Search results for: friendly public space

Authors: Jong-Hwa Kim, Mu-Wook Pyeon, Yang-dam Eo, Ill-Woong Jang

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Construction of geo-spatial information recently tends to develop as multi-dimensional geo-spatial information. People constructing spatial information is also expanding its area to the general public from some experts. As well as, studies are in progress using a variety of devices, with the aim of near real-time update. In this paper, getting the stereo images using GoPro device used widely also to the general public as well as experts. And correcting the distortion of the images, then by using SIFT, DLT, is acquired the point clouds. It presented a possibility that on the basis of this experiment, using a video device that is readily available in real life, to create a real-time digital map.

Keywords: GoPro, SIFT, DLT, point clouds

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Authors: Arlinda Memetaj

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A sound system of administrative justice represents a vital element of democratic governance. The proper control of public administration consists not only of a sound civil service framework and legislative oversight, but empowerment of the public and courts to hold public officials accountable for their decision-making through the application of fair administrative procedural rules and the use of appropriate administrative appeals processes and judicial review. The establishment of effective public administration, has been since 1990s among the most 'important and urgent' final strategic objectives of the Republic of Macedonia. To this aim the country has so far adopted a huge series of legislative and strategic documents related to any aspects of the administrative justice system. The latter is designed to strengthen the legal position of citizens, businesses, civic organizations, and other societal subjects. 'Changes and reforms' in this field have been thus the most frequent terms being used in the country for the last more than 20 years. Several years ago the County established Administrative Courts, while permanently amending the Law on the General Administrative procedure (LGAP). The new LGAP was adopted in 2015 and it introduced considerable innovations concerned. The most recent inputs in this regard includes the National Public Administration Reform Strategy 2017 – 2022, one of the key expected result of which includes both providing effective protection of the citizens` rights. In doing the aforesaid however there is still a series of interrelated shortcomings in this regard, such as (just to mention few) the complex appeal procedure, delays in enforcing court rulings, etc. Against the above background, the paper firstly describes the Macedonian institutional and legislative framework in the above field, and then illustrates the shortcomings therein. It finally claims that the current status quo situation may be overcome only if there is a proper implementation of the administrative courts decisions and far stricter international monitoring process thereof. A new approach and strong political commitment from the highest political leadership is thus absolutely needed to ensure the principles of transparency, accountability and merit in public administration. The main method used in this paper is the descriptive, analytical and comparative one due to the very character of the paper itself.

Keywords: administrative justice, administrative procedure, administrative courts/disputes, European Human Rights Court, human rights, monitoring, reform, benefit.

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Authors: Felib Ayman Shawky Salem

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This paper includes fast fashion verses sustainable fashion or slow fashion Indian based consumers. The expression ‘Fast fashion’ is generally referred to low-cost clothing collections that considered first hand copy of luxury brands, sometime interchangeably used with ‘mass fashion’. Whereas slow fashion or limited fashion which are consider to be more organic or eco-friendly. "Sustainable fashion is ethical fashion and here the consumer is just not design conscious but also social-environment conscious". Paper will deal with desire of young Indian consumer towards such luxury brands present in India, and their understanding of sustainable fashion, how to maintain the equilibrium between never newer fashion, style, and fashion sustainability. The green fashion market is growing rapidly as eco-friendly consumers are willing to expand their organic lifestyle to include clothing. With an increasing share of fashion consumers globally, Indian consumers are observed to consider the social and environmental ethics while making purchasing decisions. While some research clearly identifies the efforts of responsible consumers towards green fashion, some argue that fashion-orientated consumers who are sensitive towards environment do not actively participate towards supporting green fashion. This study aims to analyze the current perception of green fashion among Indian consumers. A small-scale exploratory study is conducted where consumers’ perception of green fashion is examined followed by an analysis of translation of this perception into purchase decision making. This research paper gives insight into consumer awareness on green fashion and provides scope towards the expansion of ethical fashion consumption

Keywords: diamond, inclusions, temperature gradient, HPHT synthetic fibers, polyamide fibers, fiber volume, compressive strength. gold nano clusters, copper ions, wool keratin, fluorescence

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Authors: Alaaeldin Hamdy Ahmed Mohammed

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Introduction: This study examines sports’ fans and non-interested public perception and recognition of the problems that have negative impacts upon the Egyptian sports, particularly football, through caricatures. Eight caricature paintings were designed to express eight problems affecting the Egyptian sports and its development. These paintings were distributed on two groups of the fans and the non-interested public. Methods: The study was limited to eight caricatures representing the eight issues which are: the impact of stopping the sports activity on athletes, the effect of clubs’ disagreement, fanaticism between the members of the ultras of different clubs, the negative impact of the mingling of politics into sports, the negative role of the clubs affects the professionalism of the promising players, the conflict between the national organization responsible for sports, the breaking in of the fans to the playgrounds, the impact of the lack of planning on the national team. The Results: The results showed that both sports fans and those who are not interested in sports recognized the problems that the caricatures refer to and criticizes exaggeration although the rate was higher for the fans. These caricatures contributed also in their recognition of the danger of the negative impact of these problems on the Egyptian sports, particularly football which is the most common at the Egyptian sports fans. Discussion: This finding echoes the conclusion that caricatures are distinctive in the adults’ facial stimuli that are either systematically exaggerated recognition of them.

Keywords: caricature, fans, football, sports

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Authors: B. Gültekin, T. Gültekin

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Peace diplomacy is the most important international tool to maintain peace all over the World. This study consists of three parts. In the first part, the leadership of Devlet Bahçeli, leader of the Nationalist Movement Party, will be introduced as a tool of peace communication and peace management. Also, in this part, peace communication will be explained by the peace leadership traits of Devlet Bahçeli, who is one of the efficient political leaders representing the concepts of compromise and agreement on different sides of politics. In the second part of study, it is aimed to analyze Devlet Bahçeli’s leadership within the frame of peace communication and the final part of this study is about creating an original public communication model for public diplomacy based on Devlet Bahçeli as an example. As a result, the main purpose of this study is to develop an original peace communication model including peace modules, peace management projects, original dialogue procedures and protocols exhibited in the policies of Devlet Bahçeli. The political leadership represented by Devlet Bahçeli inspires political leaders to provide peace communication. In this study, principles and policies of peace leadership of Devlet Bahçeli will be explained as an original model on a peace communication platform.

Keywords: public diplomacy, dialogue management, peace leadership, peace diplomacy

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Authors: Meng-Hui Chen, Chiao-Wei Yu, Pei-Chann Chang

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Imperial competitive algorithm (ICA) simulates a multi-agent algorithm. Each agent is like a kingdom has its country, and the strongest country in each agent is called imperialist, others are colony. Countries are competitive with imperialist which in the same kingdom by evolving. So this country will move in the search space to find better solutions with higher fitness to be a new imperialist. The main idea in this paper is using the peculiarity of ICA to explore the search space to solve the kinds of combinational problems. Otherwise, we also study to use the greed search to increase the local search ability. To verify the proposed algorithm in this paper, the experimental results of traveling salesman problem (TSP) is according to the traveling salesman problem library (TSPLIB). The results show that the proposed algorithm has higher performance than the other known methods.

Keywords: traveling salesman problem, artificial chromosomes, greedy search, imperial competitive algorithm

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Authors: Eglė Žurauskaitė, Eglė Gudavičienė

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The goal of this paper is to reveal how polarization is constructed through the use of impoliteness strategies. In general, media helps to spread various ideas very fast, and it means that processes of polarization are best revealed in computer-mediated communication (CMC) contexts. For this reason, data for the research was collected from online texts about a current, very diverse topic in Lithuania - Lithuanian language policy and regulations, because this topic is causing a lot of tension in Lithuanian society. Computer-mediated communication allows users to edit their message before they send it. It means that addressees carefully select verbal expressions to convey their message. In other words, each impoliteness strategy and its verbal expression were created intentionally. Impoliteness strategies in this research are understood as various ways to reach a communicative goal: belittle the other. To reach the goal, the public opinions of various Lithuanian public figures (e. g., cultural people, politicians, officials) were collected from new portals in 2019–2023 and analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. First, problematic aspects of the language policy, for which public figures complain, were identified. Then instances when public figures take a defensive position were analyzed: how they express this position and what it reveals about Lithuanian culture. Findings of this research demonstrate how concepts of impoliteness theory can be applied in analyzing the process of polarization in Lithuanian society on issues related to the State language policy. Also, to reveal how polarization is constructed, these tasks were set: a) determine which impoliteness strategies are used throughout the process of creating polarization, b) analyze how they were expressed verbally (e. g., as an advice, offer, etc.).

Keywords: impoliteness, Lithuanian language policy, polarization, impoliteness strategies

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Authors: L. Lakhdari, B. Bouchiba, M. Bechar

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The multi-level inverters present an important novelty in the field of energy control with high voltage and power. The major advantage of all multi-level inverters is the improvement and spectral quality of its generated output signals. In recent years, various pulse width modulation techniques have been developed. From these technics we have: Sinusoidal Pulse Width Modulation (SPWM) and Space Vector Pulse Width Modulation (SVPWM). This work presents a detailed analysis of the comparative advantage of space vector pulse width modulation (SVPWM) and the standard SPWM technique for Three Level Diode Clamped Inverter fed Induction Motor. The comparison is based on the evaluation of harmonic distortion THD.

Keywords: induction motor, multilevel inverters, SVPWM, SPWM, THD

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Authors: Yu Song, Yuefei Jin

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Urban public transportation can be integrated when there is an efficient connection between urban rail lines, however, there are currently no effective or quick solutions being investigated for this connection. This paper analyzes the space-time distribution and travel demand of passenger connection travel based on taxi track data and data from the road network, excavates potential bus connection stations based on potential connection demand data, and introduces the link growth probability model in the complex network to solve the basic connection bus lines in order to ascertain the direction of the bus lines that are the most connected given the demand characteristics. Then, a tree view exhaustive approach based on constraints is suggested based on graph theory, which can hasten the convergence of findings while doing chain calculations. This study uses WEI QU NAN Station, the Xi'an Metro Line 2 terminal station in Shaanxi Province, as an illustration, to evaluate the model's and the solution method's efficacy. According to the findings, 153 prospective stations have been dug up in total, the feeder bus network for the entire line has been laid out, and the best route adjustment strategy has been found.

Keywords: feeder bus, route optimization, link growth probability, the graph theory

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Authors: Claudia Ehrentraut, Osama Ibrahim, Hercules Dalianis

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Policy making situations are real-world problems that exhibit complexity in that they are composed of many interrelated problems and issues. To be effective, policies must holistically address the complexity of the situation rather than propose solutions to single problems. Formulating and understanding the situation and its complex dynamics, therefore, is a key to finding holistic solutions. Analysis of text based information on the policy problem, using Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Text analysis techniques, can support modelling of public policy problem situations in a more objective way based on domain experts knowledge and scientific evidence. The objective behind this study is to support modelling of public policy problem situations, using text analysis of verbal descriptions of the problem. We propose a formal methodology for analysis of qualitative data from multiple information sources on a policy problem to construct a causal diagram of the problem. The analysis process aims at identifying key variables, linking them by cause-effect relationships and mapping that structure into a graphical representation that is adequate for designing action alternatives, i.e., policy options. This study describes the outline of an algorithm used to automate the initial step of a larger methodological approach, which is so far done manually. In this initial step, inferences about key variables and their interrelationships are extracted from textual data to support a better problem structuring. A small prototype for this step is also presented.

Keywords: public policy, problem structuring, qualitative analysis, natural language processing, algorithm, inference extraction

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Authors: Eugene Muambeh Muntoh

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Corruption has a destructive effect on State institutions and on the capacity of States to respect, protect and fulfil human rights, particularly of those persons and groups in situation of vulnerability and marginalization. In Cameroon, corruption pose a major challenge as it divert public revenues and cripple public budgets that should provide healthcare, housing, education, and other essential services. Corruption has undermined the States’ ability to meet the minimum core obligations and pre-existing legal obligations to maximize all available resources to respect, protect and fulfil Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. This study therefore makes use of the qualitative research design, ranging from interviews, observations and content analysis of vital documents to provide evidence and associations between corruption and human rights concerns in Cameroon. The study made use of research material from both primary and secondary sources. Findings from the study reveals that the impact of corruption in Cameroon is especially pronounced regarding economic, social and cultural rights. In most cases, the right to be treated equally is violated, for example, when someone is requested to pay a bribe to obtain a public service. There is an urgent need for sustainable measures to counter corruption in order to protect and promote human rights.

Keywords: corruption, governance, human rights, law

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Authors: Ahmed M. Jamel

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Electronic government initiatives and public participation to them are among the indicators of today's development criteria of the countries. After consequent two wars, Iraq's current position in, for example, UN's e-government ranking is quite concerning and did not improve in recent years, either. In the preparation of this work, we are motivated with the fact that handling geographic data of the public facilities and resources are needed in most of the e-government projects. Geographical information systems (GIS) provide most common tools not only to manage spatial data but also to integrate such type of data with nonspatial attributes of the features. With this background, this paper proposes that establishing a working GIS in the health sector of Iraq would improve e-government applications. As the case study, investigating hospital locations in Erbil is chosen.

Keywords: e-government, GIS, Iraq, Erbil

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Authors: Eliane Ferreira da Silva

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This paper aims to mobilize and sensitize public administration leaders to good practices and encourage investment in the PV system in Brazil. It presents a case study methodology for dimensioning the PV system in the roofs of the public buildings of the Esplanade of the Ministries, Brasilia, capital of the country, with predefined resources, starting with the Sustainable Esplanade Project (SEP), of the exponential growth of photovoltaic solar energy in the world and making a comparison with the solar power plant of the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME), active since: 6/10/2016. In order to do so, it was necessary to evaluate the energy efficiency of the buildings in the period from January 2016 to April 2017, (16 months) identifying the opportunities to reduce electric energy expenses, through the adjustment of contracted demand, the tariff framework and correction of existing active energy. The instrument used to collect data on electric bills was the e-SIC citizen information system. The study considered in addition to the technical and operational aspects, the historical, cultural, architectural and climatic aspects, involved by several actors. Identifying the reductions of expenses, the study directed to the following aspects: Case 1) economic feasibility for exchanges of common lamps, for LED lamps, and, Case 2) economic feasibility for the implementation of photovoltaic solar system connected to the grid. For the case 2, PV*SOL Premium Software was used to simulate several possibilities of photovoltaic panels, analyzing the best performance, according to local characteristics, such as solar orientation, latitude, annual average solar radiation. A simulation of an ideal photovoltaic solar system was made, with due calculations of its yield, to provide a compensation of the energy expenditure of the building - or part of it - through the use of the alternative source in question. The study develops a methodology for public administration, as a major consumer of electricity, to act in a responsible, fiscalizing and incentive way in reducing energy waste, and consequently reducing greenhouse gases.

Keywords: energy efficiency, esplanade of ministries, photovoltaic solar energy, public buildings, sustainable building

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Authors: Kitoholi V. Zhimo

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Unlike the cases of cases of homosexuals, haemophilic and or drug users in USA, France, Africa and other countries, in India the first case of HIV/AIDS was detected in heterosexual female sex workers (FSW) in Chennai in 1986. This image played an important role in understanding HIV/AIDS scenario in the country. Similar to popular and dominant metaphors on HIV/AIDS such as ‘gay plague’, ‘new cancer’, ‘lethal disease’, ‘slim disease’, ‘foreign disease’, ‘junkie disease’, etc. around the world, the social construction of the virus was largely attributed to women in India. It was established that women particularly sex workers are ‘carrier’ and ‘transmitter’ of virus and were categorised as High Risk Groups (HRG’s) alongside homosexuals, transgenders and injecting drug users. Recent literature reveals growing rate of HIV infection among housewives since 1997 which revolutionised public health scenario in India. This means shift from high risk group to general public through ‘bridge population’ encompassing long distance truckers and migrant labours who at the expense of their nature of work and mobility comes in contact with HRG’s and transmit the virus to the general public especially women who are confined to the domestic space. As HIV epidemic expands, married women in monogamous relationship/marriage stand highly susceptible to infection with limited control, right and access over their sexual and reproductive health and planning. In context of Nagaland, a small state in North-eastern part of India HIV/AIDS transmission through injecting drug use dominated the early scene of the epidemic. However, paradigm shift occurred with declining trend of HIV prevalence among injecting drug users (IDU’s) over the past years with the introduction of Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST) and easy access/availability of syringes and injecting needles. Reflection on statistical data reveals that out of 36 states and union territories in India, the position of Nagaland in HIV prevalence among IDU’s has significantly dropped down from 6th position in 2003 to 16th position in 2017. The present face of virus in Nagaland is defined by (hetero) sexual mode of transmission which accounts for about 91% of as reported by Nagaland state AIDS control society (NSACS) in 2016 wherein young and married woman were found to be most affected leading to feminization of HIV/AIDS epidemic in the state. Thus, not only is HIV epidemic feminised but emerged victim to domestic violence which is more often accepted as normal part of heterosexual relationship. In the backdrop of these understanding, the present paper based on ethnographic fieldwork explores the plight, lived experiences and images of HIV+ve women with regard to sexual and reproductive rights against the backdrop of patriarchal system in Nagaland.

Keywords: HIV/AIDS, monogamy, Nagaland, sex worker disease, women

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Authors: Takahiro Hino, Michiharu Maeda

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Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is an optimization approach that achieves the social model of bird flocking and fish schooling. PSO works in continuous space and can solve continuous optimization problem with high quality. Set-based particle swarm optimization (SPSO) functions in discrete space by using a set. SPSO can solve combinatorial optimization problem with high quality and is successful to apply to the large-scale problem. In this paper, we present an algorithm of SPSO with status memory to decide the position based on the previous position for solving traveling salesman problem (TSP). In order to show the effectiveness of our approach. We examine SPSOSM for TSP compared to the existing algorithms.

Keywords: combinatorial optimization problems, particle swarm optimization, set-based particle swarm optimization, traveling salesman problem

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Authors: Jing Ren, Guifeng Han

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The mental health of most college students in China is negative due to the multiple pressures of academics, life, and employment. The problem of psychological stress has been widely discussed and needs to be resolved immediately. Therefore, six typical green spaces in Chongqing University, China, were selected to explore the relationship between eight environmental characteristics and students' stress relief. A path analysis model is established using Amos26.0 to explain the paths for environmental characteristics influencing psychological stress relief. The results show that (1) tree species diversity (TSD) has a positive effect on stress relief, thus green coverage ratio (GCR), the proportion of water area (WAP), visual green index (VGI), and color richness (CR) have both positive and negative effects; (2) CR could reduce stress directly and indirectly, while GCR, TSD, WAP, and VGI could only reduce stress indirectly, and the most effective path is TSD→extent→stress relief; (3) CR can reduce stress more greatly for males than females, CR and VGI have better effects for art students than science students. The study can provide a theoretical reference for planning and designing campus living environments to improve students' mental health.

Keywords: public health, residential environment, space planning and management, mental health, path analysis

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Authors: Jyotsna Gupta, S. Ghosh, S. Aravindan

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The requirement of artificial prostheses (such as hip and knee joints) has increased with time. Many researchers are working to develop new implants with improved properties such as excellent biocompatibility with no tissue reactions, corrosion resistance in body fluid, high yield strength and low elastic modulus. Further, the morphological properties of the artificial implants should also match with that of the human bone so that cell adhesion, proliferation and transportation of the minerals and nutrition through body fluid can be obtained. Present study attempts to make porous Ti6Al15Mo alloys through powder metallurgy route using space holder technique. The alloy consists of 6wt% of Al which was taken as α phase stabilizer and 15wt% Mo was taken as β phase stabilizer with theoretical density 4.708. Ammonium hydrogen carbonate is used as a space holder in order to generate the porosity. The porosity of these fabricated porous alloys was controlled by adding the 0, 50, 70 vol.% of the space holder content. Three phases were found in the microstructure: α, α_2 and β phase of titanium. Kirkendall pores are observed to be decreased with increase of holding time during sintering and parallelly compressive strength and elastic modulus value increased slightly. Compressive strength and elastic modulus of porous Ti-6Al-15Mo alloy (1.17 g/cm3 density) is found to be suitable for cancellous bone. Released ions from Ti-6Al-15Mo alloy are far below from the permissible limits in human body.

Keywords: bone implant, powder metallurgy, sintering time, Ti-6Al-15Mo

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Authors: Anna K. Wood, Terri Friedline

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In April and May 2020, the private banking industry approved over 1.7 million emergency small business loans, totaling over $650 billion in federal relief funds as part of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). Since the program’s rollout, the extensive evidence of discriminatory lending and misuse of funds has been revealed by investigative journalism and academic studies. This study is based on 41 interviews with frontline banking industry professionals conducted during the days and weeks of the PPP rollout, presenting a real-time narrative of the program rollout through the eyes of those in the role of a street-level bureaucrat. We present two themes from this data about the conditions under which these frontline workers experienced the PPP: Exigent Timelines and Defaulting to Existing Workplace Norms and Practices. We analyze these themes using literature on street-level organizations, bureaucratic discretion, and the differences between public and private sector logic. The results of this study present new directions for theorizing sector-level differences in street-level bureaucratic discretion in the context of mixed-sector collaboration on public service delivery, particularly under conditions of crisis and urgency.

Keywords: street level bureaucracy, social policy, bureaucratic discretion, public private partnerships

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Authors: Asmamaw Yigzaw Chirkos

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Corruption increasingly has become one of the greatest challenges of the contemporary world. It undermines good government and rule of law and in turn leads to the misallocation of public resources, harms both the private and public sector and particularly hurts the poor. Corruption is found everywhere, but it is deep-rooted in the poor countries of Sub-Saharan Africa countries. Corruption in developing countries continues to be one of the greatest factors of poverty and underdevelopment. As it is the case in other developing countries, in Ethiopia, the culture of corruption has grown roots in the society at large and become endemic. Institutions, which were designed for the regulation of the relationships between citizens and the State, are being used instead for the personal enrichment of public officials and other corrupt private agents. This paper, therefore, assesses the major factors affecting Corruption in Ethiopia from higher education instructors’ Perceptions with special reference to Business and Economics College of Bahir Dar University. The findings of the study support several previously conducted studies in that each factor examined had a moderate to high positive correlation with corruption, where r ranged between .35 and .54. In addition, the 13 variables together explain about 37 percent change in perceived corruption in Ethiopia (R²= .37).

Keywords: Bahir Dar university, corruption, Ethiopia, factors, instructors perceptions

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Authors: M. A. H. Barry

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The concept of Good faith (husn al-niyyah) and fair-dealing (Nadl) are the fundamental guiding elements in all contracts and other agreements under Islamic law. The preaching of Al-Quran and Prophet Muhammad’s (Peace Be upon Him) firmly command people to act in good faith in all dealings. There are several Quran verses and the Prophet’s saying which stressed the significance of dealing honestly and fairly in all transactions. Under the English law, the good faith is not considered a fundamental requirement for the formation of a legal contract. However, the concept of Good Faith in private contracts is recognized by the civil law system and in Article 7(1) of the Convention on International Sale of Goods (CISG-Vienna Convention-1980). It took several centuries for the international trading community to recognize the significance of the concept of good faith for the international sale of goods transactions. Nevertheless, the recognition of good faith in Civil law is only confined for the commercial contracts. Subsequently to the CISG, this concept has made inroads into the private international law. There are submissions in favour of applying the good faith concept to public international law based on tacit recognition by the international conventions and International Tribunals. However, under public international law the concept of good faith is not recognized as a source of rights or obligations. This weakens the spirit of the good faith concept, particularly when determining the international disputes. This also creates a fundamental flaw because the absence of good faith application means the breaches tainted by bad faith are tolerated. The objective of this research is to evaluate, examine and analyze the application of the concept of good faith in the modern laws and identify its limitation, in comparison with Islamic concept of good faith. This paper also identifies the problems and issues connected with the non-application of this concept to public international law. This research consists of three key components (1) the preliminary inquiry (2) subject analysis and discovery of research results, and (3) examining the challenging problems, and concluding with proposals. The preliminary inquiry is based on both the primary and secondary sources. The same sources are used for the subject analysis. This research also has both inductive and deductive features. The Islamic concept of good faith covers all situations and circumstances where the bad faith causes unfairness to the affected parties, especially the weak parties. Under the Islamic law, the concept of good faith is a source of rights and obligations as Islam prohibits any person committing wrongful or delinquent acts in any dealing whether in a private or public life. This rule is applicable not only for individuals but also for institutions, states, and international organizations. This paper explains how the unfairness is caused by non-recognition of the good faith concept as a source of rights or obligations under public international law and provides legal and non-legal reasons to show why the Islamic formulation is important.

Keywords: good faith, the civil law system, the Islamic concept, public international law

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Authors: Elisângela de Albuquerque Sobreira Borovoski, Ricardo Willian Borovoski

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Microbiological infections acquired by animals pose a risk to public health. In public health, monitoring the health of primates is linked to the risk of transmission of zoonoses through scratches, bites and contact with biological samples. The project was approved by the Ethics Committee on the Use of Animals Protocol No. 170/2019. It was authorized by ICMBio Protocol No. 52117-1. The study was carried out in the period 2019-2022 in the municipality of Anápolis. Iron and galvanized wire traps were used and the animals were anesthetized with 4.4mg/kg zolethyl intramuscularly and saliva was collected through swabs. Fifty-three capuchin monkeys were captured from the Onofre Quinan Environmental Park in Anápolis-Goiás for health monitoring purposes. In the laboratory, the samples were deposited on the agar surface and seeded by exhaustion to obtain isolated colonies. These colonies were analyzed according to morphocolonial characteristics. Morphometric characterization and biochemical tests for bacterial identification were performed. A total of 861 bacterial samples were isolated, nine of which were strict anaerobic bacteria of the genus Peptostreptococcus. Previous and constant knowledge of the prevalence of pathogenic agents in biological samples is essential to be prepared to act in pandemic situations.

Keywords: Brazil, microbiology, monkeys, public health

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Authors: Erhan Turgut, Salih Ergün, Abdülkadir Öz

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Terror is a modern war strategy which uses violence as a means of communication in order to achieve political objectives. In today’s security environment narrowing the propaganda field of terrorist organization is the primary goal for the security forces. In this sense, providing and maintaining public support is the most necessary ability for security units. Rather than enemy and threat-oriented approach, homeland security oriented approach is essential to ensure public support. In this study, terror assumed as a homeland security issue and assigning the law enforcement forces with military status is analyzed.

Keywords: terrorism, counter-terrorism, military status law-enforcement, terrorist groups

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Authors: Paul Okonkwo, Howard Smith

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A study to estimate the size of the cabin and major aircraft components as well as detect and avoid interference between internally placed components and the external surface, during the conceptual design synthesis and optimisation to explore the design space of a BWB, was conducted. Sizing of components follows the Bradley cabin sizing and rubber engine scaling procedures to size the cabin and engine respectively. The interference detection and avoidance algorithm relies on the ability of the Class Shape Transform parameterisation technique to generate polynomial functions of the surfaces of a BWB aircraft configuration from the sizes of the cabin and internal objects using few variables. Interference detection is essential in packaging of non-conventional configuration like the BWB because of the non-uniform airfoil-shaped sections and resultant varying internal space. The unique configuration increases the need for a methodology to prevent objects from being placed in locations that do not sufficiently enclose them within the geometry.

Keywords: packaging, optimisation, BWB, parameterisation, aircraft conceptual design

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Authors: Umweni Osahon Joshua, Anton Ianakiev

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Deployable structures have been used in various scenarios from moving roofs in stadia, space antennae or booms. There has been a lot of literature relating deployable structures but with main focus on space applications. The complexities in the design of deployable structures may be the reason only few have been constructed for earth based solutions. This paper intends to explore the possibilities of integrating sustainable design concepts in deployable structures. Key aspects of sustainable design of structures as applicable to deployable structures have not been explored. Sustainable design of structures have mainly been concerned with static structures in the built environment. However, very little literature, concepts or framework has been drafted as it relates to deployable structures or their integration to static structures as a model for sustainable design. This article seeks to address this flaw in sustainable design for structural engineering and to provide a framework for designing structures in a sustainable manner. This framework will apply to deployable structures for earth-based environments as a form of disaster relief measures and also as part of static structures in the built environment.

Keywords: deployable structures, sustainable design, framework, earth-based environments

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Authors: Wei Zhang, Chye Kiang Heng, John Chye Fung

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Background: The world’s demographics is currently undergoing the largest wave of both rapid ageing and dramatic urbanisation in human history. As one of the most rapidly ageing countries, Singapore will see about one in four residents aged 65 years and above by 2030 in its high-rise and high-density urban environment. Research questions: To support urban seniors ageing in place and interdependence among senior residents and their informal caregivers, this study argues a community-based care model with bottom-up mutual help networks and asks how neighbourhood built-environment influences the formulation and facilitation of bottom-up mutual help networks in Singapore. Methods: Two public housing communities with different physical environment and rich age-friendly neighbourhood initiatives were chosen as the case studies. The categories, participants and places of bottom-up mutual help activities will be obtained via field observation, non-structural interviews of participants, service providers and managers of care facilities, and documents. Mapping and content analysis will be used to explore the influences of neighbourhood built-environment on the formulation and facilitation of bottom-up mutual help networks. Results and conclusions: The results showed that neighbourhood design, place programming, and place governance have a confluence on the bottom-up mutual help networks for senior residents. Significance: The outcomes of this study will provide fresh evidence for paradigm shifts of community-based care for the elderly and neighbourhood planning. In addition, the research findings will shed light on meaningful implications of urban planners and policy makers as they tackle with the issues arising from the ageing society.

Keywords: Built environment, Mutual help, Neighbourhood, Senior residents, Singapore

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Authors: Khaled Hesham Hyari, Amjad Almani

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Construction projects in the public sector are commonly awarded through competitive bidding. In the last decade, the Construction projects environment in the Middle East went through many changes. These changes have been caused by different factors including the economic crisis, delays in monthly payments, international competition and reduced number of projects. These factors had a great impact on the bidding behaviors of contractors and their pricing strategies. This paper examines the competition characteristics in public construction projects through an analysis of bidding results of contractors in public construction projects over a period of 6 years (2006-2011) in Jordan. The analyzed projects include all categories of projects such as infrastructure, buildings, transportation and engineering services (design and supervision contracts). Data for the projects were obtained from the General Tender’s Directorate in Jordan and includes 462 projects. The analysis performed in this projects includes, studying the bid spread in all projects as it is an indication of the level of competition in the analyzed bids. The analysis studied the factors that affect bid spread such as number of bidders, Value of the project, Project category and years. It also studying the “Signal to Noise Ratio” in all projects as it is an indication of the accuracy of cost estimating performed by competing bidders and bidder´s evaluation of project risks. The analysis performed includes the relationship between signal to noise ratio and different parameters such as project category, number of bidders and changes over years. Moreover, the analysis includes determining the bidder´s aggressiveness in bidding as it is an indication of competition level in such projects. This was performed by determining the pack price which can be considered as the true value of the project and comparing it with the lowest bid submitted for each project to determine the level of aggressiveness in submitted bids. The analysis performed in this project should prove to be useful to owners in understanding bidding behaviors of contractors and pointing out areas that needs improvement in preparing bidding documents. Also the project should be useful to contractors in understanding the competitive bidding environment and should help them to improve their bidding strategies to maximize the success rate in obtaining contracts.

Keywords: construction projects, competitive bidding, public construction, competition

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Authors: Michael R. Taber, Kristin Stanec

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This paper presents year-two of a longitudinal study on implementing Possibility Books into undergraduate courses to develop a student's creativity mindset: tolerating ambiguity, willingness to risk failure, curiosity, and openness to embrace possibility thinking through unexpected connections. Courses involved in this research span disciplines in the natural and social sciences and the humanities. Year one of the project developed indices from which baseline data could be analyzed. The two significant indices ( > 0.7) were "creativity mindset" and "intentional interactions." Preliminary qualitative and quantitative data analysis indicated that students found the new pedagogical intervention as a safe space to learn new strategies, recognize patterns, and define structures through innovative notetaking forms. Possibility Books in Natural Science courses were designed to develop students' conceptualization of science and math. Using Possibility Books in all disciplines provided a space for students to practice divergent thinking (i.e.,Possibilities), convergent thinking (i.e., forms that express meaning), and risk-taking (i.e., the vulnerability associated with expression). Qualitative coding of open responses on a post-survey revealed two major themes: 1) Possibility Books provided a mind space for learning about self, and 2) provided a calming opportunity to connect concepts. Quantitative analysis indicated significant correlations between focused headspace and notetaking (r = 0.555, p < 0.001), focused headspace, and connecting with others (r = 0.405, p < 0.001).

Keywords: pedagogy, science education, learning methods, creativity mindsets

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Authors: Austin Vander Wel, Katherin Vargas Henao

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Washington, DC, is a city in which Spanish, along with several other minority languages, is prevalent not only among tourists but also those living within city limits. In response to this linguistic diversity and DC’s adoption of the Language Access Act in 2004, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) committed to addressing the need for equal linguistic representation and established a five-step plan to provide the best multilingual information possible for public transportation users. The current study, however, strongly suggests that this de jure policy does not align with the reality of Spanish’s representation on DC public transportation–although perhaps doing so in an unexpected way. In order to investigate Spanish’s de facto representation and how it contrasts with de jure policy, this study implements a linguistic landscapes methodology that takes critical language-policy as its theoretical framework (Tollefson, 2005). Specifically concerning de facto representation, it focuses on the discrepancies between digital spaces and the actual physical spaces through which users travel. These digital vs. in situ conditions are further analyzed by separately addressing aural and visual modalities. In digital spaces, data was collected from WMATA’s website (visual) and their bilingual hotline (aural). For in situ spaces, both bus and metro areas of DC public transportation were explored, with signs comprising the visual modality and recordings, driver announcements, and interactions with metro kiosk workers comprising the aural modality. While digital spaces were considered to successfully fulfill WMATA’s commitment to representing Spanish as outlined in the de jure policy, physical spaces show a large discrepancy between what is said and what is done, particularly regarding the bus system, in addition to the aural modality overall. These discrepancies in situ spaces place Spanish speakers at a clear disadvantage, demanding additional resources and knowledge on the part of residents with limited or no English proficiency in order to have equal access to this public good. Based on our critical language-policy analysis, while Spanish is represented as a right in the de jure policy, its implementation in situ clearly portrays Spanish as a problem since those seeking bilingual information can not expect it to be present when and where they need it most (Ruíz, 1984; Tollefson, 2005). This study concludes with practical, data-based steps to improve the current situation facing DC’s public transportation context and serves as a model for responding to inadequate enactment of de jure policy in other language policy settings.

Keywords: Urban landscape, language access, critical-language policy, spanish, public transportation

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Authors: Myriam Roy

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The perspectives of the Togolese public towards mental illness were assessed, looking at religious affiliation, personal knowledge of someone with a mental illness, and education level as influencers. The goal was to observe which factors influenced most strongly the general public’s attitudes towards mental illness. The Togolese population was surveyed within the context of mental health awareness workshops and involved college and university students, rural community members, and company employees. Taylor and Dear’s Community Attitudes towards the Mentally Ill (CAMI) questionnaire was used to assess these influencers and includes four dimensions of community attitudes towards mental illness: authoritarianism, benevolence, social restrictiveness, and community mental health ideology (CMHI). Demographic questions were also included, tailored to the various realities of the Togolese population. These questions looked, among others, at religious, ethnical (region of origin within Togo), and educational background. It was found that religious affiliation and personal knowledge did not correlate significantly with changes in the four dimensions of the CAMI scale. It suggests that public perspectives towards mental illness might not be as associated with these variables as was previously thought. The dimensions, however, did correlate with themselves as was expected. Authoritarianism was associated positively with social restrictiveness, benevolence was associated negatively with social restrictiveness and positively with CMHI, and CMHI was associated negatively with social restrictiveness, indicating the CAMI did not suffer from reliability and validity issues when used with this population. Interestingly, level of education significantly impacted authoritarianism level, with higher education associated with a decrease in authoritarianism. This finding would support the notion that education is likely to provide access to a wide array of information as well as interaction with people from various backgrounds and situations. Providing increased awareness regarding mental health and illness in schools could be beneficial to favor the impact that education appears to have on public perspectives towards mental illness in Togo. Future studies could assess which mental health interventions in schools would be the most useful in Togo.

Keywords: CAMI questionnaire, cross-cultural psychology, stigma towards mental illness, West African psychology

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Authors: David De Smet, Myriam Vanneste

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There is a constant need for the improvement of materials applied in textile industries. Nowadays there is a tendency for “bio, eco, natural and environmental friendly” consciousness of the consumer resulting in various textile labels. Materials, totally based on CO2-neutral renewable resources (biopolymers), respond very well to this tendency. Proteins and PLA were evaluated as binders for textile coatings. Much attention is paid to the functionalization of textiles, therefore bio-additves are examined to introduce abrasion resistance, antimicrobial and flame retardant properties.

Keywords: biomaterial, textile, coating, finishing

Procedia PDF Downloads 712