Search results for: technology diffusion and adoption

Authors: L. A. Alfarani, M. McPherson, N. Morris

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The growth of mobile learning depends primarily on the participation of teachers and their belief in the possibilities that this technology has for enhancing learning. The need to integrate technology into education seems clear-cut, however, its acceptance in Saudi higher education remains low. Thus, determining the particular factors that affect faculty acceptance of technology is vital. This paper focuses on TAM which depends on two factors: perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, this theory are used to predict faculty members’ behavioural intentions towards using mobile learning technology. 279 faculty members in one Saudi university have responded to the online questionnaire. The findings have revealed that there is a statistically significant difference in both usefulness and ease of using m-learning factors.

Keywords: TAM theory, mobile learning technology acceptance, usefulness, ease of use

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Authors: Hailah Alballaa, Azeddine Chikh

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Several challenges impede the adoption of Recommender Systems for Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL): to collect and identify possible datasets; to select between different recommender approaches; to evaluate their performances. The aim is of this paper is twofold: First, it aims to introduce a survey on the most significant work in this area. Second, it aims at identifying possible research directions.

Keywords: datasets, content-based filtering, recommender systems, TEL

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Authors: Stefania Lorenzini

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Italy is a country where the phenomenon of international adoption is very considerable: indeed, it is second in the world only to the United States. This contribution deals with issues related to the development of children's identities in international and interethnic adoption. Process of identity construction can be complex in adopted children born and, often, lived for some years of their young life, in geographical, human, social and cultural contexts very different from those they live after adoption. The results of a qualitative research conducted by interviewing young people adopted in Italy make it possible to grasp the different facets of discrimination episodes related to somatic traits, and in particular to the color of the skin, that refer to these young people foreign origin. Outcomes from the research show difficulties in identy construction but also highlight how that evolution of an "intercultural identity" during international and interethnic adoption is possible.

Keywords: discrimination, identity, intercultural education, international adoption

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Authors: Kafeero Frank

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This study aimed at developing a frame work for open source software adoption in an institution of higher learning in Uganda, with the case of KIU as a study area. There were mainly four research questions based on; individual staff interaction with open source software forum, perceived FOSS characteristics, organizational characteristics and external characteristics as factors that affect open source software adoption. The researcher used causal-correlation research design to study effects of these variables on open source software adoption. A quantitative approach was used in this study with self-administered questionnaire on a purposively and randomly sampled sample of university ICT staff. Resultant data was analyzed using means, correlation coefficients and multivariate multiple regression analysis as statistical tools. The study reveals that individual staff interaction with open source software forum and perceived FOSS characteristics were the primary factors that significantly affect FOSS adoption while organizational and external factors were secondary with no significant effect but significant correlation to open source software adoption. It was concluded that for effective open source software adoption to occur there must be more effort on primary factors with subsequent reinforcement of secondary factors to fulfill the primary factors and adoption of open source software. Lastly recommendations were made in line with conclusions for coming up with Kyambogo University frame work for open source software adoption in institutions of higher learning. Areas of further research recommended include; Stakeholders’ analysis of open source software adoption in Uganda; Challenges and way forward. Evaluation of Kyambogo University frame work for open source software adoption in institutions of higher learning. Framework development for cloud computing adoption in Ugandan universities. Framework for FOSS development in Uganda IT industry

Keywords: open source software., organisational characteristics, external characteristics, cloud computing adoption

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Authors: Meng Su

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High-dimensional data analysis often presents challenges in capturing the complex, nonlinear relationships and manifold structures inherent to the data. This article presents a novel approach that leverages the strengths of two powerful techniques, Diffusion Maps and Diffusion Probabilistic Models (DPMs), to address these challenges. By integrating the dimensionality reduction capability of Diffusion Maps with the data modeling ability of DPMs, the proposed method aims to provide a comprehensive solution for analyzing and generating high-dimensional data. The Diffusion Map technique preserves the nonlinear relationships and manifold structure of the data by mapping it to a lower-dimensional space using the eigenvectors of the graph Laplacian matrix. Meanwhile, DPMs capture the dependencies within the data, enabling effective modeling and generation of new data points in the low-dimensional space. The generated data points can then be mapped back to the original high-dimensional space, ensuring consistency with the underlying manifold structure. Through a detailed example implementation, the article demonstrates the potential of the proposed hybrid approach to achieve more accurate and effective modeling and generation of complex, high-dimensional data. Furthermore, it discusses possible applications in various domains, such as image synthesis, time-series forecasting, and anomaly detection, and outlines future research directions for enhancing the scalability, performance, and integration with other machine learning techniques. By combining the strengths of Diffusion Maps and DPMs, this work paves the way for more advanced and robust data analysis methods.

Keywords: diffusion maps, diffusion probabilistic models (DPMs), manifold learning, high-dimensional data analysis

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Authors: Edward Chamisa, Colin C. Smith, Hamutyinei H. Pamburai, Abdul C. Abdulla

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South Africa (SA) adopted International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for listed firms effective 1 January 2005. However, it was not until 2011 that substantial financial reporting enforcement changes were introduced, which were meant to ensure compliance with IFRS. This innovative setting allows us to examine the value relevance of accounting amounts during the (1) pre-IFRS adoption period (2002-2004); (2) post-IFRS adoption, but pre-enforcement changes period (2006-2010); and (3) post-enforcement changes period (2011-2012). The results show that accounting amounts were most value relevant in the post-enforcement changes period (R2, 75.5%) compared to both the pre-IFRS adoption period (adjusted R2 is 24.3%) and the period after IFRS adoption but before enforcement changes (adjusted R2 is 37.5%). Also, during the 2008 financial crisis, the equity book value per share was significantly value relevant (at 1%) but not earnings per share, whereas before the crisis, the opposite was true. We make two important contributions to the literature. First, we identify SA as an innovative setting that allows researchers to examine separately the effects of IFRS adoption and enforcement changes on capital markets and accounting quality. This is a departure from prior studies that are dominated by the European Union setting, where IFRS adoption occurred contemporaneously with enforcement and other regulatory changes. Second, we provide preliminary findings which suggest that while the adoption of IFRS seems to have improved the financial reporting quality of accounting amounts of SA listed firms, its impact appears to be limited unless combined with effective enforcement.

Keywords: international financial reporting standards (ifrs), ifrs adoption, financial reporting enforcement, value relevance, price model, equity book value, earnings per share

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Authors: Mihretu Erjabo

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Halaba special district is characterized by drought, soil erosion, high population pressure, poor livestock production, lack of feed for livestock, very deep water table, very low productivity of crops and food insufficiency. In order to address these problems, the woreda agricultural development office along with other management practices such as soil physical conservation measures agroforestry was introduced decades ago as a means to alleviate the problem. However, the level of agroforestry adoption remains low. Objective of this study was to identify the factors that influence adoption of agroforestry technologies by farmers in the district. Random sampling was employed to select two kebele administrations and respondents. Data collection was conducted by rural household questionnaire survey, participatory rural appraisal, questionnaires for local and woreda extension staff, secondary data resources and field observation. A sample of 12 key informants, 6 extension staffs, and 182 households, were used in the data collection. Chi square test used to determine significant relationships between adoption of agroforestry and 15 selected variables. Out of which eleven were found to be significant to affect farmers’ adoptiveness. These were frequency of visits of farmers (13.39%), participation in training (11.49%), farmers’ attitude towards agroforestry practices (10.61%), frequency of visits of extensionists (10.38%), participation in extension meeting (10.34%), participation in field day (10.28%), land holding size (9.29%), level of literacy (8.78%), awareness about the importance of agroforestry technology packages (7.06%), time taken from their residence to nearest extension (5.04%) and gender of respondents (3.34%). This study also identified various factors that result in low adoption rates of agroforestry including fear of competition, seedling, rainfall and labour shortage, free grazing, financial problem, expecting trees as soil degrader and long span of trees and lack of need ranking. To improve farmers’ adoption, the factors identified should be well addressed by launching a series and recurrent outreach extension program appropriate and suitable to farmers need.

Keywords: farmers attitude, farmers participation, soil degradation, technology packages

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Authors: Yanqin Chen, Chao Jiang, Chongdu Cho

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This research presents the three-dimensional mechanical characteristics of a commercial gas diffusion layer by experiment and simulation results. Although the mechanical performance of gas diffusion layers has attracted much attention, its reliability and accuracy are still a major challenge. With the help of simulation analysis methods, it is beneficial to the gas diffusion layer’s extensive commercial development and the overall stress analysis of proton electrolyte membrane fuel cells during its pre-production design period. Therefore, in this paper, a three-dimensional constitutive model of a commercial gas diffusion layer, including its material stiffness matrix parameters, is developed and coded, in the user-defined material model of a commercial finite element method software for simulation. Then, the model is validated by comparing experimental results as well as simulation outcomes. As a result, both the experimental data and simulation results show a good agreement with each other, with high accuracy.

Keywords: gas diffusion layer, proton electrolyte membrane fuel cell, stiffness matrix, three-dimensional mechanical characteristics, user-defined material model

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Authors: Kunpeng Wang, Hongchun, Wu, Liangzhi Cao, Chuanqi Zhao

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The distributions of homogeneous neutron flux within a node were expanded into a set of analytic basis functions which satisfy the diffusion equation at any point in a triangular-z node for each energy group, and nodes were coupled with each other with both the zero- and first-order partial neutron current moments across all the interfaces of the triangular prism at the same time. Based this method, a code TABFEN has been developed and applied to solve the neutron diffusion equation in a complicated geometry. In addition, after a series of numerical derivation, one can get the neutron adjoint diffusion equations in matrix form which is the same with the neutron diffusion equation; therefore, it can be solved by TABFEN, and the low-high scan strategy is adopted to improve the efficiency. Four benchmark problems are tested by this method to verify its feasibility, the results show good agreement with the references which demonstrates the efficiency and feasibility of this method.

Keywords: analytic basis function expansion method, arbitrary triangular-z node, adjoint neutron flux, complicated geometry

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Authors: Yusuf, S. I., Saba, A., Olaoye, D. O., Ibrahim J. A., Yahaya H. M., Jatto A. O

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Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) technology has been applied in several ways to provide vital information about petro-physical properties of reservoirs. However, due to the need to study the molecular behaviours of particles of the fluids in different restricted media, diffusion magnetic resonance equation is hereby applied in spherical coordinates and solved analytically using the method of separation of variables and solution of Legendre equation by Frobenius method. The viscous fluid considered in this research work is unused oil while the non-viscous fluid is water. The results obtained show that water begins to manifest appreciable change at radial adjustment value of 10 and Magnetization of 2.31191995400015x1014 and relaxes finally at 2.30x1014 at radial adjustment value of 1. On the other hand, unused engine oil begins to manifest its changes at radial adjustment value of 40 and Magnetization of 1.466557018x1014and relaxes finally at 1.48x1014 at radial adjustment value of 5.

Keywords: viscous and non-viscous fluid, restricted medium, relaxation times, coefficient of diffusion

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Authors: Tim Nedyalkov

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A business decision to move to the cloud brings fundamental changes in how an organization develops and delivers its Information Technology solutions. The accelerated pace of digital transformation across businesses and government agencies increases the reliance on cloud-based services. They are collecting, managing, and retaining large amounts of data in cloud environments makes information security and data privacy protection essential. It becomes even more important to understand what key factors drive successful cloud adoption following the commencement of the Privacy Amendment Notifiable Data Breaches (NDB) Act 2017 in Australia as the regulatory changes impact many organizations and industries. This quantitative correlational research investigated the governance, risk management, and compliance factors contributing to cloud security success. The factors influence the adoption of cloud computing within an organizational context after the commencement of the NDB scheme. The results and findings demonstrated that corporate information security policies, data storage location, management understanding of data governance responsibilities, and regular compliance assessments are the factors influencing cloud computing adoption. The research has implications for organizations, future researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and cloud computing providers to meet the rapidly changing regulatory and compliance requirements.

Keywords: cloud compliance, cloud security, data governance, privacy protection

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Authors: L.Vaz, L. Ferreira, R. Aparício, J. Pedro, M. Franco

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This article concerns a qualitative analysis, through an interview, regarding “Sustainability Adoption Barriers in SMEs.” To begin with, the article provides a state-of-the-art overview through fifty-seven articles initially extracted from the Scopus database. The articles were analyzed, and four main clusters emerged in the literature: 1) sustainability and small and medium-sized companies; 2) sustainable business models; 3) sustainability practices adoption procedures, and 4) adoption difficulties on sustainability practices. Utilizing interviews as a methodology, the article seeks to strengthen knowledge regarding sustainability practices, their barriers and the sustainable procedures adopted by SMEs in a Portuguese context. The results demonstrate that the literature agrees with this case study, where there are numerous sustainable practices, yet, due to financial, political, cultural, and technological factors, barriers emerge in the adoption process. By comparing the literature findings with the conducted interviews of interior Portuguese SMEs, this article develops a contribution to the scientific community through a captivating, intuitive and motivating way.

Keywords: barriers, practices, business model, green

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Authors: Yasir Naseem

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In this fast-growing and evolving world, usage and adoption of technology have displayed an essential component of the learning process, both in and out of the class, which converges and incorporates every domain of the learning aspects. It aids in learning distinct entities irrespective of their levels of challenge. It also incorporates both viewpoints of learning, i.e., competence as well as the performances of the learner. In today's learning scenario, nearly every language class ordinarily uses some form of technology. It integrates with various teaching methodologies and transforms in a way that now it grew as an integral part of the language learning courses. It has been employed to facilitate, promote, and enhances language learning. It facilitates educators in numerous ways and enhances their methodologies by equipping them to modify classroom activities, which covers every aspect of language learning.

Keywords: communication, methodology, technology, skills

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Authors: Said Algarni

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The purpose of this study was to investigate selected numerical methods that demonstrate good performance in solving PDEs. We adapted alternative method that involve rational polynomials. Padé time stepping (PTS) method, which is highly stable for the purposes of the present application and is associated with lower computational costs, was applied. Furthermore, PTS was modified for our study which focused on diffusion equations. Numerical runs were conducted to obtain the optimal local error control threshold.

Keywords: Padé time stepping, finite difference, reaction diffusion equation, PDEs

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Authors: Kwok Tak Kit

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The construction industry plays an important role in environmental and carbon emissions as it consumes a huge amount of natural resources and energy. Sustainable engineering involves the process of planning, design, procurement, construction and delivery in which the whole building and construction process resulting from building and construction can be effectively and sustainability managed to achieve the use of natural resources. Implementation of sustainable technology development and innovation, adoption of the advanced construction process and facilitate the facilities management to implement the energy and waste control more accurately and effectively. Study and research in the relationship of BIM and environment assessment tools lack a clear discussion. In this paper, we will focus on the synergy of BIM technology and sustainable engineering in the AEC industry and outline the key factors which enhance the use of advanced innovation, technology and method and define the role of stakeholders to achieve zero-carbon emission toward the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to well below 2ᵒC above pre-industrial levels. A case study of the adoption of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and environmental assessment tools in Hong Kong will be discussed in this paper.

Keywords: sustainability, sustainable engineering, BIM, LEED

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Authors: Wondmnew Derebe

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Increased adoption of modern beehives improves the livelihood of smallholder farmers whose income largely depends on mixed crop-livestock farming. Improved beehives have been disseminated to farmers in many parts of Ethiopia. However, its impact on income is less investigated. Thus, this study estimates how adopting improved beehives impacts rural households' income. Survey data were collected from 350 randomly selected households' and analyzed using an endogenous switching regression model. The result revealed that the adoption of improved beehives is associated with a higher annual income. On average, improved beehive adopters earned about 6,077 (ETB) more money than their counterparts. However, the impact of adoption would have been larger for actual non-adopters, as reflected in the negative transitional heterogeneity effect of 1792 (ETB). The result also indicated that the decision to adopt or not to adopt improved beehives was subjected to individual self-selection. Improved beehive adoption can increase farmers' income and can be used as an alternative poverty reduction strategy.

Keywords: impact, adoption, endogenous switching regression, income, improved

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Authors: M. Wigwe, J. G Akpa, E. N Wami

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Mathematical models of the absorber of a glycol dehydration facility was developed using the principles of conservation of mass and energy. Models which predict variation of the water content of gas in mole fraction, variation of gas and liquid temperatures across the parking height were developed. These models contain contributions from bulk and diffusion flows. The effect of diffusion on the process occurring in the absorber was studied in this work. The models were validated using the initial conditions in the plant data from Company W TEG unit in Nigeria. The results obtained showed that the effect of diffusion was noticed between z=0 and z=0.004 m. A deviation from plant data of 0% was observed for the gas water content at a residence time of 20 seconds, at z=0.004 m. Similarly, deviations of 1.584% and 2.844% were observed for the gas and TEG temperatures.

Keywords: separations, absorption, simulation, dehydration, water content, triethylene glycol

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Authors: Hassan Al Salman

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We consider a nonlinear parabolic cross diffusion model arising in applied mathematics. A fully practical piecewise linear finite element approximation of the model is studied. By using entropy-type inequalities and compactness arguments, existence of a global weak solution is proved. Providing further regularity of the solution of the model, some uniqueness results and error estimates are established. Finally, some numerical experiments are performed.

Keywords: cross diffusion model, entropy-type inequality, finite element approximation, numerical analysis

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Authors: Cornelius Michael Ekenta

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The study determined institutional and technological factors that influence the adoption of tenera oil palm production practices with a gender dimension among smallholder farmers in Edo State, Nigeria. Primary data were generated with use of questionnaire administered to 155 males and 137 female respondents. Results show that the level of adoption of tenera oil palm production practices was low for both male and females. Tobi regression result shows that land ownership structure and affordability at 1% significance influenced male adoption of tenera oil palm production practices while age and level of income at 1% significance influenced female in the adoption. The major roles of male as reported in adopting process were purchase of seedlings, clearing of bush for planting and selling of cut bunches while the major roles of female were periodic weeding, gathering of cut bunches and mulching of palm field. The major constraint faced by male in adoption process were high cost of labour while for females is drudgery nature of the work. The study recommended that the Land Use Act of 1978 should be enforced to help women and non-indigenes to have sizeable farm lands, Government should empower Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) by employing more extension personnel to increase their contacts with the farmers.

Keywords: gender, adoption, variety, oil, tenera, Edo

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Authors: Raoul Ouambo Tobou, Alexis Kuitche, Marcel Edoun

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The FWM (Finite Window Method) is a new numerical meshfree technique for solving problems defined either in terms of PDEs (Partial Differential Equation) or by a set of conservation/equilibrium laws. The principle behind the FWM is that in such problem each element of the concerned domain is interacting with its neighbors and will always try to adapt to keep in equilibrium with respect to those neighbors. This leads to a very simple and robust problem solving scheme, well suited for transfer problems. In this work, we have applied the FWM to an unsteady scalar convection-diffusion equation. Despite its simplicity, it is well known that convection-diffusion problems can be challenging to be solved numerically, especially when convection is highly dominant. This has led researchers to set the scalar convection-diffusion equation as a benchmark one used to analyze and derive the required conditions or artifacts needed to numerically solve problems where convection and diffusion occur simultaneously. We have shown here that the standard FWM can be used to solve convection-diffusion equations in a robust manner as no adjustments (Upwinding or Artificial Diffusion addition) were required to obtain good results even for high Peclet numbers and coarse space and time steps. A comparison was performed between the FWM scheme and both a first order implicit Finite Volume Scheme (Upwind scheme) and a third order implicit Finite Volume Scheme (QUICK Scheme). The results of the comparison was that for equal space and time grid spacing, the FWM yields a much better precision than the used Finite Volume schemes, all having similar computational cost and conditioning number.

Keywords: Finite Window Method, Convection-Diffusion, Numerical Technique, Convergence

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Authors: Nivon P. Alejandra, Valencia P. L. Rodrigo, Vivanco V. Martin, Morita A. Adelina

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Technological innovation is fundamental to reach and maintain the levels of competitiveness of agricultural producers, the detection of actors, their activities, resources and capacities of an innovation system is needed for the development of technological packages that adapt to each type of crops, local circumstances and characteristics of the producer. The growing development of the viticulture and wine sector in Mexico prospects an increase in its national market participation for 2020, this is the reason to consider it a fertile field for the technological packages adoption that promote Precision Agriculture (PA) in a harmonic and sustainable development. A viability inspection of technological packages adoption by viticulture and wine sector is made following the methodology proposed by SAGARPA in 2015 and the World Bank in 2008: the history, actors, strengths and opportunities are analyzed in this particular agroindustrial sector, also its technological innovation system is inspected in order to improve technological capacities and innovation networks taking into account local and regional resources. PA and technological packages adoption can help improving the conditions and quality of the grape for winemaking: increasing the wine's storage potential and its nutraceutical nature. The assertive diagnosis in vineyard opportunity areas will help the management of the crop by applying natural treatments at the right time in the right place.

Keywords: technological packages, precision farming, sustainable development, innovation

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Authors: Ilkham Gafurovich Atabaev, Khimmatali Nomozovich Juraev

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The activation energy of conductivity in p-i-n SiC structures fabricated by doping with Aluminum using the new low-temperature diffusion method is investigated. In this method, diffusion is stimulated by the flux of carbon and silicon vacancies created by surface oxidation. The activation energy of conductivity in the p - layer is 0.25 eV and it is close to the ionization energy of Aluminum in 4H-SiC from 0.21 to 0.27 eV for the hexagonal and cubic positions of aluminum in the silicon sublattice for weakly doped crystals. The conductivity of the i-layer (measured in the reverse biased diode) shows 2 activation energies: 0.02 eV and 0.62 eV. Apparently, the 0.62 eV level is a deep trap level and it is a complex of Aluminum with a vacancy. According to the published data, an analogous level system (with activation energies of 0.05, 0.07, 0.09 and 0.67 eV) was observed in the ion Aluminum doped 4H-SiC samples.

Keywords: activation energy, aluminum, low temperature diffusion, SiC

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Authors: Kenneth N. Ohei, Roelien Brink

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For decades, teaching and learning processes have centered on the traditional approach (Web 1.0) that promoted teacher-directed pedagogical practices. Currently, there is a realization that the traditional approach is not adequate to effectively address and improve all student-learning outcomes. The subsequent incorporation of social software, Information, and Communication Technology (ICT) tools in universities may serve as complementary to support educational goals, offering students the affordability and opportunity to educational choices and learning platforms. Consequently, educators’ inability to incorporate these instructional ICT tools in their teaching and learning practices remains a challenge. This will signify that educators still lack the ICT skills required to administer lectures and bridging learning gaps. This study probes a methodological concept with the aim of developing a framework towards the adoption of social software in HES to help facilitate business processes and can build social presence among students. A mixed method will be appropriate to develop a comprehensive framework needed in Higher Educational System (HES). After research have been conducted, the adoption of social software will be based on the developed comprehensive framework which is supposed to impact positively on education and approach of delivery, improves learning experience, engagement and finally, increases educational opportunities and easy access to educational contents.

Keywords: blended and integrated learning, learning experience and engagement, higher educational system, HES, information and communication technology, ICT, social presence, Web 1.0, Web 2.0, Web 3.0

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Authors: Mnisi Blessing, Christopher Amoah

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Purpose: The usage of modern technology is widespread in industrialised nations. The issue still pertains to developing countries since they struggle to use technology in the building sector. The study aims to identify the barriers to technology usage in quantity surveying firms. Methodology: Quantity Surveyors were interviewed via Microsoft teams due to the dispersed nature of the participants. However, where the interview was not possible, the interview guide was emailed to the participants to fill in. In all, 12 participants were interviewed out of the 25 participants contacted. The data received were analysed using the content analysis process. Findings: The study's findings demonstrate that quantity surveyors have access to a wide range of technology that significantly enhances their project activities. However, quantity surveying companies are hesitant to use technology for several reasons, including the cost and maintenance associated with it. Other obstacles include a lack of knowledge, poor market acceptance, legal obstacles, and budgetary constraints. Implication: Despite the advantages associated with modern technology applications, quantity surveying firms are not using them, which may ultimately affect their work output. Therefore, firms need to re-examine these obstacles, inhibiting their adoption of technology in the work process to enhance their production. Value of the Paper: The study reveals the main hindrances to technology usage, which may help firms institute measures to address them.

Keywords: barriers, implementation, technology, quantity surveying

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Authors: H. Namazi, H. T. N. Kuan

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Fick's first law relates the diffusive flux to the concentration field, by postulating that the flux goes from regions of high concentration to regions of low concentration, with a magnitude that is proportional to the concentration gradient (spatial derivative). It is clear that the diffusion of flux cannot be instantaneous and should be some time delay in this propagation. But Fick’s first law doesn’t consider this delay which results in some errors especially when there is a considerable time delay in the process. In this paper, we introduce a time delay to Fick’s first law. By this modification, we consider that the diffusion of flux cannot be instantaneous. In order to verify this claim an application sample in fluid diffusion is discussed and the results of modified Fick’s first law, Fick’s first law and the experimental results are compared. The results of this comparison stand for the accuracy of the modified model. The modified model can be used in any application where the time delay has considerable value and neglecting its effect reflects in undesirable results.

Keywords: Fick's first law, flux, diffusion, time delay, modified Fick’s first law

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Authors: Yasaman Tohidi, Rouzbeh Riazi, Shidvash Vakilipour, Masoud Mohammadi

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The objective of the present study is to numerically investigate the effect of CO₂ replacement of N₂ in air stream on the flame characteristics of the CH₄ turbulent diffusion flame. The Open source Field Operation and Manipulation (OpenFOAM) has been used as the computational tool. In this regard, laminar flamelet and modified k-ε models have been utilized as combustion and turbulence models, respectively. Results reveal that the presence of CO₂ in air stream changes the flame shape and maximum flame temperature. Also, CO₂ dilution causes an increment in CO mass fraction.

Keywords: CH4 diffusion flame, CO2 dilution, OpenFOAM, turbulent flame

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Authors: Yeganeh Jabbari, Sepideh Khalatabad

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This study explores the development of virtual reality (VR) technology for training applications, specifically its the potential benefits of VR technology for employee training and its ability to simulate real-world scenarios in a safe and controlled environment are highlighted, along with the associated cost and time savings. The adoption of VR technology in high-risk industrial organizations such as the oil and gas industry is discussed, with a focus on its ability to improve worker performance. Additionally, the use of VR technology in activities such as simulation and data visualization in the oil and gas industry is explored, leading to enhanced safety measures and collaboration between teams. The integration of advanced technologies such as robotics is mentioned as a way to further promote efficiency and sustainability. Also, the study mentions that the digital transformation of the oil and gas industry is revolutionizing operations and promoting safety, efficiency, and sustainability through the use of VR technology.

Keywords: virtual reality training, virtual reality benefits, high-risk industries, digital transformation

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Authors: Anna Keuchenius

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Broadly speaking, scientific development is studied in either a qualitative manner with a focus on the behavior and interpretations of academics, such as the sociology of science and science studies or in a quantitative manner with a focus on the analysis of publications, such as scientometrics and bibliometrics. Both come with a different set of methodologies and few cross-references. This paper contributes to the bridging of this divide, by on the on hand approaching the process of scientific progress from a qualitative sociological angle and using on the other hand quantitative and computational techniques. As a case study, we analyze the diffusion of Granovetter's hypothesis from his 1973 paper 'On The Strength of Weak Ties.' A network is constructed of all scientists that have referenced this particular paper, with directed edges to all other researchers that are concurrently referenced with Granovetter's 1973 paper. Studying the structure and growth of this network over time, it is found that Granovetter's hypothesis is used by distinct communities of scientists, each with their own key-narrative into which the hypothesis is fit. The diffusion within the communities shares similarities with the diffusion of an innovation in which innovators, early adopters, and an early-late majority can clearly be distinguished. Furthermore, the network structure shows that each community is clustered around one or few hub scientists that are disproportionately often referenced and seem largely responsible for carrying the hypothesis into their scientific subfield. The larger implication of this case study is that the diffusion of scientific hypotheses and ideas are not the spreading of well-defined objects over a network. Rather, the diffusion is a process in which the object itself dynamically changes in concurrence with its spread. Therefore it is argued that the methodology presented in this paper has potential beyond the scientific domain, in the study of diffusion of other not well-defined objects, such as opinions, behavior, and ideas.

Keywords: diffusion of innovations, network analysis, scientific development, sociology of science

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Authors: Betim Bahtiri, B. Arash, R. Rolfes

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Epoxy-based materials are frequently exposed to high-humidity environments in many engineering applications. As a result, their material properties would be degraded by water absorption. A full characterization of the material properties under hygrothermal conditions requires time- and cost-consuming experimental tests. To gain insights into the physics of diffusion mechanisms, atomistic simulations have been shown to be effective tools. Concerning the diffusion of water in polymers, spatial trajectories of water molecules are obtained from molecular dynamics (MD) simulations allowing the interpretation of diffusion pathways at the nanoscale in a polymer network. Conventional MD simulations of water diffusion in amorphous polymers lead to discrepancies at low temperatures due to the short timescales of the simulations. In the proposed model, this issue is solved by using a combined scheme of autonomous basin climbing (ABC) with kinetic Monte Carlo and reactive MD simulations to investigate the diffusivity of water molecules in epoxy resins across a wide range of temperatures. It is shown that the proposed simulation framework estimates kinetic properties of water diffusion in epoxy resins that are consistent with experimental observations and provide a predictive tool for investigating the diffusion of small molecules in other amorphous polymers.

Keywords: epoxy resins, water diffusion, autonomous basin climbing, kinetic Monte Carlo, reactive molecular dynamics

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Authors: David Pettitt, Benjamin Davies, Georg Holländer, David Brindley

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Cellular based therapies, whose origins can be traced from the intertwined concepts of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, have the potential to transform the current medical landscape and offer an approach to managing what were once considered untreatable diseases. However, despite a large increase in basic science activity in the cell therapy arena alongside a growing portfolio of cell therapy trials, the number of industry products available for widespread clinical use correlates poorly with such a magnitude of activity, with the number of cell-based therapeutics in mainstream use remaining comparatively low. This research serves to quantitatively assess the barriers to the clinical adoption of cell-based therapeutics through identification of unique barriers, specific challenges and opportunities facing the development and adoption of such therapies.

Keywords: cell therapy, clinical adoption, commercialization, translation

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