Search results for: case analysis of knowledge versus practice

Authors: A. Basheer Ahamadhu, Kiran Kaur, Zainab Ajab Mohideen, Sukmawati Muhammad, Noor Azlinda Wan Jan

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Library management facing favorable conditions and unexpected challenges in the century of information technology. They were having been under pressure to meet their duties to meet the information needs of customers. An information technology has brought big changes to the traditional methods of library work. Libraries need to evaluate, measuring effect information technology to them. This would equip them with the knowledge to make effective information technology to enhance their services. Recognizing the importance of development an electronic library, this research investigated their willingness to change from the traditional library based on the level of automation for the digital library initiatives, review both of the problems associated with digital library and public and terms to be considered for future growth. The main components have been inspected, such as grip library, demographic automations and digitization projects, digital library related to budgetary problems, the thought leader in the electronic library practices library, and the situation viewed for future growth. Libraries have run several digitization projects, at the level of institutions and countries but still needs more efforts in order to bring it to higher levels.

Keywords: academic library, electronic library, information technology, information commons, web pages library

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Authors: Tan Swee Liang

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This paper studies the two-way relationship between fintech credit and banking efficiency using the Generalized panel Method of Moment (GMM) estimation in structural equation modeling (SEM). Banking system efficiency, defined as its ability to produce the existing level of outputs with minimal inputs, is measured using input-oriented data envelopment analysis (DEA), where the whole banking system of an economy is treated as a single DMU. Banks are considered an intermediary between depositors and borrowers, utilizing inputs (deposits and overhead costs) to provide outputs (increase credits to the private sector and its earnings). Analysis of the interrelationship between fintech credit and bank efficiency is conducted to determine the impact in different country groupings (ASEAN, Asia and OECD), in particular the banking system response to fintech credit platforms. Our preliminary results show that banks do respond to the greater pressure caused by fintech platforms to enhance their efficiency, but differently across the different groups. The author’s earlier research on ASEAN-5 high bank overhead costs (as a share of total assets) as the determinant of economic growth suggests that expenses may not have been channeled efficiently to income-generating activities. One practical implication of the findings is that policymakers should enable alternative financing, such as fintech credit, as a warning or encouragement for banks to improve their efficiency.

Keywords: fintech lending, banking efficiency, data envelopment analysis, structural equation modeling

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Authors: Shin-Hyung Cho, Dong-Kyu Kim, Seung-Young Kho

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Truck-involved crashes have higher crash severity than non-truck-involved crashes. There have been many studies about the frequency of crashes and the development of severity models, but those studies only analyzed the relationship between observed variables. To identify why more people are injured or killed when trucks are involved in the crash, we must examine to quantify the complex causal relationship between severity of the crash and risk factors by adopting the latent factors of crashes. The aim of this study was to develop a structural equation or model based on truck-involved and non-truck-involved crashes, including five latent variables, i.e. a crash factor, environmental factor, road factor, driver’s factor, and severity factor. To clarify the unique characteristics of truck-involved crashes compared to non-truck-involved crashes, a confirmatory analysis method was used. To develop the model, we extracted crash data from 10,083 crashes on Korean freeways from 2008 through 2014. The results showed that the most significant variable affecting the severity of a crash is the crash factor, which can be expressed by the location, cause, and type of the crash. For non-truck-involved crashes, the crash and environment factors increase severity of the crash; conversely, the road and driver factors tend to reduce severity of the crash. For truck-involved crashes, the driver factor has a significant effect on severity of the crash although its effect is slightly less than the crash factor. The multiple group analysis employed to analyze the differences between the heterogeneous groups of drivers.

Keywords: crash severity, structural structural equation modeling (SEM), truck-involved crashes, multiple group analysis, crash on freeway

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Authors: Roland F. Karthaus, Rachel S. O'Brien

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Over the past decade, the authors have undertaken applied research aimed at enabling transformation within the prison service to improve conditions and outcomes for those living, working and visiting in prisons in the UK and the communities they serve. The research has taken place against a context of reducing resources and public discontent at increasing levels of violence, deteriorating conditions and persistently high levels of re-offending. Top-down governmental policies have mainly been ineffectual and in some cases counter-productive. The prison service is characterised by hierarchical organisation, and the research has applied design thinking at multiple levels to challenge and precipitate change: top-down, middle-out and bottom-up. The research employs three distinct but related approaches, system design (top-down): working at the national policy level to analyse the changing policy context, identifying opportunities and challenges; engaging with the Ministry of Justice commissioners and sector organisations to facilitate debate, introducing new evidence and provoking creative thinking, place-based design (middle-out): working with individual prison establishments as pilots to illustrate and test the potential for local empowerment, creative change, and improved architecture within place-specific contexts and organisational hierarchies, everyday design (bottom-up): working with individuals in the system to explore the potential for localised, significant, demonstrator changes; including collaborative design, capacity building and empowerment in skills, employment, communication, training, and other activities. The research spans a series of projects, through which the methodological approach has developed responsively. The projects include a place-based model for the re-purposing of Ministry of Justice land assets for the purposes of rehabilitation; an evidence-based guide to improve prison design for health and well-being; capacity-based employment, skills and self-build project as a template for future open prisons. The overarching research has enabled knowledge to be developed and disseminated through policy and academic networks. Whilst the research remains live and continuing; key findings are emerging as a basis for a new methodological approach to effecting change in the UK prison service. An interdisciplinary approach is necessary to overcome the barriers between distinct areas of the prison service. Sometimes referred to as total environments, prisons encompass entire social and physical environments which themselves are orchestrated by institutional arms of government, resulting in complex systems that cannot be meaningfully engaged through narrow disciplinary lenses. A scalar approach is necessary to connect strategic policies with individual experiences and potential, through the medium of individual prison establishments, operating as discrete entities within the system. A reflexive process is necessary to connect research with action in a responsive mode, learning to adapt as the system itself is changing. The role of individuals in the system, their latent knowledge and experience and their ability to engage and become agents of change are essential. Whilst the specific characteristics of the UK prison system are unique, the approach is internationally applicable.

Keywords: architecture, design, policy, prison, system, transformation

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Authors: Chady El Hachem, Pan Ye, Kamilia Abahri, Rachid Bennacer

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Considered as a building construction material, and regarding its environmental benefits, wood fiber insulation is the material of interest in this work. The definition of adequate elementary representative volume that guarantees reliable understanding of the hygrothermal macroscopic phenomena is very critical. At the microscopic scale, when subjected to hygric solicitations, fibers undergo local dimensionless variations. It is therefore necessary to master this behavior, which affects the global response of the material. This study consists of an experimental procedure using the non-destructive method, X-ray tomography, followed by morphological post-processing analysis using ImageJ software. A refine investigation took place in order to identify the representative elementary volume and the sufficient resolution for accurate structural analysis. The second part of this work was to evaluate the microscopic hygric behavior of the studied material. Many parameters were taken into consideration, like the evolution of the fiber diameters, distribution along the sorption cycle and the porosity, and the water content evolution. In addition, heat transfer simulations based on the energy equation resolution were achieved on the real structure. Further, the problematic of representative elementary volume was elaborated for such heterogeneous material. Moreover, the material’s porosity and its fibers’ thicknesses show very big correlation with the water content. These results provide the literature with very good understanding of wood fiber insulation’s behavior.

Keywords: hygric behavior, morphological characterization, wood fiber insulation material, x-ray tomography

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Authors: Mengdi Zhang, Zhenji Gao, Ning Kang, Rongmei Liu

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Management and application of geological big data is an important part of China's national big data strategy. With the implementation of a national big data strategy, geological big data management becomes more and more critical. At present, there are still a lot of technology barriers as well as cognition chaos in many aspects of geological big data management and application, such as data sharing, intellectual property protection, and application technology. Therefore, it’s a key task to make better use of new technologies for deeper delving and wider application of geological big data. In this paper, we briefly introduce the basic principle of blockchain technology at the beginning and then make an analysis of the application dilemma of geological data. Based on the current analysis, we bring forward some feasible patterns and scenarios for the blockchain application in geological big data and put forward serval suggestions for future work in geological big data management.

Keywords: blockchain, intellectual property protection, geological data, big data management

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Authors: Wiem Gadri

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This study delves into the intriguing properties of Pisot and Salem numbers within the framework of formal Laurent series over finite fields, a domain where these numbers’ spectral charac-teristics, Λm(β) and lm(β), have yet to be fully explored. Utilizing a methodological approach that combines algebraic number theory with the analysis of power series, we extend the foundational work of Erdos, Joo, and Komornik to this new setting. Our research uncovers bounds for lm(β), revealing how these depend on the degree of the minimal polynomial of β and thus offering a novel characterization of Pisot and Salem formal power series. The findings significantly contribute to our understanding of these numbers, highlighting their distribution and properties in the context of formal power series. This investigation not only bridges number theory with formal power series analysis but also sets the stage for further interdisciplinary research in these areas.

Keywords: Pisot numbers, Salem numbers, formal power series, over a finite field

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Authors: Hana Rabbouch

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In recent years, there has been considerable growth of denoising techniques mainly devoted to medical imaging. This important evolution is not only due to the progress of computing techniques, but also to the emergence of multi-resolution analysis (MRA) on both mathematical and algorithmic bases. In this paper, a comparative study is conducted between the two best-known MRA-based decomposition techniques: the Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) and the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT). The comparison is carried out in a framework of multi-scale denoising, where a Non-Local Means (NLM) filter is performed scale-by-scale to a sample of benchmark medical images. The results prove the effectiveness of the multiscaled denoising, especially when the NLM filtering is coupled with the EMD.

Keywords: medical imaging, non local means, denoising, multiscaled analysis, empirical mode decomposition, wavelets

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Authors: Om Prakash Keshri, Anand Kumar, Vinod K. Gupta

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In the present study, the effect of gravity modulation on the onset of convection in viscous fluid layer under the influence of induced magnetic field, salted from above on the boundaries, has been investigated. Linear and nonlinear stability analysis has been performed. A linear stability analysis is performed to show that the gravity modulation can significantly affect the stability limits of the system. A method based on small amplitude of the modulation is used to compute the critical value of Rayleigh number and wave number. The effect of Smith number, salute Rayleigh number and magnetic Prandtl number on the stability of the system is investigated.

Keywords: viscous fluid, induced magnetic field, gravity modulation, salute convection

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Authors: Ioan Rusu

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Let us consider that the entire universe is composed of a single hydrogen atom within which the electron is moving around the proton. In this case, according to classical theories of physics, radiation and photons, respectively, should be absorbed by the electron. Depending on the number of photons absorbed, the electron radius of rotation around the proton is established. Until now, the principle of photon absorption by electrons and the electron transition to a new energy level, namely to a higher radius of rotation around the proton, is not clarified in physics. This paper aims to demonstrate that photons have mass and negative electrostatic charge similar to electrons but infinitely smaller. The experiments which demonstrate this theory are simple: thermal expansion, photoelectric effect and thermonuclear reaction.

Keywords: electrostatic, electron, photon, proton, radiation

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Authors: Adila Shaukat, Hussam Al Soub, Muna Al Maslamani, Abdullatif Al Khal

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Background: The aim of this study was to assess clinical presentation and antimicrobial susceptibility of Streptococcus (S.) anginosus group infections in Hamad General Hospital, a tertiary care hospital in the state of Qatar, which is a multinational community. The S. anginosus group is a subgroup of viridans streptococci that consist of 3 different species: S. anginosus, S. constellatus, and S. intermedius. Although a part of the human bacteria flora, they have potential to cause suppurative infections. Method: We studied a total of 101 patients with S. anginosus group infections from January 2006 until March 2012 by reviewing medical records and identification of organisms by VITEK 2 and MALDI-TOF. Results: The most common sites of infection were skin and soft tissue, intra-abdominal, and bacteremia (28.7%, 24.8%, and 22.7%, respectively). Abscess formation was seen in approximately 30% of patients. Streptococcus constellatus was the most common isolated species (40%) followed by S. anginosus(30%) and S. intermedius(7%). In 23% of specimens, the species was unidentified. The most common type of specimen for organism isolation was blood followed by pus and tissue (50%, 22%, and 8%, respectively). Streptococcus constellatus was more frequently associated with abdominal and skin and soft tissue infections than the other 2 species, whereas S. anginosus was isolated more frequently from blood. All isolates were susceptible to penicillin, ceftriaxone, and vancomycin. Susceptibility to erythromycin and clindamycin was also good, reaching 91% and 95%, respectively. Forty percent of patients needed surgical drainage along with antibiotic therapy. Conclusions: Identification of S. anginosus group to species level is helpful in clinical practice because different species exhibit different pathogenic potentials.

Keywords: abscess, bacterial infection, bacteremia, Streptococcus anginosus

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Authors: Jaime E. Fernandez, Pablo J. Valverde

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This paper presents a methodological approach that aims to contrast/validate theoretical results from a corruption network game through probabilistic analysis of simulated microdata using Bayesian Networks (BNs). The research develops a public corruption model in a game theory framework. Theoretical results suggest a series of 'optimal settings' of model's exogenous parameters that boost the emergence of corruption. The paper contrasts these outcomes with probabilistic inference results based on BNs adjusted over simulated microdata. Principal findings indicate that probabilistic reasoning based on BNs significantly improves parameter specification and causal analysis in a public corruption game.

Keywords: Bayesian networks, probabilistic reasoning, public corruption, theoretical games

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Authors: A. Hany A. Khater, G. M. Mostafa, M. R. Badawy

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The techno-economic analysis of the nuclear desalination is a very important tool that enables studying of the mutual effects between the nuclear power plant and the coupled desalination plant under different operating conditions, and hence investigating the feasibility of safe and economical production of potable water. For this purpose, a comprehensive model for both technical and economic performance evaluation of the nuclear desalination has been prepared. The developed model has the capability to be used in performing a parametric study for the performance measuring parameters of the nuclear desalination system. Also a sensitivity analysis of varying important factors such as interest/discount rate, power plant availability, fossil fuel prices, purchased electricity price, nuclear fuel cost, and specific base cost for both power and water plant has been conducted.

Keywords: uclear desalination, PWR, MED, MED-TVC, MSF, RO

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Authors: Yu-Jen Chang, Yun Chen, Hei-Lam Wong

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The Economic Lot Scheduling Problem (ELSP) is a valuable mathematical model that can support decision-makers to make scheduling decisions. The basic period approach is effective for solving the ELSP. The assumption for applying the basic period approach is that a product must use its maximum production rate to be produced. However, a product can lower its production rate to reduce the average total cost when a facility has extra idle time. The past researches discussed how a product adjusts its production rate under the common cycle approach. To the best of our knowledge, no studies have addressed how a product lowers its production rate under the basic period approach. This research is the first paper to discuss this topic. The research develops a simple fixed rate approach that adjusts the production rate of a product under the basic period approach to solve the ELSP. Our numerical example shows our approach can find a better solution than the traditional basic period approach. Our mathematical model that applies the fixed rate approach under the basic period approach can serve as a reference for other related researches.

Keywords: economic lot, basic period, genetic algorithm, fixed rate

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Authors: Vanessa Morgado, Ricardo Bettencourt da Silva, Carla Palma

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The environmental pollution by microplastics is well recognized. Microplastics were already detected in various matrices from distinct environmental compartments worldwide, some from remote areas. Various methodologies and techniques have been used to determine microplastic in such matrices, for instance, sediment samples from the ocean bottom. In order to determine microplastics in a sediment matrix, the sample is typically sieved through a 5 mm mesh, digested to remove the organic matter, and density separated to isolate microplastics from the denser part of the sediment. The physical analysis of microplastic consists of visual analysis under a stereomicroscope to determine particle size, colour, and shape. The chemical analysis is performed by an infrared spectrometer coupled to a microscope (micro-FTIR), allowing to the identification of the chemical composition of microplastic, i.e., the type of polymer. Creating legislation and policies to control and manage (micro)plastic pollution is essential to protect the environment, namely the coastal areas. The regulation is defined from the known relevance and trends of the pollution type. This work discusses the assessment of contamination trends of a 700 km² oceanic area affected by contamination heterogeneity, sampling representativeness, and the uncertainty of the analysis of collected samples. The methodology developed consists of objectively identifying meaningful variations of microplastic contamination by the Monte Carlo simulation of all uncertainty sources. This work allowed us to unequivocally conclude that the contamination level of the studied area did not vary significantly between two consecutive years (2018 and 2019) and that PET microplastics are the major type of polymer. The comparison of contamination levels was performed for a 99% confidence level. The developed know-how is crucial for the objective and binding determination of microplastic contamination in relevant environmental compartments.

Keywords: measurement uncertainty, micro-ATR-FTIR, microplastics, ocean contamination, sampling uncertainty

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Authors: Hasliza A. Rahim, Fareq Malek, Nur A. M. Affendi, Azuwa Ali, Norshafinash Saudin, Latifah Mohamed

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This paper presents the experimental investigation of on-body channel fading at 2.45 GHz considering two effects of the user body movement; stationary and mobile. A pair of body-worn antennas was utilized in this measurement campaign. A statistical analysis was performed by comparing the measured on-body path loss to five well-known distributions; lognormal, normal, Nakagami, Weibull and Rayleigh. The results showed that the average path loss of moving arm varied higher than the path loss in sitting position for upper-arm-to-left-chest link, up to 3.5 dB. The analysis also concluded that the Nakagami distribution provided the best fit for most of on-body static link path loss in standing still and sitting position, while the arm movement can be best described by log-normal distribution.

Keywords: on-body channel communications, fading characteristics, statistical model, body movement

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Authors: Reiko Yamamoto

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This paper reports on a joint research project in which a researcher in applied linguistics and elementary school teachers in Japan explored new ways to realize emotional synchrony in a classroom in childhood education. The primary purpose of this project was to develop a cross-curriculum of the first language (L1) and second language (L2) based on the concept of plurilingualism. This concept is common in Europe, and can-do statements are used in forming the standard of linguistic proficiency in any language; these are attributed to the action-oriented approach in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). CEFR has a basic tenet of language education: improving communicative competence. Can-do statements are classified into five categories based on the tenet: reading, writing, listening, speaking/ interaction, and speaking/ speech. The first approach of this research was to specify the linguistic proficiency of the children, who are still developing their L1. Elementary school teachers brainstormed and specified the linguistic proficiency of the children as the competency needed to synchronize with others – teachers or peers – physically and mentally. The teachers formed original can-do statements in language proficiency on the basis of the idea that emotional synchrony leads to understanding others in communication. The research objectives are to determine the effect of language education based on the newly developed curriculum and can-do statements. The participants of the experiment were 72 third-graders in Uji Elementary School, Japan. For the experiment, 17 items were developed from the can-do statements formed by the teachers and divided into the same five categories as those of CEFR. A can-do checklist consisting of the items was created. The experiment consisted of three steps: first, the students evaluated themselves using the can-do checklist at the beginning of the school year. Second, one year of instruction was given to the students in Japanese and English classes (six periods a week). Third, the students evaluated themselves using the same can-do checklist at the end of the school year. The results of statistical analysis showed an enhancement of linguistic proficiency of the students. The average results of the post-check exceeded that of the pre-check in 12 out of the 17 items. Moreover, significant differences were shown in four items, three of which belonged to the same category: speaking/ interaction. It is concluded that children can get to understand others’ minds through physical and emotional synchrony. In particular, emotional synchrony is what teachers should aim at in childhood education.

Keywords: elementary school education, emotional synchrony, language proficiency, sympathy with others

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Authors: Ould Bouamama, M. Bressel, D. Hissel, M. Hilairet

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Fuel cell (FC) is one of the best alternatives of fossil energy. Recently, the research community of fuel cell has shown a considerable interest for diagnosis in view to ensure safety, security, and availability when faults occur in the process. The problematic for model based FC diagnosis consists in that the model is complex because of coupling of several kind of energies and the numerical values of parameters are not always known or are uncertain. The present paper deals with use of one tool: the Linear Fractional Transformation bond graph tool not only for uncertain modelling but also for monitorability (ability to detect and isolate faults) analysis and formal generation of robust fault indicators with respect to parameter uncertainties.The developed theory applied to a nonlinear FC system has proved its efficiency.

Keywords: bond graph, fuel cell, fault detection and isolation (FDI), robust diagnosis, structural analysis

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Authors: Seon Tae Kim, Robert Hegner, Goksel Ozuylasi, Panagiotis Stathopoulos, Eberhard Nicke

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High-temperature heat pumps (HTHP) that can supply heat at temperatures above 200°C can enhance the energy efficiency of industrial processes and reduce the CO₂ emissions connected with the heat supply of these processes. In the current work, the thermodynamic performance of 3 different vapor compression cycles, which use R-718 (water) as a working medium, have been evaluated by using a commercial process simulation tool (EBSILON Professional). All considered cycles use two-stage vapor compression with intercooling between stages. The main aim of the study is to compare different intercooling strategies and study possible heat recovery scenarios within the intercooling process. This comparison has been carried out by computing the coefficient of performance (COP), the heat supply temperature level, and the respective mass flow rate of water for all cycle architectures. With increasing temperature difference between the heat source and heat sink, ∆T, the COP values decreased as expected, and the highest COP value was found for the cycle configurations where both compressors have the same pressure ratio (PR). The investigation on the HTHP capacities with optimized PR and exergy analysis has also been carried out. The internal heat exchanger cycle with the inward direction of secondary flow (IHX-in) showed a higher temperature level and exergy efficiency compared to other cycles. Moreover, the available operating range was estimated by considering mechanical limitations.

Keywords: high temperature heat pump, industrial process, vapor compression cycle, R-718 (water), thermodynamic analysis

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Authors: Anyapak Prapannetivuth

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The purpose of this research is to investigate the marketing mix that is perceived to be important for the small sized hotels in Pattaya. Unlike previous studies, this research provides insights through a review of the marketing activities performed by the small sized hotels. Nine owners and marketing manager of small sized hotels and resorts, all local Chonburi people, were selected for an in-depth interview. A snowball sampling process was employed. The research suggests that seven marketing mixes (e.g. Product, Price, Place, Promotion, People, Physical Evidence and Process) were commonly used by these hotels, however, three types – People, price and physical evidence were considered most important by the owners.

Keywords: marketing mix, marketing tools, small sized hotels, pattaya

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Authors: Mohd Khairul Bazli Mohd Aziz, Fadhilah Yusof, Zulkifli Yusop, Zalina Mohd Daud, Mohammad Afif Kasno

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Recent developed rainfall network design techniques have been discussed and compared by many researchers worldwide due to the demand of acquiring higher levels of accuracy from collected data. In many studies, rain-gauge networks are designed to provide good estimation for areal rainfall and for flood modelling and prediction. In a certain study, even using lumped models for flood forecasting, a proper gauge network can significantly improve the results. Therefore existing rainfall network in Johor must be optimized and redesigned in order to meet the required level of accuracy preset by rainfall data users. The well-known geostatistics method (variance-reduction method) that is combined with simulated annealing was used as an algorithm of optimization in this study to obtain the optimal number and locations of the rain gauges. Rain gauge network structure is not only dependent on the station density; station location also plays an important role in determining whether information is acquired accurately. The existing network of 84 rain gauges in Johor is optimized and redesigned by using rainfall, humidity, solar radiation, temperature and wind speed data during monsoon season (November – February) for the period of 1975 – 2008. Three different semivariogram models which are Spherical, Gaussian and Exponential were used and their performances were also compared in this study. Cross validation technique was applied to compute the errors and the result showed that exponential model is the best semivariogram. It was found that the proposed method was satisfied by a network of 64 rain gauges with the minimum estimated variance and 20 of the existing ones were removed and relocated. An existing network may consist of redundant stations that may make little or no contribution to the network performance for providing quality data. Therefore, two different cases were considered in this study. The first case considered the removed stations that were optimally relocated into new locations to investigate their influence in the calculated estimated variance and the second case explored the possibility to relocate all 84 existing stations into new locations to determine the optimal position. The relocations of the stations in both cases have shown that the new optimal locations have managed to reduce the estimated variance and it has proven that locations played an important role in determining the optimal network.

Keywords: geostatistics, simulated annealing, semivariogram, optimization

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Authors: Mary T. McKinley

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As socio-economic globalization impacts education and turns knowledge into a commodity, institutions of higher education are becoming more intentional about infusing a global and intercultural perspective into education via the recruitment of international students. Coming from dissimilar cultures, many of these students are evaluated and held accountable to Euro-American values of independence, self-reliance, and autonomy. Not surprisingly, these students often experience culture shock with deleterious effects on their mental health and academic functioning. Thus, it is critical to understand the experiences of international students with the hope that such knowledge will keep the field of psychology from promulgating Eurocentric ideals and values and prevent the training of these students as good-enough White therapists. Using a critical narrative inquiry framework, this study elicits stories about the challenges encountered by international students as they navigate their clinical training in the presence of acculturative stress and potentially different worldviews. With its emphasis on story-telling as meaning making, narrative research design is hinged on the assumption that people are interpretive beings who make meaning of themselves and their world through the language of stories. Also, dominant socially-constructed narratives play a central role in creating and maintaining hegemonic structures that privilege certain individuals and ideologies at the expense of others. On this premise, narrative inquiry begins with an exploration of the experiences of participants in their lived stories. Bounded narrative segments were read, interpreted, and analyzed using a critical events approach. Throughout the process, issues of reliability and researcher bias were addressed by keeping a reflective analytic memo, as well as triangulating the data using peer-reviewers and check-ins with participants. The findings situate culture at the epicenter of international students’ acculturation challenges as well as their resiliency in psychology doctoral programs. It was not uncommon for these international students to experience ethical dilemmas inherent in learning content that conflicted with their cultural beliefs and values. Issues of cultural incongruence appear to be further exacerbated by visible markers for differences like speech accent and clothing attire. These stories also link the acculturative stress reported by international students to the experiences of perceived racial discrimination and lack of support from the faculty, administration, peers, and the society at large. Beyond the impact on the international students themselves, there are implications for internationalization in psychology with the goal of equipping doctoral programs to be better prepared to meet the needs of their international students. More than ever before, programs need to liaise with international students’ services and work in tandem to meet the unique needs of this population of students. Also, there exists a need for multiculturally competent supervisors working with international students with varying degrees of acculturation. In addition to making social justice and advocacy salient in students’ multicultural training, it may be helpful for psychology doctoral programs to be more intentional about infusing cross-cultural theories, indigenous psychotherapies, and/or when practical, the possibility for geographically cross-cultural practicum experiences in the home countries of international students while taking into consideration the ethical issues for virtual supervision.

Keywords: decolonizing pedagogies, international students, multiculturalism, psychology doctoral programs

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Authors: Ajay Pinjani, Minha Khan, Ayesha Mehkeri, Anum Iftikhar

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There is much research available on the benefits of adopting mother tongue-based multilingual education (MTB MLE) in primary school classrooms, but there is limited guidance available on how to design such programs for low-resource and linguistically diverse contexts. This paper is an effort to bridge the gap between theory and practice by offering a practitioner’s perspective on designing an MTB MLE program for linguistically heterogeneous contexts. The research compounds findings from current academic literature on MTB MLE, the study of global MTB MLE programs, interviews with practitioners, policy-makers, and academics worldwide, and a socio-linguistic survey carried out in parts of Tharparkar, Pakistan, the area selected for envisioned pilot implementation. These findings enabled the creation of ‘guiding principles’ which provide structure for the development of a contextualized and holistic MTB-MLE program. The guiding principles direct the creation of teaching and learning materials, creating effective teaching and learning environment, community engagement, and program evaluation. Additionally, the paper demonstrates the development of a context-specific language ladder framework which outlines the language journey of a child’s education, beginning with the mother tongue/ most familiar language in the early years and then gradually transitioning into other languages. Both the guiding principles and language ladder can be adapted to any multilingual context. Thus, this research provides MTB MLE practitioners with assistance in developing an MTB MLE model, which is best suited for their context.

Keywords: mother tongue based multilingual education, education design, language ladder, language issues, heterogeneous contexts

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Authors: Stella Chioma Nwizu

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The National Commission for Adult and Non Formal Education (NMEC) in Nigeria is charged with the reduction of illiteracy rate through the development, monitoring, and supervision of literacy programmes in Nigeria. In spite of various efforts by NMEC to reduce illiteracy, literature still shows that the illiteracy rate is still high. According to NMEC/UNICEF, about 60 million Nigerians are non-literate, and nearly two thirds of them are women. This situation forced the government to search for innovative and better approaches to literacy promotion and delivery. The literacy by radio project was adopted as an innovative intervention to literacy delivery in Nigeria because the radio is the cheapest and most easily affordable medium for non-literates. The project aimed at widening access to literacy programmes for the non-literate marginalized and disadvantaged groups in Nigeria by taking literacy programmes to their door steps. The literacy by radio has worked perfectly well in non-literacy reduction in Cuba. This innovative intervention of literacy by radio is anchored on the diffusion of innovation theory by Rogers. The literacy by radio has been going on for fifteen years and the efficacy and contributions of this innovation need to be investigated. Thus, the purpose of this research is to review the contributions of the literacy by radio in Nigeria. The researcher adopted the survey research design for the study. The population for the study consisted of 2,706 participants and 47 facilitators of the literacy by radio programme in the 10 pilot states in Nigeria. A sample of four states made up of 302 participants and eight facilitators were used for the study. Information was collected through Focus Group Discussion (FGD), interviews and content analysis of official documents. The data were analysed qualitatively to review the contributions of literacy by radio project and determine the efficacy of this innovative approach in facilitating literacy in Nigeria. Results from the field experience showed, among others, that more non-literates have better access to literacy programmes through this innovative approach. The pilot project was 88% successful; not less than 2,110 adults were made literate through the literacy by radio project in 2017. However, lack of enthusiasm and commitment on the part of the technical committee and facilitators due to non-payment of honorarium, poor signals from radio stations, interruption of lectures with adverts, low community involvement in decision making in the project are challenges to the success rate of the project. The researcher acknowledges the need to customize all materials and broadcasts in all the dialects of the participants and the inclusion of more civil rights, environmental protection and agricultural skills into the project. The study recommends among others, improved and timely funding of the project by the Federal Government to enable NMEC to fulfill her obligations towards the greater success of the programme, setting up of independent radio stations for airing the programmes and proper monitoring and evaluation of the project by NMEC and State Agencies for greater effectiveness. In an era of the knowledge-driven economy, no one should be allowed to get saddled with the weight of illiteracy.

Keywords: innovative approach, literacy, project, radio, survey

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Authors: Latifa Alenezi, Liz Croot, Janet Harris

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Chronic Low Back Pain (CLBP) is one of the most common and recurrent musculoskeletal problems that causes patients to access health care services frequently. The Bio-psychosocial Model emphasises that psychological, behavioural and social factors contribute to the development and persistence of CLBP. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a psychological pain management strategy that can be used by physiotherapists treating chronic low back pain. However, evidence of the effectiveness of CBT for CLBP varies between different studies. The proposed study was preceded by a mixed methods systematic review that found that CBT has a beneficial effect for CLBP patients when compared to waiting list or other treatments; however, there is variation in effectiveness across different settings. Little is known about how CBT is applied by physiotherapists in physiotherapy settings. The interest of this study is directed towards generating an explanation and understanding of why, when, and how some physiotherapists make decisions and choose to apply CBT for CLBP patients, whereas others do not. Also, how and for what type of CLBP patients does CBT work, and for whom might CBT not work? Therefore, the study will take a qualitative approach to explore CLBP patients’, physiotherapists’ and managers’ perceptions of CBT and how it is used in physiotherapy to enable a deeper understanding and richer explanation of CBT effectiveness and help to inform research and practice. The study will use grounded theory approach to generate an explanatory theory of the clinical application of CBT for CLBP in physiotherapy settings. Physiotherapists, patients and managers of physiotherapy services will be interviewed. Grounded theory techniques will be used to analyse the data. The presentation will describe findings from the interviews and the emerging theory. This research will help to further inform RCTs about the effectiveness of CBT for CLBP in physiotherapy.

Keywords: CBT, CLBP, perception, physiotherapy, theory

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Authors: Sara Pereira-Nogueira, Tim Worbs, Marc Permanyer-Bosser, Reinhold Förster

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While the entry mechanism of lymphocytes into the lymph node via the blood are well described, it is still largely unknown how cells enter lymph nodes that arrive via afferent lymphatics. In order to address this, our group has established a micro-injection technique in mice through which cells are delivered directly into the lymphatic vessel immediately afferent to the popliteal lymph node. Injected cells can then be tracked via multi-colour fluorescence or 2-photon microscopy, and their localization can be analysed within the popliteal or downstream lymph nodes by immunohistology. Since naïve B cells express the chemokine receptor CXCR5 we intra-lymphatically co-injected B cells derived from wildtype and Cxcr5-deficient mice. While CXCR5 does not play a role in guiding B cells out of the subcapsular sinus, it affects their positioning within the lymph node parenchyma, since CXCR5-deficient B cells are impaired in migrating into the B cell follicle. The knowledge obtained by studying B-cell migration may prove beneficial in clinical settings regarding tumor metastasis or autoimmune diseases.

Keywords: afferent lymphatics, B cell migration, chemokine, intra-lymphatic injection

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Authors: Muhammad Khalil, Nader Abuelfoutouh, Gasser Abdelal, Adrian Murphy

Abstract:

Nowadays, the direct effects of lightning to aircrafts are of great importance because of the massive use of composite materials. In comparison with metallic materials, composites present several weaknesses for lightning strike direct effects. Especially, their low electrical and thermal conductivities lead to severe lightning strike damage. The lightning strike direct effects are burning, heating, magnetic force, sparking and arcing. As the problem is complex, we investigated it gradually. A magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) model is developed to simulate the lightning strikes in order to estimate the damages on the composite materials. Then, a coupled thermal-electrical finite element analysis is used to study the interaction between the lightning arc and the composite laminate and to investigate the material degradation.

Keywords: composite structures, lightning multiphysics, magnetohydrodynamic (MHD), coupled thermal-electrical analysis, thermal plasmas.

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Authors: Azeem Alphonce

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In Pakistan, there is a variety of skin tones and colors across all provinces. However, a fair complexion is one of the standards of beauty among females in Pakistan, which creates insecurities in dark-complexioned females. This research is a critical discourse analysis of the language used on beauty products for females in Pakistan. The purpose was to analyze the language used on female beauty products using Van Dijk's three-stage socio-cognitive model to understand what message is received from the few words written and repeated across the packaging of various facial products, why such language is used and what are its wider socio-cognitive effects? The criterion for the selection of beauty products was skin whitening terminologies and the language used on these products. The results showed that over 57 per cent of products utilized skin-whitening terms. The adjectives written on the package indicate that fairer skin is the ultimate beauty goal of females. The analysis explored how the language reinforces unfair beauty standards and perpetuates colorism. It was concluded that female beauty products utilize discriminatory discourse by marginalizing individuals of darker skin tones. Fairer skin is promoted, whereas darker skin is referred to as a problem, flaw or imperfection. Socially shared mental models seem to have caused beauty companies to exploit and promote perceptions of colorism in society. Therefore, such discourse should be prevented, and beauty companies should utilize their discourse to promote acceptance of various skin tones.

Keywords: language, skin whitening products, beauty standards, social mental models

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Authors: João P. E. De Souza, Rob Dekkers

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Whereas lean product development aims at maximising customer value whilst optimising product and process design, the question arises whether this approach includes sustainability. A systematic literature review reveals that methods associated with this conceptualisation of product development are suitable for including sustainability, but that the criteria for the triple-bottom line need to be included when using these methods; this is particularly the case for social aspects. Thus, the main finding is that not new methods should be developed, but that existing methods should be more inclusive towards all aspects of sustainability and product life-cycle thinking.

Keywords: lean product development, product life-cycle, sustainability, systematic literature review, triple bottom-line

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Authors: Dipankar Saha, J. P. Singh, C. B. Pandey

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Indian Thar desert being the seventh largest in the world is the main hot sand desert occupies nearly 385,000km2 and about 9% of the area of the country harbours several species likely the flora of 682 species (63 introduced species) belonging to 352 genera and 87 families. The degree of endemism of plant species in the Thar desert is 6.4 percent, which is relatively higher than the degree of endemism in the Sahara desert which is very significant for the conservationist to envisage. The advent and development of computer technology for digitization and data base management coupled with the rapidly increasing importance of biodiversity conservation resulted in the invention of biodiversity informatics as discipline of basic sciences with multiple applications. Aichi Target 19 as an outcome of Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) specifically mandates the development of an advanced and shared biodiversity knowledge base. Information on species distributions in space is the crux of effective management of biodiversity in the rapidly changing world. The efficiency of biodiversity management is being increased rapidly by various stakeholders like researchers, policymakers, and funding agencies with the knowledge and application of biodiversity informatics. Herbarium specimens being a vital repository for biodiversity conservation especially in climate change scenario the digitization process usually aims to improve access and to preserve delicate specimens and in doing so creating large sets of images as a part of the existing repository as arid plant information facility for long-term future usage. As the leaf characters are important for describing taxa and distinguishing between them and they can be measured from herbarium specimens as well. As a part of this activity, laminar characterization (leaves being the most important characters in assessing climate change impact) initially resulted in classification of more than thousands collections belonging to ten families like Acanthaceae, Aizoaceae, Amaranthaceae, Asclepiadaceae, Anacardeaceae, Apocynaceae, Asteraceae, Aristolochiaceae, Berseraceae and Bignoniaceae etc. Taxonomic diversity indices has also been worked out being one of the important domain of biodiversity informatics approaches. The digitization process also encompasses workflows which incorporate automated systems to enable us to expand and speed up the digitisation process. The digitisation workflows used to be on a modular system which has the potential to be scaled up. As they are being developed with a geo-referencing tool and additional quality control elements and finally placing specimen images and data into a fully searchable, web-accessible database. Our effort in this paper is to elucidate the role of BIs, present effort of database development of the existing botanical collection of institute repository. This effort is expected to be considered as a part of various global initiatives having an effective biodiversity information facility. This will enable access to plant biodiversity data that are fit-for-use by scientists and decision makers working on biodiversity conservation and sustainable development in the region and iso-climatic situation of the world.

Keywords: biodiversity informatics, climate change, digitization, herbarium, laminar characters, web accessible interface

Procedia PDF Downloads 220