Search results for: regional features

Authors: Masoud Sheidai, Fahimeh Koohdar, Hashem Sharifi

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Juglans regia (L.) commonly known as Persian walnut of the genus Juglans L. (Juglandaceae) is one of the most important cultivated plant species due to its high-quality wood and edible nuts. The genetic diversity analysis is essential for conservation and management of tree species. Persian walnut is native from South-Eastern Europe to North-Western China through Tibet, Nepal, Northern India, Pakistan, and Iran. The species like Persian walnut, which has a wide range of geographical distribution, should harbor extensive genetic variability to adapt to environmental fluctuations they face. We aimed to study the population genetic structure of seven Persian walnut populations including three wild and four cultivated populations by using ISSR (Inter simple sequence repeats) and SRAP (Sequence related amplified polymorphism) molecular markers. We also aimed to compare the genetic variability revealed by ISSR neutral multilocus marker and rDNA ITS sequences. The studied populations differed in morphological features as the samples in each population were clustered together and were separate from the other populations. Three wild populations studied were placed close to each other. The mantel test after 5000 times permutation performed between geographical distance and morphological distance in Persian walnut populations produced significant correlation (r = 0.48, P = 0.002). Therefore, as the populations become farther apart, they become more divergent in morphological features. ISSR analysis produced 47 bands/ loci, while we obtained 15 SRAP bands. Gst and other differentiation statistics determined for these loci revealed that most of the ISSR and SRAP loci have very good discrimination power and can differentiate the studied populations. AMOVA performed for these loci produced a significant difference (< 0.05) supporting the above-said result. AMOVA produced significant genetic difference based on ISSR data among the studied populations (PhiPT = 0.52, P = 0.001). AMOVA revealed that 53% of the total variability is due to among population genetic difference, while 47% is due to within population genetic variability. The results showed that both multilocus molecular markers and ITS sequences can differentiate Persian walnut populations. The studied populations differed genetically and showed isolation by distance (IBD). ITS sequence based MP and Bayesian phylogenetic trees revealed that Iranian walnut cultivars form a distinct clade separated from the cultivars studied from elsewhere. Almost all clades obtained have high bootstrap value. The results indicated that a combination of multilpcus and sequencing molecular markers can be used in genetic differentiation of Persian walnut.

Keywords: genetic diversity, population, molecular markers, genetic difference

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Authors: Srivatsav Sanjay Sridhar, Asvitha Raja, Prathit Kalra, Soni Gupta

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Database management is a system that keeps track of details about a person in an organisation. Not a lot of orphanages these days are shifting to a computer and program-based system, but unfortunately, most have only pen and paper-based records, which not only consumes space but it is also not eco-friendly. It comes as a hassle when one has to view a record of a person as they have to search through multiple records, and it will consume time. This program will organise all the data and can pull out any information about anyone whose data is entered. This is also a safe way of storage as physical data gets degraded over time or, worse, destroyed due to natural disasters. In this developing world, it is only smart enough to shift all data to an electronic-based storage system. The program comes with all features, including creating, inserting, searching, and deleting the data, as well as printing them.

Keywords: database, orphans, programming, C⁺⁺

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Authors: Nabil Saad, David Morgan, Manish Gupta

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Visibility has become a key component of air quality and is regulated in many areas by environmental laws such as the EPA Clean Air Act and Regional Haze Rule. Typically, visibility is calculated by estimating the optical absorption and scattering of both gases and aerosols. A major component of the aerosols’ climatic effect is due to their scattering and absorption of solar radiation, which are governed by their optical and physical properties. However, the accurate assessment of this effect on global warming, climate change, and air quality is made difficult due to uncertainties in the calculation of single scattering albedo (SSA). Experimental complications arise in the determination of the single scattering albedo of an aerosol particle since it requires the simultaneous measurement of both scattering and extinction. In fact, aerosol optical absorption, in particular, is a difficult measurement to perform, and it’s often associated with large uncertainties when using filter methods or difference methods. In this presentation, we demonstrate the use of a new open-path Optical Extinction Analyzer (OEA) in conjunction with a nephelometer and two particle sizers, emphasizing the benefits that co-employment of the OEA offers to derive the complex refractive index of aerosols and their single scattering albedo parameter. Various use cases, data reproducibility, and instrument calibration will also be presented to highlight the value proposition of this novel Open-Path OEA.

Keywords: aerosols, extinction, visibility, albedo

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Authors: Marshet Girmay

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Local community involvement is widely considered vital for the sustainability of heritage management. Yet, it is often the case that heritage-related projects lag behind in community involvement. In the Semien Mountains the creation, first, and expansion, later, of the National Park has led to several conflicts with the local communities that for centuries have inhabited the area. Local communities have only been passive actors in the plans to expand the Park set up by UNESCO and by local decision makers. This paper investigates the causes that led the Gich community, one of the communities affected by the Park’s expansion, to refuse the resettlement plan offered by the authorities. Qualitative research methods were employed, including document analysis, community conference and interview of informants. The paper shows that although the local community of Gich was highly attached to the Park’s heritage assets, their level of involvement in the heritage management was very low due to shortcomings in the design and implementation of official policies. Therefore, their attitude towards the Park’s managers has been until the present one of mistrust and opposition. The paper recommends to policy-makers a series of measures more sensitive towards local communities, such as that the development agencies act as true communication facilitators and regional authorities nurture sincere relationships with the locals.

Keywords: Gich, heritage management, local communities, Semen Mountains, sustainability, UNESCO, world heritage site

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Authors: Man Guo, Wenyong Tan

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By combining spatial syntax with data obtained from field visits, this paper interprets the internal relationship between spatial morphology and spatial cognition in Lidukou Village. By comparing the obtained data, it is recognized that the spatial integration degree of Lidukou Village is positively correlated with the spatial cognitive intention of local villagers. The part with a higher spatial cognitive degree within the village is distributed along the axis mainly composed of Shuxiang Road. And the accessibility of historical relics is weak, and there is no systematic relationship between them. Aiming at the morphological problem of Lidukou Village, optimization strategies have been proposed from multiple perspectives, such as optimizing spatial mechanisms and shaping spatial nodes.

Keywords: traditional villages, spatial syntax, spatial integration degree, morphological problem

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Authors: Eriba Christopher Inyila, Godwin Egena Oga

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Statecraft appears to be one of the greatest cultural achievements in the history of man’s civilization. The state itself is often portrayed as the supreme community of the citizen’s collective goodness and will. However, history experience reveals that the state has often been held in captivity permanently in the hand of the political class to almost a total exclusion of the labouring class of workers, artisans and peasants. Consequently, the hallmark of the Nigerian state and society in contemporary era is state of permanent crisis characterized by poverty, unemployment and profound insecurity. A lasting solution to this state of anomie is often touted in terms of ethnic, religious and regional integration which border on non-material perception of realities. A neglected aspect of the approach to the study of recurrent problems in contemporary is the materialist conception of realties through class perspectives of the society. The cutting edge of the approach is found in the attempt to reconcile the contradiction between the productive forces and the social relation of production. In other words, the contemporary state is skewed in favour of ownership of properties/commanding height of economy predominantly in the hands of the few monopoly companies to the total exclusion of majority of Nigerian population classified as peasant, workers and artisan. The lopsided situation creates economic and social disequilibria.

Keywords: national development, class, the state, Nigeria

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Authors: Pardis Moslemzadeh Tehrani, Nazura Abdul Manap, Hamed Ladoni Damghani, Rohimi Bin Shapiee

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In recent years the speed of new technology has brought forth so many new issues. Cyberspace is among the new technologies that need novel ways to address the various issues that have arisen. While cyberspace is a technical notion that defies a single definition, this new technology requires the adoption and application of new laws. In order to manage issues arising from the existence of cyberspace, proper policies and definitions must be formulated which satisfy both technical and legal aspects. One difficulty in this regard is due to the unique features of cyberspace architecture. This article proposes to define cyberspace and cyber terrorism. This will allow for a more effective and comprehensive addressing of legal issues as they can then be handled better by introducing a new factor to the otherwise ordinary analysis in whichever field is implicated such as the nature and place of use.

Keywords: cyberspace, cyber terrorism, technical definition, legal definition

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Authors: Rafael Vicente Salar

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Cities are steadily transforming their productive systems based on value-adding strategies, with the aim of becoming more competitive in a globalized economy. This fact is reflected in inner urban spaces which are increasingly accommodating new economic activities related to knowledge, culture, creativity, and tourism, to the detriment of traditional activities. This is the case of the Trafalgar Garment District (TGD), located in Barcelona´s Eixample Dret neighborhood, an economic urban space historically devoted to the garment wholesale trade. This district is currently experiencing the transformation of its traditional economic specialization. In the last 50 years, external and internal factors have caused, firstly, the disintegration of the Catalonian garment regional cluster. This has resulted in the closure of the majority of metropolitan garment workshops. Secondly, this has also caused either the disappearance of wholesale firms or their relocation to more suitable spaces in the metropolitan area. Specifically, the TGD's economic restructuration is related to the attraction of firms related to the lodging industry and the new economy. In addition, some of the wholesale businesses are adopting new management strategies in order to remain in the TGD. These initiatives are thought to allow them, on one hand, to upgrade their products and, on the other, to reconfigure their internal organization in order to be more competitive.

Keywords: Barcelona, garment district, new economy, tourism, garmen wholesale trade

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Authors: H. Benmoussa, A. A. El Kalam, A. Ait Ouahman

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The design and implementation of intrusion detection systems (IDS) remain an important area of research in the security of information systems. Despite the importance and reputation of the current intrusion detection systems, their efficiency and effectiveness remain limited as they should include active defense approach to allow anticipating and predicting intrusions before their occurrence. Consequently, they must be readapted. For this purpose we suggest a new generation of distributed intrusion detection system based on preventive detection approach and using intelligent and mobile agents. Our architecture benefits from mobile agent features and addresses some of the issues with centralized and hierarchical models. Also, it presents advantages in terms of increasing scalability and flexibility.

Keywords: Intrusion Detection System (IDS), preventive detection, mobile agents, distributed architecture

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Authors: Melanie Verhovnik

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School shootings are a well-known phenomenon in Germany, 14 of which have occurred to date. The first case happened half a year after the April 20th, 1999 Columbine shooting in the United States, which was at the time the most serious school shooting to have occurred anywhere in the world. The German media gave only scant attention to the subject of school shootings prior to Columbine, even though there were numerous instances of it throughout the world and several serious instances in the United States during the 1990s. A mixed method design of qualitative and quantitative content analysis was employed in order to demonstrate the main features and characteristics of core German media’s coverage of Columbine.

Keywords: Columbine, media coverage, qualitative, quantitative content analysis, school shooting

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Authors: Ikediobi Lottanna Samuel

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Days are gone when perpetrators of core international crimes hide under the cloak of sovereignty to go with impunity. The principle of international criminal responsibility is a reality. This move to end impunity for violation of human rights has led to the creation of international and hybrid tribunals, a permanent international criminal court, and increased prosecution of human rights violations in domestic courts. This article examines the attempts by the international community to bring perpetrators of heinous crimes to book. The work reveals the inadequacy of the current international mechanism for prosecuting core international crimes in order to end the culture of impunity and entrench the culture of accountability. It also identifies that ad hoc international criminal tribunals and the international criminal court face similar challenges ranging from lack of cooperation by nation states, non-existence of hierarchy of crimes, lack of effective enforcement mechanism, limited prosecutorial capacity and agenda, difficulty in apprehending suspects, difficulty in blending different legal tradition, absence of a coherent sentencing guideline, distant location of courts, selective indictment, etc. These challenges adversely affect the functioning of these courts. It is suggested that a more helpful way to end impunity would be to have a more robust and synergistic relationship between national, regional, and international approaches to prosecuting core international crimes.

Keywords: prosecution, criminal, international, tribunal, justice, ad hoc

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Authors: Arenca Trashani

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20 years after its first entrance in a General Assembly of the United Nation’s Resolution, human security has became a very important tool in a global debate affecting directly the whole main rules and regulations in international law and more closely in international human rights law. This paper will cover a very important issue of today at how the human security has its impact to the development of international human rights law, not as far as a challenge as it is seen up now but a tool of moving toward development and globalization. In order to analyze the impact of human security to the global agenda, we need to look to the main pillars of the international legal order which are affected by the human security in itself and its application in the policy making for this international legal order global and regional ones. This paper will focus, also, on human security, as a new and very important tool of measuring development, stability and the level of democratic consolidation and the respect for human rights especially in developing countries such as Albania. The states are no longer capable to monopolize the use of human security just within their boundaries and separated from the other principles of a functioning democracy. In this context, human security would be best guaranteed under the respect of the rule of law and democratization. During the last two decades the concept security has broadly developed, from a state-centric to a more human-centric approach: from state security to respect for human rights, to economic security, to environmental security as well. Last but not least we would see that human rights could be affected by human security not just at their promotion but also at their enforcement and mainly at the international institutions, which are entitled to promote and to protect human rights.

Keywords: human security, international human rights law, development, Albania, international law

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Authors: James Hilton Williams

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Recent tsunami events, including the 2011 Tohoku Tsunami, Japan, and the 2015 Illapel Tsunami, Chile, have highlighted the potential for tsunami impacts on the built environment. International research in the tsunami impacts domain has been largely focused toward impacts on buildings and casualty estimations, while only limited attention has been placed on the impacts on infrastructure which is critical for the recovery of impacted communities. New Zealand, with 75% of the population within 10 km of the coast, has a large amount of coastal infrastructure exposed to local, regional and distant tsunami sources. To effectively manage tsunami risk for New Zealand critical infrastructure, including energy, transportation, and communications, the vulnerability of infrastructure networks and components must first be determined. This research develops infrastructure asset vulnerability, functionality and repair- cost functions based on international post-event tsunami impact assessment data from technologically similar countries, including Japan and Chile, and adapts these to New Zealand. These functions are then utilized within a New Zealand based impact framework, allowing for cost benefit analyses, effective tsunami risk management strategies and mitigation options for exposed critical infrastructure to be determined, which can also be applied internationally.

Keywords: impact assessment, infrastructure, tsunami impacts, vulnerability functions

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Authors: Ezeh Chukwunonso Peter Excel, Akruti Vg

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Aim/Background: To show that even after undergoing 1-5 courses of chemotherapy for Gestational Trophoblastic Disease (GTD) reproductive health of women is intact and they conceive successfully after it. Method: Retrospective cohort analysis using data from the Lugansk regional maternity hospital database of years 1993-2013, which shows n=18 females had GTD and underwent 1-5 courses of chemotherapy. Results and Discussion: Frequency of GTD was rare. All 18 patients (pts) belong to age group of 17-39 years, covering wide range of reproductive age. Out of 18 pts, 15 had hydatidiform mole (HM) while other 3 had choriocarcinoma (CC). In anamnesis, among CC pts, 1 had early pre-eclampsia at 24 weeks and 1 had 4th week of late postpartum (PP) bleeding, while all HM pts had genital inflammatory diseases, 1 pt of HM during follow-up had High hCG and 3 times curettage in 5 months. 18 women became pregnant for 25 times after chemotherapy. Chemotherapy was given under indication of either high level of HCG, luteal cyst >6cm or path-morphological results of curettage. CC 3 pts had (2 spontaneous abortions (SA), 2 term cesarean section (CS), 1 preterm CS). HM 15 pts had (3 artificial abortion, 2 SA, 7CS (5 term and 2 preterm), 8 vaginal deliveries (7 term and 1 preterm)). Conclusion: During our research we got 22.2% preterm deliveries and 55.6% CS which is higher than the normal cases, but still all the 18 women were able to have kids successfully after chemotherapy. So we can conclude that chemotherapy for GTD was successful in keeping the reproductive health of women intact.

Keywords: reproductive health, chemotherapy, gestational trophoblastic disease, women

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Authors: Rishana Bilimoria

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Darwin’s insightful anthropological theory on the evolution drove mankind’s understanding of our existence in the natural world. Scientists consider analysis of dental and craniofacial remains to be pivotal in uncovering facts about our evolutionary journey. The resilient mineral content of enamel and dentine allow cranial and dental remains to be preserved for millions of years, making it an excellent resource not only in anthropology but other fields of research including forensic dentistry. This literature review aims to chronologically approach each ancestral species, reviewing Australopithecus, Paranthropus, Homo Habilis, Homo Rudolfensis, Homo Erectus, Homo Neanderthalis, and finally Homo Sapiens. Studies included in the review assess the features of cranio-dental remains that are of evolutionary importance, such as microstructure, microwear, morphology, and jaw biomechanics. The article discusses the plethora of analysis techniques employed to study dental remains including carbon dating, dental topography, confocal imaging, DPI scanning and light microscopy, in addition to microwear study and analysis of features such as coronal and root morphology, mandibular corpus shape, craniofacial anatomy and microstructure. Furthermore, results from these studies provide insight into the diet, lifestyle and consequently, ecological surroundings of each species. We can correlate dental fossil evidence with wider theories on pivotal global events, to help us contextualize each species in space and time. Examples include dietary adaptation during the period of global cooling converting the landscape of Africa from forest to grassland. Global migration ‘out of Africa’ can be demonstrated by enamel thickness variation, cranial vault variation over time demonstrates accommodation to larger brain sizes, and dental wear patterns can place the commencement of lithic technology in history. Conclusions from this literature review show that dental evidence plays a major role in painting a phenotypic and all rounded picture of species of the Homo genus, in particular, analysis of coronal morphology through carbon dating and dental wear analysis. With regards to analysis technique, whilst studies require larger sample sizes, this could be unrealistic since there are limitations in ability to retrieve fossil data. We cannot deny the reliability of carbon dating; however, there is certainly scope for the use of more recent techniques, and further evidence of their success is required.

Keywords: cranio-facial, dental remains, evolution, hominids

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Authors: Shazia Shinwari

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In the 21st century, South Asia is becoming one of the rising sub-regions of the world. In the whole of Asia, South Asia is going to be the center part of opportunities, development, and challenges. The increasing economy and its geopolitical importance are changing the landscape of South Asia. Despite intensifying the opportunities and development, the region is also facing the challenges of security, poverty, and conflicts. It is one of the most populated sub-regions and has many internal conflicts because of which the region remains for a long time a least developed region in the world. But now South Asia is transforming into the developing process and trying to utilize its potentials and to remove the hurdles in the way of development. South Asia is one of the distinctive regions of the world and could play an important role at the global level if the potentials of the region are properly utilized. South Asia is one of the most important regions of the world and assumed more importance after the British withdrawal from the region. Now South Asia is playing an important role in world politics due to its strategic and geographical location. That is why the importance of this region in the international political systems cannot be ignored. Day by day, changes have been taking place in the structure of the global economy, and South Asia could take advantage of these changes to advance as an economic region. For this, South Asia will need to look at its history, and that changes, particularly in the India and Pakistan relations, are necessary for the development of the South Asian region. Despite having challenges in the region, South Asia is also rising as the land of opportunities and development if the potentials of the region are properly utilized and smoothen the way for regional integration.

Keywords: challenges, development, opportunities, South Asia

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Authors: R. Srinivas, K. V. Ramana

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This paper presents a novel method called VESTAL to label vertebrae and inter vertebral discs. Each vertebra has certain statistical features properties. To label vertebrae and discs, a new equation to model the path of spinal cord is derived using statistical properties of the spinal canal. VESTAL uses this equation for labeling vertebrae and discs. For each vertebrae and inter vertebral discs both posterior, interior width, height are measured. The calculated values are compared with real values which are measured using venires calipers and the comparison produced 95% efficiency and accurate results. The VESTAL is applied on 50 patients 350 MR images and obtained 100% accuracy in labeling.

Keywords: spine, vertebrae, inter vertebral disc, labeling, statistics, texture, disc

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Authors: Roman Girma Teshome

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The intersection between development and human rights has been the point of scholarly debate for a long time. Consequently, a number of principles, which extend from the right to development to the human rights-based approach to development, have been adopted to understand the dynamics between the two concepts. Despite these attempts, the exact relationship between development and human rights has not been fully discovered yet. However, the inevitable interdependence between the two notions and the idea that development efforts must be undertaken by giving due regard to human rights guarantees has gained momentum in recent years. On the other hand, the emergence of sustainable development as a widely accepted approach in development goals and policies makes this unsettled convergence even more complicated. The place of sustainable development in human rights law discourse and the role of the latter in ensuring the sustainability of development programs call for a systematic study. Hence, this article seeks to explore the relationship between development and human rights, particularly focusing on the place given to sustainable development principles in international human right law. It will further quest whether there is a right to sustainable development recognized therein. Accordingly, the article asserts that the principles of sustainable development are directly or indirectly recognized in various human rights instruments, which provides an affirmative response to the question raised hereinabove. This work, therefore, will make expeditions through international and regional human rights instruments as well as case laws and interpretative guidelines of human rights bodies to prove this hypothesis.

Keywords: sustainable development, human rights, the right to development, the human rights-based approach to development, environmental rights, economic development, social sustainability

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Authors: Yurii Bloshko, Oksana Olar

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This paper presents the analysis of 6 different classes of Petri nets: fuzzy Petri nets (FPN), generalized fuzzy Petri nets (GFPN), parameterized fuzzy Petri nets (PFPN), T2GFPN, flexible generalized fuzzy Petri nets (FGFPN), binary Petri nets (BPN). These classes were simulated in the special software PNeS® for the analysis of its pros and cons on the example of models which are dedicated to the decision-making process of passenger transport logistics. The paper includes the analysis of two approaches: when input values are filled with the experts’ knowledge; when fuzzy expectations represented by output values are added to the point. These approaches fulfill the possibilities of triples of functions which are replaced with different combinations of t-/s-norms.

Keywords: fuzzy petri net, intelligent computational techniques, knowledge representation, triangular norms

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Authors: Naim Suleyman Ting, Yakup Sahin, Ismail Aksoy

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This paper presents a zero voltage transition-zero current transition (ZVT-ZCT)-PWM DC-DC boost converter with direct power transfer. In this converter, the main switch turns on with ZVT and turns off with ZCT. The auxiliary switch turns on and off with zero current switching (ZCS). The main diode turns on with ZVS and turns off with ZCS. Besides, the additional current or voltage stress does not occur on the main device. The converter has features as simple structure, fast dynamic response and easy control. Also, the proposed converter has direct power transfer feature as well as excellent soft switching techniques. In this study, the operating principle of the converter is presented and its operation is verified for 1 kW and 100 kHz model.

Keywords: direct power transfer, boost converter, zero-voltage transition, zero-current transition

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Authors: Rachita Lal

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Urban sprawl is a significant contributor to land use change in developing countries, where urbanization rates are high. The most important driver of environmental changes is also considered to be the shift in land use and land cover. Our local and regional land managers must carefully analyze urbanization and its effects on cities to make the best choices. This study uses satellite imagery to examine how urbanization affects the local ecosystem through geographic expansion. The following research focuses on the effects of city growth on the local environment, land use, and Land cover. The primary focus of this research is to study, To understand the role of urbanization on city expansion. To study the impact of spatial growth of urban areas on the Land cover. In this paper, the GIS tool will be used to analyze. For this purpose, four digital images are used for the years 2000, 2005, 2011, and 2019. The use of the approach in the Bhubaneswar Urban Core, one of the fastest developing and planned cities in India, has proved that it is highly beneficial and successful for monitoring urban sprawl. It offers a helpful tool for quantitative assessment, which is crucial for determining the spatial dynamics, variations, and changes of urban sprawl patterns in quickly increasing regions.

Keywords: LULC, urbanization, environment impact assessment, spatial growth

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Authors: Maryam Khalili, Fateme Ghanei

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As one of the most significant phenomena of industrialized societies, tourism plays a key role in encouraging regional developments and enhancing higher standards of living for local communities in particular. Traveling is a formative experience endowed with lessons on various aspects of life. It allows us learning how to enhance the social position as well as the social relationships. However, people forget the need to travel and gain first-hand experiences as they have to cope with the ever-increasing rate of stress created by the disorders and routines of the urban dwelling style. In this paper, various spaces of such experiences were explored through a virtual tour with two underlying aims: 1) encouraging, informing, and educating the community in terms of tourism development, and 2) introducing a temporary release from the routines. This study enjoyed a practical-qualitative research methodology, and the required data were collected through observation and using a multiple-response questionnaire. The participants (19-48 years old) included 41 citizens of both genders (63.4% male and 36.6% female) from two regions in Tehran, selected by cluster-probability sampling. The results led to development of a spatial design for a virtual tour experience in Tehran where different areas are explored to both raise people’s awareness and educate them on their cultural heritage.

Keywords: ecotourism, education, gamification, social interaction, urban design, virtual tour

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Authors: Stuti Modi, Aditi Kambli

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This paper addresses the need for intelligent water management and distribution system in smart cities to ensure optimal consumption and distribution of water for drinking and sanitation purposes. Water being a limited resource in cities require an effective system for collection, storage and distribution. In this paper, applications of two mostly widely used particular types of data-driven models, namely artificial neural networks (ANN) and fuzzy logic-based models, to modelling in the water resources management field are considered. The objective of this paper is to review the principles of various types and architectures of neural network and fuzzy adaptive systems and their applications to integrated water resources management. Final goal of the review is to expose and formulate progressive direction of their applicability and further research of the AI-related and data-driven techniques application and to demonstrate applicability of the neural networks, fuzzy systems and other machine learning techniques in the practical issues of the regional water management. Apart from this the paper will deal with water storage, using ANN to find optimum reservoir level and predicting peak daily demands.

Keywords: artificial neural networks, fuzzy systems, peak daily demand prediction, water management and distribution

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Authors: Arundhati Devi Maibam, K. Ingocha Singh

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Cervical cancer is preventable if detected early. Determination of risk factors is essential to plan screening programmes to prevent the disease. To study the demographic risk factors of cervical cancer among Manipuri women, information on age, marital status, educational level, monthly family income and socioeconomic status were collected through a pre-tested interview schedule. In this study, 64 incident cases registered at the RT Dept, RIMS (Regional Institute of Medical Sciences), Imphal, Manipur, India during 2008-09 participated. Data were entered in Microsoft Excel and the results were expressed in percentages. Among the 64 patients with cervical cancer, 56 (88.9%) were in the age group of 40+ years. The majority of the patients were from rural areas (68.75%) and 31.25% were from urban areas. The majority of the patients were Hindus (73%), 55(85.9%) were of low educational level, 43(67.2%) were married, and 36 (56.25%) belonged to Class IV socioeconomic status. In conclusion, if detected early, cervical cancer is preventable and curable. The potential risk factors need to be identified and women in the risk group need to be motivated for screening. Affordable screening programmes and health care resources will help in lessening the burden of the disease.

Keywords: cervical cancer, Manipuri women, RIIMS, socio-demographic risk factors

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Authors: Safa Saoudi, Souheib Yousfi, Riadh Robbana

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E-passport is a relatively new electronic document which maintains the passport features and provides better security. It deploys new technologies such as biometrics and Radio Frequency identification (RFID). The international civil aviation organization (ICAO) and the European union define mechanisms and protocols to provide security but their solutions present many threats. In this paper, a new mechanism is presented to strengthen e-passport security and authentication process. We propose a new protocol based on Elliptic curve, identity based encryption and shared secret between entities. Authentication in our contribution is formally proved with BAN Logic verification language. This proposal aims to provide a secure data storage and authentication.

Keywords: e-passport, elliptic curve cryptography, identity based encryption, shared secret, BAN Logic

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Authors: Maria Areias, Diogo Simões, Ana Figueiredo, Anishur Rahman, Filipa Figueiredo, João Nunes

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It is expected that close to 7 billion people will live in urban areas by 2050. In order to improve the sustainability of the territories and its transition towards circular economy, it’s necessary to understand its metabolism and promote and guide the entrepreneurship answer. The study of a macroeconomic metabolism involves the quantification of the inputs, outputs and storage of energy, water, materials and wastes for an urban region. This quantification and analysis representing one opportunity for the promotion of green entrepreneurship. There are several methods to assess the environmental impacts of an urban territory, such as human and environmental risk assessment (HERA), life cycle assessment (LCA), ecological footprint assessment (EF), material flow analysis (MFA), physical input-output table (PIOT), ecological network analysis (ENA), multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) among others. However, no consensus exists about which of those assessment methods are best to analyze the sustainability of these complex systems. Taking into account the weaknesses and needs identified, the CiiM - Circular Innovation Inter-Municipality project aims to define an uniform and globally accepted methodology through the integration of various methodologies and dynamic approaches to increase the efficiency of macroeconomic metabolisms and promoting entrepreneurship in a circular economy. The pilot territory considered in CiiM project has a total area of 969,428 ha, comprising a total of 897,256 inhabitants (about 41% of the population of the Center Region). The main economic activities in the pilot territory, which contribute to a gross domestic product of 14.4 billion euros, are: social support activities for the elderly; construction of buildings; road transport of goods, retailing in supermarkets and hypermarkets; mass production of other garments; inpatient health facilities; and the manufacture of other components and accessories for motor vehicles. The region's business network is mostly constituted of micro and small companies (similar to the Central Region of Portugal), with a total of 53,708 companies identified in the CIM Region of Coimbra (39 large companies), 28,146 in the CIM Viseu Dão Lafões (22 large companies) and 24,953 in CIM Beiras and Serra da Estrela (13 large companies). For the construction of the database was taking into account data available at the National Institute of Statistics (INE), General Directorate of Energy and Geology (DGEG), Eurostat, Pordata, Strategy and Planning Office (GEP), Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), Commission for Coordination and Regional Development (CCDR) and Inter-municipal Community (CIM), as well as dedicated databases. In addition to the collection of statistical data, it was necessary to identify and characterize the different stakeholder groups in the pilot territory that are relevant to the different metabolism components under analysis. The CIIM project also adds the potential of a Geographic Information System (GIS) so that it is be possible to obtain geospatial results of the territorial metabolisms (rural and urban) of the pilot region. This platform will be a powerful visualization tool of flows of products/services that occur within the region and will support the stakeholders, improving their circular performance and identifying new business ideas and symbiotic partnerships.

Keywords: circular economy tools, life cycle assessment macroeconomic metabolism, multicriteria decision analysis, decision support tools, circular entrepreneurship, industrial and regional symbiosis

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Authors: Mehtap Dursun, Zeynep Şener

Abstract:

Supplier selection is considered as one of the most critical issues encountered by operations and purchasing managers to sharpen the company’s competitive advantage. In this paper, a novel fuzzy multi-criteria group decision making approach integrating quality function deployment (QFD) and decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method is proposed for supplier selection. The proposed methodology enables to consider the impacts of inner dependence among supplier assessment criteria. A house of quality (HOQ) which translates purchased product features into supplier assessment criteria is built using the weights obtained by DEMATEL approach to determine the desired levels of supplier assessment criteria. Supplier alternatives are ranked by a distance-based method.

Keywords: DEMATEL, group decision making, QFD, supplier selection

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Authors: Vakhtang Geladze, Nana Bolashvili, Nino Machavariani, Tamazi Karalashvili, Nino Chikhradze, Davit Kartvelishvili

Abstract:

Fresh water deficit is one of the most important global problems today. In the countries with scarce water resources, they often become a reason of armed conflicts. The peaceful settlement of relations connected with management and water consumption issues within and beyond the frontiers of the country is an important guarantee of the region stability. The said problem is urgent in Georgia as well because of its water objects are located at the borders and the transit run-off that is 12% of the total one. Fresh water resources are the major natural resources of Georgia. Despite of this, water supply of population at its Eastern part is an acute issue. Southeastern part of the country has been selected to carry out the research. This region is notable for deficiency of water resources in the country. The region tends to desertification which aggravates fresh water problem even more and presumably may lead to migration of local population from the area. The purpose of study was creation geographical information system (GIS) of water resources. GIS contains almost all layers of different content (water resources, springs, channels, hydrological stations, population water supply, etc.). The results of work provide an opportunity to identify the resource potential of the mentioned region, control and manage it, carry out monitoring and plan regional economy.

Keywords: desertification, GIS, irrigation, water resources

Procedia PDF Downloads 676

Authors: Li Shuang

Abstract:

With rigid teaching procedures and limited academic performance assessment methods, traditional teaching model stands in the way of college English reform in China, which features EAP (English for Academic Purpose) teaching. Flipped-classroom teaching, which has been extensively applied to science subjects teaching, however, covers the shortage of traditional teaching model in EAP teaching, via creatively inverting traditional teaching procedures. Besides, the application of flipped-classroom teaching model in EAP teaching also proves that this new teaching philosophy is not confined to science subjects teaching; it goes perfectly well with liberal-arts subjects teaching. Data analysis, desk research survey, and comparative study are referred to in the essay so as to prove its feasibility and advantages in EAP teaching.

Keywords: EAP, traditional teaching method, flipped-classroom teaching model, teaching model design

Procedia PDF Downloads 297

Authors: Divya Pathak, James Sloane

Abstract:

Surgical treatment of midface fractures should ideally occur within two weeks of injury, after which bony healing and consolidation make the repair more difficult for the operating surgeon. The oral and maxillofacial unit at the Royal Surrey Hospital is the tertiary referral center for maxillofacial trauma from five regional hospitals. This is a complete audit cycle of midface trauma referrals managed over a one year period. The standard set was that clinical assessment of the midface fracture would take place in a consultant led outpatient clinic within 7 days, and when indicated, surgical fixation would occur within 10 days of referral. Retrospective data was collected over one year (01/11/2018 - 31/12/2019). Three key changes were implemented: an IT referral mailbox, standardization of an on-call trauma table, and creation of a trauma theatre list. Re-audit was carried out over six months completing the cycle. 283 midface fracture referrals were received, of which 22 patients needed surgical fixation. The average time from referral to outpatient follow-up improved from 14.5 days to 8.3 days, and time from referral to surgery improved from 21.5 days to 11.6 days. Changes implemented in this audit significantly improved patient prioritization to appropriate outpatient clinics and shortened time to surgical intervention.

Keywords: maxillofacial trauma, midface trauma, oral and maxillofacial surgery, surgery fixation

Procedia PDF Downloads 126