Search results for: environmental performance index

Authors: Pavel H. Llamocca, Victoria Lopez

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The main objective of our work is the comparative analysis of environmental data from Open Data bases, belonging to different governments. This means that you have to integrate data from various different sources. Nowadays, many governments have the intention of publishing thousands of data sets for people and organizations to use them. In this way, the quantity of applications based on Open Data is increasing. However each government has its own procedures to publish its data, and it causes a variety of formats of data sets because there are no international standards to specify the formats of the data sets from Open Data bases. Due to this variety of formats, we must build a data integration process that is able to put together all kind of formats. There are some software tools developed in order to give support to the integration process, e.g. Data Tamer, Data Wrangler. The problem with these tools is that they need data scientist interaction to take part in the integration process as a final step. In our case we don’t want to depend on a data scientist, because environmental data are usually similar and these processes can be automated by programming. The main idea of our tool is to build Hadoop procedures adapted to data sources per each government in order to achieve an automated integration. Our work focus in environment data like temperature, energy consumption, air quality, solar radiation, speeds of wind, etc. Since 2 years, the government of Madrid is publishing its Open Data bases relative to environment indicators in real time. In the same way, other governments have published Open Data sets relative to the environment (like Andalucia or Bilbao). But all of those data sets have different formats and our solution is able to integrate all of them, furthermore it allows the user to make and visualize some analysis over the real-time data. Once the integration task is done, all the data from any government has the same format and the analysis process can be initiated in a computational better way. So the tool presented in this work has two goals: 1. Integration process; and 2. Graphic and analytic interface. As a first approach, the integration process was developed using Java and Oracle and the graphic and analytic interface with Java (jsp). However, in order to open our software tool, as second approach, we also developed an implementation with R language as mature open source technology. R is a really powerful open source programming language that allows us to process and analyze a huge amount of data with high performance. There are also some R libraries for the building of a graphic interface like shiny. A performance comparison between both implementations was made and no significant differences were found. In addition, our work provides with an Official Real-Time Integrated Data Set about Environment Data in Spain to any developer in order that they can build their own applications.

Keywords: open data, R language, data integration, environmental data

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Authors: Hussain Bunyan, Wesam Ali

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In this paper we will study the performance of a Silicon Photovoltaic (PV) system with different tilt angle arrangement in Kuwait (latitude 30˚ N). In the study the PV system is installed facing South, collecting maximum solar radiation at noon, and their angles are from 00 to 900 respectively, during full year at the Solstice and Equinox periods, aiming for a higher angle than 300 with competitive output power. The results show that the performance and the output power of the PV system with 50˚ tilt angle, is equivalent to the latitude tilt angle (30˚) during a full year.

Keywords: photovoltaic model, tilt angle, solar collector, PV system performance, State of Kuwait

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Authors: Ana Asratashvili

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One of the main issues of state’s economic policy is the environmental problems. The development of society is implementing by the connection with nature. A human being needs different material resources which must be got by the influence on the nature. This relationship between nature and society is complicated and controversial and it was changing from time to time according to human’s evolution. The imprudent and unreasonable usage of natural resources, scientific-technological revolution and the hard pollution of nature related to it caused the disruption of environmental balance between nature and society which has been made for ages and destructively acted on society and environment. Environmental protection is one of the major issues of the European Union all over the world. The aim of EU environmental policy is to improve ecological conditions. Besides, it aims encouraging of careful and rational usage of natural resources. At the same time, the union tries to raise problems related to environmental protection at the international level. After that when scientists concluded anthropogenic impact of human on the nature causes climate changes, the special attention was paid to the environmental protection by developed countries. Global warming will cause floods, storms, draughts and desertification and to solve these results presumably will cost 20% of World GDP by 2050 for developed countries, if, of course, it does not make strict environmental policy. EU member countries have pretty strict environmental standards. Their defense is observed by different state institutions. According to impacts on nature throughout the world the most polluted fumes are made by electricity facilities (44%), transport (20%), industry (18%), domestic and service sector (17%). The special concern to the issues related to the importance of environment by environmentalists is caused by low self-esteem of population about the problems of environment. According to their mind, population is engaged with daily difficulties so that they don’t react much on environmental problems. Correspondingly, the main task for environmental organizations is to inform population and raise self-esteem about environmental issues.

Keywords: economic policy, environment, technological revolution, pollution, environmental, standards, self-esteem

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Authors: Ratnawati Mohd Asraf, Hazlina Abdullah

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Numerous studies on boys’ performance relative to girls’ have been conducted around the globe. However, little has been done in relation to the literacy of primary school boys in the Malaysian context. This paper discusses the results of a study that sought to determine the literacy performance of Grades 1, 2, and 3 primary school students in the state of Selangor, Malaysia. Data on approximately 85,000 students from each grade level were obtained from the Ministry of Education Malaysia, which conducts national screening on literacy and numeracy, or LINUS, in all government primary schools. Teachers’ views were also sought through focus group interviews and journal entries. The results show that although there is an overall improvement in literacy performance in the Malay language among the students as they go into Grades 2 and 3, girls are found to outperform boys in every screening for all grade levels.

Keywords: boys’ underperformance, literacy, literacy performance, reading

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Authors: Masoud Mahdavi, Mojtaba Farzaneh Moghadam

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The seismic forces caused by the waves created in the depths of the earth during the earthquake hit the structure and cause the building to vibrate. Creating large seismic forces will cause low-strength sections in the structure to suffer extensive surface damage. The use of new steel shear walls in steel structures has caused the strength of the building and its main members (columns) to increase due to the reduction and depreciation of seismic forces during earthquakes. In the present study, an attempt was made to evaluate a type of steel shear wall that has regular holes in the inner sheet by modeling the finite element model with Abacus software. The shear wall of the steel plate, measuring 6000 × 3000 mm (one floor) and 3 mm thickness, was modeled with four different pores with a cross-sectional area. The shear wall was dynamically subjected to a time history of 5 seconds by three accelerators, El Centro, Imperial Valley and Kobe. The results showed that increasing the distance between the geometric center of the hole and the geometric center of the inner plate in the steel shear wall (increasing the R_CS index) caused the total maximum acceleration to be transferred from the perimeter of the hole to horizontal and vertical beams. The results also show that there is no direct relationship between R_CS index and total acceleration in steel shear wall and R_CS index is separate from the peak ground acceleration value of earthquake.

Keywords: hollow steel plate shear wall, time history analysis, finite element method, abaqus software

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Authors: Juan Sebastián Rivera Soriano, Rosa Urbano Gutiérrez

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The Shodan House and the Sarabhai House (Ahmedabad, India, 1954 and 1955, respectively) are considered some of the most important works of Le Corbusier produced in the last stage of his career. There are some academic publications that study the compositional and formal aspects of their architectural design, but there is no in-depth investigation into how the climatic conditions of this region were a determining factor in the design decisions implemented in these projects. This paper argues that Le Corbusier developed a specific architectural design strategy for these buildings based on scientific research on climate in the Indian context. This new language was informed by a pioneering study and interpretation of climatic data as a design methodology that would even involve the development of new design tools. This study investigated whether their use of climatic data meets values and levels of accuracy obtained with contemporary instruments and tools, such as Energy Plus weather data files and Climate Consultant. It also intended to find out if Le Corbusier's office’s intentions and decisions were indeed appropriate and efficient for those climate conditions by assessing these projects using BIM models and energy performance simulations from Design Builder. Accurate models were built using original historical data through archival research. The outcome is to provide a new understanding of the environment of these houses through the combination of modern building science and architectural history. The results confirm that in these houses, it was achieved a model of low energy consumption. This paper contributes new evidence not only on exemplary modern architecture concerned with environmental performance but also on how it developed progressive thinking in this direction.

Keywords: bioclimatic architecture, Le Corbusier, Shodan, Sarabhai Houses

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Authors: Salmi-Laouar Sihem, Aouissi Riadh

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The Cenomanian formations of the Bellezma-Batna Range are yielding very diversified fossiliferous beds. Among the abundant and well-preserved fossils stands out Aspidiscus cristatus (Lamarck). This taxon is assigned to the Family Latomeandridae (Alloiteau) for the presence of six symmetry axes. The outer morphology of sampled specimens documents a low-energy environment with a high sedimentary rate and a mud-supported bottom. Its provincialism evidences some characteristic thermal gradients of the marked Tethysian climatic areas. Biometric measurements are given. Coral size increases from the North towards the southeastern Tethysian margin where waters are supposed warmer; this feature is also underlined by a frequent bio-erosion of sampled specimens. Its limited stratigraphic range makes it a good candidate for an index species for the Middle Cenomanian.

Keywords: Aspidiscus cristatus, coral, Middle Cenomanian, Batna, Bellezma, Algeria

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Authors: Ledi Neçaj

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Objectives: The target of this paper is (1) to explain objectively physical activity model throughout three chronic cardiopulmonary conditions, and (2) to study the connection among physical activity dimensions with disease severity, self-reported physical and emotional functioning, and exercise performance. Material and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study of patients in their domestic environment. Patients with cardiopulmonary diseases were: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), (n-63), coronary heart failure (n=60), and patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillator (n=60). Main results measures: Seven ambulatory physical activity dimensions (total steps, percentage time active, percentage time ambulating at low, medium, and hard intensity, maximum cadence for 30 non-stop minutes, and peak performance) have been measured with an accelerometer. Results: Subjects with COPD had the lowest amount of ambulatory physical activity compared with topics with coronary heart failure and cardiac dysrhythmias (all 7 interest dimensions, P<.05); total step counts have been: 5319 as opposed to 7464 as opposed to 9570, respectively. Six-minute walk distance becomes correlated (r=.44-.65, P<.01) with all physical activity dimensions inside the COPD pattern, the most powerful correlations being with total steps and peak performance. In topics with cardiac impairment, maximal oxygen intake had the most effective small to slight correlations with five of the physical activity dimensions (r=.22-.40, P<.05). In contrast, correlations among 6-minute walk test distance and physical activity have been higher (r=.48-.61, P<.01) albeit in a smaller pattern of most effective patients with coronary heart failure. For all three samples, self-reported physical and mental health functioning, age, frame mass index, airflow obstruction, and ejection fraction had both exceptionally small and no significant correlations with physical activity. Conclusions: Findings from this study present a profitable benchmark of physical activity patterns in individuals with cardiopulmonary diseases for comparison with future studies. All seven dimensions of ambulatory physical activity have disfavor between subjects with COPD, heart failure, and cardiac dysrhythmias. Depending on the research or clinical goal, the use of one dimension, such as total steps, may be sufficient. Although physical activity had high correlations with performance on a six-minute walk test relative to other variables, accelerometers-based physical activity monitoring provides unique, important information about real-world behavior in patients with cardiopulmonary not already captured with existing measures.

Keywords: ambulatory physical activity, walking, monitoring, COPD, heart failure, implantable defibrillator, exercise performance

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Authors: Johna Bernice Ablaza, Bryan Lim Corpuz, Joanna Marie Estrada, Mary Ann Cristine Olgado, Rhina Recato

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This study aimed to describe the mathematical beliefs and attitudes in relation to the mathematics performance of freshman college students. The descriptive design using the correlational study was used to describe the relationship among mathematical beliefs, attitudes, and performance of freshman college students. This study involved one hundred fifty (150) freshman college students of Philippine Normal University during the third trimester of school year 2015-2016. The research instruments used to gather the information needed in the study are the beliefs about Mathematics Questionnaire, the KIM-Project Questionnaire, and the ACT Compass Mathematics Test. The data gathered were analyzed using the percentages, mean, standard deviation, and Pearson r-moment correlation. The results of this study have shown that although students believe that Mathematics is significant in their lives, the overall result on their beliefs and attitudes are positively low. There is a significant relationship between the students’ mathematical beliefs and mathematics performance. Likewise, their attitudes in mathematics have significant relationship to mathematics performance.

Keywords: attitudes, diligence, interest, mathematical beliefs, mathematical performance, self-confidence

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Authors: Intissar Farid

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Groundwater quality assessment is crucial for sustainable water use, especially in semi-arid regions like the Jeloula basin in Tunisia, where groundwater is essential for domestic and agricultural needs. The present research aims to characterize the suitability of groundwater for irrigational purposes by considering various parameters: total salt concentration as measured by Electrical Conductivity EC, relative proportions of Na⁺ as expressed by %Na and SAR, Kelly’s ratio, Permeability Index, Magnesium hazard and Residual Sodium chloride. Chemical data indicate that the percent sodium (%Na) in the study area ranged from 26.3 to 45.3%. According to the Wilcox diagram, the quality classification of irrigation water suggests that analyzed groundwaters are suitable for irrigation purposes. The SAR values vary between 2.1 and 5. Most of the groundwater samples plot in the Richards’C3S1 water class and indicate little danger from sodium content to soil and plant growth. The Kelly’s ratio of the analyzed samples ranged from 0.3 to 0.8. These values indicate that the waters are fit for agricultural purposes. Magnesium hazard (MH) values range from 27.5 to 52.6, with an average of 38.9 in the analyzed waters. Hence, the Mg²⁺ content of the groundwater from the shallow aquifer cannot cause any problem to the soil permeability. Permeability index (PI) values computed for the area ranged from 33.6 to 52.7%. The above result, therefore, suggests that most of the water samples fall within class I of the Doneen chart and can be categorized as good irrigation water. The groundwaters collected from the Jeloula shallow aquifer were found to be within the safe limits and thus suitable for irrigation purposes.

Keywords: Kelly's ratio, magnesium hazard, permeability index, residual sodium chloride

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Authors: Pius Babuna, Xiaohua Yang, Roberto Xavier Supe Tulcan, Bian Dehui, Mohammed Takase, Bismarck Yelfogle Guba, Chuanliang Han, Doris Abra Awudi, Meishui Lia

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Water inequality, water security, and water governance are fundamental parameters that affect the sustainable use of water resources. Through policy formulation and decision-making, water governance determines both water security and water inequality. Largely, where water inequality exists, water security is undermined through unsustainable water use practices that lead to pollution of water resources, conflicts, hoarding of water, and poor sanitation. Incidentally, the interconnectedness of water governance, water inequality, and water security has not been investigated previously. This study modified the Gini coefficient and used a Logistics Growth of Water Resources (LGWR) Model to access water inequality and water security mathematically, and discussed the connected role of water governance. We tested the validity of both models by calculating the actual water inequality and water security of Ghana. We also discussed the implications of water inequality on water security and the overarching role of water governance. The results show that regional water inequality is widespread in some parts. The Volta region showed the highest water inequality (Gini index of 0.58), while the central region showed the lowest (Gini index of 0.15). Water security is moderately sustainable. The use of water resources is currently stress-free. It was estimated to maintain such status until 2132 ± 18, when Ghana will consume half of the current total water resources of 53.2 billion cubic meters. Effectively, water inequality is a threat to water security, results in poverty, under-development heightens tensions in water use, and causes instability. With proper water governance, water inequality can be eliminated through formulating and implementing approaches that engender equal allocation and sustainable use of water resources.

Keywords: water inequality, water security, water governance, Gini coefficient, moran index, water resources management

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Authors: Fatemah Al-Baroud, Sudharani Shreenivas Kshatriya

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Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) is one of the companies for gas & oil production in Kuwait. The oil and gas industry is truly global; with operations conducted in every corner of the globe, the global community will rely heavily on oil and gas supplies. KOC has made many commitments to protect all due to KOC’s operations and operational releases. As per KOC’s strategy, the substantial increase in production activities will bring many challenges in managing various environmental hazards and stresses in the company. In order to handle those environmental challenges, the need of implementing effectively the health, safety, and environmental management system (HSEMS) is significant. And by implementing the HSEMS system properly, the environmental aspects of the activities, products, and services were identified, evaluated, and controlled in order to (i) Comply with local regulatory and other obligatory requirements; (ii) Comply with company policy and business requirements; and (iii) Reduce adverse environmental impact, including adverse impact to company reputation. Assessments for the Jurassic Production Facilities are being carried out as a part of the KOC HSEMS procedural requirement and monitoring the implementation of the relevant HSEMS procedures in the facilities. The assessments have been done by conducting series of theme audits using KOC’s audit protocol at JPFs. The objectives of the audits are to evaluate the compliance of the facilities towards the implementation of environmental procedures and the status of the KEPA requirement at all JPFs. The list of the facilities that were covered during the theme audit program are the following: (1) Jurassic Production Facility (JPF) – Sabriya (2) Jurassic Production Facility (JPF) – East Raudhatian (3) Jurassic Production Facility (JPF) – West Raudhatian (4)Early Production Facility (EPF 50). The auditing process comprehensively focuses on the application of KOC HSE MS procedures at JPFs and their ability to reduce the resultant negative impacts on the environment from the operations. Number of findings and observations were noted and highlighted in the audit reports and sent to all concerned controlling teams. The results of these audits indicated that the facilities, in general view, were in line with KOC HSE Procedures, and there were commitments in documenting all the HSE issues in the right records and plans. Further, implemented several control measures at JPFs that minimized/reduced the environmental impact, such as SRU were installed for sulphur recovery. Future scope and monitoring audit after a sufficient period of time will be carried out in conjunction with the controlling teams in order to verify the current status of the recommendations and evaluate the contractors' performance towards the required actions in preserving the environment.

Keywords: assessment of the environmental compliance, environmental and social impact assessment, kuwait environment public authority regulations, health, safety and environment management procedures, jurassic production facilities

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Authors: Mohammad Y. Alfaifi

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Anything that poses a challenge or a threat to our well-being is a stress. Understanding the genetic material and cellular response of rats threatened with Repeated swimming stress provides insights that can influence human health. The aim of the present study was to assess the genetical damage and cytological changes caused by exposure of the test organism (Rattus rattus) to forced swimming stress. For this purpose, animals have been submerged in water path 15 minutes daily for 2 weeks. Following that, we performed a micronuclei (MN) test using MNNCE (Micronucleated normocromatic erythrocytes) and MNPCE (Micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes), NDI (Nuclear division index) and cytological parameters using NDCI (nuclear division cytotoxicity index), necrotic and apoptotic cells in rat's bone marrow samples. Results showed that there was a slightly but not significant increase in the frequency of micronucleated as well as in cytological parameters in bone marrow cells.

Keywords: submergence stress, micronucleus, NDI, NDCI, toxicity, chromosomal aberrations

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Authors: Ayodele Ajayi, John Ajayi

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This paper investigates the effect of corporate governance with a view to determining the relationship between board size and bank performance. Data for the study were obtained from the audited financial statements of five sampled banks listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Panel data technique was adopted and analysis was carried out with the use of multiple regression and pooled ordinary least square. Results from the study show that the larger the board size, the greater the profit implying that corporate governance is positively correlated with bank performance.

Keywords: corporate governance, banks performance, board size, pooled data

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Authors: Bella Llego

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The purpose of this study was to explain and empirically test the influence of attitude towards work, job satisfaction and organizational commitment of SSRU employee’s evaluation and performance. Data used in this study was primary data which were collected through Organizational Commitment Questionnaire with 1-5 Likert Scale. The respondent of this study was 200 managerial and non-managerial staff of SSRU. The statistics to analyze the data provide the descriptive by the mean, standard deviation and test hypothesis by the use of multiple regression. The result of this study is showed that attitude towards work have positive but not significant effect to job satisfaction and employees evaluation and performance. Different with attitude towards work, the organizations commitment has positive and significant influence on job satisfaction and employee performance at SSRU. It means every improvement in organization’s commitment has a positive effect toward job satisfaction and employee evaluation and performance at SSRU.

Keywords: attitude towards work, employee’s evaluation and performance, jobs satisfaction, organization commitment

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Authors: Annu Sheokand, Vinay Kumar

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Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) detection is essential for environmental monitoring and industrial safety due to its high toxicity, even at low concentrations. This study explores the H₂S gas sensing properties of Cu-doped Fe₂O₃ materials derived from metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), which offer high surface area and controlled porosity for optimized gas sensing. The structural and morphological characteristics of the synthesized material were thoroughly analyzed using techniques such as X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM), and UV-Vis Spectroscopy. The resulting sensor exhibited remarkable sensitivity and selectivity, achieving a detection limit at the ppb level for H₂S. The study indicates that Cu doping significantly enhances the gas sensing performance of Fe₂O₃ by introducing abundant active sites within the material. These enhanced sensing properties emphasize the potential of MOF-derived Cu-doped Fe₂O₃ as a highly effective material for H₂S gas sensors in various applications.

Keywords: detection limit, doping, MOF, sensitivity, sensor

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Authors: Mohammad Ghavami, Reza S. Dilmaghani

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This paper presents an adaptive framework for modelling financial markets using equity risk premiums, risk free rates and volatilities. The recorded economic factors are initially used to train four adaptive filters for a certain limited period of time in the past. Once the systems are trained, the adjusted coefficients are used for modelling and prediction of an important financial market index. Two different approaches based on least mean squares (LMS) and recursive least squares (RLS) algorithms are investigated. Performance analysis of each method in terms of the mean squared error (MSE) is presented and the results are discussed. Computer simulations carried out using recorded data show MSEs of 4% and 3.4% for the next month prediction using LMS and RLS adaptive algorithms, respectively. In terms of twelve months prediction, RLS method shows a better tendency estimation compared to the LMS algorithm.

Keywords: adaptive methods, LSE, MSE, prediction of financial Markets

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Authors: Theresia Dwi Hastuti, Kristiana Haryanti, Agustine Eva Maria Soekesi

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Today's family business continues to grow in big cities and in rural areas throughout Indonesia in line with the development of the business world and global competition. This study aims to analyze the effect of company value, leadership, and ownership succession on the financial performance of the family business. The research method was carried out quantitatively with multiple regression. The respondent amounted to 63 entrepreneurs. This study found that company value, leadership succession, relationships, and communication affect the financial performance of the family business.

Keywords: company value, family business, financial performance, leadership succession, ownership succession

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Authors: Khalid Mujaljal, Hassan Alhajhoj

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This paper empirically investigates the influence of oil price fluctuations on the key macroeconomic variables of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia using unrestricted VAR methodology. Two analytical tools- Granger-causality and variance decomposition are used. The Granger-causality test reveals that almost all specifications of oil price shocks significantly Granger-cause GDP and demonstrates evidence of causality between oil price changes and money supply (M3) and consumer price index percent (CPIPC) in the case of positive oil price shocks. Surprisingly, almost all specifications of oil price shocks do not Granger-cause government expenditure. The outcomes from variance decomposition analysis suggest that positive oil shocks contribute about 25 percent in causing inflation in the country. Also, contribution of symmetric linear oil price shocks and asymmetric positive oil price shocks is significant and persistent with 25 percent explaining variation in world consumer price index till end of the period.

Keywords: Granger causality, oil prices changes, Saudi Arabian economy, variance decomposition

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Authors: Chakraborty Sudipta, A. R. Kambekar, Sarma Arnab

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Sea-level rise being one of the most important impacts of anthropogenic induced climate change resulting from global warming and melting of icebergs at Arctic and Antarctic, the investigations done by various researchers both on Indian Coast and elsewhere during the last decade has been reviewed in this paper. The paper aims to ascertain the propensity of consistency of different suggested methods to predict the near-accurate future sea level rise along the coast of Mumbai. Case studies at East Coast, Southern Tip and West and South West coast of India have been reviewed. Coastal Vulnerability Index of several important international places has been compared, which matched with Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change forecasts. The application of Geographic Information System mapping, use of remote sensing technology, both Multi Spectral Scanner and Thematic Mapping data from Landsat classified through Iterative Self-Organizing Data Analysis Technique for arriving at high, moderate and low Coastal Vulnerability Index at various important coastal cities have been observed. Instead of data driven, hindcast based forecast for Significant Wave Height, additional impact of sea level rise has been suggested. Efficacy and limitations of numerical methods vis-à-vis Artificial Neural Network has been assessed, importance of Root Mean Square error on numerical results is mentioned. Comparing between various computerized methods on forecast results obtained from MIKE 21 has been opined to be more reliable than Delft 3D model.

Keywords: climate change, Coastal Vulnerability Index, global warming, sea level rise

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Authors: Upasana Ranjib

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Sports psychology, as a niche area, has, since the last two decades, found for itself a space within the outer peripheries of the discipline of traditional psychology. It has aimed to understand the many variables that push athletes to enhance their performances. While sociological aspects have been duly represented in academia, little has been written about the role of culture in shaping the psyche of athletes. The impact that cultures of different communities and societies have towards specifics like gender, castes, religion and race and how that helps evolve an individual has not been fully addressed. In the case of Sport, culture has made itself felt in the form of stereotypes, traditional outlooks towards sects and its implication on the engagement with sports. Culture is an environment that an individual imbibes. It is what shapes him, physically as well as mentally. Their nurture and nature both stem from it and depend on it. To realize the linkages between their nurture, nature and sports efficiency, cultural studies must collaborate in scholarship with psychology and practical sports. Cultural sports psychology would allow sports psychologists, coaches and even athletes themselves to understand the behavioural variations that affect their performance. The variations in the performance of athletes from different cultures and countries could be attributed to their socio-political, economic and environmental differences. These cultural influences shape and impact the athlete's behaviour and might lead as a gateway to understanding their skill sets and internal motivational factors. With that knowledge in mind, this paper aims to understand and reflect on how, in the present times of heavy sporting competition, shifting cultural equations and changing world dynamics, it is mandatory to infuse Cultural Studies with Sports Psychology to understand how Sports Psychologists can help and augment the performances of athletes.

Keywords: sporting performance, Asian sports, sports psychology, cultural psychology, society

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Authors: Mohammad Q. M. Momani

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The objective of this study is to examine whether the value relevance of ownership structure changed as the Amman Stock Exchange market conditions changed. Using data from 2005 to 2014, the study finds that the performance of portfolios that contain firms with concentrated ownership structure declines significantly during the post-crisis period. These portfolios exhibit poor performance relative to portfolios that contain firms with dispersed ownership structure during the post-crisis period. The results argue that uninspired performance of the Amman Stock Exchange during the post-crisis period, increased the incentives for controlling shareholders to expropriate. Investors recognized these incentives and discounted firms that were more likely to expropriate.

Keywords: value relevance, ownership structure, portfolio performance, Jordan, ASE

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Authors: Chuanqiao Zheng, Wei Zeng, Haozhen Lin

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As of March 2020, the number of Chinese netizens has reached 904 million. The proportion of Internet users accessing the Internet through mobile phones is as high as 99.3%. Under the background of 'Internet +', tourists have a stronger sense of independence in the choice of tourism destinations and tourism products. Tourists are more inclined to learn about the relevant information on tourism destinations and other tourists' evaluations of tourist products through the Internet. The search engine, as an integrated platform that contains a wealth of information, is highly valuable to the analysis of the characteristics of the Internet attention given to various tourism destinations, through big data mining and analysis. This article uses the Baidu Index as the data source, which is one of the products of Baidu Search. The Baidu Index is based on big data, which collects and shares the search results of a large number of Internet users on the Baidu search engine. The big data used in this article includes search index, demand map, population profile, etc. The main research methods used are: (1) based on the search index, analyzing the Internet attention given to the tourism in five cities in Northeast Sichuan at different times, so as to obtain the overall trend and individual characteristics of tourism development in the region; (2) based on the demand map and the population profile, analyzing the demographic characteristics and market positioning of the tourist groups in these cities to understand the characteristics and needs of the target groups; (3) correlating the Internet attention data with the permanent population of each province in China in the corresponding to construct the Boston matrix of the Internet attention rate of the Northeast Sichuan tourism, obtain the tourism target markets, and then propose development strategies for different markets. The study has found that: a) the Internet attention given to the tourism in the region can be categorized into tourist off-season and peak season; the Internet attention given to tourism in different cities is quite different. b) tourists look for information including tour guide information, ticket information, traffic information, weather information, and information on the competing tourism cities; with regard to the population profile, the main group of potential tourists searching for the keywords of tourism in the five prefecture-level cities in Northeast Sichuan are youth. The male to female ratio is about 6 to 4, with males being predominant. c) through the construction of the Boston matrix, it is concluded that the star market for tourism in the Northeast Sichuan Economic Zone includes Sichuan and Shaanxi; the cash cows market includes Hainan and Ningxia; the question market includes Jiangsu and Shanghai; the dog market includes Hubei and Jiangxi. The study concludes with the following planning strategies and recommendations: i) creating a diversified business format that integrates cultural and tourism; ii) creating a brand image of niche tourism; iii) focusing on the development of tourism products; iv) innovating composite three-dimensional marketing channels.

Keywords: Baidu Index, big data, internet attention, tourism

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Authors: Nour El Houda Arabi, Aicha Iratni, Talaighil Razika, Bruno Capoen, Mohamed Bouazaoui

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In this paper, we report the effect of the calcination temperature and SiO2 addition on structural, optical and hydrophilicity of TiO2 films deposited by deep-coating sol-gel process. XRD investigation of the structural TiO2 films with increasing the temperature calcination, reveals that rutile phase will appear for the high temperature (>1000°C). However, the addition of SiO2 relate the densification of TiO2 films. Ellipsometric and UV-visible measure show that the refractive index grow with increasing temperature, against the film thickness decreases. On the other hand, the addition of SiO2 decreases the refractive index and increases the TiO2 film thickness. Finally, the hydrophilicity is assisted by contact angle measurement. It is found that addition of 50% of SiO2 to TiO2 is most effective for reducing the contact angle of water.

Keywords: physical properties, sol, gel, TiO2/SiO2 composite films

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Authors: Carla Idely Palencia-Aguilar

Abstract:

Mining in Colombia represents around 2% of the GDP (USD 8 billion in 2018), with main productions represented by coal, nickel, gold, silver, emeralds, iron, limestone, gypsum, among others. Sand and Gravel had been decreasing its participation of the GDP with a reduction of 33.2 million m3 in 2015, to 27.4 in 2016, 22.7 in 2017 and 15.8 in 2018, with a consumption of approximately 3 tons/inhabitant. However, with the new government policies it is expected to increase in the following years. Mining causes temporary environmental impacts, once restoration and rehabilitation takes place, social, environmental and economic benefits are higher than the initial state. A way to demonstrate how the mining interventions had contributed to improve the characteristics of the region after sand and gravel mining, the NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) from MODIS and ASTER were employed. The histograms show not only increments of vegetation in the area (8 times higher), but also topographies similar to the ones before the intervention, according to the application for sustainable development selected: either agriculture, forestry, cattle raising, artificial wetlands or do nothing. The decision was based upon a Multicriteria analysis for optimal land use, with three main variables: geostatistics, evapotranspiration and groundwater characteristics. The use of remote sensing, meteorological stations, piezometers, sunphotometers, geoelectric analysis among others; provide the information required for the multicriteria decision. For cattle raising and agricultural applications (where various crops were implemented), conservation of products were tested by means of nanotechnology. The results showed a duration of 2 years with no chemicals added for preservation and concentration of vitamins of the tested products.

Keywords: ASTER, Geostatistics, MODIS, Multicriteria

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Authors: Saumyaranjan Sahoo, Sudhir Yadav

Abstract:

Indian manufacturing firms operating in rapidly changing and highly competitive market, over the last few decades, have embraced organization-wide transformation to achieve cultural and operational excellence. In recent years, numerous approaches have been proposed to improve business and manufacturing performance. Lean practices in particular, Total Productive Management (TPM) and Total Quality Management (TQM) have received considerable attention, as they being adopted and adapted for raising the performance standard of Indian manufacturing firms to world class levels. The complementary nature of TPM and TQM is being practiced in many companies to achieve synergy. Specifically, this research investigates whether joint TPM-TQM implementation contribute to higher business performance when compared to individual implementation. Data from 160 manufacturing firms were analyzed that demonstrate synergetic implementation of both TPM-TQM practices over a reasonable period of time, contributed in delivering better business performance as compared to individual implementation strategy.

Keywords: total productive management, total quality management, Indian manufacturing firms, business performance

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Authors: Chungkuk Jin, Moohyun Kim, Woo Chul Chung

Abstract:

This paper presents global performance and dynamic behaviors of a discrete-pontoon-type floating bridge with mooring lines in time domain under wind and wave excitations. The structure is designed for long-distance and deep-water crossing and consists of the girder, columns, pontoons, and mooring lines. Their functionality and behaviors are investigated by using elastic-floater/mooring fully-coupled dynamic simulation computer program. Dynamic wind, first- and second-order wave forces, and current loads are considered as environmental loads. Girder’s dynamic responses and mooring tensions are analyzed under different analysis methods and environmental conditions. Girder’s lateral responses are highly influenced by the second-order wave and wind loads while the first-order wave load mainly influences its vertical responses.

Keywords: floating bridge, mooring line, pontoon, wave excitation

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Authors: Mekhannene Amine

Abstract:

In this paper, we began in the first step by two-dimensional simulation of a CIGS solar cell, in order to increase the current record efficiency of 20.48% for a single CIGS cell. Was created by utilizing a set of physical and technological parameters a solar cell of reference (such as layer thicknesses, gallium ratio, doping levels and materials properties) documented in bibliography and very known in the experimental field. This was accomplished through modeling and simulation using Atlas SILVACO-TCAD, an tool two and three dimensions very powerful and very adapted. This study has led us to determine the influence of different environmental parameters such as illumination (G) and temperature (T). In the second step, we continued our study by determining the influence of physical parameters (the acceptor of concentration NA) and geometric (thickness t) of the CIGS absorber layer, were varied to produce an optimum efficiency of 24.36%. This approach is promising to produce a CIGS classic solar cell to conduct a maximum performance.

Keywords: solar cell, cigs, photovoltaic generator, illumination, temperature, Atlas SILVACO-TCAD

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Authors: M. Dezvarei, S. Morovati

Abstract:

In recent years, increasing usage of electrical energy provides a widespread field for investigating new methods to produce clean electricity with high reliability and cost management. Fuel cells are new clean generations to make electricity and thermal energy together with high performance and no environmental pollution. According to the expansion of fuel cell usage in different industrial networks, the identification and optimization of its parameters is really significant. This paper presents optimization of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) parameters based on modified particle swarm optimization with real valued mutation (RVM) and clonal algorithms. Mathematical equations of this type of fuel cell are presented as the main model structure in the optimization process. Optimized parameters based on clonal and RVM algorithms are compared with the desired values in the presence and absence of measurement noise. This paper shows that these methods can improve the performance of traditional optimization methods. Simulation results are employed to analyze and compare the performance of these methodologies in order to optimize the proton exchange membrane fuel cell parameters.

Keywords: clonal algorithm, proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC), particle swarm optimization (PSO), real-valued mutation (RVM)

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Authors: Jhuang Jin-Jhong, Hsieh Wei-Fan

Abstract:

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

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

Procedia PDF Downloads 509