Search results for: sustained impact

Authors: Hamideh S. Shahidi

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This research examines destination image and its impact on tourist revisit intention. Destination images can evolve over time, depending on a number of factors. Due to the multidimensional nature of destination image, the full extent of what might influence that change is not yet fully understood. As a result, the destination image should be measured with a heavy consideration of the variables used. Depending on the time and circumstances, these variables should be adjusted based on the research’s objectives. The aim of this research is to evaluate the image of destinations that may be perceived as risky, such as Iran, from the perspective of European cultural travellers. Further to the goal of understanding the effects of an image on tourists’ decision-making, the research will assess the impact of destination image on the revisit intention using push and pull factors and perceived risks with the potential moderating effect of cultural contact (the direct interaction between the host and the tourists with different culture). In addition, the moderating effect of uncertainty avoidance on revisit intention after Iran’s crisis in 2022 will be measured. Furthermore, the level of uncertainty avoidance between gender and age will be compared.

Keywords: destination image, Iran’s 2022 crisis, revisit intention, uncertainty avoidance

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Authors: Ammal M. Metwally, Walaa A. Basha, Ghada A. Abdel-Latif, Amira S. El Rifay

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Introduction: Improving breastfeeding practices does not always link to interventions relying on improving nutrition awareness and education alone but needs cultural and behavioral insights. Aim: Our study provided educational intervention through the use of the social marketing (SM) approach, which was respectable to societal norms allowing more conscious choices by mothers to achieve the maximum potential of physical growth of their infants. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the used approach for improving breastfeeding practices and the physical growth of infants aged up to 2 years. Methodology: A quasi-experimental intervention design with a posttest-only control design was done over three years duration to motivate mothers’ voluntary behavioral change toward breastfeeding promotion using SM principles: product, price, place, and promotion. The interventions targeted 464 pregnant women in their last trimester, mothers of children up to 2 years, and 1454 women in their childbearing period. Results: Most mothers showed increased awareness about the benefits of breastfeeding and became interested in breastfeeding their children outside the house using the breastfeeding cover (Gawn). Breastfeeding initiation, exclusive breastfeeding under six months, frequency of breastfeeding per day, and percentage of children who continued breastfeeding till two years were significantly increased (from 30%, 23 %, 56%, and 32% to 62 %, 47.3 %, 69 %, and 43.5 %). With the attention of the nutritional educational sessions three or more times, the majority of indicators had the most significant improvement. The females who recorded underweight results over males during the first two years of life significantly improved after the intervention (from 53.8 % to 15.4%, respectively). At the same time, females that were found to be obese before the intervention (7.7 %) became no longer obese. Conclusions: Nutritional interventions that are based on the use SM approach showed improvement for the majority of the key performance indicators. Although they doubled their value before the intervention, the majority were still modest (below 50 %). With sustained use of the SM approach, infants will achieve their maximum potential for physical growth by providing economically disadvantaged mothers with breastfeeding support.

Keywords: social marketing approach, early breastfeeding initiation, exclusive breastfeeding, responsiveness to cues of hunger and satiety, physical growth of infants

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Authors: Theodorus Holtzhausen

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With a growing number of professionals in healthcare moving freely between countries and also in general a more mobile global workforce, awareness of cultural differences have become more urgent for health care workers to apply proper care. There is a slowly emerging trend in health care due to globalisation that may create a more uniform cultural base for administering healthcare, but it is still very vulnerable to being hijacked and misdirected by major commercial interests. Veterinary clinics and medical clinics promoting alternative remedies lacking evidence based support and simultaneously practicing medicine as a science have become more common. Such ‘holistic’ clinics see these remedies more as a belief system causing no harm with minimal impact but with added financial benefit to the facility. With the inarguable acceptance and realisation of the interconnection between evolutionary aspects of cognition, knowledge and culture as a global but vulnerable cognition-gaining process affecting us all, we can see the enormous responsibility we carry. Such a responsibility for creating global well-being calling for an universally applicable ethic. Such an ethic with the potential of having significant impact on our cognition gaining process.

Keywords: veterinary health care, ethics, wellbeing, veterinary clinics

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Authors: Synthia Atas Sari, Engkos Achmad Kuncoro, Haryadi Sarjono

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The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of reward system which is determined by government over the work of Board of Commissioners in implementing good corporate governance in Indonesian state-owned enterprises. To do so, this study analyses the adequacy of the remuneration, the job attractiveness, and the board commitment and dedication with the remuneration system. Qualitative method used to examine the significant features and challenges to the government policy over the remuneration determination for the board of commissioners to their roles. Data are gathered through semi-structure in-depth interview to the 21 participants over 10 Indonesian stated-owned enterprises and written documents. Findings in this study indicate that government policies over the remuneration system is not effective to increase the performance of board of commissioners in implementing good corporate governance in Indonesian state-owned enterprises due to unattractiveness of the remuneration amount, demotivate active members, and conflict interest over members of the remuneration committee.

Keywords: reward system, board of commissioners, state-owned enterprises, good corporate governance

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Authors: Saleh Alzahrani, Halim Boussabaine

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Many of Public Private Partnership (PPP) are developed based on a public project is to be awarded to a private party within a one contractual framework. PPP project risks typically include the development and construction of a new asset as well as its operation. Certainly the most severe consequences of risks through the construction period are price and time overruns. These events are among the most generally used situation in value for money analysis risks. The sources of risk change during the time in PPP project. In traditional procurement, the public sector usually has to cover all prices suffering from these risks. At least there is plenty to suggest that price suffering is a norm in some of the projects that are delivered under traditional procurement. This paper will find the impact of exogenous risk factors into actual construction price into PPP projects. The paper will present a brief literature review on PPP risk pricing strategies and then using system dynamics (SD) to analyses of the risks associated with the estimated project price. Based on the finding from these analyses a risk pricing association model is presented and discussed. The paper concludes with thoughts for future research.

Keywords: public private partnership (PPP), risk, risk pricing, system dynamics (SD)

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Authors: Sheriff Folarin, Oluwafunke Folarin, Hadassah Hussaini, Victor Jubril, Olaniyi Ayodele

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Using a famous, unrestrained and fiery United States-based, Nigerian-owned Sahara Reporters as a case study, this paper examined the impact of online-based media on governance in Nigeria. The discourse is premised on the thesis that the internet has changed the face of journalism and that the mainstream but online-based media have made journalism more participatory than ever. Everyone who has something to say finds it easy to say it quickly and conveniently, unhinged or without being censored. This has made online journalism very popular and the number of online-based news platforms to be on the increase. As these platforms have given the citizens a means to interact and added to the content of the news, they have also succeeded in promoting partisanship. It thus becomes necessary to study the impact of the rabid news platform, Sahara Reporters, on governance in Africa’s biggest democracy, Nigeria. Few studies have examined the impact on governance of mainstream-online media platforms and those studies that did, have only focused on social media, such as Facebook and Twitter. This paper is a product of a bigger study, in which the research design entailed semi-structured interviews with participants from different sectors of the society and an analysis of contents from the Sahara Reporters website, from which data were collected. The findings revealed that through uncensored reporting and citizen participation on the platform of Sahara Reporters, there had been a significant people influence on governance in Nigeria, with government at two levels (national and state) sometimes shifting or yielding grounds, particularly from 2011-2016. The study also recognized the presence of counter-forces in the online community who want to discredit the information on the site. Through the lens of media dependency theory, the study concluded that the public now increasingly depends on online news media for information and the more news these media provide, the more the people depend on it, making it easy for them to influence governance.

Keywords: governance, media, online news, Sahara reporters

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Authors: Juan A. Ferriz-Papi, Allan L. Nantel, Talib E. Butt

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Buildings are thought to consume about 50% of the total energy in the UK. The use stage in a building life cycle has the largest energy consumption, although different assessments are showing that the construction can equal several years of maintenance and operations. The selection of materials with lower embodied energy is very important to reduce this consumption. For this reason, timber is one adequate material due to its low embodied energy and the capacity to be used as carbon storage. The use of timber in the construction industry is very significant. Sawn wood, for example, is one of the top 5 construction materials consumed in the UK according to National Statistics. Embodied energy for building products considers the energy consumed in extraction and production stages. However, it is not the same consideration if this product is produced locally as when considering the resource produced further afield. Transport is a very relevant matter that profoundly influences in the results of embodied energy. The case of timber use in the UK is important because the balance between imports and exports is far negative, industry consuming more imported timber than produced. Nearly 80% of sawn softwood used in construction is imported. The imports-exports deficit for sawn wood accounted for more than 180 million pounds during the first four-month period of 2016. More than 85% of these imports come from Europe (83% from the EU). The aim of this study is to analyze climate change impact due to transport for timber products consumed in the UK. An approximate estimation of energy consumed and carbon emissions are calculated considering the timber product’s import origin. The results are compared to the total consumption of each product, estimating the impact of transport on the final embodied energy and carbon emissions. The analysis of these results can help deduce that one big challenge for climate change is the reduction of external dependency, with the associated improvement of internal production of timber products. A study of different types of timber products produced in the UK and abroad is developed to understand the possibilities for this country to improve sustainability and self-management. Reuse and recycle possibilities are also considered.

Keywords: embodied energy, climate change, CO2 emissions, timber, transport

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Authors: Fariya Tahreen

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Women are an important part of the society comprising more than 50% population of the world. Participation of women in public services is increasing in the present era while cultural values embedded with gender differences still influencing the performance of working women. Many researches have been carried out on cultural impact on working women like managers, doctors, and lawyers and other public servants. But very rare efforts were made to study the impact of cultural values on the performance of women bureaucrats. The present study aimed to find out the relationship of cultural values (i.e., collective identity, gender segregation, and gender asymmetrical relations) with the performance of women bureaucrats. Sample of the present study comprised of 130 women bureaucrats from the Office Management Group, Inland Revenue, District Management Group, and Pakistan Police Services which is selected by convenient sampling technique. The locale of the study was Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Lahore city. The current research study was conducted by using a quantitative approach in research method and data were collected through survey method. The measures used in the study included: personal information, three main cultural values, and performance of women bureaucrats. Uni-variate and bi-variate analyses were implied by using correlation and multiple linear regression test. The current study shows a negative significant relationship between cultural values and performance of women bureaucrats (R²= 0.790, p-value 0.000). It shows that cultural values (collective identity, gender segregation and gender asymmetrical relations) significantly influence the performance of women bureaucrats. Due to the influence and pressure of these cultural values, women bureaucrats give less time to the office and avail more leaves. They also avoid contacting with male colleagues, public dealings, field visits and playing leadership role. Further, they attend fewer meetings of policy formulation due to given less importance for it. In a nutshell, the study concluded that cultural values significantly influence the performance of women bureaucrats in Pakistan.

Keywords: cultural values, performance, Pakistan, women bureaucrats

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Authors: Sila Akhan, Muge Toygar, Murat Sayan, Simge Fidan

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Chronic viral hepatitis B, C, and D can cause hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), cirrhosis and death. The proper treatment reduce the risk of development of HCC importantly, but not to zero point. Materials and Methods: We analysed retrospectively our chronic viral hepatitis B, C and D patients who attended to our Infectious Diseases policlinic between 2004-2018. From 589 biopsy-proven chronic hepatitis patients 3 have hepatocellular carcinoma on our follow up. First case is 74 years old patient. His HCV infection diagnosis was made 8 years ago. First treatment was pegylated interferon plus ribavirin only 28 weeks, because of HCV RNA breakthrough under treatment. In 2013 he was retreated with telaprevir, pegylated interferon plus ribavirin 24 weeks. But at the end of the therapy HCV RNA was found 1.290.000 IU/mL. He has abdominal ultrasonography (US) controls and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) at 6 months intervals. All seemed normal until 2015 then he has an abdominal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and found HCC by chance. His treatment began in Oncology Clinic after verified with biopsy of HCC. And then sofosbuvir/ledipasvir was given to him for HCV 24 weeks. Sustained virologic response (SVR) was obtained. He is on cure for HCV infection and under control of Oncology for HCC. Second patient is 36 years old man. He knows his HBV infection since 2008. HBsAg and HBeAg positive; HDV RNA negative. Liver biopsy revealed grade:4, stage 3-4 according modified Knodell scoring system. In 2010 tenofovir treatment was began. His abdominal US and AFP were normal. His controls took place at 6 months intervals and HBV DNA negative, US, and AFP were normal until 2016 continuously. AFP found 37 above the normal range and then HCC was found in MRI. Third patient is 57 years old man. As hepatitis B infection was first diagnosed; he has cirrhosis and was began tenofovir as treatment. In short time he has HCC despite normal AFP values. Conclusion: In Mediterranian countries including Turkey naturally occurring pre-S/S variants are more than 75% of all chronic hepatitis B patients. This variants may contribute to the development of progressive liver damage and hepatocarcinogenesis. HCV-induced development of HCC is a gradual process and is affected by the duration of disease and viral genotype. All the chronic viral hepatitis patients should be followed up in 6 months intervals not only with US and AFP for HCC. Despite they have proper treatment there is always the risk development of HCC. Chronic hepatitis patients cannot be dropped from follow up even treated well.

Keywords: HCC, HCV, HBV, DAA

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Authors: Majid Afkhami, Maryam Ehsanpour

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The present study provides information about the nature of adverse effects on fish and the ecological impact that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) pollutant are having in the northern coast of Hormuz Strait. The glucose and cholesterol levels were higher in fish from the St3 than in Walton's mudskipper from other stations however St3 samples had lowest total proteins levels. There was a significant positive correlation between glucose and cholesterol with PAHs concentrations in sediment and tissue samples (P<0.05). However, total proteins had adverse significant correlation with PAHs concentrations (P>0.05). The adverse correlation was seen between length and body weight of fish samples with PAHs concentrations. According to the results of this study, the monitoring of contaminants bioaccumulation in the northern part of Hormuz Strait is necessary, because this will give an indication of the temporal and spatial extent of the process, as well as an assessment of the potential impact on aquatic organisms health.

Keywords: PAHs, blood metabolic factors, Periophthalmus waltoni, Hormuz Strait

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Authors: Ibrahim Aliyu Isah, Mohd Mansor Ismail, Salim Hassan, Norsida Man, Oluwatoyin Olagunju

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Stingless beekeeping is not only a profitable activity for Malaysian beekeepers but also for the Malaysian economy. However, natural honey has faced some difficulties, which resulted in low production due to a lack of information on improved technology as well as the capacity and potential building of stingless beekeeping farmers, which depend mostly on information received from the extension agents. Hence, it is the responsibility of the extension agents to give useful information on the available technology and develop the capacity of the farmers to make the right decision that will improve their level of production. This study assessed how technology transfer and human resource development skills influence the work performance of the extension agents toward sustainable beekeeping production among beekeepers. The study sought to establish the role of relevant technology transfer and human resource development skills in effective performance. The research design was a descriptive and quantitative survey of stingless beekeepers on technology transfer and human resource development by the extension agent. Data was obtained from 54 beekeeping farmers and was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results revealed that technology skill, technology dissemination skill, technology evaluation skill, Decision-making process skill, Leadership development skill and work performance were rated moderate by stingless beekeeping farmers, while Social skill was rated high. A significant and positive correlation (P<0.01) existed between all variables and performance. Regression results showed that leadership development skills, Decision-making process skills, and social skills are significant (P=.05), while technology skills, technology dissemination skills, and technology evaluation skills are not significant. The highest contributing factor is social skill (β=.446). Beekeeping is a profitable project in Malaysia and can be sustained if the extension services and programs are well carried out by competent extension agents and relevant agricultural government agencies.

Keywords: beekeeping, extension agents, human resource development, sustainable, technology transfer, work performance

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Authors: Seyed Hamidreza Hejazi Dehghani, Neda Khounsari

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Quick growth of electronic commerce in developed countries means that developing nations must change in their commerce strategies fundamentally. Most organizations are aware of the impact of the Internet and e-Commerce on the future of their firm, and thus, they have to focus on organizational factors that have an effect on the deployment of an e-Commerce strategy. In this situation, it is essential to identify organizational factors such as the organizational culture, human resources, size, structure and product/service that impact an e-commerce strategy. Accordingly, this research specifies the effects of organizational factors on applying an e-commerce strategy in the Namakin food industry. The statistical population of this research is 95 managers and employees. Cochran's formula is used for determination of the sample size that is 77 of the statistical population. Also, SPSS and Smart PLS software were utilized for analyzing the collected data. The results of hypothesis testing show that organizational factors have positive and significant effects of applying an e-Commerce strategy. On the other hand, sub-hypothesizes show that effectiveness of the organizational culture and size criteria were rejected and other sub-hypothesis were accepted.

Keywords: electronic commerce, organizational factors, attitude of managers, organizational readiness

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Authors: Deepak Kakde, Steve Howdle, Derek Irvine, Cameron Alexander

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The poor aqueous solubility is one of the major obstacles in the formulation development of many drugs. Around 70% of drugs are poorly soluble in aqueous media. In the last few decades, micelles have emerged as one of the major tools for solubilization of hydrophobic drugs. Micelles are nanosized structures (10-100nm) obtained by self-assembly of amphiphilic molecules into the water. The hydrophobic part of the micelle forms core which is surrounded by a hydrophilic outer shell called corona. These core-shell structures have been used as a drug delivery vehicle for many years. Although, the utility of micelles have been reduced due to the lack of sustainable materials. In the present study, a novel methoxy poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(ε-decalactone) (mPEG-b-PεDL) copolymer was synthesized by ring opening polymerization (ROP) of renewable ε-decalactone (ε-DL) monomers on methoxy poly(ethylene glycol) (mPEG) initiator using 1,5,7-triazabicyclo[4.4.0]dec-5-ene (TBD) as a organocatalyst. All the reactions were conducted in bulk to avoid the use of toxic organic solvents. The copolymer was characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).The mPEG-b-PεDL block copolymeric micelles containing indomethacin (IND) were prepared by nanoprecipitation method and evaluated as drug delivery vehicle. The size of the micelles was less than 40nm with narrow polydispersity pattern. TEM image showed uniform distribution of spherical micelles defined by clear surface boundary. The indomethacin loading was 7.4% for copolymer with molecular weight of 13000 and drug/polymer weight ratio of 4/50. The higher drug/polymer ratio decreased the drug loading. The drug release study in PBS (pH7.4) showed a sustained release of drug over a period of 24hr. In conclusion, we have developed a new sustainable polymeric material for IND delivery by combining the green synthetic approach with the use of renewable monomer for sustainable development of polymeric nanomedicine.

Keywords: dopolymer, ε-decalactone, indomethacin, micelles

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Authors: Sara Zatir, Kouide Brahimi, Amira Zatir

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The planning and the environment have long evolved at the same two parallel tracks. But today, we can design a layout without addressing its environmental impact on the landscape. And the role of The documents of the regulatory planning is to control the urbanization of a common and its effects indirectly on the urban environment, but what about the urban landscape? Algeria is like many countries in the world leans primarily on developing sustainable economy, it was officially declared in the Maghreb countries, with the enactment of Law No. 01-20 of 12 December 2001 on the organization and sustainable development of the territory, one of the purposes of this law is the protection, mapping values and rational use of, natural resources, heritage and the natural preservation for future generations. However, Algeria initiatives have recently been undertaken but it still have some infancy which can be detected by the cavity between the delineation instruments,regulations and. In this context, we should note the important role of public authorities in the situation of the living and its future. The idea is to find a balance from the unbalanced conditions (between present and future generations, between economic needs, and the needs of environmental protection and cultural, between individual and collective interests) and to develop new strategies management laws and the urban landscape.

Keywords: Algeria, sustainable, development urban landscapes, laws

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Authors: Arthy Vinayakam, Emilda Judith Ezhil Rajan

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Adolescents with epilepsy living in developing country like India face many difficulties on stigma towards the disease. The psychological wellbeing of adolescents who are living with epilepsy has a varied influence on their daily activities and decision-making. Parental involvement with adolescents has always been a subject of caution. The dynamics in adolescents with epilepsy is much varied as their parental aspects has been known to have an impact on their education, socialization and wellbeing. The current study aims to identify the effect of parental styles, how they tend to effect the perception of self-concept that relate to the stigma in adolescents with epilepsy. A sample of 30 adolescents with epilepsy and their parents were taken; a control group of 30 adolescents and their parents were also taken. The General Health Questionnaire -12 was used as a screening for both groups to be included in the study. Parents were evaluated with Parenting Practices Questionnaire (PPQ). Adolescents were administered the Epilepsy Stigma Scale (ESS), Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (RSS) and Adolescent Wellbeing Scale (AWS). Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data. The findings of the study highlight the challenges of both parent and their influence on adolescent’s wellbeing. The findings also establish the impact of parenting style on the stigma in adolescents having epilepsy and how this influences their self-concept whereby their emotional strength.

Keywords: epilepsy, parenting style, stigma, wellbeing

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Authors: Murat Sengoz, Mustafa Kemal Topcu

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This study aims to contribute to efforts of Turkey to increase research and development to overcome mid-income level trap by discussing regulations on patenting and licensing. Knowledge and technology transfer from universities to business world is attached great significance to increase innovation. Through literature survey, it is observed that the States accomplished to boost the economy and increase welfare by the Bayh-Dole Act enacted in 1980. Thus, this good practice is imitated by other nations to make technological developments. The Act allows universities to acquire patent right in research programs funded by government to increase technology transfer from universities whilst motivating real sector to use research pools in the universities. An act similar with Bayh-Dole could be beneficial to Turkey since efforts in Turkey are to promote research, development and innovation. Towards this end, the impact of Bayh-Dole Act on the patent system for universities in the Sates is deliberately examined, applicability in Turkey is discussed. However, it is conceded that success rate of applying Bayh-Dole Act in Turkey would be low once Turkey mainly differs from the States regarding social, economic and cultural traits.

Keywords: Bayh-Dole Act, knowledge transfer, license, patent, spin-off

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Authors: Data Collete Bob-Manuel

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In light of global financial crisis in 2007-2008 various factors including board diversity, succession planning and board evaluation have been identified as essential ingredients in ensuring board effectiveness. The composition and structure of the board is of outmost importance in assessing a board’s ability and success in achieving its objectives. Following the corporate frauds and accounting scandals such as Enron, WorldCom, Parmalat, Oceanic Bank Nigeria and AfriBank Nigeria, there has been a notable amount of research about the effectiveness of the board of directors in the corporate governance of firms. The need to have an effective board cannot be over emphasized as it results in a more stable and thriving company. There has been an overarching need in the business world for a more diverse workforce and board of directors. Big corporations like Texaco, Ford Motors and DuPont have stated how diversity at every level of the workforce including the board of directors has been cited as a vital element for a company to succeed. Developed countries are also seeking for companies to have a more diverse board. For instance Norway has implemented a 60:40 board ratio to all companies. In West Africa, particularly Nigeria, the topic of diversity has received little attention as most studies conducted have focused on the gender aspect of diversity, which results found to have a negative impact on firm performance. This paper seeks to examine four variables of diversity; age, ethnicity, gender and skills to weigh the positive or negative impact the variables have on firm performance, based on evidence from the Nigerian Financial sector. Information used for this study will be gathered from financial statements and annual reports so as to enable the researcher to reflect on past years to know what is being done differently today. The findings of this study will help the researcher to develop a working definition for ethnicity with regards to the West African context where the issue of “tribe” is a sensitive topic.

Keywords: Board of Directors, Board Diversity, Firm Performance, Nigeria

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Authors: Barbara Peric

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The study of acquiring a third and additional language has garnered significant focus within second language acquisition (SLA) research. Initially, it was commonly viewed as merely an extension of second language acquisition (SLA). However, in the last two decades, numerous researchers have emphasized the need to recognize the unique characteristics of third language acquisition (TLA). This recognition is crucial for understanding the intricate cognitive processes that arise from the interaction of more than two linguistic systems in the learner's mind. This study investigates cross-linguistic influences in the acquisition of Spanish as a fourth language by students who have Croatian as a first language (L1). English as a second language (L2), and Italian as a third language (L3). Observational data suggests that influence or transfer of linguistic elements can arise not only from one's native language (L1) but also from non-native languages. This implies that, for individuals proficient in multiple languages, the native language doesn't consistently hold a superior position. Instead, it should be examined alongside other potential sources of linguistic transfer. Earlier studies have demonstrated that high proficiency in a second language can significantly impact cross-linguistic influences when acquiring a third and additional language. Among the extensively examined factors, the typological relationship stands out as one of the most scrutinized variables. The goal of the present study was to explore whether language typology and formal similarity or proficiency in the second language had a more significant impact on L4 acquisition. Participants in this study were third-year undergraduate students at Rochester Institute of Technology’s subsidiary in Croatia (RIT Croatia). All the participants had exclusively Croatian as L1, English as L2, Italian as L3 and were learning Spanish as L4 at the time of the study. All the participants had a high level of proficiency in English and low level of proficiency in Italian. Based on the error analysis the findings indicate that for some types of lexical errors such as coinage, language typology had a more significant impact and Italian language was the preferred source of transfer despite the law proficiency in that language. For some other types of lexical errors, such as calques, second language proficiency had a more significant impact, and English language was the preferred source of transfer. On the other hand, Croatian, Italian, and Spanish are more similar in the area of morphology due to higher degree of inflection compared to English and the strongest influence of the Croatian language was precisely in the area of morphology. The results emphasize the need to consider linguistic resemblances between the native language (L1) and the third and additional language as well as the learners' proficiency in the second language when developing successful teaching strategies for acquiring the third and additional language. These conclusions add to the expanding knowledge in the realm of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) and offer practical insights for language educators aiming to enhance the effectiveness of learning experiences in acquiring a third and additional language.

Keywords: third and additional language acquisition, cross-linguistic influences, language proficiency, language typology

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Authors: Arash Khosravi, Mohamad Nazir Ahmad

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Today’s economy is a knowledge-based economy in which knowledge is a crucial facilitator to individuals, as well as being an instigator of success. Due to the impact of globalization, universities face new challenges and opportunities. Accordingly, they ought to be more innovative and have their own competitive advantages. One of the most important goals of universities is the promotion of students as professional knowledge workers. Therefore, knowledge sharing and transferring at tertiary level between students and supervisors is vital in universities, as it decreases the budget and provides an affordable way of doing research. Knowledge-sharing impact factors can be categorized into three groups, namely: organizational, individual and technical factors. There are some individual barriers to knowledge sharing, namely: lack of time and trust, lack of communication skills and social networks. IT systems such as e-learning, blogs and portals can increase knowledge sharing capability. However, it must be stated that IT systems are only tools and not solutions. Individuals are still responsible for sharing information and knowledge. This paper proposes new research model to examine the effect of individual factors and organisational factors, namely: learning strategy, trust culture, supervisory support, as well as technological factor on knowledge sharing in a research supervision process at the University of Technology Malaysia.

Keywords: knowledge management, knowledge sharing, research supervision, knowledge transferring

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Authors: Edward Schwalb, Matthias Dehmer, Michael Schlenkrich, Farzaneh Taslimi, Ketron Mitchell-Wynne, Horen Kuecuekyan

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We present a generalized feature extraction approach for supporting Machine Learning (ML) algorithms which perform tasks similar to Finite-Element Analysis (FEA). We report results for estimating the Head Injury Categorization (HIC) of vehicle engine compartments across various impact scenarios. Our experiments demonstrate that models learned using features derived with a simple discretization approach provide a reasonable approximation of a full simulation. We observe that Decision Trees could be as effective as Neural Networks for the HIC task. The simplicity and performance of the learned Decision Trees could offer a trade-off of a multiple order of magnitude increase in speed and cost improvement over full simulation for a reasonable approximation. When used as a complement to full simulation, the approach enables rapid approximate feedback to engineering teams before submission for full analysis. The approach produces mesh independent features and is further agnostic of the assembly structure.

Keywords: mechanical design validation, FEA, supervised decision tree, convolutional neural network.

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Authors: Kanda Janyam, Piyaporn Vijit

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Background: As a consequence of sustained declines in fertility and mortality during the last three decades of the 20th century, Thailand faces a rapidly growing population of older persons. This demographic change directly affect Thailand workforce. Therefore, the study of health promotion behaviour of the older employees will benefit the employers as they can then develop the preparation for promoting well-being in older persons. Purpose: The current study aims to investigate health promotion behaviour and factors related to health promotion behaviour of older employees in factory. Methodology: The research instrument was questionnaire on health promotion behaviour and semi-structured interviews. The questionnaire was launched with 326 employees aged between 45-59 years in three factories in Songkhla Province, southern Thailand. The data collection started in December 2011. The data were analysed with mean, standard deviation, and correlation. Results: The results revealed that overall health promotion behaviour of the older employees in factory was at a high level. Moreover, when considered by aspect, it was found that their responsibility for health, nutrition, success in life, interpersonal relationship were at a high level while stress management, and exercise were at a moderate level. The results from correlation analysis indicated that the overall health promotion behaviour was positively related to knowledge of health promotion behaviour, attitude toward health promotion behaviour, health perception, the policy of health promotion, participation in health promotion activities, convenience in obtaining health promotion services, health resources, advice from people supporting health, and information received from the media. In addition, the results of the interviews with four key informants helped to confirm the factors related to health promotion behaviour of older employees in factory. Therefore, health promotion for elderly employees in factory is likely to be successful, if the support is given to the four health promotion factors that are divided into: leading factors consisting of attitude toward health promotion behaviour, and health perception, and supporting factors consisting of advice from other people, and information on health from various media. Practical implications: The results of the study identified the factors related to health promotion behaviour of older employees in factory. Such information will benefit employers as they can then develop specific strategies to increase their staffs’ well-being and, hence, presumably enhance the organization productivity.

Keywords: health promotion behavior, older, employee, factory

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Authors: Frederick Huie, Lauren Fusfeld, William Burchenal, Scott Howell, Alyssa McVey, Thomas F. Goss

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Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a degenerative brain disease characterized by memory loss and cognitive decline that presents a substantial economic burden for patients and health insurers in the US. This study evaluates the payer budget impact of the DISCERN™ test in the diagnosis and management of patients with symptoms of dementia evaluated for AD. DISCERN™ comprises three assays that assess critical factors related to AD that regulate memory, formation of synaptic connections among neurons, and levels of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain and can provide a quicker, more accurate diagnosis than tests in the current diagnostic pathway (CDP). An Excel-based model with a three-year horizon was developed to assess the budget impact of DISCERN™ compared with CDP in a Medicare Advantage plan with 1M beneficiaries. Model parameters were identified through a literature review and were verified through consultation with clinicians experienced in diagnosis and management of AD. The model assesses direct medical costs/savings for patients based on the following categories: •Diagnosis: costs of diagnosis using DISCERN™ and CDP. •False Negative (FN) diagnosis: incremental cost of care avoidable with a correct AD diagnosis and appropriately directed medication. •True Positive (TP) diagnosis: AD medication costs; cost from a later TP diagnosis with the CDP versus DISCERN™ in the year of diagnosis, and savings from the delay in AD progression due to appropriate AD medication in patients who are correctly diagnosed after a FN diagnosis.•False Positive (FP) diagnosis: cost of AD medication for patients who do not have AD. A one-way sensitivity analysis was conducted to assess the effect of varying key clinical and cost parameters ±10%. An additional scenario analysis was developed to evaluate the impact of individual inputs. In the base scenario, DISCERN™ is estimated to decrease costs by $4.75M over three years, equating to approximately $63.11 saved per test per year for a cohort followed over three years. While the diagnosis cost is higher with DISCERN™ than with CDP modalities, this cost is offset by the higher overall costs associated with CDP due to the longer time needed to receive a TP diagnosis and the larger number of patients who receive a FN diagnosis and progress more rapidly than if they had received appropriate AD medication. The sensitivity analysis shows that the three parameters with the greatest impact on savings are: reduced sensitivity of DISCERN™, improved sensitivity of the CDP, and a reduction in the percentage of disease progression that is avoided with appropriate AD medication. A scenario analysis in which DISCERN™ reduces the utilization for patients of computed tomography from 21% in the base case to 16%, magnetic resonance imaging from 37% to 27% and cerebrospinal fluid biomarker testing, positive emission tomography, electroencephalograms, and polysomnography testing from 4%, 5%, 10%, and 8%, respectively, in the base case to 0%, results in an overall three-year net savings of $14.5M. DISCERN™ improves the rate of accurate, definitive diagnosis of AD earlier in the disease and may generate savings for Medicare Advantage plans.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, budget, dementia, diagnosis.

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Authors: Promil Mehra, Nanthi Bolan, Jack Desbiolles, Risha Gupta

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Agricultural practices affect the soil physical and chemical properties, which in turn influence the soil microorganisms as a function of the soil biological environment. On the return to conventional tillage (CT) from continuing no-till (NT) cropping system, a very little information is available from the impact caused by the intermittent tillage on the soil biochemical properties from a short-term (2-year) study period. Therefore, the contribution made by different microorganisms (fungal, bacteria) was also investigated in order to find out the effective changes in the soil microbial activity under a South Australian dryland faring system. This study was conducted to understand the impact of microbial dynamics on the soil organic carbon (SOC) under NT and CT systems when treated with different levels of mulching (0, 2.5 and 5 t/ha). Our results demonstrated that from the incubation experiment the cumulative CO2 emitted from CT system was 34.5% higher than NT system. Relatively, the respiration from surface layer (0-10 cm) was significantly (P<0.05) higher by 8.5% and 15.8 from CT; 8% and 18.9% from NT system w.r.t 10-20 and 20-30 cm respectively. Further, the dehydrogenase enzyme activity (DHA) and microbial biomass carbon (MBC) were both significantly lower (P<0.05) under CT, i.e., 7.4%, 7.2%, 6.0% (DHA) and 19.7%, 15.7%, 4% (MBC) across the different mulching levels (0, 2.5, 5 t/ha) respectively. In general, it was found that from both the tillage system the enzyme activity and MBC decreased with the increase in depth (0-10, 10-20 and 20-30 cm) and with the increase in mulching rate (0, 2.5 and 5 t/ha). From the perspective of microbial stress, there was 28.6% higher stress under CT system compared to NT system. Whereas, the microbial activity of different microorganisms like fungal and bacterial activities were determined by substrate-induced inhibition respiration using antibiotics like cycloheximide (16 mg/gm of soil) and streptomycin sulphate (14 mg/gm of soil), by trapping the CO2 using an alkali (0.5 M NaOH) solution. The microbial activities were confirmed through platting technique, where it was that found bacterial activities were 46.2% and 38.9% higher than fungal activity under CT and NT system. In conclusion, it was expected that changes in the relative abundance and activity of different microorganisms (bacteria and fungi) under different tillage systems could significantly affect the C cycling and storage due to its unique structures and differential interactions with the soil physical properties.

Keywords: tillage, soil respiration, MBC, fungal-bacterial activity

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Authors: Jalil Boudjadar

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Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS) multicore platforms are promising execution platforms that enable high computational performance, less energy consumption and flexibility in scheduling the system processes. However, the resulting interleaving and memory interference together with per-core frequency tuning make real-time guarantees hard to be delivered. Besides, energy consumption represents a strong constraint for the deployment of such systems on energy-limited settings. Identifying the system configurations that would achieve a high performance and consume less energy while guaranteeing the system schedulability is a complex task in the design of modern embedded systems. This work studies the trade-off between energy consumption, cores utilization and memory bottleneck and their impact on the schedulability of DVFS multicore time-critical systems with a hierarchy of shared memories. We build a model-based framework using Parametrized Timed Automata of UPPAAL to analyze the mutual impact of performance, energy consumption and schedulability of DVFS multicore systems, and demonstrate the trade-off on an actual case study.

Keywords: time-critical systems, multicore systems, schedulability analysis, energy consumption, performance analysis

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Authors: Saeed Sayyad Hagh Shomar

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Modeling users’ decisions on departure time choice is the main motivation for this research. In particular, it examines the impact of social-demographic features, household, job characteristics and trip qualities on individuals’ departure time choice. Departure time alternatives are presented as adjacent discrete time periods. The choice between these alternatives is done using a discrete choice model. Since a great deal of early morning trips and traffic congestion at that time of the day comprise work trips, the focus of this study is on the work trip over the entire day. Therefore, this study by using questionnaire of stated preference models users’ departure time choice affected by congestion pricing plan in downtown Tehran. Experimental results demonstrate efficient social-demographic impact on work trips’ departure time. These findings have substantial outcomes for the analysis of transportation planning. Particularly, the analysis shows that ignoring the effects of these variables could result in erroneous information and consequently decisions in the field of transportation planning and air quality would fail and cause financial resources loss.

Keywords: modeling, departure time, travel timing, time of the day, congestion pricing, transportation planning

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Authors: Zulkifli Yusop

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The severity of December 2014 flood on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia has raised concern over the adequacy of existing land use practices and policies. This article assesses flood responses to selective logging, plantation establishment (oil palm and rubber) and their subsequent management regimes. The hydrological impacts were evaluated on two levels: on-site (mostly in the upstream) and off-site to reflect the cumulative impact at downstream. Results of experimental catchment studies suggest that on-site impact of flood could be kept to a minimum when selecting logging strictly adhere to the existing guidelines. However, increases in flood potential and sedimentation rate were observed with logging intensity and slope steepness. Forest conversion to plantation show the highest impacts. Except on the heavily compacted surfaces, the ground revegetation is usually rapid within two years upon the cessation of the logging operation. The hydrological impacts of plantation opening and replanting could be significantly reduced once the cover crop has fully established which normally takes between three to six months after sowing. However, as oil palms become taller and the canopy gets closer, the cover crop tends to die off due to light competition, and its protecting function gradually diminishes. The exposed soil is further compacted by harvesting machinery which subsequently leads to greater overland flow and erosion rates. As such, the hydrological properties of matured oil palm plantations are generally poorer than in young plantation. In hilly area, the undergrowth in rubber plantation is usually denser compared to under oil palm. The soil under rubber trees is also less compacted as latex collection is done manually. By considering the cumulative effects of land-use over space and time, selective logging seems to pose the least impact on flood potential, followed by planting rubber for latex, oil palm and Latex Timber Clone (LTC). The cumulative hydrological impact of LTC plantation is the most severe because of its shortest replanting rotation (12 to 15 years) compared to oil palm (25 years) and rubber for latex (35 years). Furthermore, the areas gazetted for LTC are mostly located on steeper slopes which are more susceptible to landslide and erosion. Forest has limited capability to store excess rainfall and is only effective in attenuating regular floods. Once the hydrologic storage is exceeded, the excess rainfall will appear as flood water. Therefore, for big floods, rainfall regime has a much bigger influence than land use.

Keywords: selective logging, plantation, extreme rainfall, debris flow

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Authors: Arooba Azam Khan

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The present study aims to focus on the relationship between smartphone addiction and academic performance of students along with social networking sites, overuse of smartphone, GPA’s and time management skills as their sub-variables. In this world of technology, the smartphone becomes a vital part of everyone’s life. The addiction of smartphones has both negative and positive impact on young people (students). Students keep themselves busy with smartphones without noticing that smartphone addiction is creating a negative impact on their social, academic, and personal lives. A quantitative approach was used to collect data through questionnaire from 360 students of two private universities in Pakistan in summer 2017. The target age group was 19-24 studying in Bachelors programmes. Data were analyzed by using SPSS (version 20), linear correlation and regression tests were applied. Results reveal that there is a negative relationship between smartphone addiction and academic performance. Moreover, it has been proved that students with good time management skills achieve high grades/GPA’s than those who have poor time management skills. From the findings, the researcher suggests that students should spend their time wisely and use their smartphones for educational purpose. However, students need training and close monitoring to get benefits out of smartphones use.

Keywords: smartphone addiction, academic performance, time management skills, quantitative research

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Authors: Ilham Ihoume, Rachid Tadili, Nora Arbaoui

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Recent innovations in economical heating systems have significantly boosted ‎agricultural production by effectively managing temperature drops in greenhouse ‎microclimates. These advancements enhance product profitability in terms of quality, ‎quantity, and growth duration. This study experimentally investigates the impact of a ‎solar heating system on the microclimate of an agricultural greenhouse, focusing on ‎zucchini (Cucurbita pepo). The System comprises a copper tube placed between double ‎roof glazing and a sensible heat storage system, converting solar energy during the day ‎and storing it for night-time release. A second control greenhouse without heating ‎allows for comparative analysis at various growth stages. During the cold season, the ‎experimental greenhouse showed a temperature increase of 3°C compared to the ‎control greenhouse and 5°C above external ambient air. The relative humidity in the ‎experimental greenhouse ranged from 69% to 70%, whereas the control greenhouse recorded 68% to 86%, and ambient air ‎was between 94% to 99%. The heating systems achieved an efficiency of 73%, and ‎zucchini plants in the experimental greenhouse developed fruit 13 days earlier than ‎those in the control greenhouse.‎

Keywords: solar energy, storage, energy managment, heating system

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Authors: Madifedile Thasi, Azola Mayeza

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In South Africa, provision of housing to the growing population has been described as one of the greatest challenges facing the government. Between 1994 to 2015, more than 2.5 million housing units were provided by the government for the poorest households and the low-income earners under the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP). Yet, the latest census figure revealed that about 2.1 million households still live in shacks and informal dwellings. Human settlements patterns remain dysfunctional across in South Africa because of rapid urbanisation. The housing backlog is growing at a rate of 178 000 units a year. The aforementioned predicament calls the need for innovative approaches to address the issue in a sustainable way and this need not be overemphasized. Aside from the issue of cost, the delivery of more housing units comes with environmental and sustainability issues. The prefabrication building technology has resulted into accelerated housing delivery to a satisfactory level in some countries such as Nigeria and Malaysia that are facing similar issue. It is therefore expected to be a foremost option to address the social housing backlog in South Africa and within the country housing sustainability agenda. This paper appraises the factors responsible for the limited implementation of prefabrication technology in South African housing projects. The objective is to recommend the method and materials that can be best sustained in the country in terms of local availability, cost effectiveness and environmental friendliness. It presents empirical data to support the hypothesis that a wider implementation of prefabrication technology in the social housing projects will be of significant benefit, by providing fast turnaround, cost-effective and sustainable solution that will dent the housing backlog, as well as improving the quality of the social housings. It was found that only 17 000 units of the RDP housings provided were constructed using alternative building technologies. Furthermore, there are variety of prefabricated technologies in the market but mostly have limited production capacity, minimal manufacturing capacity and most materials are imported, which leads to unavailability of the technology for large scale delivery and utilization despite its obvious advantages.

Keywords: prefabrication technology, sustainable social housings, South Africa, housing delivery

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Authors: Santhosh Kumar Sathi

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In India, Growth and spread of cities lead to the reduction of forests and green areas of the urban center with built structures. This is one of the reasons for increasing temperature about 2-5% in an urban environment and consequently also one of the key causes of urban heat island effects. Green roofs are one option that can reduce the negative impact of urban development providing numerous environmental benefits. In this paper, Vijayawada city is taken as case to study as it is experiencing rapid urbanization because of new capital Amaravati. That has resulted in remarkable urban heat island; which once recorded a highest temperature of 49°c. This paper focuses on the change in quality of the local environment with the introduction of green roofs. An in-depth study has to be carried out to understand the distribution of land surface temperature and land use of Vijayawada. Delineation of an area which has the highest temperature has been selected to adopt green roof retrofitting. Latest technologies of green roof retrofitting have to be implemented in the selected region. The results of the study indicate a significant temperature reduction in the local environment of that region, confirming the potential of green roofs as urban heat island mitigation strategy.

Keywords: energy consumption, green roofs, retrofitting, urban heat island

Procedia PDF Downloads 375