describes the implementation of a holistic approach to teaching mathematics designed to address the primary challenges of such teaching, specifically, the challenge of students’ comprehension. This approach consists of (1) establishing links between the attributes of a notion: the sense, the meaning, and the term; (2) taking into account the components of student’s subjective experience -emotional and value, contextual, procedural, communicative- during the educational process; (3) links between different ways to present mathematical information; (4) identifying and leveraging the relationships between real, perceptual and conceptual (scientific) mathematical spaces by applying real-life situational modeling. The article describes approaches to the practical use of these foundational concepts. Identifying how proposed methods and technology influence understanding of material used in teaching mathematics was the research’s primary goal. The research included an experiment in which 256 secondary school students took part: 142 in the experimental group and 114 in the control group. All students in these groups had similar levels of achievement in math and studied math under the same curriculum. In the course of the experiment, comprehension of two topics -'Derivative' and 'Trigonometric functions'- was evaluated. Control group participants were taught using traditional methods. Students in the experimental group were taught using the holistic method: under the teacher’s guidance, they carried out problems designed to establish linkages between notion’s characteristics, to convert information from one mode of presentation to another, as well as problems that required the ability to operate with all modes of presentation. The use of the technology that forms inter-subject notions based on linkages between perceptional, real, and conceptual mathematical spaces proved to be of special interest to the students. Results of the experiment were analyzed by presenting students in each of the groups with a final test in each of the studied topics. The test included problems that required building real situational models. Statistical analysis was used to aggregate test results. Pierson criterion was used to reveal the statistical significance of results (pass-fail the modeling test). A significant difference in results was revealed (p < 0.001), which allowed the authors to conclude that students in the study group showed better comprehension of mathematical information than those in the control group. Also, it was revealed (used Student’s t-test) that the students of the experimental group performed reliably (p = 0.0001) more problems in comparison with those in the control group. The results obtained allow us to conclude that increasing comprehension and assimilation of study material took place as a result of applying implemented methods and techniques.

Keywords: comprehension of mathematical content, holistic approach to teaching mathematics in secondary school, subjective experience, technology of the formation of inter-subject notions

Procedia PDF Downloads 176
3741 Correlation between Adherence to Islamic Principles of Success and Academic Achievement

Authors: Zuwaira Abubakar

Abstract:

Islam is the Divine religion which guides Man ways of leading a prosperous life in this life and the hereafter. This study was conducted in order to investigate the possible relationship between adherence to Islamic principles of success and academic performance of university students. Accordingly, a questionnaire based on Islamized principles of success (referred to as 'Islamic character quotient inventory (ICQi)') was correlated with CGPA (Cumulative Grade Point Averages) of 343 students of Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto. The empirical testing indicates that the total score on ICQi correlated positively and significantly with academic performance of the respondent. Students with either high or medium adherence have a significantly (P<0.01) higher CGPA than their counterparts with the low-adherence level. However, the result did not show a significant relationship between the CGPA of highly adherent individuals and that of those with medium adherence level. This may suggests that Islam is not for spiritual life only but also relevant and useful for our practical life.

Keywords: academic, Islam, principles, success

Procedia PDF Downloads 232
3740 Does Citizens’ Involvement Always Improve Outcomes: Procedures, Incentives and Comparative Advantages of Public and Private Law Enforcement

Authors: Avdasheva Svetlanaa, Kryuchkova Polinab

Abstract:

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

Procedia PDF Downloads 494
3739 The Role of Robotization in Reshoring: An Overview of the Implications on International Trade

Authors: Thinh Huu Nguyen, Shahab Sharfaei, Jindřich Soukup

Abstract:

In the pursuit of reducing production costs, offshoring has been a major trend throughout global value chains for many decades. However, with the rise of advanced technologies, new opportunities to automate their production are changing the motivation of multinational firms to go offshore. Instead, many firms are working to relocate their offshored activities from developing economies back to their home countries. This phenomenon, known as reshoring, has recently garnered much attention as it becomes clear that automation in advanced countries might have major implications not only on their own economies but also through international trade on the economy of low-income countries, including their labor market outcomes and their comparative advantages. Thus, while using robots to substitute human labor may lower the relative costs of producing at home, it has the potential to decrease employment and demand for exports from developing economies through reshoring. In this paper, we investigate the recent literature to provide a further understanding of the relationships between robotization and the reshoring of production. Moreover, we analyze the impact of robot adoption on international trade in both developed and emerging markets. Finally, we identify the research gaps and provide avenues for future research in international economics. This study is a part of the project funded by the Internal Grant Agency (IGA) of the Faculty of Business Administration, Prague University of Economics and Business.

Keywords: automation, robotization, reshoring, international trade

Procedia PDF Downloads 109
3738 The Story of a Spoiled Identity: Blogging on Disability and Feminity

Authors: Anna Ślebioda

Abstract:

The paper discusses intersections between disability and femininity. Their imbrication may impede negotiation of identity. The analysis of a blog of a women with disability aims to prove this hypothesis. It involves 724 entries written in the span of six years. The conceptual framework for the considerations constitute the concepts of stigma and spoiled identity, and overlapping elements of femininity and disability. The empirical part comprises content analysis. It allows to locate the narrative on femininity and disability within the dimensions of imbricated categories described in the theoretical part. The results demonstrate aspects to consider in further research on identity in women with disabilities.

Keywords: disability, femininity, spoiled identity, stigma

Procedia PDF Downloads 665
3737 Dynamic Network Approach to Air Traffic Management

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

Abstract:

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

Procedia PDF Downloads 133
3736 Entrepreneurial Venture Creation through Anchor Event Activities: Pop-Up Stores as On-Site Arenas

Authors: Birgit A. A. Solem, Kristin Bentsen

Abstract:

Scholarly attention in entrepreneurship is currently directed towards understanding entrepreneurial venture creation as a process -the journey of new economic activities from nonexistence to existence often studied through flow- or network models. To complement existing research on entrepreneurial venture creation with more interactivity-based research of organized activities, this study examines two pop-up stores as anchor events involving on-site activities of fifteen participating entrepreneurs launching their new ventures. The pop-up stores were arranged in two middle-sized Norwegian cities and contained different brand stores that brought together actors of sub-networks and communities executing venture creation activities. The pop-up stores became on-site arenas for the entrepreneurs to create, maintain, and rejuvenate their networks, at the same time as becoming venues for temporal coordination of activities involving existing and potential customers in their venture creation. In this work, we apply a conceptual framework based on frequently addressed dilemmas within entrepreneurship theory (discovery/creation, causation/effectuation) to further shed light on the broad aspect of on-site anchor event activities and their venture creation outcomes. The dilemma-based concepts are applied as an analytic toolkit to pursue answers regarding the nature of anchor event activities typically found within entrepreneurial venture creation and how these anchor event activities affect entrepreneurial venture creation outcomes. Our study combines researcher participation with 200 hours of observation and twenty in-depth interviews. Data analysis followed established guidelines for hermeneutic analysis and was intimately intertwined with ongoing data collection. Data was coded and categorized in NVivo 12 software, and iterated several times as patterns were steadily developing. Our findings suggest that core anchor event activities typically found within entrepreneurial venture creation are; a concept- and product experimentation with visitors, arrangements to socialize (evening specials, auctions, and exhibitions), store-in-store concepts, arranged meeting places for peers and close connection with municipality and property owners. Further, this work points to four main entrepreneurial venture creation outcomes derived from the core anchor event activities; (1) venture attention, (2) venture idea-realization, (3) venture collaboration, and (4) venture extension. Our findings show that, depending on which anchor event activities are applied, the outcomes vary. Theoretically, this study offers two main implications. First, anchor event activities are both discovered and created, following the logic of causation, at the same time as being experimental, based on “learning by doing” principles of effectuation during the execution. Second, our research enriches prior studies on venture creation as a process. In this work, entrepreneurial venture creation activities and outcomes are understood through pop-up stores as on-site anchor event arenas, particularly suitable for interactivity-based research requested by the entrepreneurship field. This study also reveals important managerial implications, such as that entrepreneurs should allow themselves to find creative physical venture creation arenas (e.g., pop-up stores, showrooms), as well as collaborate with partners when discovering and creating concepts and activities based on new ideas. In this way, they allow themselves to both strategically plan for- and continually experiment with their venture.

Keywords: anchor event, interactivity-based research, pop-up store, entrepreneurial venture creation

Procedia PDF Downloads 91
3735 The Threats of Deforestation, Forest Fire and CO2 Emission toward Giam Siak Kecil Bukit Batu Biosphere Reserve in Riau, Indonesia

Authors: Siti Badriyah Rushayati, Resti Meilani, Rachmad Hermawan

Abstract:

A biosphere reserve is developed to create harmony amongst economic development, community development, and environmental protection, through partnership between human and nature. Giam Siak Kecil Bukit Batu Biosphere Reserve (GSKBB BR) in Riau Province, Indonesia, is unique in that it has peat soil dominating the area, many springs essential for human livelihood, high biodiversity. Furthermore, it is the only biosphere reserve covering privately managed production forest areas. The annual occurrences of deforestation and forest fire pose a threat toward such unique biosphere reserve. Forest fire produced smokes that along with mass airflow reached neighboring countries, particularly Singapore and Malaysia. In this research, we aimed at analyzing the threat of deforestation and forest fire, and the potential of CO2 emission at GSKBB BR. We used Landsat image, arcView software, and ERDAS IMAGINE 8.5 Software to conduct spatial analysis of land cover and land use changes, calculated CO2 emission based on emission potential from each land cover and land use type, and exercised simple linear regression to demonstrate the relation between CO2 emission potential and deforestation. The result showed that, beside in the buffer zone and transition area, deforestation also occurred in the core area. Spatial analysis of land cover and land use changes from years 2010, 2012, and 2014 revealed that there were changes of land cover and land use from natural forest and industrial plantation forest to other land use types, such as garden, mixed garden, settlement, paddy fields, burnt areas, and dry agricultural land. Deforestation in core area, particularly at the Giam Siak Kecil Wildlife Reserve and Bukit Batu Wildlife Reserve, occurred in the form of changes from natural forest in to garden, mixed garden, shrubs, swamp shrubs, dry agricultural land, open area, and burnt area. In the buffer zone and transition area, changes also happened, what once swamp forest changed into garden, mixed garden, open area, shrubs, swamp shrubs, and dry agricultural land. Spatial analysis on land cover and land use changes indicated that deforestation rate in the biosphere reserve from 2010 to 2014 had reached 16 119 ha/year. Beside deforestation, threat toward the biosphere reserve area also came from forest fire. The occurrence of forest fire in 2014 had burned 101 723 ha of the area, in which 9 355 ha of core area, and 92 368 ha of buffer zone and transition area. Deforestation and forest fire had increased CO2 emission as much as 24 903 855 ton/year.

Keywords: biosphere reserve, CO2 emission, deforestation, forest fire

Procedia PDF Downloads 487
3734 Creativity, Formative Assessment and Students’ Writing of Subject-Specific Texts

Authors: Per Blomqvist

Abstract:

This study is part of a larger research project on creativity and writing cultures in upper secondary schools in Sweden, with the purpose of exploring how formative assessment practices can be developed to better support students' writing of subject-specific texts. The purpose of the study is to shed light on how writing has changed over time in the subjects of Social Studies and Swedish, especially regarding changes in the formative assessment practice in relation to students opportunities to take part in creative writing processes that can develop their subject specific-writing. Theoretically, the study is based on concepts and models concerning creativity, writing instructions and formative assessment, especially regarding scaffolding in relation to the development of students' subject-specific writing. The empirical data consists of video recordings of teacher groups' conversations from five upper secondary schools in Sweden, compromising a total of twenty teachers. The conversations were conducted as so-called collective remembering interviews, a method to stimulate the participants' memory through social interaction, and focused on addressing issues on how writing assessment has changed over time. Topic analysis was used to analyze the conversations in order to identify common descriptions and expressions among the teachers in each group. The result highlights two different assessment practices that are described as giving students different opportunities to take part in creative writing processes to develop their writing of subject-specific texts. One of the assessment practices is characterized by teachers focusing on explaining to the students what the grading criteria mean and showing sample texts that correspond to a certain grade. The teachers describe that this assessment practice has led to a formalized, instrumental and product-oriented writing culture that has negative consequences for the student's development of their subject-specific writing, which often lacks independent reasoning, own conclusions and understanding of concepts. The other assessment practice is characterized by students examining text qualities and discussing a variety of sample texts to understand what different texts require. These teachers describe the assessment practice as an exploratory work that leads to more creative writing processes where the students gradually deepen their understanding of subject-specific texts and develop their writing.

Keywords: teaching for creativity, writing processes, formative assessment, subject-specific writing

Procedia PDF Downloads 55
3733 Modeling and Analysis of Laser Sintering Process Scanning Time for Optimal Planning and Control

Authors: Agarana Michael C., Akinlabi Esther T., Pule Kholopane

Abstract:

In order to sustain the advantages of an advanced manufacturing technique, such as laser sintering, minimization of total processing cost of the parts being produced is very important. An efficient time management would usually very important in optimal cost attainment which would ultimately result in an efficient advanced manufacturing process planning and control. During Laser Scanning Process Scanning (SLS) procedures it is possible to adjust various manufacturing parameters which are used to influence the improvement of various mechanical and other properties of the products. In this study, Modelling and mathematical analysis, including sensitivity analysis, of the laser sintering process time were carried out. The results of the analyses were represented with graphs, from where conclusions were drawn. It was specifically observed that achievement of optimal total scanning time is key for economic efficiency which is required for sustainability of the process.

Keywords: modeling and analysis, optimal planning and control, laser sintering process, scanning time

Procedia PDF Downloads 98
3732 Assessment of Agricultural Intervention on Ecosystem Services in the Central-South Zone of Chile

Authors: Steven Hidalgo, Patricio Neumann

Abstract:

The growth of societies has increased the consumption of raw materials and food obtained from nature. This has influenced the services offered by ecosystems to humans, mainly supply and regulation services. One of the indicators used to evaluate these services is Net Primary Productivity (NPP), which is understood as the energy stored in the form of biomass by primary organisms through the process of photosynthesis and respiration. The variation of NPP by defined area produces changes in the properties of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, which alter factors such as biodiversity, nutrient cycling, carbon storage and water quality. The analysis of NPP to evaluate variations in ecosystem services includes harvested NPP (understood as provisioning services), which is the raw material from agricultural systems used by humans as a source of energy and food, and the remaining NPP (expressed as a regulating service) or the amount of biomass that remains in ecosystems after the harvesting process, which is mainly related to factors such as biodiversity. Given that agriculture is a fundamental pillar of Chile's integral development, the purpose of this study is to evaluate provisioning and regulating ecosystem services in the agricultural sector, specifically in cereal production, in the communes of the central-southern regions of Chile through a conceptual framework based on the quantification of the fraction of Human Appropriation of Net Primary Productivity (HANPP) and the fraction remaining in the ecosystems (NPP remaining). A total of 161 communes were analyzed in the regions of O'Higgins, Maule, Ñuble, Bio-Bío, La Araucanía and Los Lagos, which are characterized by having the largest areas planted with cereals. It was observed that the region of La Araucanía produces the greatest amount of dry matter, understood as provisioning service, where Victoria is the commune with the highest cereal production in the country. In addition, the maximum value of HANPP was in the O'Higgins region, highlighting the communes of Coltauco, Quinta de Tilcoco, Placilla and Rengo. On the other hand, the communes of Futrono, Pinto, Lago Ranco and Pemuco, whose cereal production was important during the study, had the highest values of remaining NPP as a regulating service. Finally, an inverse correlation was observed between the provisioning and regulating ecosystem services, i.e., the higher the cereal or dry matter production in a defined area, the lower the net primary production remaining in the ecosystems. Based on this study, future research will focus on the evaluation of ecosystem services associated with other crops, such as forestry plantations, whose activity is an important part of the country's productive sector.

Keywords: provisioning services, regulating services, net primary productivity, agriculture

Procedia PDF Downloads 97
3731 Television Commercial Ideation: Considerations for the Future

Authors: Rashid Farooq, Moazzam Naseer, Rehan Hasan

Abstract:

Increasing challenges posed to the creativity in the discipline of advertising during time’s movement towards the maturity of The Third Wave – a concept of change by Toffler, have to be the major theme of this study. Creative concepts for the changing media landscape are becoming a challenge for the creative industry as Stein says that the usefulness is a dimension no creative work could avoid. Furthermore, Spencer points out that the global capitalist society provides a base for the development of digital technologies. Innovation within the discipline of creativity is reshaping this process. In this review article, the role of creativity and innovation in the development and delivery of the message has to be examined.

Keywords: advertising, creativity, ideation, new media

Procedia PDF Downloads 218
3730 An Analysis of the Wheat Export Performance of Ukraine in Europe

Authors: Kiran Bala Das

Abstract:

This paper examines the Ukraine wheat export condition after Russian-Ukrainian military confrontation. The political conflict in Ukraine and the recent military intervention of Russia in Crimea is raising concern full effect of the events there is still uncertain, but some hints can be seen in the wheat market by analyzing the trend and pattern of Ukraine wheat export. Crimea is extremely important as it is where most of Ukraine grain exported by ship from its ports of the black sea. Ukraine is again seeking to establish itself a significant exporter of agricultural product with its rich black soil, it is chornozem the top soil layer that makes the country soil so fertile and become one of the major exporter of wheat in the world, its generous supplier of wheat make Ukraine 'Bread basket of Europe'. Ukraine possesses 30% of the world’s richest black soil; its agricultural industry has huge potential especially in grains. European Union (EU) is a significant trading partner of Ukraine but geopolitical tension adversely affects the wheat trade from black sea, which threatens Europe breadbasket. This study also highlights an index of export intensity to analyze the intensity of existing trade for the period 2011-2014 between Ukraine and EU countries. The result show export has intensified over the years, but this year low trade intensity. The overall consequence is hard to determine but if the situation deteriorates and Ukraine cutoff export, international wheat price will hike and grain prices (wheat) also come under the current circumstances and the recent development indicates how the grain market get affected and Agri future now in danger in Ukraine, and its forecast that Ukraine harvest low wheat crop this year and projected decline in export of wheat.

Keywords: breadbasket of Europe, export intensity index, growth rate, wheat export

Procedia PDF Downloads 349
3729 Recognizing Human Actions by Multi-Layer Growing Grid Architecture

Authors: Z. Gharaee

Abstract:

Recognizing actions performed by others is important in our daily lives since it is necessary for communicating with others in a proper way. We perceive an action by observing the kinematics of motions involved in the performance. We use our experience and concepts to make a correct recognition of the actions. Although building the action concepts is a life-long process, which is repeated throughout life, we are very efficient in applying our learned concepts in analyzing motions and recognizing actions. Experiments on the subjects observing the actions performed by an actor show that an action is recognized after only about two hundred milliseconds of observation. In this study, hierarchical action recognition architecture is proposed by using growing grid layers. The first-layer growing grid receives the pre-processed data of consecutive 3D postures of joint positions and applies some heuristics during the growth phase to allocate areas of the map by inserting new neurons. As a result of training the first-layer growing grid, action pattern vectors are generated by connecting the elicited activations of the learned map. The ordered vector representation layer receives action pattern vectors to create time-invariant vectors of key elicited activations. Time-invariant vectors are sent to second-layer growing grid for categorization. This grid creates the clusters representing the actions. Finally, one-layer neural network developed by a delta rule labels the action categories in the last layer. System performance has been evaluated in an experiment with the publicly available MSR-Action3D dataset. There are actions performed by using different parts of human body: Hand Clap, Two Hands Wave, Side Boxing, Bend, Forward Kick, Side Kick, Jogging, Tennis Serve, Golf Swing, Pick Up and Throw. The growing grid architecture was trained by applying several random selections of generalization test data fed to the system during on average 100 epochs for each training of the first-layer growing grid and around 75 epochs for each training of the second-layer growing grid. The average generalization test accuracy is 92.6%. A comparison analysis between the performance of growing grid architecture and self-organizing map (SOM) architecture in terms of accuracy and learning speed show that the growing grid architecture is superior to the SOM architecture in action recognition task. The SOM architecture completes learning the same dataset of actions in around 150 epochs for each training of the first-layer SOM while it takes 1200 epochs for each training of the second-layer SOM and it achieves the average recognition accuracy of 90% for generalization test data. In summary, using the growing grid network preserves the fundamental features of SOMs, such as topographic organization of neurons, lateral interactions, the abilities of unsupervised learning and representing high dimensional input space in the lower dimensional maps. The architecture also benefits from an automatic size setting mechanism resulting in higher flexibility and robustness. Moreover, by utilizing growing grids the system automatically obtains a prior knowledge of input space during the growth phase and applies this information to expand the map by inserting new neurons wherever there is high representational demand.

Keywords: action recognition, growing grid, hierarchical architecture, neural networks, system performance

Procedia PDF Downloads 157
3728 Incorporating Ground Sand in Production of Self-Consolidating Concrete to Decrease High Paste Volume and Improve Passing Ability of Self-Consolidating Concrete

Authors: S. K. Ling, A. K. H. Kwan

Abstract:

The production of SCC (self-consolidating concrete) generally requires a fairy high paste volume, ranging from 35% to 40% of the total concrete volume. Such high paste volume would lead to low dimensional stability and high carbon footprint. Direct lowering the paste volume would deteriorate the performance of SCC, especially the passing ability. It is often observed that at narrow gap of congested reinforcements, the paste often flows in the front leaving the coarse aggregate particle behind to block the subsequent flow of concrete. Herein, it is suggested to increase the mortar volume through incorporating ground sand with a mean size of 0.3 mm while keeping the paste volume small. Trial concrete mixes with paste volumes of 30% and 34% and different ground sand contents have been tested to demonstrate how the paste volume can be lowered without sacrificing the passing ability. Overall, the results demonstrated that the addition of ground sand would enable the achievement of high passing ability at a relatively small paste volume.

Keywords: ground sand, mortar volume, paste volume, self-consolidating concrete

Procedia PDF Downloads 279
3727 Effectiveness of Self-Learning Module on the Academic Performance of Students in Statistics and Probability

Authors: Aneia Rajiel Busmente, Renato Gunio Jr., Jazin Mautante, Denise Joy Mendoza, Raymond Benedict Tagorio, Gabriel Uy, Natalie Quinn Valenzuela, Ma. Elayza Villa, Francine Yezha Vizcarra, Sofia Madelle Yapan, Eugene Kurt Yboa

Abstract:

COVID-19’s rapid spread caused a dramatic change in the nation, especially the educational system. The Department of Education was forced to adopt a practical learning platform without neglecting health, a printed modular distance learning. The Philippines' K–12 curriculum includes Statistics and Probability as one of the key courses as it offers students the knowledge to evaluate and comprehend data. Due to student’s difficulty and lack of understanding of the concepts of Statistics and Probability in Normal Distribution. The Self-Learning Module in Statistics and Probability about the Normal Distribution created by the Department of Education has several problems, including many activities, unclear illustrations, and insufficient examples of concepts which enables learners to have a difficulty accomplishing the module. The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of self-learning module on the academic performance of students in the subject Statistics and Probability, it will also explore students’ perception towards the quality of created Self-Learning Module in Statistics and Probability. Despite the availability of Self-Learning Modules in Statistics and Probability in the Philippines, there are still few literatures that discuss its effectiveness in improving the performance of Senior High School students in Statistics and Probability. In this study, a Self-Learning Module on Normal Distribution is evaluated using a quasi-experimental design. STEM students in Grade 11 from National University's Nazareth School will be the study's participants, chosen by purposive sampling. Google Forms will be utilized to find at least 100 STEM students in Grade 11. The research instrument consists of 20-item pre- and post-test to assess participants' knowledge and performance regarding Normal Distribution, and a Likert scale survey to evaluate how the students perceived the self-learning module. Pre-test, post-test, and Likert scale surveys will be utilized to gather data, with Jeffreys' Amazing Statistics Program (JASP) software being used for analysis.

Keywords: self-learning module, academic performance, statistics and probability, normal distribution

Procedia PDF Downloads 114