Search results for: temporal change

Authors: Hassan Gana Abdullahi, Michael A. Fullen, David Oloke

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Drought poses an enormous global threat to sustainable development and is expected to increase with global climate change. Drought and desertification are major problems in Yobe State (north-east Nigeria). This investigation aims to develop a workable framework and management tool for drought mitigation in Yobe State. Mixed methods were employed during the study and additional qualitative information was gathered through Focus Group Discussions (FGD). Data on socio-economic impacts of drought were thus collected via both questionnaire surveys and FGD. In all, 1,040 questionnaires were distributed to farmers in the State and 721 were completed, representing a return rate of 69.3%. Data analysis showed that 97.9% of respondents considered themselves to be drought victims, whilst 69.3% of the respondents were unemployed and had no other means of income, except through rain-fed farming. Developing a viable and holistic approach to drought mitigation is crucial, to arrest and hopefully reverse environment degradation. Analysed data will be used to develop an integrated framework for drought mitigation and management in Yobe State. This paper introduces the socio-economic and environmental effects of drought in Yobe State.

Keywords: drought, climate change, mitigation, management, Yobe State

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Authors: DEVASHISH KHULBE, MANU PATHAK

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The rise in popularity of major social media platforms have enabled people to share photos and textual information about their daily life. One of the popular topics about which information is shared is food. Since a lot of media about food are attributed to particular locations and restaurants, information like spatio-temporal popularity of various cuisines can be analyzed. Tracking the popularity of food types and retail locations across space and time can also be useful for business owners and restaurant investors. In this work, we present an approach using off-the shelf machine learning techniques to identify trends and popularity of cuisine types in an area using geo-tagged data from social media, Google images and Yelp. After adjusting for time, we use the Kernel Density Estimation to get hot spots across the location and model the dependencies among food cuisines popularity using Bayesian Networks. We consider the Manhattan borough of New York City as the location for our analyses but the approach can be used for any area with social media data and information about retail businesses.

Keywords: Web Mining, Geographic Information Systems, Business popularity, Spatial Data Analyses

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Authors: Muhammad Abdullah Arafat, Nahrin Nowrose

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Wireless charging of electric vehicles is becoming more and more attractive as large amount of power can now be transferred to a reasonable distance using magnetic resonance coupling method. However, proper tuning of the compensation network is required to achieve maximum power transmission. Due to the variation of coil distance from the nominal value as a result of change in tire condition, change in weight or uneven road condition, the tuning of the compensation network has become challenging. In this paper, a tuning method has been described to determine the optimum values of the compensation network in order to maximize the average output power. The simulation results show that 5.2 percent increase in average output power is obtained for 10 percent variation in coupling coefficient using the optimum values without the need of additional space and electro-mechanical components. The proposed method is applicable to both static and dynamic charging of electric vehicles.

Keywords: coupling coefficient, electric vehicles, magnetic resonance coupling, tuning capacitor, wireless power transfer

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Authors: Malkin Valery, Rogaleva Liudmila

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During the last 50-60 years the sports psychology has become firmly established in sports. At the same time, the sport practice brings evidence that it is only beginning to solve some of the most important problems in sports. It is untimely to say that the sports psychology has become a compulsory and efficient part of the sportsman’s preparation. It seems that the further development of the sports psychology can be seen, on the one hand, in the re-orientation of the psychologists from the regulation of the sportsman’s mentality to the process of forming the subject of the sport activity able to take the overall responsibility for the result of the sport activity, able to independently set objectives and to overcome the psychological difficulties that arise in the process of attaining these objectives. In its turn, it will require the change in the very approach to the psychologist’s work. The psychologist and the couch will turn from the specialists in correcting the negative manifestations of the sportsman’s mentality to the specialists in forming the subjects of the sport activity. It will require the creation of the technologies that can form the subjects on all the age-specific stages of the sport activity, that can form the most important psychological qualities (psychological stability, mental reliability, etc.). Getting these technologies will enable the couch to change from the consumer of the psychological knowledge to the immediate participant of the psychological process.

Keywords: sports psychology, subject, sportsman’s preparation, psychological knowledge

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Authors: Rehan Mohammad

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Background: Improved Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) practices in schools ensure children’s health, well-being and cognitive performance. In India under various WASH interventions in schools, teachers, and other staff make every possible effort to educate children about personal hygiene, sanitation practices and harms of open defecation. However, once children get back to their families, they see other practicing inappropriate WASH behaviors, and they consequently start following them. This show disconnect between school behavior and family behavior, which needs to be bridged to achieve desired WASH outcomes. Aims and Objectives: The aim of this study is to assess the factors causing disconnect of WASH-related behaviors between school and the family of children. It also suggests behavior change interventions to bridge the gap. Methodology: The present study has chosen a mixed- method approach. Both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection have been used in the present study. The purposive sampling for data collection has been chosen. The data have been collected from 20% children in each age group of 04-08 years and 09-12 years spread over three primary schools and 20% of households to which they belong to which is spread over three slum communities in south district of Delhi. Results: The present study shows that despite of several behavior change interventions at school level, children still practice inappropriate WASH behaviors due to disconnect between school and family behaviors. These behaviors show variation from one age group to another. The inappropriate WASH behaviors being practiced by children include open defecation, wrong disposal of garbage, not keeping personal hygiene, not practicing hand washing practices during critical junctures and not washing fruits and vegetables before eating. The present study has highlighted that 80% of children in the age group of 04-08 years still practice inappropriate WASH behaviors when they go back to their families after school whereas, this percentage has reduced to 40% in case of children in the age group 09-12 years. Present study uncovers association between school and family teaching which creates a huge gap between WASH-related behavioral practices. The study has established that children learn and de-learn the WASH behaviors due to the evident disconnect between behavior change interventions at schools and household level. The study has also made it clear that children understand the significance of appropriate WASH practices but owing to the disconnect the behaviors remain unsettled. The study proposes several behavior change interventions to sync the behaviors of children at school and family level to ensure children’s health, well-being and cognitive performance.

Keywords: behavioral interventions, child health, family behavior, school behavior, WASH

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Authors: Gizem Kodak

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The Strait of Çanakkale, together with the Strait of Istanbul and the Sea of Marmara, form the Turkish Straits System. In other words, the Strait of Çanakkale is the southern gate of the system that connects the Black Sea countries with the other countries of the world. Due to the heavy maritime traffic, it is important to scientifically examine the accident characteristics in the region. In particular, the results indicated by the descriptive statistics are of critical importance in order to strengthen the safety of navigation. At this point, exploratory data analysis offers strategic outputs in terms of defining the problem and knowing the strengths and weaknesses against possible accident risk. The study aims to determine the accident characteristics in the Strait of Çanakkale with temporal and spatial analysis of historical data, using Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) as the research method. The study's results will reveal the general characteristics of maritime accidents in the region and form the infrastructure for future studies. Therefore, the text provides a clear description of the research goals and methodology, and the study's contributions are well-defined.

Keywords: maritime accidents, EDA, Strait of Çanakkale, navigational safety

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Authors: Neda Mehdipour, Mohammad Hasan Gerami, Reza Rahnama, Ali Hamzehpour, Hanieh Nemati

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Laurencia caspica (red macroalgae) Enteromorpha intestinalis and Cladophora glomerata (green macroalgae) are three major macroalgae that grow along the southern coasts of the Caspian Sea. We investigated spatial and temporal variation of these three macroalgal species on hard substrates and their relation with environmental factors in 2014. Sampling was done seasonally from spring to winter 2014 from eight sites. Results indicated that of these three species had heterogeneity distribution along southern parts of the Caspian Sea. In addition, C. glomerata was dominant taxa in all stations and had maximum contribution in dissimilarities between sampling sites. According to BIO-ENV salinity, pH and Silicate were the best subset variables for explaining changes in the abundance over time of the hard-substrates macroalgae fauna under study. However, the position of species in Redundancy Analysis (RDA) plot revealed that L. caspica associated with temperature, E. intestinalis with pH and C. glomerata associated with phosphate and silicate.

Keywords: macroalgae, distribution, environmental factors, Caspian Sea

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Authors: Md. Kamal Uddin

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Bangladesh is trying to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. Environmental Education (EE) is very vital to reaching the agenda of SDGs. However, a lack of environmental awareness and gaps in theoretical knowledge and its practices still exists in Bangladesh. Therefore, this research aims to understand the students’ perceptions of whether and how their behaviour is environment-friendly to achieve SDGs. It also addresses teachers’ perceptions of what are the shortcomings of environmental education in Bangladesh. It uses the qualitative and quantitative techniques of data collection and analysis based on in-depth interviews, surveys among different categories of participants and classroom observation. The paper finds that the level of EE and students’ awareness of the environment is inadequate. Some teachers believe that the EE is not better in Bangladesh due to the absence of practical learning of EE, lack of the motivations and actions, institutional weakness, inadequate policies, poor implementation, and cultural and traditional beliefs. Thus, this paper argues that Bangladeshi EE is not adequate to change the behaviour of the students towards the environment, which makes it difficult for the country to ensure SD. Thus, this research suggests that there is a need to revise the environmental education policy to change the behaviour and structure of the country for sustainable development.

Keywords: environmental education, sustainable development, environmental practice, environmental behaviour, Bangladesh

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Authors: Xiaofei Zhu

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As a 'weapon of the weak', the Public Interest Law can provide a better perspective for the cause of gender justice. In recent years, the legal practice of single female reproductive rights in China has already possessed the elements of public interest law activities and the possibility of public interest law operation. Through the general operating procedures of public interest law practice, that is, from the choice of subject, the planning of the case, the operation of the strategy and the later development, the paper analyzes the gains and losses of the legal practice of single female reproductive rights in China, and puts forward some ideas on its possible operation path. On this basis, it is believed that the cause of women's rights should be carried out under the broad human rights perspective; it is necessary to realize the particularity of different types of women's rights protection practice; the practice of public interest law needs to accurately grasp the constituent elements of all aspects of the case, and strive to find the opportunities of institutional and social change; the practice of public welfare law of gender justice should be carried out from a long-term perspective.

Keywords: single women’s reproductive rights, public interest law, gender justice, legal strategies, legal change

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Authors: Evren Ozgur, Kasim Kocak

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As a result of global warming and climate change, air temperature has increased and will continue to increase in the future. Increases in air temperatures have effects on a large number of variables in meteorology. One of the most important effects is the changes in the types of precipitation, especially in mid-latitudes. Because of increasing air temperatures, less snowfall was observed in the eastern parts of Turkey. Snowfall provides most of the water supply in spring and summer months, especially in mountainous regions of Turkey. When the temperature begins to increase in spring season, this snow starts to melt and plays an important role in agricultural purposes, drinking water supply and energy production. On the other hand, defining the snow season is very crucial especially in mountainous areas which have winter tourism opportunities. A reduction in the length of the snow season (LSS) in these regions will result in serious consequences in the long run. In the study, snow season was examined for 10 meteorological stations that are located above the altitude of 1000m. These stations have decreasing trends in the ratio of number of snowy days to total precipitation days considering earlier studies. Daily precipitation records with the observation period of 1971-2011 were used in the study. Then, the observation period was separated into 4 non-overlapping parts in order to identify decadal variations. Changes in the length of the snow season with increasing temperatures were obtained for these stations. The results of LSS were evaluated with the number of snowy days for each station. All stations have decreasing trend in number of snowy days for 1971-2011 period. In addition, seven of the results are statistically significant. Besides, decrease is observed regarding the length of snow season for studied stations. The decrease varies between 6.6 and 47.6 days according to decadal snow season averages of the stations.

Keywords: climate change, global warming, precipitation, snowfall, Turkey

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Authors: S. M. Kulkarni, D. S. Bormane, S. L. Nalbalwar

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The rapid development in the technology have dramatic impact on the medical health care field. Medical data base obtained with latest machines like CT Machine, MRI scanner requires large amount of memory storage and also it requires large bandwidth for transmission of data in telemedicine applications. Thus, there is need for video compression. As the database of medical images contain number of frames (slices), hence while coding of these images there is need of motion estimation. Motion estimation finds out movement of objects in an image sequence and gets motion vectors which represents estimated motion of object in the frame. In order to reduce temporal redundancy between successive frames of video sequence, motion compensation is preformed. In this paper three step search (TSS) block matching algorithm is implemented on different types of video sequences. It is shown that three step search algorithm produces better quality performance and less computational time compared with exhaustive full search algorithm.

Keywords: block matching, exhaustive search motion estimation, three step search, video compression

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Authors: Bright Msukwa

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Background: Malawi suffered economic instability, bad weather and massive flooding in the year 2015. A massive flood in the country, mainly in the southern region lead to damage of agriculture products. As a result, one of the heavily affected was Zingwangwa, Blantyre. Methods: We interviewed a selected number of houses residing in donor constructed temporal shelters and those still residing close to the floods prone areas in Zingwangwa, Blantyre. Results: About 67% of the population insisted that they resided on the land, which was prone to the floods as it belonged to their ancestors and their staying was part of preserving ancestral values. The remaining 23% of the population demonstrated economic challenges due to floods that contributed to the damage of their food crops, property and houses. Conclusion: Beliefs can negatively affect economic life improvement if mindsets are not changed among people in the rural area. Recommendation: Improving natural resource management, climate and disaster resilience.

Keywords: economic, belief, walfare, poverty

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Authors: Khaled Al-Mansour, Nawaf Esmael, Abdulaziz Al-Zaid, Mohammed Al Ateeqi, Ali Al-Yousfi, Sayed Al-Zalzalah

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In this project we will create the new schedule of nurse according to the preference of them. We did our project in Mubarak Al Kabeer Hospital (in Kuwait). The project aims to optimize the schedule of nurses in Mubarak Al Kabeer Hospital. The schedule of the nurses was studied and understood well to do any modification for their schedule to make the nurses feel as much comfort as they are. First constraints were found to know what things we can change and what things we can’t, the hard constraints are the hospital and ministry policies where we can’t change anything about, and the soft constraints are things that make nurses more comfortable. Data were collected and nurses were interviewed to know what is more better for them. All these constraints and date have been formulated to mathematical equations. This report will first contain an introduction to the topic which includes details of the problem definition. It will also contain information regarding the optimization of a nurse schedule and its contents and importance; furthermore, the report will contain information about the data needed to solve the problem and how it was collected. The problem requires formulation and that is also to be shown. The methodology will be explained which will state what has already been done. We used the lingo software to find the best schedule for the nurse. The schedule has been made according to what the nurses prefer, and also took consideration of the hospital policy when we make the schedule.

Keywords: nurse schedule problem, Kuwait, hospital policy, optimization of schedules

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Authors: Rodrigo I. Ullauri, Santiago E. Tinajero, Omar O. Ramos, Paola R. Quintana

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The increase of CO₂ emissions in the atmosphere and its impact on climate change is a global concern. The transportation sector is a significant consumer of fossil fuels and contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions. The current challenge is to find ways to reduce the use of fossil fuels in transportation. In Ecuador, where 92% of electricity is generated from clean sources, the concept of e-mobility is considered an attractive alternative to address the challenge of sustainable mobility. The proposal is to migrate from combustion-powered vehicles to electric vehicles in the electric companies of Ecuador, using a methodology to standardize criteria, determine specific requirements, contrast technical characteristics, and estimate emission reductions. The results showed that there are three categories of vehicles that have electric counterparts suitable for performing activities under certain operation parameters inherent to current technology limitations but with a significant contribution to the reduction of annual CO₂ emissions.

Keywords: climate change, electro mobility, energy, sustainable transportation

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Authors: Kevin Moustapha

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Psychopathy is perceived today as being «the most important concept in the criminal justice system» and as «the most important legal notion of the early 21 th century». The explosion of research related to psychopathy seems to perfectly illustrate this trend. Traditionally, many studies tend to focus on links between insanity defense and psychopathy. That is why our purpose in this article is to analyze psychopathic disorders in the scope of judges sentencing in Canada. Indeed, in every Canadian case related to dangerous offenders, judges must balance between fairness and protection of the individuals rights of the accused and protection of society from dangerous predators who may commit future acts of physical or sexual violence. Increasingly, psychopathic disorders are taking an important part in judge sentencing, especially in Canada. This phenomenon can be illustrated by the high proportion of psychopath offenders incarcerated in North American prisons. Many decisions in Canadians courtrooms seem to point out that psychopathy is often used as a strong argument by the judges to preserve public safety. The fact that psychopathy is often associated with violence, recklessness and recidivism, it could explain why many judges consider psychopathic disorders as an aggravating factor. Generally, the judge reasoning is based on article 753 of Canadian Criminal Code related to dangerous offenders, which is used for individuals who show a pattern of repetitive and persistent aggressive behaviour. However, with cognitive neurosciences, the psychopath’s situation in courtrooms would probably change. Cerebral imaging and news data provided by the neurosciences show that emotional and volitional functions in psychopath’s brains are impaired. Understanding these new issues could enable some judges to recognize psychopathic disorders as a mitigating factor. Two important questions ought to be raised in this article: can exploring psychopaths ‘brains really change the judge sentencing in Canadian courtrooms? If yes, can judges consider psychopathy more as a mitigating factor than an aggravating factor?

Keywords: criminal law, judges sentencing, neurosciences, psychopathy

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Authors: Armin Rahimi

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In this study, we reveal co-seismic signals of two combined earthquakes, the 2006 Mw8.3 thrust and 2007 Mw8.1 normal fault earthquakes of the central Kuril Islands from GRACE observations. We compute monthly full gravitational gradient tensor in the local north-east-down frame for Kuril Islands earthquakes without spatial averaging and de-striping filters. Some of the gravitational gradient components (e.g. ΔVxx, ΔVxz) enhance high frequency components of the earth gravity field and reveal more details in spatial and temporal domain. Therefore that preseismic activity can be better illustrated. We show that the positive-negative-positive co-seismic ΔVxx due to the Kuril Islands earthquakes ranges from − 0.13 to + 0.11 milli Eötvös, and ΔVxz shows a positive-negative-positive pattern ranges from − 0.16 to + 0.13 milli Eötvös, agree well with seismic model predictions.

Keywords: GRACE observation, gravitational gradient changes, Kuril island earthquakes, PSGRN/PSCMP

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Authors: Budi Nurani Ruchjana, Atje Setiawan Abdullah, I. Gede Nyoman Mindra Jaya, Eddy Hermawan

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In this paper, we propose the application package to estimate parameters of spatiotemporal model based on the multivariate time series analysis using the R open-source software. We build packages mainly to estimate the parameters of the Generalized Space Time Autoregressive (GSTAR) model. GSTAR is a combination of time series and spatial models that have parameters vary per location. We use the method of Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and use the Mean Average Percentage Error (MAPE) to fit the model to spatiotemporal real phenomenon. For case study, we use oil production data from volcanic layer at Jatibarang Indonesia or climate data such as rainfall in Indonesia. Software R is very user-friendly and it is making calculation easier, processing the data is accurate and faster. Limitations R script for the estimation of model parameters spatiotemporal GSTAR built is still limited to a stationary time series model. Therefore, the R program under windows can be developed either for theoretical studies and application.

Keywords: GSTAR Model, MAPE, OLS method, oil production, R software

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Authors: Heikki Ruohomaa, Vesa Salminen

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Regions are facing huge competition to attract companies, businesses, inhabitants, students, etc. This way to improve living and business environment, which is rapidly changing due to digitalization. On the other hand, from the industry's point of view, the availability of a skilled labor force and an innovative environment are crucial factors. In this context, qualified staff has been seen to utilize the opportunities of digitalization and respond to the needs of future skills. World Manufacturing Forum has stated in the year 2019- report that in next five years, 40% of workers have to change their core competencies. Through digital transformation, new technologies like cloud, mobile, big data, 5G- infrastructure, platform- technology, data- analysis, and social networks with increasing intelligence and automation, enterprises can capitalize on new opportunities and optimize existing operations to achieve significant business improvement. Digitalization will be an important part of the everyday life of citizens and present in the working day of the average citizen and employee in the future. For that reason, the education system and education programs on all levels of education from diaper age to doctorate have been directed to fulfill this ecosystem strategy. Goal: The Fourth Industrial Revolution will bring unprecedented change to societies, education organizations and business environments. This article aims to identify how education, education content, the way education has proceeded, and overall whole the education business is changing. Most important is how we should respond to this inevitable co- evolution. Methodology: The study aims to verify how the learning process is boosted by new digital content, new learning software and tools, and customer-oriented learning environments. The change of education programs and individual education modules can be supported by applied research projects. You can use them in making proof- of- the concept of new technology, new ways to teach and train, and through the experiences gathered change education content, way to educate and finally education business as a whole. Major findings: Applied research projects can prove the concept- phases on real environment field labs to test technology opportunities and new tools for training purposes. Customer-oriented applied research projects are also excellent for students to make assignments and use new knowledge and content and teachers to test new tools and create new ways to educate. New content and problem-based learning are used in future education modules. This article introduces some case study experiences on customer-oriented digital transformation projects and how gathered knowledge on new digital content and a new way to educate has influenced education. The case study is related to experiences of research projects, customer-oriented field labs/learning environments and education programs of Häme University of Applied Sciences.

Keywords: education process, digitalization content, digital tools for education, learning environments, transdisciplinary co-operation

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Authors: Rashid Farooq, Abdul Razzaq Ghumman, Hashim Nisar Hashmi

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Bridge piers often fail all over the world and the whole structure may be endangered due to scouring phenomena. Scouring has been linked to catastrophic failures that lead into the loss of human lives. Various techniques have been employed to extenuate the scouring process in order to assist the bridge designs. Pier modifications plays vital role to control scouring at the vicinity of the pier. This experimental study aims at monitoring the effectiveness of pier modification and temporal development of scour depth around a bridge pier by providing a collar, a cable or openings under the same flow conditions. Provision of a collar around the octagonal pier reduced more scour depth than that for other two configurations. Providing a collar around the octagonal pier found to be the best in reducing scour. The scour depth in front of pier was found to be 19.5% less than that at the octagonal pier without any modifications. Similarly, the scour depth around the octagonal pier having provision of a cable was less than that at pier with provision of openings. The scour depth around an octagonal pier was also compared with a plain circular pier and found to be 9.1% less.

Keywords: Scour, octagonal pier, collar, cable

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Authors: Dennis Infante

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This paper examined the reflections of teachers on curriculum reforms, the implementation of the K-12 Basic Education Program in the Philippines. The results revealed that problems and concerns raised by teachers could be classified into curriculum materials and design; competence, readiness and motivation of the teachers; the learning environment, and support systems; readiness, competence and motivation of students; and other relevant factors. The best features of the K-12 curriculum reforms included (1) the components, curriculum materials; (2) the design, structure and delivery of the lessons; (3) the framework and theoretical approach; (3) the qualities of the teaching-learning activities; (4) and other relevant features. With the demanding task of implementing the new curriculum, the teachers expressed their needs which included (1) making the curriculum materials available to achieve the goals of the curriculum reforms; (2) enrichment of the learning environments; (3) motivating and encouraging the teachers to embrace change; (4) providing appropriate support systems; (5) re-tooling, and empowering teachers to implement the curriculum reforms; and (6) other relevant factors. The research concluded with a synthesis that provided a paradigm for implementing curriculum reforms which recognizes the needs of the teachers and the features of the new curriculum.

Keywords: curriculum reforms, K-12, teachers' reflections, implementing curriculum change

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Authors: Ran Etgar, Sarit Freund

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Agile project management (APM) has been developed originally for software development project. Construction projects seemed to be more apt to traditional water-fall approach than to APM. However, Construction project suffers from similar problems that necessitated the invention of APM, mainly the need to break down the project structure to small increments, thus minimizing the needed managerial planning and design. Since the classical structure of APM is not applicable the way it is to construction project, a modified version of APM was devised. This method, nicknamed 'The anchor method', exploits the fundamentals of APM (i.e., iterations, or sprints of short time frames or timeboxes, cross-functional teams, risk reduction and adaptation to changes) and adjust them to the construction world. The projects had to be structured appropriately to proactively and quickly adapt to change. The method aims to encompass human behavior and lean towards adaptivity rather than predictability. To enable smooth application of the method, a special project management software was developed, so as to provide solid administrational help and accurate data. The method is tested on a bunch of construction projects and some key performance indicators (KPIs) are collected. According to preliminary results the method is indeed very advantageous and with proper assimilation can radically change the construction project management paradigm.

Keywords: agile project management, construction, information systems, project management

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Authors: Lorato Itumeleng Kenosi

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Background: Negative attitudes towards the mentally ill are widespread and a course for concern as they have a detrimental impact on individuals affected by mental illness. A possible avenue for changing attitudes towards mental illness is through mental health literacy. In a college or university setting, an abnormal psychology course may be introduced in an attempt to change student’s attitudes towards the mentally ill. Objective: To determine if and how students’ attitudes towards the mentally ill change as a result of taking a course in abnormal psychology. Methods: Twenty nine (29) students were recruited from an abnormal psychology class at the University of Botswana. Attitude Scale for Mental Illness (ASMI) questionnaire was administered to participants at the beginning and end of the semester. SPSS was employed to analyze data. Pooled means were used to determine whether the student’s attitudes towards mental illness were negative or positive. A mean of 2.5 translated to negative attitude for both total attitude and attitudes in different domains of the scale. Paired sample t-test was then used to assess whether any changes noted in attitudes were statistically significant or not. Statistical significance was assumed at p < 0.05. Results: Students’ general attitude towards mental illness remained positive although the pooled mean value increased from 2.08 to 2.24. The change was not statistically significant. In relation to different sub scales, the values of the pooled means for all the sub scales showed an increase although the changes were not statistically significant except for the Stereotyping sub scale (p = 0.031). The stereotyping domain reflected a statistically significant change in student’s attitude from positive attitude to negative (X² = 2.06 to X² = 2.55). For the pessimistic prediction domain, students consistently showed a negative attitude (X² = 3.34 to X² = 3.55). The other 4 domains indicated that students had positive attitude toward mentally ill throughout. Discussion: Abnormal psychology students have a positive attitude towards the mentally ill generally. This could be attributed to the fact that all students in the abnormal psychology course are majoring in psychology and research has shown that interest in psychology can affect one’s attitude towards mental illness. The students continuously held the view that people with mental illness are unlikely to improve as evidenced by a high score for Pessimistic prediction domain for both pre and post-test. Students initially had no stereotyping attitude towards the mentally ill, but at the end of the course, they were of the opinion that people with mental illness can be defined in a certain behavioural pattern and mental ability. This results could be an indication that students have learnt well how to differentiate abnormal from normal behaviour not necessarily that students had developed a negative attitude. Conclusion: A course in abnormal psychology does have an impact on the students’ attitudes towards the mentally ill. The impact does not solely depend on knowledge of mental illness but also on several other factors such as contact with the mentally ill, interest in psychology, and teaching methods. However, it should be noted that sometimes improved knowledge in mental illness can be misunderstood for a negative attitude. For example, stereotyping attitudes may be a reflection of the ability to differentiate between abnormal and normal behaviour.

Keywords: attitudes, mental illness, psychopathology, students

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Authors: S. Vavias, T. R. Brewer, T. S. Farewell

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Coastal floods have been identified as an important natural hazard that can cause significant damage to the populated built-up areas, related infrastructure and also ecosystems and habitats. This study attempts to fill the gap associated with the development of preliminary assessments of coastal flood vulnerability for compliance with the EU Directive on the Assessment and Management of Flood Risks (2007/60/EC). In this context, a methodology has been created by taking into account three major parameters; the maximum wave run-up modelled from historical weather observations, the highest tide according to historic time series, and the sea level rise projections due to climate change. A high resolution digital terrain model (DTM) derived from LIDAR data has been used to integrate the estimated flood events in a GIS environment. The flood vulnerability map created shows potential risk areas and can play a crucial role in the coastal zone planning process. The proposed method has the potential to be a powerful tool for policy and decision makers for spatial planning and strategic management.

Keywords: coastal floods, vulnerability mapping, climate change, extreme weather events

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Authors: Mirza Waseem Abbas, Syed Danish Raza

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For many countries agriculture is still the major force driving the economy and a critically important socioeconomic sector, despite exceptional industrial development across the globe. In countries like Pakistan, this sector is considered the backbone of the economy, and most of the economic decision making revolves around agricultural outputs and data. Timely and accurate facts and figures about this vital sector hold immense significance and have serious implications for the long-term development of the economy. Therefore, any significant improvements in the statistics and other forms of data regarding agriculture sector are considered important by all policymakers. This is especially true for decision making for the betterment of crops and the agriculture sector in general. Provincial and federal agricultural departments collect data for all cash and non-cash crops and the sector, in general, every year. Traditional data collection for such a large sector i.e. agriculture, being time-consuming, prone to human error and labor-intensive, is slowly but gradually being replaced by remote sensing techniques. For this study, remotely sensed data were used for change detection (machine learning, supervised & unsupervised classification) to assess the increase or decrease in area under agriculture over the last fifteen years due to urbanization. Detailed Landsat Images for the selected agricultural districts were acquired for the year 2000 and compared to images of the same area acquired for the year 2016. Observed differences validated through detailed analysis of the areas show that there was a considerable decrease in vegetation during the last fifteen years in four major agricultural districts of the Punjab province due to urbanization (housing societies).

Keywords: change detection, area estimation, machine learning, urbanization, remote sensing

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Authors: Sherry Ann Ganase, Sandra Sookram

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In this paper, the vulnerability level to climate change is analysed using a comprehensive index, consisting of five pillars: human, social, natural, physical, and financial. A structural equation model is also applied to determine the indicators and relationships that exist between the observed environmental changes and the quality of life. Using survey data to model the results, a value of 0.382 is derived as the vulnerability level for San Pedro, where values closer to zero indicates lower vulnerability and values closer to one indicates higher vulnerability. The results showed the social pillar to be most vulnerable, with the indicator ‘participation’ ranked the highest in its cohort. Although, the environmental pillar is ranked as least vulnerable, the indicators ‘hazard’ and ‘biodiversity’ obtained scores closer to 0.4, suggesting that changes in the environment are occurring from natural and anthropogenic activities. These changes can negatively influence the quality of life as illustrated in the structural equation modelling. The study concludes by reporting on the need for collective action and participation by households in lowering vulnerability to ensure sustainable development and livelihood.

Keywords: climate change, participation, San Pedro, structural equation model, vulnerability index

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Authors: Woraya Som-Indra

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This article purposes to decode the notion of democracy embedded in the political speeches of Aung San Su Kyi by adopting critical discourse analysis approach, using Systemic Function Linguistics (SFL) and transitivity as a vital analytical tool. Two main objectives of the study are 1) to analyze linguistic strategies constituted the crucial characteristics of Su Kyi's political speeches by employing SFL and transitivity and 2) to examine ideology manifested the notion of democracy behind Su Kyi’s political speeches. The data consists of four speeches of Su Kyi delivering in different places within the year 2011 broadcasted through the website of US campaign for Burma. By employing linguistic tool and the concept of ideology as an analytical frame, the word choice selection found in the speeches assist explaining the manifestation of Su Kyi’s ideology toward democracy and power struggle. The finding revealed eight characters of word choice projected from Su Kyi’s political speeches, as follows; 1) support, hope and encouragement which render the recipients to uphold with the mutual aim to fight for democracy together and moving forwards for change and solution in the future, 2) aim and achievement evoke the recipients to attach with the purpose to fight for democracy, 3) challenge and change release energy to challenge the present political regime of Burma to change to the new political regime of democracy, 4) action, doing and taking signify the action and practical process to call for a new political regime, 5) struggle represents power struggle during the process of democracy requesting and it could refer to her long period of house arrest in Burma, 6) freedom implies what she has been long fighting for- to be released from house arrest, be able to access to the freedom of speech related to political ideology, and moreover, be able to speak out for the people of Burmese about their desirable political regime and political participation, 7) share and scarify call the recipients to have the spirit of shared value in the process of acquiring democracy, and 8) solution and achievement remind her recipients of what they have been long fighting for, and what could lead them to reach out the mutual achievement of a new political regime, i.e. democracy. Those word choice selections are plausible representation of democracy notion in Su Kyi’s terms. Due to her long journey of fighting for democracy in Burma, Suu Kyi’s political speeches always possess tremendously strong leadership characteristic, using words of wisdom and moreover, they are encoded with a wide range of words related to democracy ideology in order to push forward the future change into the Burma’s political regime.

Keywords: Aung San Su Kyi’s speeches, critical discourse analysis, democracy ideology, systemic function linguistics, transitivity

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Authors: Chen Xi, Liu Xuebing, Lao Xuerui, Kuan Sinman, Jiang Yike, Wang Hanwei, Yang Xiaolang, Zhou Junjie, Xie Jinpeng

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Climate change is a global problem facing humanity and this is now the consensus of the mainstream scientific community. In accordance with the carbon peak and carbon neutral targets and visions set out in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, this project uses the City Intelligent Model (CIM) and Artificial Intelligence Machine Vision (ICR) as the core technologies to accurately quantify low carbon behaviour into green corn, which is a means of guiding ecologically sustainable living patterns. Using individual communities as management units and blockchain as a guarantee of fairness in the whole cycle of green currency circulation, the project will form a modern resident carbon track management system based on the principle of enhancing the ecological resilience of communities and the cohesiveness of community residents, ultimately forming an ecologically sustainable smart village that can be self-organised and managed.

Keywords: urban planning, urban governance, CIM, artificial Intelligence, sustainable development

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Authors: K. Thakkar, C. Ghenai

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An integrated modeling approach was used in this study to (1) track energy consumption, production, and resource extraction, (2) track greenhouse gases emissions and (3) analyze emissions for local and regional air pollutions. The model was used in this study for short and long term energy and GHG emissions reduction analysis for the state of Florida. The integrated modeling methodology will help to evaluate the alternative energy scenarios and examine emissions-reduction strategies. The mitigation scenarios have been designed to describe the future energy strategies. They consist of various demand and supply side scenarios. One of the GHG mitigation scenarios is crafted by taking into account the available renewable resources potential for power generation in the state of Florida to compare and analyze the GHG reduction measure against ‘Business As Usual’ and ‘Florida State Policy’ scenario. Two more ‘integrated’ scenarios, (‘Electrification’ and ‘Efficiency and Lifestyle’) are crafted through combination of various mitigation scenarios to assess the cumulative impact of the reduction measures such as technological changes and energy efficiency and conservation.

Keywords: energy planning, climate change mitigation assessment, integrated modeling approach, energy alternatives, and GHG emission reductions

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Authors: Ishita Singh

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Social-dimension of Climate Change is no longer peripheral to Science, Technology and Innovation (STI). Indeed, STI is being mobilized to address small farmers’ vulnerability and adaptation to Climate Change. The experiences from the cold desert of Leh (Ladakh) in North-West Himalaya illustrate the potential of STI to address the challenges of Climate Change and the needs of small farmers through the use of Artificial Glacier Techniques. Small farmers have a unique technique of water harvesting to augment irrigation, called “Artificial Glaciers” - an intricate network of water channels and dams along the upper slope of a valley that are located closer to villages and at lower altitudes than natural glaciers. It starts to melt much earlier and supplements additional irrigation to small farmers’ improving their livelihoods. Therefore, the issue of vulnerability, adaptive capacity and adaptation strategy needs to be analyzed in a local context and the communities as well as regions where people live. Leh (Ladakh) in North-West Himalaya provides a Case Study for exploring the ways in which adaptation to Climate Change is taking place at a community scale using Artificial Glacier Technology. With the above backdrop, an attempt has been made to analyze the rural poor households' vulnerability and adaptation practices to Climate Change using this technology, thereby drawing lessons on vulnerability-livelihood interactions in the cold desert of Leh (Ladakh) in North-West Himalaya, India. The study is based on primary data and information collected from 675 households confined to 27 villages of Leh (Ladakh) in North-West Himalaya, India. It reveals that 61.18% of the population is driving livelihoods from agriculture and allied activities. With increased irrigation potential due to the use of Artificial Glaciers, food security has been assured to 77.56% of households and health vulnerability has been reduced in 31% of households. Seasonal migration as a livelihood diversification mechanism has declined in nearly two-thirds of households, thereby improving livelihood strategies. Use of tactical adaptations by small farmers in response to persistent droughts, such as selling livestock, expanding agriculture lands, and use of relief cash and foods, have declined to 20.44%, 24.74% and 63% of households. However, these measures are unsustainable on a long-term basis. The role of policymakers and societal stakeholders becomes important in this context. To address livelihood challenges, the role of technology is critical in a multidisciplinary approach involving multilateral collaboration among different stakeholders. The presence of social entrepreneurs and new actors on the adaptation scene is necessary to bring forth adaptation measures. Better linkage between Science and Technology policies, together with other policies, should be encouraged. Better health care, access to safe drinking water, better sanitary conditions, and improved standards of education and infrastructure are effective measures to enhance a community’s adaptive capacity. However, social transfers for supporting climate adaptive capacity require significant amounts of additional investment. Developing institutional mechanisms for specific adaptation interventions can be one of the most effective ways of implementing a plan to enhance adaptation and build resilience.

Keywords: climate change, adaptation, livelihood, stakeholders

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Authors: A. U. Haque, W. Asrar, A. A Omar, E. Sulaeman, J. S. M. Ali

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Buoyancy force applied on deformable symmetric bodies can be estimated by using Archimedes Principle. Such bodies like ellipsoidal bodies have high volume to surface ratio and are isometrically scaled for mass, length, area and volume to follow square cube law. For scaling up such bodies, it is worthwhile to find out the scaling relationship between the other physical quantities that represent thermodynamic, structural and inertial response etc. So, dimensionless similarities to find an allometric scale can be developed by using Bukingham π theorem which utilizes physical dimensions of important parameters. Base on this fact, physical dependencies of buoyancy system are reviewed to find the set of physical variables for deformable bodies of revolution filled with expandable gas like helium. Due to change in atmospheric conditions, this gas changes its volume and this change can effect the stability of elongated bodies on the ground as well as in te air. Special emphasis was given on the existing similarity parameters which can be used in the design of experiments of such bodies whose shape is affected by the external force like a drag, surface tension and kinetic loads acting on the surface. All these similarity criteria are based on non-dimensionalization, which also needs to be consider for scaling up such bodies.

Keywords: Bukhigham pi theorem, similitude, scaling, buoyancy

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