Search results for: non-tariff measure

Authors: James R. Wilson

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Music is typically defined as having the attributes of melody, harmony, and rhythm. In this paper, a fourth element is proposed -"flow". "Flow" is a new dimension in music that has always been present but only recently identified and measured. The Adagio "Flow Machine" enables us to envision this component and even suggests a new approach to music theory and analysis. The Adagio was created specifically to measure the underlying “flow” in music. The Adagio is an entirely new way to experience and visualize the music, to assist in performing music (both as a conductor and/or performer), and to provide a whole new methodology for music analysis and theory. The Adagio utilizes musical “hit points”, such as a transition from one musical section to another (for example, in a musical composition utilizing the sonata form, a transition from the exposition to the development section) to help define the compositions flow rate. Once the flow rate is established, the Adagio can be used to determine if the composer/performer/conductor has correctly maintained the proper rate of flow throughout the performance. An example is provided using Mozart’s Piano Concerto Number 21. Working with the Adagio yielded an unexpected windfall; it was determined via an empirical study conducted at Nova University’s Biofeedback Lab that watching the Adagio helped volunteers participating in a controlled experiment recover from stressors significantly faster than the control group. The Adagio can be thought of as a new arrow in the Musicologist's quiver. It provides a new, unique way of viewing the psychological impact and esthetic effectiveness of music composition. Additionally, with the current worldwide access to multi-media via the internet, flow analysis can be performed and shared with others with little time and/or expense.

Keywords: musicology, music analysis, music flow, music therapy

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Authors: Arfan Riasat, M. Iqbal Zafar, Gulfam Riasat

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Pakistani women actively participate in livestock management activities, along with their normal domestic chores. The study was designed to measure the position and contribution of rural women, their constraints in livestock management activities and mainly how the rural women contribute for development in the district Faisalabad. It was envisioned that women participation in livestock activities have rarely been investigated. A multistage random sampling technique was used to collect the data from Tehsil Summandry of the district selected at random. Two union councils were taken by using simple random sampling technique. Four Chak (village) from each union council were selected at random and fifteen woman were further selected randomly from each selected chak. The results show that a vast majority of women were illiterate, having annual family income of one to two lac. They are living in joint family system. Their main occupation is agriculture and they spend long hours in whole livestock related activities to support their families. A large proportion of the respondents reported that they had to face problems and constraints in livestock activities in the context of decision making, medication, awareness, training along with social and economic issues. Analysis indicated that education level of women, income of household, age were significantly associated with level of participation. Women participation in livestock activities increased production and they were involved in income generating activities for better economic conditions of their families.

Keywords: women, participation, livestock, management, rural development

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Authors: Egbo Anthonia Chinonyelum

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This study was designed to identify the extent of the influence of vocational guidance services on career choice of secondary school students in Enugu State. The study was guided by two research questions and two null hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance. A sample of 1,054 respondents made of teachers, students and counsellors drawn from the 34 secondary schools from the six educational zones of Enugu State Nigeria was used for the study. The researcher administered the research instruments generated from the randomly selected senior secondary schools from the six educational zones in Enugu State. The data collected from the respondents were analyzed using mean statistics drawn from the responses of senior secondary school students, counsellor and teacher to the questionnaire item. Four point scale was used to measure the opinion of the respondents, such that after the statistical analysis, those items in the questionnaire that have the mean rate of 2.5 and is of great level of influence on the career choice of students. While questionnaire item with the mean below 2.5 were taken as having little extent of influence on career choice of students. The findings in this work showed that there was little extent on the influence of vocational guidance on career choice, choice of subjects and positive attitude of students towards vocational guidance. Based on the findings the researcher recommended that government and other relevant authorities should help by creating the awareness of vocational guidance programme in Schools.

Keywords: vocation, guidance, counselling, services, career, choice

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Authors: Lakshmana Ravi Raj Gali, K. Sridhar Reddy, M. Amaranatha Reddy

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Load transfer between adjacent slabs of the jointed plain concrete pavement (JPCP) system is inevitable for long-lasting performance. Dowel bars are generally used to ensure sufficient degree of load transfer, in addition to the load transferred by aggregate interlock mechanism at the joints. Joint efficiency is the measure of joint quality, a major concern and therefore the dowel bar system should be designed and constructed well. The interaction between dowel bars and concrete that includes various parameters of dowel bar and concrete will explain the degree of joint efficiency. The present study focuses on the methodology of selecting contact stiffness, which quantifies dowel-concrete interaction. In addition, a parametric study which focuses on the effect of dowel diameter, dowel shape, the spacing between dowel bars, joint opening, the thickness of the slab, the elastic modulus of concrete, and concrete cover on contact stiffness was also performed. The results indicated that the thickness of the slab is most critical among various parameters to explain the joint efficiency. Further displacement equivalency method was proposed to find out the contact stiffness. The proposed methodology was validated with the available field surface deflection data collected by falling weight deflectometer (FWD).

Keywords: contact stiffness, displacement equivalency method, Dowel-concrete interaction, joint behavior, 3D numerical simulation

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Authors: Laila Habiballah, Ahmad Tubaishat

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Background: with the development of information and communication technology, using the internet as a source to obtain health information is increasing. Nursing students as future health care providers should have the skills of locating, evaluating and using online health information. This will enable them to help their patients and families to make informed decisions. Aim: this study has a two-fold aim. The first is to assess the eHealth literacy among nursing students in Jordan. The second aim is to explore the factors that have an effect on the eHealth literacy. Methods: this is a descriptive cross-sectional survey that conducted in two universities in Jordan; public and private one. A number of 541 students from both universities were completed the eHEALS scale, which is an instrument designed to measure the eHealth literacy. Some additional personal and demographical variable were collected to explore its effect on eHealth literacy. Results: Students have a high perceived level of e-Health literacy (M=3.62, SD=0.58). They are aware of the available online health resources, know how to search, locate, and use these resources. But, they do not have the skills to evaluate these resources and cannot differentiate between the high and low-quality resources. The results showed as well that type of university, type of students' admission, academic level, students' skills of using the internet, and the perception of usefulness and importance of internet have an effect on the eHealth literacy. While the age, gender, GPA, and the frequency of using the internet was no significant factors. Conclusion: This study represents a baseline reference for the eHealth literacy in Jordan. Students have some skills of eHealth literacy and other skills need to be improved. Nursing educators and administrators should integrate and incorporate the skills of eHealth literacy in the curriculum.

Keywords: eHealth, literacy, nursing, students, Jordan

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Authors: Ebrahim Sabermaash Eshghi, Donna Sandsmark

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Nowadays, successful companies try to create a reliable and unique competitive position in the market. It is important to consider that only choosing and codifying a competitive strategy appropriate with the market conditions does not have any influence on the final performance of the company by itself, but it is the connection and interaction between upstream level strategies and functional level strategies which leads to development of company performance in its operating environment. Given the importance of the subject, this study tries to investigate effective factors on product performance and prioritize them. This study was done with quantitative-qualitative approach (interview and questionnaire). In sum, 103 informed managers and experts of Pars-Khazar Company were investigated in a census. Validity of measure tools was approved through experts’ judgments. Reliability of the tools was also gained through Cronbach's Alpha Coefficient as 0.930 and in sum, validity and reliability of the tools was approved generally. Analysis of collected data was done through Spearman Correlation Test and Friedman Test using SPSS software. The results showed that management of distribution and demand process (0.675), management of Product Pre-test (0.636) and Manufacturing and inventory management(0.628) had the highest correlation with product performance. Prioritization of factors of structure of launching new products based on the average showed that management of volume of launched products and Manufacturing and inventory management had the most importance.

Keywords: product performance, home appliances, market, case study

Procedia PDF Downloads 224

Authors: Mostafa Mohammadpour, Christoph Kapeller, Christy Li, Josef Scharinger, Christoph Guger

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Interictal spikes provide valuable information on electrocorticography (ECoG), which aids in surgical planning for patients who suffer from refractory epilepsy. However, the shape and temporal dynamics of these spikes remain unclear. The purpose of this work was to analyze the shape of interictal spikes and measure their distance to the seizure onset zone (SOZ) to use in epilepsy surgery. Thirteen patients' data from the iEEG portal were retrospectively studied. For analysis, half an hour of ECoG data was used from each patient, with the data being truncated before the onset of a seizure. Spikes were first detected and grouped in a sequence, then clustered into interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs) and non-IED groups using two-step clustering. The distance of the spikes from IED and non-IED groups to SOZ was quantified and compared using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test. Spikes in the IED group tended to be in SOZ or close to it, while spikes in the non-IED group were in distance of SOZ or non-SOZ area. At the group level, the distribution for sharp wave, positive baseline shift, slow wave, and slow wave to sharp wave ratio was significantly different for IED and non-IED groups. The distance of the IED cluster was 10.00mm and significantly closer to the SOZ than the 17.65mm for non-IEDs. These findings provide insights into the shape and spatiotemporal dynamics of spikes that could influence the network mechanisms underlying refractory epilepsy.

Keywords: spike propagation, spike pattern, clustering, SOZ

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Authors: Sebastian Töpfer, Jorge Fuenzalida, Marta Gilaberte Basset, Juan P. Torres, Markus Gräfe

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This work presents an experimental and theoretical study about the noise resilience of quantum holography with undetected photons. Quantum imaging has become an important research topic in the recent years after its first publication in 2014. Following this research, advances towards different spectral ranges in detection and different optical geometries have been made. Especially an interest in the field of near infrared to mid infrared measurements has developed, because of the unique characteristic, that allows to sample a probe with photons in a different wavelength than the photons arriving at the detector. This promising effect can be used for medical applications, to measure in the so-called molecule fingerprint region, while using broadly available detectors for the visible spectral range. Further advance the development of quantum imaging methods have been made by new measurement and detection schemes. One of which is quantum holography with undetected light. It combines digital phase shifting holography with quantum imaging to extent the obtainable sample information, by measuring not only the object transmission, but also its influence on the phase shift experienced by the transmitted light. This work will present extended research for the quantum holography with undetected light scheme regarding the influence of external noise. It is shown experimentally and theoretically that the samples information can still be at noise levels of 250 times higher than the signal level, because of its information being transmitted by the interferometric pattern. A detailed theoretic explanation is also provided.

Keywords: distillation, quantum holography, quantum imaging, quantum metrology

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Authors: Mehdi Mirzaei Alavijeh, Farzad Jalilian

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Background: Marijuana is the most widely used illicit drug worldwide, especially among adolescents and young adults, which can cause numerous complications. The aim of this study was to determine the pattern, motivation use, and factors related to marijuana use among Iranian youths based on the integrative model of behavioral prediction Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 174 youths marijuana user in Kermanshah County and Isfahan County, during summer 2014 which was selected with the convenience sampling for participation in this study. A self-reporting questionnaire was applied for collecting data. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 21 using bivariate correlations and linear regression statistical tests. Results: The mean marijuana use of respondents was 4.60 times at during week [95% CI: 4.06, 5.15]. Linear regression statistical showed, the structures of integrative model of behavioral prediction accounted for 36% of the variation in the outcome measure of the marijuana use at during week (R2 = 36% & P < 0.001); and among them attitude, marijuana refuse, and subjective norms were a stronger predictors. Conclusion: Comprehensive health education and prevention programs need to emphasize on cognitive factors that predict youth’s health-related behaviors. Based on our findings it seems, designing educational and behavioral intervention for reducing positive belief about marijuana, marijuana self-efficacy refuse promotion and reduce subjective norms encourage marijuana use has an effective potential to protect youths marijuana use.

Keywords: marijuana, youth, integrative model of behavioral prediction, Iran

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Authors: Albert Suryaprawira

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Patients requiring correction of severe Class III skeletal discrepancy historically has been among the most challenging treatments for orthodontists. Correction of an aesthetic and functional problem is crucially important. This is a case report of an adult male aged 18 years who complained of difficulty in chewing and speaking. Patient has a prominent profile with mandibular excess. The pre-treatment cephalometric radiograph was taken to analyse the skeletal problem and to measure the amount of bone movement and the prediction soft tissue response. The panoramic radiograph was also taken to analyse bone quality, bone abnormality, third molar impaction, etc. Before the surgery, the pre-surgical cephalometric radiograph was taken to re-evaluate the plan and to settle the final amount of bone cut. After the surgery, the post-surgical cephalometric radiograph was taken to confirm the result with the plan. The superimposition between those radiographs was performed to analyse the outcome. It includes the superimposition of the cranial base, maxilla, and mandible. Superimposition is important to describe the amount of hard and soft tissue movement. It is also important to predict the possibility of relapse after the surgery. The patient needs to understand all the surgical plan, outcome and relapse prevention. The surgery included mandibular set back by bilateral sagittal split osteotomies. Although the discrepancy was severe using this combination of treatment and the use of radiographic superimposition, an aesthetically pleasing and stable result was achieved.

Keywords: cephalometric, mandibular set back, orthognathic, superimposition

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Authors: Ramada R. Khasawneh, Mohammed Z. Allouh, Ejlal Abu-El Rub

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The quadriceps angle (Q angle), formed between the quadriceps muscles and the patella tendon, is considered clinically as a very important parameter which displays the biomechanical effect of the quadriceps muscle on the knee, and it is also regarded as a crucial factor for the proper posture and movement of the knee patella. This study had been conducted to measure the normal Q angle values range in the Arab nationalities and determine the correlation between Q angle values and several body parameters, including gender, height, weight, dominant side, and the condylar distance of the femur. The study includes 500 healthy Arab students from Yarmouk University and Jordan University of Science and Technology. The Q angle of those volunteers was measured using a universal manual Goniometer with the subjects in the upright weight-bearing position. It was found that the Q angle was greater in women than in men. The analysis of the data revealed an insignificant increase in the dominant side of the Q angle. In addition, the Q was significantly higher in the taller people of both sexes. However, the Q angle did not present any considerable correlation with weight in the study population; conversely, it was observed that there was a link with the condylar distance of the femur in both sexes. It was also noticed that the Q angle increased remarkably when there was an increase in the condylar distance. Consequently, it turned out that the gender, height, and the condylar distance were momentous factors that had an impact on the Q angle in our study samples. However, weight and dominance factors did not show to have any influence on the values in our study.

Keywords: Q angle, Jordanian, anatomy, condylar distance

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Authors: G. Shiha, S. Seif, W. Samir, K. Zalata

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Prospective Validation of the FibroTest Score in assessing Liver Fibrosis in Hepatitis C Infection with Genotype 4 FibroTest (FT) is non-invasive score of liver fibrosis that combines the quantitative results of 5 serum biochemical markers (alpha-2-macroglobulin, haptoglobin, apolipoprotein A1, gamma glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT) and bilirubin) and adjusted with the patient's age and sex in a patented algorithm to generate a measure of fibrosis. FT has been validated in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) (Halfon et al., Gastroenterol. Clin Biol.( 2008), 32 6suppl 1, 22-39). The validation of fibro test ( FT) in genotype IV is not well studied. Our aim was to evaluate the performance of FibroTest in an independent prospective cohort of hepatitis C patients with genotype 4. Subject was 122 patients with CHC. All liver biopsies were scored using METAVIR system. Our fibrosis score(FT) were measured, and the performance of the cut-off score were done using ROC curve. Among patients with advanced fibrosis, the FT was identically matched with the liver biopsy in 18.6%, overestimated the stage of fibrosis in 44.2% and underestimated the stage of fibrosis in 37.7% of cases. Also in patients with no/mild fibrosis, identical matching was detected in 39.2% of cases with overestimation in 48.1% and underestimation in 12.7%. So, the overall results of the test were identical matching, overestimation and underestimation in 32%, 46.7% and 21.3% respectively. Using ROC curve it was found that (FT) at the cut-off point of 0.555 could discriminate early from advanced stages of fibrosis with an area under ROC curve (AUC) of 0.72, sensitivity of 65%, specificity of 69%, PPV of 68%, NPV of 66% and accuracy of 67%. As FibroTest Score overestimates the stage of advanced fibrosis, it should not be considered as a reliable surrogate for liver biopsy in hepatitis C infection with genotype 4.

Keywords: fibrotest, chronic Hepatitis C, genotype 4, liver biopsy

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Authors: Debasis Sarkar

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Clean development mechanism (CDM) can act as an effective instrument for mitigating climate change. This mechanism can effectively reduce the emission of CO2 and other green house gases (GHG). Construction of a mega infrastructure project like underground corridor construction for metro rail operation involves in consumption of substantial quantity of concrete which consumes huge quantity of energy consuming materials like cement and steel. This paper is an attempt to develop an integrated clean development mechanism and risk management approach for sustainable development for an underground corridor metro rail project in India during its construction phase. It was observed that about 35% reduction in CO2 emission can be obtained by adding fly ash as a part replacement of cement. The reduced emission quantity of CO2 which is of the quantum of about 21,646.36 MT would result in cost savings of approximately INR 8.5 million (USD 1,29,878).But construction and operation of such infrastructure projects of the present era are subject to huge risks and uncertainties throughout all the phases of the project, thus reducing the probability of successful completion of the project within stipulated time and cost frame. Thus, an integrated approach of combining CDM with risk management would enable the metro rail authorities to develop a sustainable risk mitigation measure framework to ensure more cost and energy savings and lesser time and cost over-run.

Keywords: clean development mechanism (CDM), infrastructure transportation, project risk management, underground metro rail

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Authors: Yeliz Karaca, Carlo Cattani

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This study focuses on the local Holder exponent as a measure of the function regularity for time series related to finance data. In this study, the attributes of the finance dataset belonging to 13 countries (India, China, Japan, Sweden, France, Germany, Italy, Australia, Mexico, United Kingdom, Argentina, Brazil, USA) located in 5 different continents (Asia, Europe, Australia, North America and South America) have been examined.These countries are the ones mostly affected by the attributes with regard to financial development, covering a period from 2012 to 2017. Our study is concerned with the most important attributes that have impact on the development of finance for the countries identified. Our method is comprised of the following stages: (a) among the multi fractal methods and Brownian motion Holder regularity functions (polynomial, exponential), significant and self-similar attributes have been identified (b) The significant and self-similar attributes have been applied to the Artificial Neuronal Network (ANN) algorithms (Feed Forward Back Propagation (FFBP) and Cascade Forward Back Propagation (CFBP)) (c) the outcomes of classification accuracy have been compared concerning the attributes that have impact on the attributes which affect the countries’ financial development. This study has enabled to reveal, through the application of ANN algorithms, how the most significant attributes are identified within the relevant dataset via the Holder functions (polynomial and exponential function).

Keywords: artificial neural networks, finance data, Holder regularity, multifractals

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Authors: Miriam Corrado, Roberta Ciccola, Maria Serena Chiucchi

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SDGs represent the last edge in the sustainability corporate practices, including the supply chain management. Supply chains are becoming more global and complex, can create more inclusive markets and make contribution to the advance of the sustainable development. In corporate practices, the presence of sustainability criteria in supply chain management could offer an opportunity to increase competitiveness and to meet stakeholders’ expectations in terms of sustainability and corporate accountability. The research aims to understand how focal companies can integrate SDGs in their supply chain and how they can measure and assess their impacts on SDGs. The study adopts a multiple case study methodology based on four case studies referred to companies committed in measuring SDGs’ performance in their supply chains. Preliminary findings demonstrate the willingness and the need of companies to commit under a supply-chain perspective for the achievement of SDGs. Companies recognize their role in impacting the SDGs through their procurement choices by defining and implementing an SDGs scoring system. The contribution of the study is twofold: first, given the lack of research and studies addressing the integration of SDGs in the supply chain and in the performance measurement systems, the research provides a contribution to the current academic literature in relation to these emerging gaps; second, the research provides a practical guidance to implement a sustainable supply chain and advance towards the achievement of SDGs.

Keywords: sustainable supply chains, sustainable development goals, performance measurement, performance management

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Authors: Vishwa Nath Maurya, Rama Shanker Sharma, Saad Talib Hasson Aljebori, Avadhesh Kumar Maurya, Diwinder Kaur Arora

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Present paper deals with problems of determining the relationship between the variables of corporate governance and financial performance of Islamic banks. Here, we dealt with the corporate governance in the banking sector, where increasing the importance of corporate governance, due to their special nature, as the bankruptcy of banks affects not only the relevant parties from customers, depositors and lenders, but also affect financial stability and then the economy as a whole. Through this paper we dealt to the specificity of governance in Islamic banks, which face double governance: Anglo-Saxon governance system and Islamic governance system. In addition, we focused our attention to measure the impact of corporate governance variables on financial performance through an empirical study on a sample of Islamic banks during the period 2005-2012 in the GCC region. Our present study implies that there is a very strong relationship between the variables of governance and financial performance of Islamic banks, where there is a positive relationship between return on assets and the composition of the Board of Directors, the size of the Board of Directors, the number of committees in the Council, as well as the number of members of the Sharia Supervisory Board, while it is clear that there is a negative relationship between return on assets and concentration ownership.

Keywords: correlation analysis, parametric estimation, corporate governance, financial performance, financial stability, conventional banks, bankruptcy, Islamic governance system

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Authors: Kamélia Bouderbala, Hichem Nouira, Etienne Videcoq, Manuel Girault, Daniel Petit

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Thermal drifts caused by the power dissipated by the mechanical guiding systems constitute the main limit to enhance the accuracy of an ultra-high precision cylindricity measuring machine. For this reason, a high precision compact prototype has been designed to simulate the behaviour of the instrument. It ensures in situ calibration of four capacitive displacement probes by comparison with four laser interferometers. The set-up includes three heating wires for simulating the powers dissipated by the mechanical guiding systems, four additional heating wires located between each laser interferometer head and its respective holder, 19 Platinum resistance thermometers (Pt100) to observe the temperature evolution inside the set-up and four Pt100 sensors to monitor the ambient temperature. Both a Reduced Model (RM), based on the Modal Identification Method (MIM) was developed and optimized by comparison with the experimental results. Thereafter, time dependent tests were performed under several conditions to measure the temperature variation at 19 fixed positions in the system and compared to the calculated RM results. The RM results show good agreement with experiment and reproduce as well the temperature variations, revealing the importance of the RM proposed for the evaluation of the thermal behaviour of the system.

Keywords: modal identification method (MIM), thermal behavior and drift, dimensional metrology, measurement

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Authors: Herdina Indrijati

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This research aims to describe teenager delinquency behavior (Juvenile Delinquency) of senior high school students in Surabaya, Indonesia. Juvenile Delinquency is a broad range of behaviors start from socially unacceptable behavior (overreact in school), violation (escape from home) to crimes (like stealing). This research uses quantitative descriptive method using 498 students who come from 8 different schools in Surabaya as subjects. Juvenile Delinquency behavior form questionnaire has been completed by subjects and was used to measure and describe the behavior. The result of this research is presented in statistic descriptive forms. Result shows that 169 subjects skip school, 55 subjects get out of home without parent’s permission, 110 subjects engage in smoking behavior, 74 subjects damage other people properties, 32 subjects steal, 16 subjects exploit others and 7 subjects engage in drug abuse. Frequency of the top five mentioned behavior are 1-10 times. It is also found that subject’s peers are most likely to be the victim of Juvenile Delinquency. The reasons teenagers engage in Juvenile Delinquency include (1) feeling tired, bored or lazy – that contributes to their skip school behavior (2) Having a lot of problem with parents - contrives them to run away from home, (3) accidentally damage other people’s properties, (4) financial problems – force them to steal and exploit, (5) feeling like having a lot of life problems – that makes them do drugs (6) trying smoking for experience.

Keywords: juvenile delinquency, senior high school, student

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Authors: Abdinasir Mohamed, Ashraf El-Hamalawi, Steven Yeomans, Matthew Frost, Andy Connell

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The evaluation and selection of appropriate software solutions to meet with an organisation’s inherent business requirements can be a problematic software engineering process that if done incorrectly can have a significant, costly and adverse effect on the business and its processes. The aim of this paper is to show the process and evaluation criteria followed to select the right engineering solution for the identified business requirement. The research adopted an action research method within an organisation in the oil and gas industry, which required a solution suitable for conducting stress analysis for soil-pipeline interaction analysis (SPIA). Through the use of the presented software selection and evaluation approach, to capture and measure key requirements, it was possible to determine a suitable software for the organisation. This paper investigates methodologies for selecting software packages, software evaluation techniques, and software evaluation criteria in evaluating software packages before providing an explanation of the developed methodology adopted. The key findings of the study are: (1) that there is a need to create a framework for software selection methodologies, (2) there are no universal selection criteria in the engineering industry, and (3) there is a need to validate the findings by creating an application based on the evaluation technique and evaluation criteria for selecting software packages for the engineering industry. The findings of the study are offered to support organisations in the oil and gas sector improve software selection methodologies for SPIA.

Keywords: software evaluation, end user programs, soil pipeline analysis, software selection

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Authors: Leila Najeh

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This study investigates the motivational factors influencing Tunisian university students learning English through online platforms. Using a mixed-methods approach, data were collected from 112 undergraduate students of English across universities in Tunisia. The study employed an online questionnaire to measure intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, incorporating the Learning Motivation Questionnaire (FFLLM-Q) developed by Gonzales in 2001 and semi-structured interviews to explore students’ perspectives on their online learning experiences. Quantitative analysis revealed a significant correlation between intrinsic motivation and interactive features such as gamification and adaptive content delivery, while extrinsic motivation was strongly linked to career aspirations and academic requirements. Qualitative findings highlighted challenges such as limited interaction with peers and teachers, technical constraints, and a lack of immediate feedback as demotivating factors. Participants expressed a preference for blended learning models, combining the flexibility of online education with the collaborative environment of traditional classrooms. This study underscores the need for tailored online learning solutions to enhance the motivational landscape for Tunisian students, emphasizing the importance of culturally relevant content, accessible platforms, and supportive learning communities. Further research is recommended to evaluate the long-term impact of these interventions on language proficiency and learner autonomy.

Keywords: motivational factor, online foreign language learnig, tunsian students of english, online learning platforms

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Authors: Trisiladi Supriyanto

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Although much research has been done on the pricing benchmark both in terms of fiqh or Islamic economic perspective, but no substitution for the concept of interest (rate of interest) up to now in the application of Islamic Banking because some of the jurists from the middle east even allow the use of a benchmark rate such as LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate) as a measure of Islamic financial asset prices, so in other words, they equate the concept of rate of interest with the concept of rate of profit, which is the core reason (raison detre) for the replacement of usury as instructed in the Quran. This study aims to find the concept of rate of profit on Islamic banking that can create economic justice and stability in Islamic Banking and Capital market. Rate of profit that creates economic justice and stability can be achieved through its role in maintaining the stability of the financial system in which there is an equitable distribution of income and wealth. To determine the role of the rate of profit as the basis of the sharing system implemented in the Islamic financial system, we can see the connection of rate of profit in creating financial stability, especially in the asset-liability management of financial institutions that generate a stable net margin or the rate of profit that is not affected by the ups and downs of the market risk factors including indirect effect on interest rates. Furthermore, Islamic financial stability can be seen from the role of the rate of profit on the stability of the Islamic financial assets that are measured from the Islamic financial asset price volatility in Islamic Bond Market in Capital Market.

Keywords: Rate of profit, economic justice, stability, equitable distribution of income, equitable distribution of wealth

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Authors: Jingjie Li, Wenjie Hu

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Phraseological units in academic English texts have been a central focus in recent corpus linguistic research. A wide variety of phraseological units have been explored, including collocations, chunks, lexical bundles, patterns, semantic sequences, etc. This paper describes a special category of clause-level phraseological units, namely, Characteristic Sentence Stems (CSSs), with a view to describing their defining criteria and extraction method. CSSs are contiguous lexico-grammatical sequences which contain a subject-predicate structure and which are frame expressions characteristic of academic writing. The extraction of CSSs consists of six steps: Part-of-speech tagging, n-gram segmentation, structure identification, significance of occurrence calculation, text range calculation, and overlapping sequence reduction. Significance of occurrence calculation is the crux of this study. It includes the computing of both the internal association and the boundary independence of a CSS and tests the occurring significance of the CSS from both inside and outside perspectives. A new normalization algorithm is also introduced into the calculation of LocalMaxs for reducing overlapping sequences. It is argued that many sentence stems are so recurrent in academic texts that the most typical of them have become the habitual ways of making meaning in academic writing. Therefore, studies of CSSs could have potential implications and reference value for academic discourse analysis, English for Academic Purposes (EAP) teaching and writing.

Keywords: characteristic sentence stem, extraction method, phraseological unit, the statistical measure

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Authors: Kiurski S. Jelena, Aksentijević M. Snežana, Kecić S. Vesna, Oros B. Ivana

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The prosperity of electronic equipment in photocopying environment not only has improved work efficiency, but also has changed indoor air quality. Considering the number of photocopying employed, indoor air quality might be worse than in general office environments. Determining the contribution from any type of equipment to indoor air pollution is a complex matter. Non-methane hydrocarbons are known to have an important role of air quality due to their high reactivity. The presence of hazardous pollutants in indoor air has been detected in one photocopying shop in Novi Sad, Serbia. Air samples were collected and analyzed for five days, during 8-hr working time in three-time intervals, whereas three different sampling points were determined. Using multiple linear regression model and software package STATISTICA 10 the concentrations of occupational hazards and micro-climates parameters were mutually correlated. Based on the obtained multiple coefficients of determination (0.3751, 0.2389, and 0.1975), a weak positive correlation between the observed variables was determined. Small values of parameter F indicated that there was no statistically significant difference between the concentration levels of non-methane hydrocarbons and micro-climates parameters. The results showed that variable could be presented by the general regression model: y = b0 + b1xi1+ b2xi2. Obtained regression equations allow to measure the quantitative agreement between the variation of variables and thus obtain more accurate knowledge of their mutual relations.

Keywords: non-methane hydrocarbons, photocopying process, multiple regression analysis, indoor air quality, pollutant emission

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Authors: Manik Konch

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Actions are generally evaluated from moral point of view. Either the action is praised or condemned, but in all cases it involves the agent who performs it. The agent is held morally responsible for bringing out an action. This paper is an attempt to explore the Aristotle’s notion of action and its relation with moral development in response to modern philosophical moral psychology. Particularly, the distinction between voluntary, involuntary, and non-voluntary action in the Nicomachean Ethics with some basic problems from the perspective of moral psychology: the role of choice, moral responsibility, desire, and akrasia for an action. How to do a morally right action? Is there any role of virtue, character to do a moral action? These problems are analyzed and interpreted in order to show that the Aristotelian theory of action significantly contributes to the philosophical study of moral psychology. In this connection, the paper juxtaposes Aristotle’s theory of action with response from David Charles, John R. Searle’s, and Alfred Mele theorization of action in the mechanism of human moral behaviours. To achieve this addressed problem, we consider, how the recent moral philosophical moral psychology research can shed light on Aristotle's ethics by focusing on theory of action. In this connection, we argue that the desire is the only responsible for the akratic action. According to Aristotle, desire is primary source of action and it is the starting point of action and also the endpoint of an action. Therefore we are trying to see how desire can make a person incontinent and motivate to do such irrational actions. Is there any causes which we can say such actions are right or wrong? To measure an action we have need to see the consequences such act. Thus, we discuss the relationship between akrasia and action from the perspective of contemporary moral psychologists and philosophers whose are currently working on it.

Keywords: action, desire, moral psychology, Aristotle

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Authors: Ragini Trehan, D.K. Srivastava

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In the post-planning era, India’s fiscal transfers from the central to state governments are solely determined by the Finance Commissions (FCs). While in some of the well-established federations such as Australia, Canada, and Germany, equalization serves as the guiding principle of fiscal transfers and is constitutionally mandated, in India, it is not explicitly mandated, and FCs attempt to implement it indirectly by a combination of a formula-based share in the divisible pool of central taxes supplemented by a set of grants. In this context, it is important to measure the extent of equalization that is achieved through FC transfers with a view to improving the design of such transfers. This study uses an index-based methodology for measuring the degree of equalization achieved through FC-transfers covering the period from FC12 to the first year of FC15 spanning from 2005-06 to 2020-21. The ‘Index of Equalization’ shows that the extent of equalization has remained low in the range of 30% to 37% for the four Commission periods under review. The highest degree of equalization at 36.7% was witnessed in the FC12 period and the lowest equalization at 29.5% was achieved during the FC15(1) period. The equalizing efficiency of recommended transfers also shows a consistent fall from 11.4% in the FC12 period to 7.5% by the FC15 (1) period. Further, considering progressivity in fiscal transfers as a special case of equalizing transfers, this study shows that the scheme of per capita total transfers when determined using the equalization approach is more progressive and is characterized by minimal deviations as compared to the profile of transfers recommended by recent FCs.

Keywords: fiscal transfers, index of equalization, equalizing efficiency, fiscal capacity, expenditure needs, finance Commission, tax effort

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Authors: Masoud Rabbani, Majede Smizadeh, Hamed Farrokhi-Asl

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We study jointly determining prices and production in a multiple period horizon under a general non-stationary stochastic demand with continuous prices. In some periods we need to increase capacity of production to satisfy demand. This paper presents a model to aid multi-period production capacity planning by quantifying the trade-off between product quality and production cost. The product quality is estimated as the statistical variation from the target performances obtained from the output tolerances of the production machines that manufacture the components. We consider different tolerance for different machines that use to increase capacity. The production cost is estimated as the total cost of owning and operating a production facility during the planning horizon.so capacity planning has cost that impact on price. Pricing products often turns out to be difficult to measure them because customers have a reservation price to pay that impact on price and demand. We decide to determine prices and production for periods after enhance capacity and consider reservation price to determine price. First we use an algorithm base on fuzzy set of the optimal objective function values to determine capacity planning by determine maximize interval from upper bound in minimum objectives and define weight for objectives. Then we try to determine inventory and pricing policies. We can use a lemma to solve a problem in MATLAB and find exact answer.

Keywords: price policy, inventory policy, capacity planning, product quality, epsilon -constraint

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Authors: Saiyeed Jakaria Baksh Imran

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The earth is being endangered by many of the climate related issues today. The most serious issue for the world today is the global warming. Increase in Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions post-industrial revolution period is the prime reason for global warming. Shipping is the fifth largest GHG emitting sector worldwide. The key reason for this is because, over 90% of the world trade is conducted through ocean as the ocean alone covers 70% of the earth surface. While the countries continue to develop, trade and commerce continue to increase between them simultaneously. However, there is no sign of reduction in GHG emission from shipping because of many concerned issues. Firstly, there is technological barrier for which ships cannot just become environment friendly immediately. Secondly, there is no alternative fuel available as well. Thirdly, there is no proper mechanism to measure how much ships emit as emission from ships vary according to the size, engine type and loading capacity of ships. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) being the governing body of the international shipping has implemented MARPOL Annex VI. However, the policy alone is not enough unless there is a proper data available regarding ship emissions, which the IMO is yet to figure out. This paper will present a critical analysis of existing IMO policies such as the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI), Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP), Data Collection System (SEEMP) and the IMO’s Initial Strategy on Reduction of Greenhouse Gas emissions from shipping. Also, the challenges exist in implementing such policies have been presented in the paper.

Keywords: GHG, IMO, EEDI, SEEMP, DCS, greenhouse gas, decarbonization, shipping

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Authors: Huseyin Zengin, Muhammet Emre Turan, Yunus Turen, Hayrettin Ahlatci, Yavuz Sun

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This study aimed for understanding the effects of dilute Nb additions on the austenite microstructure of microalloyed steels at five different reheating temperatures from 950 °C to 1300 °C. Four microalloyed high-carbon steels having 0.8 %wt C were examined in which three of them had varying Nb concentrations from 0.005 wt% to 0.02 wt% and one of them had no Nb concentration. The quantitative metallographic techniques were used to measure the average prior austenite grain size in order to compare the grain growth pinning effects of Nb precipitates as a function of reheating temperature. Due to the higher stability of the precipitates with increasing Nb concentrations, the grain coarsening temperature that resulted in inefficient grain growth impediment and a bimodal grain distribution in the microstructure, showed an increase with increasing Nb concentration. The respective grain coarsening temperatures (T_GC) in an ascending order for the steels having 0.005 wt% Nb, 0.01 wt% Nb and 0.02 wt% Nb were 950 °C, 1050 °C and 1150 °C. According to these observed grain coarsening temperatures, an approximation was made considering the complete dissolution temperature (T_DISS) of second phase particles as T_GC=T_DISS-300. On the other hand, the plain carbon steel did not show abnormal grain growth behaviour due to the absence of second phase particles. It was also observed that the higher the Nb concentration, the smaller the average prior austenite grain size although the small increments in Nb concenration did not change the average grain size considerably.

Keywords: microalloyed steels, prior austenite grains, second phase particles, grain coarsening temperature

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Authors: Sadia Idrees, Gianpaolo Vignali, Simeon Gill

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The study aims to establish the virtual size and fit technology features to enhance fashion online retailing platforms, utilising digital human measurements to provide customised style and function to consumers. A few firms in the UK have launched advanced interactive fashion shopping domains for personalised shopping globally, aided by the latest internet technology. Virtual size and fit interfaces have a great potential to provide a personalised better-fitted garment to promote mass customisation globally. Made-to-measure clothing, consuming unstitched fabric is a common practice offered by fashion brands in Pakistan. This product is regarded as economical and sustainable to be utilised by consumers in Pakistan. Although the manual sizing system is practiced to sell garments online, virtual size and fit visualisation and recommendation technologies are uncommon in Pakistani fashion interfaces. A comparative assessment of Pakistani fashion brand websites and UK technology-driven fashion interfaces was conducted to highlight the vast potential of the virtual size and fit technology. The results indicated that web 2.0 technology adopted by Pakistani apparel brands has limited features, whereas companies practicing web 3.0 technology provide interactive online real-store shopping experience leading to enhanced customer satisfaction and globalisation of brands.

Keywords: e-commerce, mass customization, virtual size and fit, web 3.0 technology

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Authors: Jayoung Cho

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Poverty has become a social problem in South Korea, given that seven out of ten elderly experience multidimensional poverty. As quality of life is a major social welfare measure of a society, verifying the major factors affecting the quality of life among the elderly in poverty can be used as baseline data for the promotion of welfare. This study aims to investigate the longitudinal relationships between food insecurity and quality of life among the elderly in poverty. In this study, panel regression analysis using 5-year longitudinal panel data were derived from Korea Welfare Panel Study (KWPS, 2011-2015) were used to identify the research question. A total of 1,327 elderly people aged 65 or older with less than 60% of median income was analyzed. The main results of the study are as follows; first, the level of quality of life of the poor elderly was on average of 5, and repeated the increase and decrease over time. Second, food insecurity and quality of life of the elderly in poverty had a longitudinal causal relationship. Furthermore, the statistical significance of food insecurity was the highest despite controlling for major variables affecting the quality of life among the poor elderly. Therefore, political and practical approaches are strongly suggested and considered regarding the food insecurity for the quality of life among the elderly in poverty. In practical intervention, it is necessary to pay attention to food insecurity when assessing the poor elderly. Also, there is a need to build a new delivery system that incorporates segmented health and nutrition-related services. This study has an academic significance in that it brought out the issue of food insecurity of the poor elderly and confirmed the longitudinal relationship between food insecurity and quality of life.

Keywords: food insecurity, longitudinal panel analysis, poor elderly, quality of life

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