Search results for: saving mother giving life

Authors: Lan Yang, Kathryn Cormican, Ming Yu

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ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288: 2015, Systems and Software Engineering - System Life Cycle Processes is an international standard that provides generic top-level process descriptions to support systems engineering (SE). However, the processes defined in the standard needs improvement to lift integrity and consistency. The goal of this research is to explore the way by building an ontology model for the SE standard to manage the knowledge of SE. The ontology model gives a whole picture of the SE knowledge domain by building connections between SE concepts. Moreover, it creates a hierarchical classification of the concepts to fulfil different requirements of displaying and analysing SE knowledge.

Keywords: knowledge management, model-based systems engineering, ontology modelling, systems engineering ontology

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Authors: Magdi M. E. Zumrawi, Khalid A. Eltayeb

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Chemical stabilization is a technique commonly used to improve the expansive soil properties. In this regard, an attempt has been made to evaluate the influence of Calcium Chloride (CaCl2) stabilizer on the engineering properties of expansive soil. A series of laboratory experiments including consistency limits, free swell, compaction, and shear strength tests were performed to investigate the effect of CaCl2 additive with various percentages 0%, 2%, 5%, 10% and 15% for improving expansive soil. The results obtained shows that the increase in the percentage of CaCl2 decreased the liquid limit and plasticity index leading to significant reduction in the free swell index. This, in turn, increased the maximum dry density and decreased the optimum moisture content which results in greater strength. The unconfined compressive strength of soil stabilized with 5% CaCl2 increased approximately by 50% as compared to virgin soil. It can be concluded that CaCl2 had shown promising influence on the strength and swelling properties of expansive soil, thereby giving an advantage in improving problematic expansive soil.

Keywords: calcium chloride, chemical stabilization, expansive soil, improving

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Authors: Vicky Khasandi-Telewa, Sinfree Makoni

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Barrenness is a fundamentally agonizing condition that leads to identity disruption in its victims. In Africa, women are usually referred to as ‘Mother of X,’ and this causes grief to one who does not have a child to be identified with. This paper is an examination and critical appraisal of the impact of barrenness on the self-perception of women and the underlying power relations in how they are discursively constructed in the Bible and Traditional African Society (TAS). It is an analysis of expressive practices to examine how barrenness is constructed in Christianity and TAS with the aim of understanding the intersecting power systems. We approach this from an integrationism and Critical Discourse Analysis perspective that takes seriously both the radical harassment of barren women and the possibilities offered by the ensuing desperation calling for inclusive reinterpretation. We also seek to understand barren women’s coping mechanisms and suggestions on how best to improve their lives. The purpose of this study is to explain how discursive construction of barrenness affects the fundamental rights and freedoms of women and what linguistic strategies they adopt to navigate through the maze of stigma. It seeks to illustrate a more nuanced complexity of barren women's lives through women's own exegesis of the Biblical accounts of barrenness and their traditions and to explore alternative narratives. We explore the linguistic strategies the barren women employ to communicate their coping with limitations imposed upon their rights by the negative constructions.

Keywords: integrationism, critical discourse analysis, barrenness, communication strategies

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Authors: Sanja Peter

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Transformation of urban environments can be compared to evolutionary processes. Systematic digital mapping of historical data can enable capturing some of these processes and their outcomes. For example, it may help reveal the structure of a city’s historical DNA. Gathering historical data for automatic processing may be giving a basis for cultural algorithms. Gothenburg City museum is trying to make city’s heritage information accessible through GIS-platforms and is now partnering with academic institutions to find appropriate methods to make accessible the knowledge on the city’s historical fabric. Hopefully, this will be carried out through a project called Digital Twin Cities. One part of this large project, concerning matters of Cultural Heritage, will be in collaboration with Chalmers University of Technology. The aim is to create a layered map showing historical developments of the city and extracting quantitative data about its built heritage, above and below the earth. It will allow interpreting the information from historic maps through, for example, names of the streets/places, geography, structural changes in urban fabric and information gathered by archaeologists’ excavations. Through the study of these geographical, historical and local metamorphoses, urban environment will reveal its metaphorical DNA or its MEM (Dawkins).

Keywords: Gothenburg, mapping, cultural heritage, city history

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Authors: Eyob Seife

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Immunization is a life-saving intervention which prevents needless suffering through sickness, disability, and death. Emphasis on data quality and use will become even stronger with the development of the immunization agenda 2030 (IA2030). Quality of data is a key factor in generating reliable health information that enables monitoring progress, financial planning, vaccine forecasting capacities, and making decisions for continuous improvement of the national immunization program. However, ensuring data of sufficient quality and promoting an information-use culture at the point of the collection remains critical and challenging, especially in hard-to-reach and pastoralist areas where Degehabur district is selected based on a hypothesis of ‘there is no difference in reported and recounted immunization data consistency. Data quality is dependent on different factors where organizational, behavioral, technical, and contextual factors are the mentioned ones. A cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted on September 2022 in the Degehabur district. The study used the world health organization (WHO) recommended data quality self-assessment (DQS) tools. Immunization tally sheets, registers, and reporting documents were reviewed at 5 health facilities (2 health centers and 3 health posts) of primary health care units for one fiscal year (12 months) to determine the accuracy ratio. The data was collected by trained DQS assessors to explore the quality of monitoring systems at health posts, health centers, and the district health office. A quality index (QI) was assessed, and the accuracy ratio formulated were: the first and third doses of pentavalent vaccines, fully immunized (FI), and the first dose of measles-containing vaccines (MCV). In this study, facility-level results showed both over-reporting and under-reporting were observed at health posts when computing the accuracy ratio of the tally sheet to health post reports found at health centers for almost all antigens verified where pentavalent 1 was 88.3%, 60.4%, and 125.6% for Health posts A, B, and C respectively. For first-dose measles-containing vaccines (MCV), similarly, the accuracy ratio was found to be 126.6%, 42.6%, and 140.9% for Health posts A, B, and C, respectively. The accuracy ratio for fully immunized children also showed 0% for health posts A and B and 100% for health post-C. A relatively better accuracy ratio was seen at health centers where the first pentavalent dose was 97.4% and 103.3% for health centers A and B, while a first dose of measles-containing vaccines (MCV) was 89.2% and 100.9% for health centers A and B, respectively. A quality index (QI) of all facilities also showed results between the maximum of 33.33% and a minimum of 0%. Most of the verified immunization data accuracy ratios were found to be relatively better at the health center level. However, the quality of the monitoring system is poor at all levels, besides poor data accuracy at all health posts. So attention should be given to improving the capacity of staff and quality of monitoring system components, namely recording, reporting, archiving, data analysis, and using information for decision at all levels, especially in pastoralist areas where such kinds of study findings need to be improved beside to improving the data quality at root and health posts level.

Keywords: accuracy ratio, Degehabur District, regular childhood immunization program, quality of monitoring system, Somali Region-Ethiopia

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Authors: Maja S. Todorovic

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This paper aims to promote entrepreneurial storytelling by exploring new ideas and learning practices. An entrepreneur needs to be a ‘storyteller’, an ‘epic hero’, capable of offering an emotional connection to his audience, a character with whom audience can identify with, rejoice, suffer, celebrate, fail – simply experience everything. In other words, a successful entrepreneur is giving tangible experience through his business story and that’s what makes his story and business alive. Use of mythology, eulogy, metaphor, epic, fairytales and cartoons, permeated with humor and sudden twists is a winning recipe for a business story that captures attention. In the business case of the Greenesignit! Card game, (educational and brainstorming tool for development of sustainable products) we will demonstrate how an entrepreneur successfully used visual narrative to communicate his story and at the same time as a vehicle to transmute his message in learning tool and product development.

Keywords: animating narrative, entrepreneur, Greeneisgnit! card game, visual storytelling

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Authors: Idris lawal

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The most recent development in the Nigerian payment system is the venture into “electronic payment system”. Electronic payment system is simply a payment or monetary transaction made over the internet or a network of computers. This study was carried out in order to assess how electronic payment system has impacted on banks service delivery, to examine the efficiency of electronic payment system in Nigeria and to determine the level of customer’s satisfaction as a direct result of the deployment of electronic payment systems. The study was conducted using structured questionnaire distributed to 50 bank officials and customers of Access Bank plc. Chi-square(x2) was adopted for the purpose of data analysis. The result of the study showed that the development of electronic payment system offer great benefit to bank customers including; improved services, reduced turn-around time, ease of banking transaction, significant cost saving etc. The study recommend that customer protection laws should be properly put in place to safeguard the interest of end users of e-payment instruments, the banking industry and government should show strong commitment and effort to educate the populace on the benefit of patronizing e-payment system to facilitate economic development.

Keywords: electronic payment system, service delivery, bank, Nigeria

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Authors: Sameh Baccari, Mahmoud Neji

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In recent years, the rapid developments on mobile devices and wireless technologies enable new dimension capabilities for the learning domain. This dimension facilitates people daily activities and shortens the distances between individuals. When these technologies have been used in learning, a new paradigm has been emerged giving birth to mobile learning. Because of the mobility feature, m-learning courses have to be adapted dynamically to the learner’s context. The main challenge in context-aware mobile learning is to develop an approach building the best learning resources according to dynamic learning situations. In this paper, we propose a context-aware mobile learning system called Collaborative and Context-aware Mobile Learning System (CCMLS). It takes into account the requirements of Mobility, Collaboration and Context-Awareness. This system is based on the semantic modeling of the learning context and the learning content. The adaptation part of this approach is made up of adaptation rules to propose and select relevant resources, learning partners and learning activities based not only on the user’s needs, but also on its current context.

Keywords: mobile learning, mobile technologies, context-awareness, collaboration, semantic web, adaptation engine, adaptation strategy, learning object, learning context

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Authors: Faisal Alazzaz, Andrew Whyte

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Off-site construction methods have played an important role in the construction sector in the past few decades. It is increasingly becoming a major alternative technique and strategic direction compared to traditional in-situ method. It produces a significant amount of value for the construction industry and the economy more generally. To date, an impressive number of studies have been lunched on the perceived perception of off-site construction. However, it seems that a quantifying benefit on the offsite construction area is lacking. Therefore, this paper examines the recent research literature on the benefits of off- site construction and provides future direction. In the beginning, this paper provides a brief history and current value of the off-site construction followed by a detailed discussion on the benefit of off-site construction. These benefits include but not limited to time saving, quality improvement, relieving skills shortages, cost reduction and productivity improvement. Toward this end, off-site construction should learn from other productive industry similar to services or manufacturing industry by applying operational management tools and techniques with extensive focus on employee empowerment will shed the light on future uptake of Off-site construction. This study is of value in providing scholars have a clear picture of perceived benefit of off-site construction research and give an opportunities for future uptake of off-site method.

Keywords: building projects, employer empowerment, off-site construction benefits, productivity

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Authors: Ching Kin Keong, Koh Tieng Wei, Abdul Azim Abd. Ghani, Khaironi Yatim Sharif

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Maintaining factory default battery endurance rate over time in supporting huge amount of running applications on energy-restricted mobile devices has created a new challenge for mobile applications developer. While delivering customers’ unlimited expectations, developers are barely aware of efficient use of energy from the application itself. Thus developers need a set of valid energy consumption indicators in assisting them to develop energy saving applications. In this paper, we present a few software product metrics that can be used as an indicator to measure energy consumption of Android-based mobile applications in the early of design stage. In particular, Trepn Profiler (Power profiling tool for Qualcomm processor) has used to collect the data of mobile application power consumption, and then analyzed for the 23 software metrics in this preliminary study. The results show that McCabe cyclomatic complexity, number of parameters, nested block depth, number of methods, weighted methods per class, number of classes, total lines of code and method lines have direct relationship with power consumption of mobile application.

Keywords: battery endurance, software metrics, mobile application, power consumption

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Authors: Hayder Kamil Shanbara, Felicite Ruddock, William Atherton, Nassier A. Nassir

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Cold bitumen emulsion mixture (CBEM) offers a series benefits as compared with hot mix asphalt (HMA); these include environmental factors, energy saving, the resolution of logistical challenges that can characterise hot mix, and the potential to reserve funds. However, this mixture has some problems similar to any bituminous mixtures as it has low early strength, long curing time that needed to obtain the maximum performance, high air voids and considered inferior to HMA. Thus, CBEM has been used in limited applications such as lightly trafficked roads, footways and reinstatements. This laboratory study describes the development of CBEM using ordinary Portland cement (OPC) instead of the traditional mineral filler. Stiffness modulus, moisture damage and temperature sensitivity tests were used to evaluate the mechanical properties of the produced mixtures. The study concluded that there is a substantial improvement in the mechanical properties and moisture damage resistance of CBEMs containing OPC. Also, the produced cement modified CBEM shows a considerable lower thermal sensitivity than the conventional CBEM.

Keywords: cold bitumen emulsion mixture, moisture damage, OPC, stiffness modulus, temperature sensitivity

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Authors: Nasir Khalid, S. Thirumalaichelvam

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In most buildings, according to US Department of Energy Data Book, the electrical consumption attributable to centralized heating and ventilation of air- condition (HVAC) component can be as high as 40-60% of the total electricity consumption for an entire building. To provide efficient energy management for the market today, researchers are finding new ways to develop a system that can save electrical consumption of buildings even more. In this concept paper, a system known as Intelligent Chiller Energy Efficiency (iCEE) System is being developed that is capable of saving up to 25% from the chiller’s existing electrical energy consumption. In variable frequency drives (VFDs), research has found significant savings up to 30% of electrical energy consumption. Together with the VFDs at specific Air Handling Unit (AHU) of HVAC component, this system will save even more electrical energy consumption. The iCEE System is compatible with any make, model or age of centrifugal, rotary or reciprocating chiller air-conditioning systems which are electrically driven. The iCEE system uses engineering principles of efficiency analysis, enthalpy analysis, heat transfer, mathematical prediction, modified genetic algorithm, psychometrics analysis, and optimization formulation to achieve true and tangible energy savings for consumers.

Keywords: variable frequency drives, adjustable speed drives, ac drives, chiller energy system

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Authors: Ailene B. Anonuevo

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The aim of the study was to evaluate the quality of life presently available for the IP students in selected schools in the Division of Panabo City. This further explores their future dreams and current status in classes and examines some implications relative to their studies. The study adopted the mixed methodology and used a survey research design as the operational framework for data gathering. Data were collected by self-administered questionnaires and interviews with sixty students from three schools in Panabo City. In addition, this study describes the learners’ background and school climate as variables that might influence their performance in school. The study revealed that an IP student needs extra attention due to their unfavorable learning environment. The study also found out that like any other students, IP learners yearns for a brighter future with the support of our government.

Keywords: IP learners, learning landscape, school climate, quality of life

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Authors: Radhika Ramanchi

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The oil market during 2014-2015 in India with large price fluctuations is very confusing to individual investor. The drop in oil prices supported stocks of some oil marketing companies (OMCs) like Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) and Indian Oil Corporation etc their shares rose 84.74%, 128.63% and 59.16%, respectively. Lower oil prices, and lower current account, a smaller subsidy burden are the reasons for outperformance. On the other hand, lower crude prices giving downward pressure on upstream companies like Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd (ONGC) and Reliance Petroleum (RIL) Oil India Ltd (OIL). Not having clarity on a subsidy sharing mechanism is the reason for downward trend on these stocks. Shares of ONGC and RIL have underperformed so far in 2015. When the oil price fall profits of the companies will effect, generate less money and may cut their dividends in Long run. In this situation this paper objective is to study investment strategies in oil marketing companies, by applying CAPM and Security Market Line.

Keywords: petrol industry, price fluctuations, sharp single index model, SML, Markowitz model

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Authors: Enkelejda Koka, Denard Veshi

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Since 2011, in the name of ‘humanitarianism’ and deaths in the Mediterranean Sea, the legal and political justification delivered by Greece to manage the refugee crisis is pre-emptive interception. Although part of the EU, Greece adopted its own strategy. These practices have also created high risks for migrants generally resulting in non-rescue episodes and push-back practices having lethal consequences to the life of the irregular migrant. Thus, this article provides an analysis of the Greek ‘compassionate border work’ policy, a practice known as push-back. It is argued that these push-back practices violate international obligations, notably the ‘right to life’, the ‘duty to search and rescue’, the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and the principle of non-refoulement.

Keywords: Greece, migrants, push-back policy, violation of international law

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Authors: Abdullah Kattan, Khalid Alzahrani, Saud Alsaleh, Loui Ezzat, Khalid Murad, Bader Alghamdi

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Background and Significance: Patients are often bothered by the excess skin laxity and redundancy that they are left with after losing weight. Body-contouring surgery offers a solution to this problem; however, there is scarce literature on the psychological and social effects of these surgeries. This study was conducted to assess the psychosocial impact of body-contouring surgery on patients after weight loss. Methodology: In this cross-sectional study, a specifically designed questionnaire was administered to forty three patients whom have undergone body-contouring surgery. All included patients had lost no less than 20 Kg before body-contouring surgery, and were interviewed at least 6 months after surgery. The twenty-question interviewer based questionnaire was used to assess the psychosocial status of the patients before and after undergoing body-contouring surgery. The questionnaire assessed the quality of life (social life, job performance and sexual activity), presence of symptoms of depression and overall satisfaction. Data was analyzed as paired variables in SPSS using McNemar’s test. Results: Among the 43 participants, 19 (44.2%) have undergone mammoplasty, 12 (27.9%) have undergone abdominoplasty and the remainder of the patients have undergone other various procedures including brachioplasty, thigh lifts and nick liposuction. The mean age of patients was 34 +/- 10, the sample included 24 (55.8%) females and 19 (44.2%) males. The patients’ quality of life significantly improved in the following areas; social life (P<0.001), job performance (P<0.002) and sexual activity (P<0.001). Moreover, 17 (39.5%) patients suffered symptoms of depression before body-contouring surgery; however, only 1 (2.3%) patient suffered symptoms of depression after surgery. Overall satisfaction rate was found to be 62.8%; with mammoplasty being the highest satisfaction rate procedure (66.6 %). Conclusion: Body-contouring surgery after weight loss has shown to improve the psychological and social aspects in patients. These findings have been found to be consistent with the majority of relevant published studies, further increasing reliability of our study.

Keywords: abdominoplasty, body-contouring, mammoplasty, psychosocial

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Authors: Odile Amoncou, Djedje-Kossu Zahui

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The increased demand for digital communications during the COVID-19 pandemic has seen an unprecedented surge in new telecom infrastructure around the world. The expansion has been more remarkable in countries with developing telecom infrastructures. Particularly, the three telecom operators in Cote d’Ivoire, Orange CI, MTN CI, and MOOV Africa, have considerably scaled up their exploitation technologies and capacities in terms of towers, fiber optic installation, and customer service hubs. The trend will likely continue upward while expanding the carbon footprint of the Ivorian telecom operators. Therefore, the corporate social and environmental responsibilities of these telecommunication companies can no longer be overlooked. This paper assesses the sustainability of the three Ivorian telecommunication network operators by applying a combination of commonly used sustainability management indexes. These tools are streamlined and adapted to the relatively young and developing digital network of Cote D’Ivoire. We trust that this article will push the respective CEOs to make sustainability a top strategic priority and understand the substantial potential returns in terms of saving, new products, and new clients while improving their corporate image. In addition, good sustainability management can increase their stakeholders.

Keywords: sustainability of telecom operators, sustainability management index, carbon footprint, digital communications

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Authors: Nirav Vaghela, Sanket Parekh

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Objective: Musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) represent one of the most common and important occupational health problems in working populations, being responsible for a substantial impact on quality of life and incurring a major economic burden in compensation cost and lost wages. School teachers represent an occupational group among which there appears to be a high prevalence of MSD. Design: Three hundred and fourteen teachers were enrolled in this study. Teachers were interview with the Modified Nordic Questionnaire. Result: In current study total 314 participants have been recruited in that minimum age of participants is 22 and maximum age is 59 with mean 40.5± 9.88. Total prevalence of the MSD is 71.95% among the teachers. In that Female were more affected with 72% than the males with 28%. Conclusion: The teachers here in reported a high prevalence of musculoskeletal pain in the shoulder, knee and back.

Keywords: repetitive stress injury, pain, occupational hazards, disability, abneetism, physical health, quality of life

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Authors: Jarosław Milewski, Rafał Bernat

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This paper presents an analysis of using cryogenic separation unit for recovering fuel from anode off gas of molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFCs) in order to upgrade the efficiently of the unit. In the proposed solution, the CSU is used for condensing water and carbon dioxide from anode off gas, and re-cycling the rest of the stream to the anode, saving certain amount of fuel (at least 30%). The resulting system efficiency is increased considerably. CSU, virtually consumes power, thus this solution has energy penalty as well, on the other hand, MCFC generates large amount of heat at elevated temperature, thus part of the CSU can be based on absorption chiller. In all cases, a high amount of fuel is obtained after condensation of water and carbon dioxide and re-cycled to the anode inlet. Based on mathematical modeling done previously, the concept and guidelines for forthcoming experimental investigations are presented in this paper. During planned experiments, an existing single cell laboratory stand will be equipped with re-cycle device (a fan, a peristaltic pump, etc.). Parallel, a mixture of anode off gas will be cooled down for determining the proper temperature for the separation of water and carbon dioxide.

Keywords: cryogenic separation, experiments, fuel cells, molten carbonate fuel cells

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Authors: Abdelkadir Elhaouari

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The priciest thing in human life since his birth is his freedom, basing on this idea, the conflict exists till now, the fight against oppression, injustice, tyranny and slavery, searching for freedom and political resistances, and this makes the freedom is deeply related to the defense for its existence all over years. This project attempts using any way to preserve this freedom, and building and maintaining bases and rules to organize this life. Appeal is a one of the most important method that human uses to protect his freedom, and we will mention in this thesis our attempt to clarify this aspect to the individual. We can say that the law does not know just one color or one logic, and is not based on one rule to be taken by heart, but the law is neutrality, the diversity, abstraction and diligence diversity. The penal law is a valued law and it deserves to be studied and searched more… so that to attempt to master it. Our thesis is just a brief explanation of an important point in this law, where we attempt to clarify and simplify the image to the normal person, so that he can preserve his rights, and we hope that we had succeeded to choose the right topic for that.

Keywords: appeal, penalization, judgement, criminal

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Authors: Bifeng Zhu, Zhekai Wang, Chaoyang Sun, Bart Dewancker

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Under the tide of promoting sustainable development in the world, American universities that have been committed to sustainable practice and innovation, not only have its sustainable campus construction been in the forefront of the world, but also have developed STARS (The Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System), which is widely used in the world and highly recognized. At the same time, in the process of global sustainable campus construction, energy problem is often regarded as one of the most important sustainable aspects, even equivalent to the sustainability of campus. Therefore, the relationship between campus energy and sustainability is worth discussing. In this study, four American universities with the highest level evaluated by STARS are selected as examples to compare and analyze the campus energy consumption and the use of new energy, GHG emissions and the overall sustainability of the campus, in order to explore the relationship between campus energy and sustainable construction. It is found that the advantages of sustainable campus construction in the United States are mainly focused on the "software" of management, education, activities, etc. Although different energy-saving measures have been taken in campus energy, the construction results are quite different. Moreover, as an important aspect of sustainable campus, energy can not fully represent the sustainability of campus, but because of the various measures it takes, it can greatly promote the sustainable construction of the whole campus. These measures and construction experiences are worthy of summary and promotion, and have positive reference significance for other universities even communities around the world.

Keywords: sustainable campus, energy consumption, STARS assessment, GHG emissions

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Authors: Angelis P. Barlampas

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Target: The (SARS-CoV-2) is still a threat. AI software could be useful, categorizing the disease into different severities and indicate the extent of the lesions. Materials and methods: AI is a new revolutionary technique, which uses powered computerized systems, to do what a human being does more rapidly, more easily, as accurate and diagnostically safe as the original medical report and, in certain circumstances, even better, saving time and helping the health system to overcome problems, such as work overload and human fatigue. Results: It will be given an effort to describe to the inexperienced reader (see figures), as simple as possible, how an artificial intelligence system diagnoses computed tomography pictures. First, the computerized machine learns the physiologic motives of lung parenchyma by being feeded with normal structured images of the lung tissue. Having being used to recognizing normal structures, it can then easily indentify the pathologic ones, as their images do not fit to known normal picture motives. It is the same way as when someone spends his free time in reading magazines with quizzes, such as <> and <>. General conclusion: The AI mimics the physiological processes of the human mind, but it does that more efficiently and rapidly and provides results in a few seconds, whereas an experienced radiologist needs many days to do that, or even worse, he is unable to accomplish such a huge task.

Keywords: covid-19, artificial intelligence, automated imaging, CT, chest imaging

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Authors: Sepideh Jabbari Behnam, Zahrasadat Saide Zarabadi

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A city is an intertwined texture from the relationship of different components in a whole which is united in a one, so designing the whole complex and its planning is not an easy matter. By considering that a city is a complex system with infinite components and communications, providing flexible layouts that can respond to the unpredictable character of the city, which is a result of its complexity, is inevitable. Parametric design approach as a new approach can produce flexible and transformative layouts in any stage of design. This study aimed to introduce parametric design as a modern approach to respond to complex urban issues by using descriptive and analytical methods. This paper firstly introduces complex systems and then giving a brief characteristic of complex systems. The flexible design and layout flexibility is another matter in response and simulation of complex urban systems that should be considered in design, which is discussed in this study. In this regard, after describing the nature of the parametric approach as a flexible approach, as well as a tool and appropriate way to respond to features such as limited predictability, reciprocating nature, complex communications, and being sensitive to initial conditions and hierarchy, this paper introduces parametric design.

Keywords: complexity theory, complex system, flexibility, parametric design

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Authors: Ferhat Mohamed Amine, Boukhatem Mohamed Nadjib, Chemat Farid

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Solvent-free-microwave-extraction (SFME) is a combination of microwave heating and distillation, performed at atmospheric pressure without added any solvent or water. Isolation and concentration of volatile compounds are performed by a single stage. SFME extraction of orange essential oil was studied using fresh orange peel from Valencia late cultivar oranges as the raw material. SFME has been compared with a conventional technique, which used a Clevenger apparatus with hydro-distillation (HD). SFME and HD were compared in term of extraction time, yields, chemical composition and quality of the essential oil, efficiency and costs of the process. Extraction of essential oils from orange peels with SFME was better in terms of energy saving, extraction time (30 min versus 3 h), oxygenated fraction (11.7% versus 7.9%), product yield (0.42% versus 0.39%) and product quality. Orange peels treated by SFME and HD were observed by scanning electronic microscopy (SEM). Micrographs provide evidence of more rapid opening of essential oil glands treated by SFME, in contrast to conventional hydro-distillation.

Keywords: hydro-distillation, essential oil, microwave, orange peel, solvent free microwave, extraction SFME

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Authors: Swati Kishor Zode, Rahul Ambekar

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Data mining is the extraction of fascinating examples on the other hand information from enormous measure of information and choice is made as indicated by the applicable information extracted. As of late, with the dangerous advancement in internet, stockpiling of information and handling procedures, privacy preservation has been one of the major (higher) concerns in data mining. Various techniques and methods have been produced for protection saving data mining. In the situation of Clinical Decision Support System, the choice is to be made on the premise of the data separated from the remote servers by means of Internet to diagnose the patient. In this paper, the fundamental thought is to build the precision of Decision Support System for multiple diseases for different maladies and in addition protect persistent information while correspondence between Clinician side (Client side) also, the Server side. A privacy preserving protocol for clinical decision support network is proposed so that patients information dependably stay scrambled amid diagnose prepare by looking after the accuracy. To enhance the precision of Decision Support System for various malady C5.0 classifiers and to save security, a Homomorphism encryption algorithm Paillier cryptosystem is being utilized.

Keywords: classification, homomorphic encryption, clinical decision support, privacy

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Authors: Badli Shah Mohd Yusoff, Khairur Rijal Jamaludin, Rozetta Dollah

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The emerging of reverse logistics and product recovery management is an important concept in reconciling economic and environmental objectives through recapturing values of the end of life product returns. End of life products contains valuable modules, parts, residues and materials that can create value if recovered efficiently. The main objective of this study is to explore and develop a model to recover as much of the economic value as reasonably possible to find the optimality of return acquisition and sorting to meet demand and maximize profits over time. In this study, the benefits that can be obtained for remanufacturer is to develop demand forecasting of used products in the future with uncertainty of returns and quality of products. Formulated based on a generic disassembly tree, the proposed model focused on three reverse logistics activity, namely refurbish, remanufacture and disposal incorporating all plausible means quality levels of the returns. While stricter sorting policy, constitute to the decrease amount of products to be refurbished or remanufactured and increases the level of discarded products. Numerical experiments carried out to investigate the characteristics and behaviour of the proposed model with mathematical programming model using Lingo 16.0 for medium-term planning of return acquisition, disassembly (refurbish or remanufacture) and disposal activities. Moreover, the model seeks an analysis a number of decisions relating to trade off management system to maximize revenue from the collection of use products reverse logistics services through refurbish and remanufacture recovery options. The results showed that full utilization in the sorting process leads the system to obtain less quantity from acquisition with minimal overall cost. Further, sensitivity analysis provides a range of possible scenarios to consider in optimizing the overall cost of refurbished and remanufactured products.

Keywords: core acquisition, end of life, reverse logistics, quality uncertainty

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Authors: Seham A. S. Mohamed, Sarah R. Baker, Christopher Deery, Mario V. Vettore

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Background: The link between oral health conditions and school performance and attendance remain unclear among Middle Eastern children. The association has been studied extensively in the Western region; however, several concerns have been raised regarding the reliability and validity of measures, low quality of studies, inadequate inclusion of potential confounders, and the lack of a conceptual framework. These limitations have meant that, to date, there has been no detailed understanding of the association or of the key social, clinical, behavioural and parental factors which may impact the association. Aim: To examine the association between oral health conditions and children’s school performance and attendance at Grade 2 in Muharraq city in the Kingdom of Bahrain using Heilmann et al.’s (2015) life course framework for oral health. Objectives: To (1) describe the prevalence of oral health conditions among 7-8 years old schoolchildren in the city of Muharraq; (2) analyse the social, biological, behavioural, and parental pathways that link early and current life exposures with children’s current oral health status; (3) examine the association between oral health conditions and school performance and attendance among schoolchildren; (4) explore the early and current life course social, biological, behavioural and parental factors associated with children’s school outcomes. Design: A time-ordered-cross-sectional study was conducted with 466 schoolchildren aged 7-8 years and their parents from Muharraq city in KoB. Data were collected through parents’ self-administered questionnaires, children’s face-face interviews, and dental clinical examinations. Outcome variables, including school performance and school attendance data, were obtained from the parents and school records. The data were analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM). Results: Dental caries, the consequence of dental caries (PUFA/pufa), and enamel developmental defects (EDD) prevalence were 93.4%, 25.7%, and 17.2%, respectively. The findings from the SEM showed that children born in families with high SES were less likely to suffer from dentine dental caries (β= -0.248) and more likely to earn high school performance (β= 0.136) at 7-8 years of age in Muharraq. From the current life course of children, the dental plaque was associated significantly and directly with enamel caries (β= 0.094), dentine caries (β= 0.364), treated teeth (filled or extracted because of dental caries) (β= 0.121), and indirectly associated with dental pain (β= 0.057). Further, dentine dental caries was associated significantly and directly with low school performance (β= -0.155). At the same time, the dental plaque was indirectly associated with low school performance via dental caries (β = −0.044). Conversely, treated teeth were associated directly with high school performance (β= 0.100). Notably, none of the OHCs, biological, SES, behavioural, or parental conditions was related to school attendance in children. Conclusion: The life course approach was adequate to examine the role of OHCs on children’s school performance and attendance. Birth and current (7-8-year-olds) social factors were significant predictors of poor OH and poor school performance.

Keywords: dental caries, life course, Bahrain, school outcomes

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Authors: Rahmi Yetri Kasri, Paulus Wirutomo

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Citizen engagement approach has become increasingly important in the rural water sector. However, the question remains as to what exactly is meant by citizen engagement and how this approach can lead to sustainable service delivery. To understand citizen engagement, this paper argues that we need to understand basic elements of social life that consist of social structure, process, and culture within the realm of community’s living environment. Extracting from empirical data from Pamsimas villages in rural West Java, Indonesia, this paper will identify basic elements of social life and environment that influence and form the engagement of citizen and government in delivering and sustaining rural water supply services in Indonesia. Pamsimas or the Water Supply and Sanitation for Low Income Communities project is the biggest rural water program in Indonesia, implemented since 1993 in more than 27,000 villages. The sustainability of this sector is explored through a rural water supply service delivery life-cycle, starts with capital investment, operational and maintenance, asset expansion or renewal, strategic planning for future services and matching cost with financing. Using mixed-method data collection in case study research, this paper argues that increased citizen engagement contributes to a more sustainable rural water service delivery.

Keywords: citizen engagement, rural water supply, sustainability, Indonesia

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Authors: Jakub Zágora, Daniela Plachá, Karla Čech Barabaszová, Sylva Holešová, Roman Gábor, Alexandra Muñoz Bonilla, Marta Fernández García

Abstract:

The development of new antimicrobial materials that are not toxic to higher living organisms is a major challenge today. Newly developed materials can have high application potential in biomedicine, coatings, packaging, etc. A combination of commonly used biopolymer polylactide with cationic polymers seems to be very successful in the fight against antimicrobial resistance [1].PLA will play a key role in fulfilling the intention set out in the New Deal announced by the EU commission, as it is a bioplastic that is easily degradable, recyclable, and mass-produced. Also, the development of 3D printing in the context of this initiative, and the actual use of PLA as one of the main materials used for this printing, make the technology around the preparation and modification of PLA quite logical. Moreover, theenvironmentally friendly and energy saving technology like supercritical fluid process (SFP) will be used for their preparation. In a first approach, polylactide nano- and microparticles and structures were prepared by supercritical fluid extraction. The RESS (rapid expansion supercritical fluid solution) method is easier to optimize and shows better particle size control. On the contrary, a highly porous structure was obtained using the SAS (supercritical antisolvent) method. In a second part, the antimicrobial biobased polymer was introduced by SFP.

Keywords: polylactide, antimicrobial polymers, supercritical fluid technology, micronization

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Authors: Shailaja Thakur

Abstract:

Managerial literature abounds with discussions on business strategies, success stories as well as cases of failure, which provide an indication of the parameters that should be considered in gauging the dynamism of an entrepreneur. Neoclassical economics has reduced entrepreneurship to a mere factor of production, driven solely by the profit motive, thus stripping him of all creativity and restricting his decision making to mechanical calculations. His ‘dynamism’ is gauged simply by the amount of profits he earns, marginalizing any discussion on the means that he employs to attain this objective. With theoretical backing, we have developed an Index of Entrepreneurial Dynamism (IED) giving weights to the different moves that the entrepreneur makes during his business journey. Strategies such as changes in product lines, markets and technology are gauged as very important (weighting of 4); while adaptations in terms of technology, raw materials used, upgradations in skill set are given a slightly lesser weight of 3. Use of formal market analysis, diversification in related products are considered moderately important (weight of 2) and being a first generation entrepreneur, employing managers and having plans to diversify are taken to be only slightly important business strategies (weight of 1). The maximum that an entrepreneur can score on this index is 53. A semi-structured questionnaire is employed to solicit the responses from the entrepreneurs on the various strategies that have been employed by them during the course of their business. Binary as well as graded responses are obtained, weighted and summed up to give the IED. This index was tested on about 150 tribal entrepreneurs in Mizoram, a state of India and was found to be highly effective in gauging their dynamism. This index has universal acceptability but is devoid of the socio-cultural context, which is very central to the success and performance of the entrepreneurs. We hypothesize that a society that respects risk taking takes failures in its stride, glorifies entrepreneurial role models, promotes merit and achievement is one that has a conducive socio- cultural environment for entrepreneurship. For obtaining an idea about the social acceptability, we are putting forth questions related to the social acceptability of business to another set of respondents from different walks of life- bureaucracy, academia, and other professional fields. Similar weighting technique is employed, and index is generated. This index is used for discounting the IED of the respondent entrepreneurs from that region/ society. This methodology is being tested for a sample of entrepreneurs from two very different socio- cultural milieus- a tribal society and a ‘mainstream’ society- with the hypothesis that the entrepreneurs in the tribal milieu might be showing a higher level of dynamism than their counterparts in other regions. An entrepreneur who scores high on IED and belongs to society and culture that holds entrepreneurship in high esteem, might not be in reality as dynamic as a person who shows similar dynamism in a relatively discouraging or even an outright hostile environment.

Keywords: index of entrepreneurial dynamism, India, social acceptability, tribal entrepreneurs

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