Search results for: view angle

Authors: Lorenzo Bonoldi, Gianluca Memoli, Abdelhalim Azbaid El Ouahabi

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In this paper, a series of ring-shaped attenuators utilizing Helmholtz and quarter wavelength resonators in variable, fixed, and combined configurations have been manufactured using a 3D printer. We illustrate possible uses by incorporating such devices into musical instruments (e.g. in acoustic guitar sound holes) and audio speakers with a view to controlling such devices tonal emissions without electronic equalization systems. Numerical investigations into the transmission loss values of these ring-shaped attenuators using finite element method simulations (COMSOL Multiphysics) have been presented in the frequency range of 100– 1000 Hz. We compare such results for each attenuator model with experimental measurements using different driving sources such as white noise, a maximum-length sequence (MLS), square and sine sweep pulses, and point scans in the frequency domain. Finally, we present a preliminary discussion on the comparison of numerical and experimental results.

Keywords: equaliser, metamaterials, musical, instruments

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Authors: Chih-Hsiang Chang, Chia-Ching Tsai

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The aim of this study is to examine the stock price effect of the enterprises being classified as socially responsible. We explore the stock price response to the announcement that an enterprise is selected for the Taiwan Corporate Sustainability Awards. Empirical results indicate that the announcements of the Taiwan Corporate Sustainability Awards provide useful informational content to stock market. We find the evidence of insignificantly positive short-term and significantly positive long-term price reaction to the enterprises being classified as socially responsible. This study concludes that investors in the Taiwan stock market tend to view an enterprise being selected for the Taiwan Corporate Sustainability Awards as one with superior quality and long-term price potential.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, stock price effect, Taiwan stock market, investments

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Authors: Guilherme B. B. Vieira, Rafael M. da Silva, Eliana T. P. Senna, Luiz A. S. Senna, Francisco J. Kliemann Neto

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Due to the importance of ports to trade and economic development of the regions in which they are inserted, in recent decades the number of studies devoted to this subject has increased. Part of these studies consider the ports as business agglomerations and focuses on port governance. This is an important approach since the port performance is the result of activities performed by actors belonging to the port-logistics chain, which need to be properly coordinated. This coordination takes place through a port governance model. Given this context, this study aims to analyze the governance model of the port of Santos from the perspective of port customers. To do this, a closed-ended questionnaire based on a conceptual model that considers the key dimensions associated with port governance was applied to the international freight forwarders that operate in the port. The results show the applicability of the considered model and highlight improvement opportunities to be implemented at the port of Santos.

Keywords: port governance, model, Port of Santos, customers’ perception

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Authors: Mehrnoosh Pirhayati

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In this study, the researcher tried to propose a model of Translation Criticism (TC) regarding the phenomenon of Translation Quality Assessment (TQA). With changing the general view on re/writing as an illegal act, the researcher defined a scale for the act of translation and determined the redline of translation with other products. This research attempts to show TC as a related phenomenon to TQA. This study shows that TQA with using the rules and factors of TC as depicted in both product-oriented analysis and process-oriented analysis, determines the orientation or the level of the quality of translation. This study also depicts that TC, regarding TQA’s perspective, reveals the aim of the translation of original text and the root of ideological manipulation and re/writing. On the other hand, this study stresses the existence of a direct relationship between the linguistic materials and semiotic codes of a text or book. This study can be fruitful for translators, scholars, translation criticizers, and translation quality assessors, and also it is applicable in the area of pedagogy.

Keywords: a model of translation criticism, a model of translation quality assessment, critical discourse analysis (CDA), re/writing, translation criticism (TC), translation quality assessment (TQA)

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Authors: Manar Aslan, Ayfer Karaaslan

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Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the attitude towards the use of the maiden name of the Turkish people. Methods: For the study group who lives in the center of Konya/Turkey and people aged 16-65 years, as the sample identified 1,000 people with simple random between the months of February to May 2013. The survey created by the researchers, for investigating the perception of using the maiden name of the people of Konya consists of 25 questions with demographic characteristics. For statistical analysis of the obtained data made using SPSS 20, chi-square test and one-way analysis of variance methods of frequency, average, were evaluated as percentage distribution. Results: The traditional view of Konya increasing age increases, decreases the desire to use her maiden name. So look favorably than younger generations to use maiden name. In parallel with the level of educational levels are increasing utilization rates maiden name. Thus, individuals with higher levels of education are more positive look at the use of her maiden name. Looking at the marital status; compared to individuals with a single against the use of her maiden name of individuals who are married are more negative attitude.

Keywords: Maiden name, public viewpoint, utilization, women

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Authors: Yadi Xu, Qingping Luo

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Currently, there is a great tendency that more and more villages in China are trying to increase income by development of tourism. 'Beautiful Rural Construction' provides an excellent opportunity for the development of tourism. In this context, development orientation, transportation routes, and tourism service facilities are analyzed under the perspective of existing landscape utilization and regional integration based on the development tourism industry of the Nanliangdu Village in Jingxing Town, Shijiazhuang Province as a research object. In the program, the biggest issue is the contradiction between the ecological development and protection of the river and the development of economy. How to deal with the relationship between protection and development is the key to the design of this case. Furthermore, the streets and courtyard space, existing buildings, public environment, specific landscape of the ancient village with a history of thousands of years have strong regional characteristics. The article is actively exploring for suggestions and countermeasures to promote the development premised on protection and based on a regional view.

Keywords: development, integration, protection, rural tourism

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Authors: E. Tandis, E. Assareh

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Designing the optimal shape of MW wind turbine blades is provided in a number of cases through evolutionary algorithms associated with mathematical modeling (Blade Element Momentum Theory). Evolutionary algorithms, among the optimization methods, enjoy many advantages, particularly in stability. However, they usually need a large number of function evaluations. Since there are a large number of local extremes, the optimization method has to find the global extreme accurately. The present paper introduces a new population-based hybrid algorithm called Genetic-Based Bees Algorithm (GBBA). This algorithm is meant to design the optimal shape for MW wind turbine blades. The current method employs crossover and neighborhood searching operators taken from the respective Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Bees Algorithm (BA) to provide a method with good performance in accuracy and speed convergence. Different blade designs, twenty-one to be exact, were considered based on the chord length, twist angle and tip speed ratio using GA results. They were compared with BA and GBBA optimum design results targeting the power coefficient and solidity. The results suggest that the final shape, obtained by the proposed hybrid algorithm, performs better compared to either BA or GA. Furthermore, the accuracy and speed convergence increases when the GBBA is employed

Keywords: Blade Design, Optimization, Genetic Algorithm, Bees Algorithm, Genetic-Based Bees Algorithm, Large Wind Turbine

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Authors: Sheryl Bernardo-Hinesley

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Heritage language learners are students who have been raised in a home where a minority language is spoken, who speaks or merely understand the minority heritage language, but to some degree are bilingual in the majority and the heritage language. In view of the rising university enrollment by Hispanics in the United States who have chosen to study Spanish, university language programs are currently faced with challenges of accommodating the language needs of heritage language learners of Spanish. The present study investigates the heritage language perception and language attitudes by heritage language learners of Spanish, as well as their classroom language learning experiences and needs. In order to carry out the study, a qualitative survey was used to gather data from university students. Analysis of students' responses indicates that heritage learners are motivated to learn the heritage language. In relation to the aspects of focus of a language course for heritage learners, results show that the aspects of interest are accent marks and spelling, grammatical accuracy, vocabulary, writing, reading, and culture.

Keywords: heritage language learners, language acquisition, linguistic attitudes, Spanish in the US

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Authors: Ernawati Mustafa Kamal, Hasnanywati Hassan, Atasya Osmadi

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The housing industry is crucial for sustainable development of every country. Housing is a basic need that can enhance the quality of life. Owning a house is therefore the main aim of individuals. However, affordability has become a critical issue towards homeownership. In recent years, housing price in the main cities has increased tremendously to unaffordable level. This paper investigates factors influencing the housing price from developer’s perspective and provides recommendation on strategies to tackle this issue. Online and face-to-face survey was conducted on housing developers operating in Penang, Malaysia. The results indicate that (1) location; (2) macroeconomics factor; (3) demographic factors; (4) land/zoning and; (5) industry factors are the main factors influencing the housing price. This paper contributes towards better understanding on developers’ view on how the housing price is determined and form a basis for government to help tackle the housing affordability issue.

Keywords: factors influence, house price, housing developers, Malaysia

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Authors: Pimporn Thongmuang

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The import value of antimicrobial drugs reached approximately fifteen million Baht in 2010, considered as the highest import value of all modern drugs, and this value is rising every year. Antimicrobials are considered the hazardous drugs by the Ministry of Public Health. This research was conducted in order to investigate the past knowledge of drug use and Antimicrobial drug use behavior. A total of 757 students were selected as the samples out of a population of 1,800 students. This selected students had the experience of Antimicrobial drugs use a year ago. A questionnaire was utilized in this research. The findings put on the view that knowledge gained by the students about proper use of antimicrobial drugs was not brought into practice. This suggests that the education procedure regarding drug use needs adjustment. And therefore the findings of this research are expected to be utilized as guidelines for educating people about the proper use of antimicrobial drugs. At a broader perspective, correct drug use behavior of the public may potentially reduce drug cost of the Ministry of Public Health of Thailand.

Keywords: drug use knowledge, antimicrobial drugs, drug use behavior, drug

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Authors: Harpreet Kaur, Er. Arjun, Kirandeep Kaur, P. K. Mittal

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Simulation of a human body from 20% gelatin & 80% water mixture is examined from wound ballistics point of view. Parameters such as incapacitation energy & temporary to permanent cavity size & tools of hydrodynamics have been employed to arrive at a model of human body similar to the one adopted by NATO. Calculations using equations of motion yield a value of 339 µs in which a temporary cavity with maximum size settles down to permanent cavity. This occurs for a 10mm size bullets & settle down to permanent cavity in case of 4 different bullets i.e. 5.45, 5.56, 7.62,10 mm sizes The obtained results are in excellent agreement with the body as right circular cylinder of 15 cm height & 10 cm diameter. An effort is made here in this work to present a sound theoretical base to parameters commonly used in wound ballistics from field experience discussed by Col Coats & Major Beyer. Keywords. Gelatin, gunshot, hydrodynamic model, oscillation time, temporary cavity and permanent cavity, Wound Ballistic.

Keywords: gelatin, gunshot, wound, cavity

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Authors: Sopio Gogilava, Goga Chakhaia, Levan Tsulukidze, Zurab Laoshvili, Irina Khubulava, Shalva Bosikashvili, Teimuraz Gugushvili

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Geoinformatics systems (GIS) integrated computer program RAMMS is widely used for forecasting debris flows and accordingly for the determination of anticipating risks with 85% accuracy. In view of the above, the work introduces new capabilities of the computer program RAMMS, which evaluates the effectiveness of anti-debris flow engineering construction, namely: the possibility of decreasing the expected velocity, kinetic energy, and output cone volume in the Mletiskhevi River. As a result of research has been determined that the anti-debris flow engineering construction designed to reduce the expected debris flow risk in the Mletiskhevi River is an effective environmental protection technology, that's why its introduction is promising.

Keywords: construction, debris flow, geoinformatics systems, program RAMMS

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Authors: Meshal Al-Samhan, Abdullah Al-Marshed

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Recently, there has been a tremendous increase in interest in nanotechnology applications and nanomaterials in the oilfield. In the last decade, the global increase in oil production resulted in large amounts of produced water, causing a significant problem for all producing countries and companies. This produced water deserves special attention and a study of its characteristics to understand and determine how it can be treated and later used for suitable applications such as water injection for Enhance Oil Recovery (EOR) without harming the environment. This work aims to investigate the prepared compatible mixed water (seawater and effluent water) response to nanoparticles for EOR water injection. The evaluation of different mix seawater/effluent water ratios (60/40,70/30) for their characteristics prior to nanofluid preparation using Inductive Couple Plasma (ICP) analysis, potential zeta test, and OLI software (the OLI Systems is a recognised leader in aqueous chemistry). This step of the work revealed the suitability of the water mix with a lower effluent-water ratio. Also, OLI predicted that the 60:40 mix needs to be balanced around temperatures of 70 ºC to avoid the mass accumulation of calcium sulfate and strontium sulfate. Later the prepared nanofluid was tested for interfacial tension (IFT) and wettability restoration in the sandstone rock; the Al2O3 nanofluid at 0.06 wt% concentration reduced the IFT by more than 16% with moderate water wet contact angle. The study concluded that the selected nanoparticle Al2O3 had demonstrated excellent performance in decreasing the interfacial tension with respect to the selected water mix type (60/40) at low nanoparticles wt%.

Keywords: nano AL2O3, sanstone, nanofluid, IFT, wettability

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Authors: Mukul Anand

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Quality oriented affordable shelter for all has always been the key issue in the housing sector of our country. Homelessness is the acute form of housing need. It is a paradox that in spite of innumerable government initiated programmes for affordable housing, certain section of society is still devoid of shelter. About nineteen million (18.78 million) households grapple with housing shortage in Urban India in 2012. In Indian scenario there is major mismatch between the people for whom the houses are being built and those who need them. The prime force faced by public authorities in facilitation of quality housing for all is high cost of construction. The present paper will comprehend executable techniques for dilution of cost factor in housing the homeless. The key actors responsible for delivery of cheap housing stock such as capacity building, resource optimization, innovative low cost building material and indigenous skeleton housing system will also be incorporated in developing these techniques. Time performance, which is an important angle of above actors, will also be explored so as to increase the effectiveness of low cost housing. Along with this best practices will be taken up as case studies where both conventional techniques of housing and innovative low cost housing techniques would be cited. Transportation consists of approximately 30% of total construction budget. Thus use of alternative local solutions depending upon the region would be covered so as to highlight major components of low cost housing. Government is laid back regarding base line information on use of innovative low cost method and technique of resource optimization. Therefore, the paper would be an attempt to bring to light simpler solutions for achieving low cost housing.

Keywords: construction, cost, housing, optimization, shelter

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Authors: Maryam Bakhtyar, Pegah Akrami

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Intuitional insight or mystical cognition is a different insight from common, concrete and intellectual insights. This kind of insight is not achieved by visionary contemplation but by the recitation of God, self-purification, and mystical life. In this insight, there is no distance or medium between the subject of cognition and its object, and they have a sort of unification, unison, and incorporation. As a result, knowledgeable consider this insight as direct, immediate, and personal. The goal of this insight is God, cosmos’ creatures, and the general inner and hidden aspect of the world that is nothing except God’s manifestations in the view of mystics. AS our common cognitions have diversity and stages, intuitional insight also has diversity and levels. As our senses are divided into concrete and rational, mystical discovery is divided into superficial discovery and spiritual one. Based on Islamic mystics, the preferable way to know God and believe in him is intuitional insight. There are two important criteria for evaluating mystical intuition, especially for beginner mystics of intellect and revelation. Indeed, the conclusion and a brief evaluation of Islamic mystics’ viewpoint is the main subject of this paper.

Keywords: intuition, discovery, mystical insight, personal knowledge, superficial discovery, spiritual discovery

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Authors: Jiandong Lv, Xingang Wang, Cuiling Shao

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The rapid development of social media platforms has made it one of the important news sources. While it provides people with convenient real-time communication channels, fake news and rumors are also spread rapidly through social media platforms, misleading the public and even causing bad social impact in view of the slow speed and poor consistency of artificial rumor detection. We propose an end-to-end rumor detection model-TIMF, which captures the dependencies between multimodal data based on the interactive attention mechanism, uses a transformer for cross-modal feature sequence mapping and combines hybrid fusion strategies to obtain decision results. This paper verifies two multi-modal rumor detection datasets and proves the superior performance and early detection performance of the proposed model.

Keywords: hybrid fusion, multimodal fusion, rumor detection, social media, transformer

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Authors: Milan Paudel, Fook Fah Yap, Anil K. Bastola

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The difficulties in riding small wheel bicycles and their lesser stability have been perceived for a long time. Although small wheel bicycles are designed using the similar approach and guidelines that have worked well for big wheel bicycles, the performance of the big wheelers and the smaller wheelers are markedly different. Since both the big wheelers and small wheelers have same fundamental geometry, most blame the small wheel for this discrepancy in the performance. This paper reviews existing guidelines for bicycle design, especially the front steering geometry for the bicycle, and provides a systematic and quantitative analysis of different wheel sized bicycles. A validated mathematical model has been used as a tool to assess the dynamic performance of the bicycles in term of their self-stability. The results obtained were found to corroborate the subjective perception of cyclists for small wheel bicycles. The current approach for small wheel bicycle design requires higher speed to be self-stable. However, it was found that increasing the headtube angle and selecting a proper trail could improve the dynamic performance of small wheel bicycles. A range of parameters for front steering geometry has been identified for small wheel bicycles that have comparable stability as big wheel bicycles. Interestingly, most of the identified geometries are found to be beyond the ISO recommended range and seem to counter the current approach of small wheel bicycle design. Therefore, it was successfully shown that the guidelines for big wheelers do not translate directly to small wheelers, but careful selection of the front geometry could make small wheel bicycles as stable as big wheel bicycles.

Keywords: big wheel bicycle, design approach, ISO requirements, small wheel bicycle, stability and performance

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Authors: Jianhong Xiang, Hao Xiang, Linyu Wang

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Compressed sensing (CS) has a wide range of applications in sparse signal reconstruction. Aiming at the problems of low recovery accuracy and long reconstruction time of existing reconstruction algorithms in medical imaging, this paper proposes a corrected smoothing L0 algorithm based on compressed sensing (CSL0). First, an approximate hyperbolic tangent function (AHTF) that is more similar to the L0 norm is proposed to approximate the L0 norm. Secondly, in view of the "sawtooth phenomenon" in the steepest descent method and the problem of sensitivity to the initial value selection in the modified Newton method, the use of the steepest descent method and the modified Newton method are jointly optimized to improve the reconstruction accuracy. Finally, the CSL0 algorithm is simulated on various images. The results show that the algorithm proposed in this paper improves the reconstruction accuracy of the test image by 0-0. 98dB.

Keywords: smoothed L0, compressed sensing, image processing, sparse reconstruction

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Authors: Maniam Kaliannan

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Studies on best practice or “bundles” of human resource management aims at providing a ‘universal solution’ to organizations yet critics challenge this view and place importance on the architecture of human resource processes in response to the dynamic needs of organizations. This paper identifies these best practices and explores how the applications of selected human resource management practices to a case study help solved their human resource problems. The case study includes insights on the problems faced; the approach taken to identify its root causes and explores how selected human resource management practices helped managed the overall predicament. The case study results supports the importance of aligning ‘bundles’ of practices with organizational architecture and ensuring that the architecture of human resource practices evolve with the changing needs of organizations. In addition, a framework based on the events of the case study is proposed to systematically manage their human resources

Keywords: bundles, best practices, human resource management, organizational architecture, framework

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Authors: Antoniette Belle R. Bontuyan

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The aim of the study was to determine the levels of performance in Composition Writing of English 122: Writing in the Discipline of the Associate in Hospitality Management Freshman Students in relation to their reading and writing experiences at the Cebu Technological University Tuburan Campus, Academic Year 2009-2010 as basis for a proposed skill exercises. Specifically, this research answers the following questions: Firstly, based on the students’ written compositions, what the students’ levels of performance in the following are: Composition Topic with subcomponents of Topic Development, Organizational or Logical Conclusions, Accurate, Relevant Evidence or Detail, Voice/Tone/Style, and the Composition Conventions with subcomponents of Structure, Grammar and Usage, Spelling, Capitalization, Punctuation. Secondly, what the students’ extents of experiences in view of Writing and Reading Experiences are.

Keywords: COMPOSITION WRITING

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Authors: L. P. Nascimento, M. Soares, N. Valério, A. Ribeiro, J. R. M. Oliveira, J. Araújo, C. Vilarinho, J. Carvalho

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With the growing need to save natural resources and value waste that was previously worthless, waste recycling becomes imperative. Thus, with the techno-scientific growth and in the perspective of sustainability, it is observed that waste has the potential to replace significant percentages of materials considered “virgin”. An example is the replacement of crushed aggregates with foundry sand. In this work, a mix design study of two asphalt mixes, a base mix (AC 20) and a surface mix (AC14) was carried out to evaluate the maximum amount of foundry sand residue that could be used. Water sensitivity tests were performed to evaluate the mechanical behavior of these mixtures. For the superficial mixture with foundry sand (AC14FS), the maximum of sand used was 5%, with satisfactory results of sensitivity to water. In the base mixture with sand (AC20FS), the maximum of sand used was 12%, which had less satisfactory results. However, from an environmental point of view, the re-incorporation of this residue in the pavement is beneficial because it prevents it from being deposited in landfills.

Keywords: foundry sand, hot mix asphalt, industrial waste, waste valorization, sustainability

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Authors: Renuka Mahadevan, Sharon Chang

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This exploratory study is based on potential cruisers’ monetary valuation of cruise attributes. Using choice experiment, monetary trade-offs between four different cruise attributes are examined with Australians as a case study. We found 50% of the sample valued variety of onboard cruise activities the least while 30% were willing to pay A$87 for cruise-organised activities per day, and the remaining 20% regarded an ocean view to be most valuable at A$125. Latent class modelling was then applied and results revealed that potential cruisers’ valuation of the attributes can be used to segment the market into adventurers, budget conscious and comfort lovers. Evidence showed that socio demographics are not as insightful as lifestyle preferences in developing cruise packages and pricing that would appeal to potential cruisers. Marketing also needs to counter the mindset of potential cruisers’ belief that cruises are often costly and that cruising can be done later in life.

Keywords: latent class modelling, choice experiment, potential cruisers, market segmentation, willingness to pay

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Authors: Aluisius Pratono, Deddy Marciano, Suyanto Suyanto

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The emerging model of community development social enterprise is one of the social enterprise models. However, a precise view of the community development enterprise is still lacking. Hence, this study was aimed at deepening the concept of the community development social enterprise model at the place management and development context. Multiple case studies in Indonesia context were observed to explore the typical criteria of the community development enterprise model in place-making practices. The research paradigm used interpretative approach, which involves dialectic process between the researchers and research participants. This study highlights some principles in the community-development enterprise, which cover an entrepreneurial dimension, social goals, participatory governance, and co-management. The result makes a contribution to conceptual literature occurs at the criteria of social enterprises by highlighting the typology of community development enterprise.

Keywords: community development enterprise, social purposes, economic project, participatory governance

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Authors: Kingsley Ononogbo, Ashiru Bello

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The purpose of this study is to determine the factors responsible for the inclination of the youths of Bida to passive recreation, with a view to finding out whether their occupations influence their attitudes towards active recreation. Using the 5-point Likert scale, a total number of 267 participants were drawn from the two major wards in Bida town. They are Cheniyan and Nassarafu. Study evidence revealed that youths were constrained from participating in active recreation due to preoccupation with family responsibilities and lack of their choices of recreational facilities. The result of the Chi Square Test showed that the youths had positive attitudes towards physical exercises, while the Spearman’s Correlation (r=0.21) signifies a positive but weak correlation. The P- value, however, equals .7610 which is greater than 0.05 and, so significant. The study concluded by suggesting regular enlightenment programmes, focusing on the values of participating in active recreation, and building and maintenance of desired neighborhood recreation facilities for youths, as a measure to encourage them to take part in the active form of recreation.

Keywords: attitudes, Bida, recreation development, recreation of youth

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Authors: Maryam Nazari

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COVID-19 is a respiratory disease triggered by the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, that has reached pandemic status today. Acute inflammation and immune cells infiltration into lung injuries result in multi-organ failure. The presence of other non-communicable diseases (NCDs) with systemic inflammation derived from COVID-19 may exacerbate the patient's situation and increase the risk for adverse effects and mortality. This pandemic is a novel situation and the scientific community at this time is looking for vaccines or drugs to treat the pathology. One of the biggest challenges is focused on reducing inflammation without compromising the correct immune response of the patient. In this regard, addressing the nutritional factors should not be overlooked not only as a matter of avoiding the presence of NCDs with severe infections but also as an adjunctive way to modulate the inflammatory status of the patients. Despite the pivotal role of nutrition in modifying immune response, due to the novelty of the COVID-19 disease, information about the effects of specific dietary agents is limited in this area. From the macronutrients point of view, protein deficiency (quantity or quality) has negative effects on the number of functional immunoglobulins and gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT). High biological value proteins or some amino acids like arginine and glutamine are well known for their ability to augment the immune system. Among lipids, fish oil has the ability to inactivate enveloped viruses, suppress pro-inflammatory prostaglandin production and block platelet-activating factors and their receptors. In addition, protectin D1, which is an Omega-3 PUFAs derivation, is a novel antiviral drug. So it seems that these fatty acids can reduce the severity and/or improve recovery of patients with COVID-19. Carbohydrates with lower glycemic index and fibers are associated with lower levels of inflammatory cytokines (CRP, TNF-α, and IL-6). Short-Chain Fatty acids not only exert a direct anti-inflammatory effect but also provide appropriate gut microbial, which is important in gastrointestinal issues related to COVID-19. From the micronutrients point of view, Vitamins A, C, D, E, iron, magnesium, zinc, selenium and copper play a vital role in the maintenance of immune function. Inadequate status in these nutrients may result in decreased resistance against COVID-19 infection. There are specific bioactive compounds in the diet that interact with the ACE2 receptor, which is the gateway for SARS and SARS-CoV-2, and thus controls the viral infection. Regarding this, the potential benefits of probiotics, resveratrol (a polyphenol found in grape), oleoylethanolamide (derived from oleic acid), and natural peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ agonists in foodstuffs (like curcumin, pomegranate, hot pepper) are suggested. Yet, it should be pointed out that most of these results have been reported in animal models and further human studies are needed to be verified.

Keywords: Covid-19, inflammation, nutrition, dietary agents

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Authors: B. Engel, H. Hassan

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Rotary draw bending is a method which is being used in tube forming. In the tube bending process, the neutral axis moves towards the inner arc and the wall thickness distribution changes for tube’s cross section. Thinning takes place in the outer arc of the tube (extrados) due to the stretching of the material, whereas thickening occurs in the inner arc of the tube (intrados) due to the comparison of the material. The calculations of the wall thickness distribution, neutral axis shifting, and strain distribution have not been accurate enough, so far. The previous model (the geometrical model) describes the neutral axis shifting and wall thickness distribution. The geometrical of the tube, bending radius and bending angle are considered in the geometrical model, while the influence of the material properties of the tube forming are ignored. The advanced model is a modification of the previous model using material properties that depends on the correction factor. The correction factor is a purely empirically determined factor. The advanced model was compared with the Finite element simulation (FE simulation) using a different bending factor (Bf=bending radius/ diameter of the tube), wall thickness (Wf=diameter of the tube/ wall thickness), and material properties (strain hardening exponent). Finite element model of rotary draw bending has been performed in PAM-TUBE program (version: 2012). Results from the advanced model resemble the FE simulation and the experimental test.

Keywords: rotary draw bending, material properties, neutral axis shifting, wall thickness distribution

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Authors: Jiao Li

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Language teachers have been expected to play diversified new roles in times of educational changes. Considering the critical role that materials play in teaching and learning, language teachers have been increasingly involved in developing materials. Using identity as an analytic lens, this study aims to explore language teachers’ experiences as materials developers in China, focusing on the challenges they face and responses to them. It will adopt a multimethod approach. At the first stage, about 12 language teachers who have developed or are developing materials will be interviewed to have a broad view of their experiences. At the second stage, three language teachers who are developing materials will be studied by collecting interview data, policy documents, and data obtained from online observation of their group meetings so as to gain a deeper understanding of their experiences in materials development. It is expected that this study would have implications for teacher development, materials development, and curriculum development as well.

Keywords: educational changes, teacher development, teacher identity, teacher learning, materials development

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Authors: Hendradi Hardhienata, Tony Sumaryada, Sri Setyaningsih

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Current progress in the field of nonlinear optics has enabled precise surface characterization in semiconductor materials. Nonlinear optical techniques are favorable due to their nondestructive measurement and ability to work in nonvacuum and ambient conditions. The advance of the bond hyperpolarizability models opens a wide range of nanoscale surface investigation including the possibility to detect molecular orientation at the surface of silicon and zincblende semiconductors, investigation of electric field induced second harmonic fields at the semiconductor interface, detection of surface impurities, and very recently, study surface defects such as twin boundary in wurtzite semiconductors. In this work, we show using nonlinear optical techniques, e.g. nonlinear bond models how arbitrary polarization of the incoming electric field in Rotational Anisotropy Spectroscopy experiments can provide more information regarding the origin of the nonlinear sources in zincblende and wurtzite semiconductor structure. In addition, using hyperpolarizability consideration, we describe how the nonlinear susceptibility tensor describing SHG can be well modelled using only few parameter because of the symmetry of the bonds. We also show how the third harmonic intensity feature shows considerable changes when the incoming field polarization angle is changed from s-polarized to p-polarized. We also propose a method how to investigate surface reconstruction and defects in wurtzite and zincblende structure at the nanoscale level.

Keywords: surface characterization, bond model, rotational anisotropy spectroscopy, effective hyperpolarizability

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Authors: D. Sun, T. F. Lu, A. Zander, M. Trinkle

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This paper investigates the potential use of airborne ultrasonic phased arrays for imaging in outdoor environments as a means of overcoming the limitations experienced by kinect sensors, which may fail to work in the outdoor environments due to the oversaturation of the infrared photo diodes. Ultrasonic phased arrays have been well studied for static media, yet there appears to be no comparable examination in the literature of the impact of a flowing medium on the focusing behaviour of near field focused ultrasonic arrays. This paper presents a method for predicting the sound pressure fields produced by a single ultrasound element or an ultrasonic phased array influenced by airflows. The approach can be used to determine the actual focal point location of an array exposed in a known flow field. From the presented simulation results based upon this model, it can be concluded that uniform flows in the direction orthogonal to the acoustic propagation have a noticeable influence on the sound pressure field, which is reflected in the twisting of the steering angle of the array. Uniform flows in the same direction as the acoustic propagation have negligible influence on the array. For an array impacted by a turbulent flow, determining the location of the focused sound field becomes difficult due to the irregularity and continuously changing direction and the speed of the turbulent flow. In some circumstances, ultrasonic phased arrays impacted by turbulent flows may not be capable of producing a focused sound field.

Keywords: airborne, airflow, focused sound field, ultrasonic phased array

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Authors: W. Riahi, M. L. Mansour

Abstract:

Using tools of data processing such as geographic information system (GIS) for the contribution of the space management becomes more and more frequent. It allows collecting and analyzing diverse natural information relative to the same territory. Space technologies play crucial role in agricultural phenomenon analysis. For this, satellite images treatment were used to classify vegetation density and particularly agricultural areas in Setif province by making recourse to the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). This step was completed by mapping agricultural activities of the province by using ArcGIS.10 software in order to display an overall view and to realize spatial analysis of various themes combined between them which are chosen according to their strategic importance in different thematic maps. The synthesis map elaborately showed that geographic information system can contribute significantly to agricultural management by describing potentialities and development opportunities of production systems and agricultural sectors.

Keywords: GIS, satellite image, agriculture, NDVI, thematic map

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