Search results for: organizational values

Authors: Florian Keipert, Hagen Schmitd

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The size selective separation of different species in a microfluidic system is an actual task in biological or medical research. Former works dealt with the utilisation of the acoustic radiation force (ARF) caused by a plane travelling Surface Acoustic Wave (tSAW). In literature the ARF is described by a dimensionless parameter κ, depending on the wavelength and the particle diameter. To our knowledge research was done for values 0.2 < κ < 5.8 showing that the ARF is dominating the acoustic streaming force (ASF) for κ > 1.2. As a consequence the particle separation is limited by κ. In addition the dependence on the electrical power level was examined but only for κ > 1 pointing out an increased particle deflection for higher electrical power levels. Nevertheless a detailed study on the ASF and ARF especially for κ < 1 is still missing. In our setup we used a tSAW with a wavelength λ = 90 µm and 3 µm PS particles corresponding to κ = 0.3. Herewith the influence of the applied electrical power level on the particle deflection in a polydimethylsiloxan micro channel was investigated. Our results show an increased particle deflection for an increased electrical power level, which coincides with the reported results for κ > 1. Therefore particle separation is in contrast to literature also possible for lower κ values. Thereby the experimental setup can be generally simplified by a coordinated electrical power level for the specific particle size. Furthermore this raises the question of whether this particle deflection is caused only by the ARF as adopted so far or by the ASF or the sum of both forces. To investigate this fact a 0% - 24% saline solution was used and thus the mismatch between the compressibility of the PS particle and the working fluid could be changed. Therefore it is possible to change the relative strength between ARF and ASF and consequently the particle deflection. We observed a decreasing in the particle deflection for an increased NaCl content up to a 12% saline solution and subsequently an increasing of the particle deflection. Our observation could be explained by the acoustic contrast factor Φ, which depends on the compressibility mismatch. The compressibility of water is increased by the NaCl and the range of a 0% - 24% saline solution covers the PS particle compressibility. Hence the particle deflection reaches a minimum value for the accordance between compressibility of PS particle and saline solution. This minimum value can be estimated as the particle deflection only caused by the ASF. Knowing the particle deflection due to the ASF the particle deflection caused by the ARF can be calculated and thus finally the relation between both forces. Concluding, the particle deflection and therefore the size selective particle separation generated by a tSAW can be achieved for values κ < 1, simplifying actual setups by adjusting the electrical power level. Beyond we studied for the first time the relative strength between ARF and ASF to characterise the particle deflection in a microchannel.

Keywords: ARF, ASF, particle separation, saline solution, tSAW

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Authors: Daniyar Seitenov, Nazim Mir-Nasiri

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Optimization of horizontal axis semi-exposed wind turbine has been performed using a shield protection that automatically protects the generator shaft at extreme wind speeds from over speeding, mechanical damage and continues generating electricity during the high wind speed conditions. A semi-exposed to wind generator has been designed and its structure has been described in this paper. The simplified point-force dynamic load model on the blades has been derived for normal and extreme wind conditions with and without shield involvement. Numerical simulation has been conducted at different values of wind speed to study the efficiency of shield application. The obtained results show that the maximum power generated by the wind turbine with shield does not exceed approximately the rated value of the generator, where shield serves as an automatic break for extreme wind speed values of 15 m/sec and above. Meantime the wind turbine without shield produced a power that is much larger than the rated value. The optimized horizontal axis semi-exposed wind turbine with shield protection is suitable for low and medium power generation when installed on the roofs of high rise buildings for harvesting wind energy. Wind shield works automatically with no power consumption. The structure of the generator with the protection, math simulation of kinematics and dynamics of power generation has been described in details in this paper.

Keywords: renewable energy, wind turbine, wind turbine optimization, high wind speed

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Authors: Claudineia Brazil, Luciane Salvi, Margareth Haubrich

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The research aims to understand the determinants of Quality of Life at Work (QWL) and the main indicators that influence the productivity of employees working in construction. The methodology is based on the qualitative theoretical approach, in which information is collected in works that have already been carried out, providing a more detailed compression of the research from the point of view of other authors. In this research, pioneering models for assessing Quality of Life at Work (QWL) were investigated, seeking to find the best quality of life indicators in the work environment. The elements investigated in the research were classified into three main groups: Organizational, Environmental and Behavioral. In order to obtain the results, the information obtained through bibliographic research was compared and it was possible to conclude that the focus on the quality of life at work influences the individual and collective productivity of employees, causing the company to be positively impacted. This advocates the need for strategic actions in the area of people management, which will meet these needs. Therefore, it is hoped that this study can contribute to the more effective management of human resources in organizations, reflecting on increased productivity.

Keywords: construction, management, productivity, quality of life at work

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Authors: M. Monisha, Sudha D. Kamath

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We investigate the optical and photoluminescence properties from Dy³+ singly doped and Dy³+ co-doped with Ce³+alumino borosilicate glasses prepared using high temperature melt-quenching technique. The glass composition formula is 25SiO₂-(40-x-y)B2O₃-10Al₂O₃-15NaF-10ZnO-xDy₂O₃ yCe₂O₃ where, x = 0.5 mol% and y = 0, 0.1, and 0.5 mol%. The XRD study reveals the amorphous nature of both singly doped and co-doped glasses. Absorption study on Dy3+ singly doped glass shows nearly twelve absorption peaks arising from the ground level of Dy³+ ions (⁶H₁₅/₂) to various upper levels, and for Dy³+/Ce³+ co-doped glasses, few of the transitions in the visible region are suppressed. The absorption band edge is shifted towards the higher wavelength region on increasing Ce3+concentration. The decrease in indirect energy bandgap and increase in Urbach energy of the prepared glasses is observed due to codoping with Ce3+ ions. The photoluminescence studies on singly doped glass under 350 nm excitation showed three peaks at the blue (482 nm), yellow (575 nm), and red (663 nm) region. For codoped glasses, the emission peak at 403 nm is raised due to the 4d to 5f transition of Ce3+ ions. Lifetime values (ms) of co-doped glass is found to be higher than singly doped glass. Under 350 nm excitation, CIE coordinates of the co-doped glasses moved towards the bright white light region. The correlated color temperature (CCT) values were obtained in the range 4500 – 4700 K. Thus, the prepared glasses can be used for photonics device applications.

Keywords: absorption spectra, borosilicate glasses, Ce³+, Dy³+, photoluminescence

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Authors: Yumei Han, Ling Li, Naiqing Song, Xiaoping Yang, Yuping Han

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Educational think tank is agreeably regarded as significant part of a nation’s soft power to promote the scientific and democratic level of educational policy making, and it plays critical role of bridging educational research in higher institutions and educational policy making. This study explores the concept, functions and significance of educational think tank in China, and conceptualizes a three dimensional framework to analyze the approaches of transforming research-based higher institutions into effective educational think tanks to serve educational policy making in the nation wide. Since 2014, the Ministry of Education P.R. China has been promoting the strategy of developing new type of educational think tanks in higher institutions, and such a strategy has been put into the agenda for the 13th Five Year Plan for National Education Development released in 2017.In such context, increasing scholars conduct studies to put forth strategies of promoting the development and transformation of new educational think tanks to serve educational policy making process. Based on literature synthesis, policy text analysis, and analysis of theories about policy making process and relationship between educational research and policy-making, this study constructed a three dimensional conceptual framework to address the following questions: (a) what are the new features of educational think tanks in the new era comparing traditional think tanks, (b) what are the functional objectives of the new educational think tanks, (c) what are the organizational patterns and mechanism of the new educational think tanks, (d) in what approaches traditional research-based higher institutions can be developed or transformed into think tanks to effectively serve the educational policy making process. The authors adopted case study approach on five influential education policy study centers affiliated with top higher institutions in China and applied the three dimensional conceptual framework to analyze their functional objectives, organizational patterns as well as their academic pathways that researchers use to contribute to the development of think tanks to serve education policy making process.Data was mainly collected through interviews with center administrators, leading researchers and academic leaders in the institutions. Findings show that: (a) higher institution based think tanks mainly function for multi-level objectives, providing evidence, theoretical foundations, strategies, or evaluation feedbacks for critical problem solving or policy-making on the national, provincial, and city/county level; (b) higher institution based think tanks organize various types of research programs for different time spans to serve different phases of policy planning, decision making, and policy implementation; (c) in order to transform research-based higher institutions into educational think tanks, the institutions must promote paradigm shift that promotes issue-oriented field studies, large data mining and analysis, empirical studies, and trans-disciplinary research collaborations; and (d) the five cases showed distinguished features in their way of constructing think tanks, and yet they also exposed obstacles and challenges such as independency of the think tanks, the discourse shift from academic papers to consultancy report for policy makers, weakness in empirical research methods, lack of experience in trans-disciplinary collaboration. The authors finally put forth implications for think tank construction in China and abroad.

Keywords: education policy-making, educational research, educational think tank, higher institution

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Authors: Rajashekhar K. Patil, Martin J. Babu

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Weaver ants-Oecophylla smaragdina live in colonies that have polymorphic castes. The females which include the queen, major and minor workers are haploid. The individuals of castes are dependent on olfactory cues for carrying out caste-specific behaviour. In an effort to understand whether organizational differences exist to support these behavioural differences, we studied the olfactory system at the level of the sensilla on the antennae, olfactory glomeruli and the Kenyon cells in the mushroom bodies (MB). The MB differ in major and minor workers in terms of their size, with the major workers having relatively larger calyces and peduncle. The morphology of different types of Kenyon cells as revealed by Golgi-rapid staining was studied and the major workers had more dendritic arbors than minor workers. This suggests a greater degree of olfactory processing in major workers. Differences in caste-specific arrangement of sensilla, olfactory glomeruli and celluar architecture of MB indicate a developmental programme that forms basis of differential behaviour.

Keywords: ant, oecophylla, caste, mushroom body

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Authors: Saeed Musaid H. Alzahrani

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The role of middle leaders, especially in primary schools, is a multi-faced role that has been subject to changes in nature over recent decades, with claims for more distributed leadership practices. This research examines the way 18 middle leaders in Saudi and English primary schools conceptualise their roles and responsibilities, and different factors influencing those roles and responsibilities. It begins from the premise that both the power of the role and the values of middle leaders are grounded in cultural and political bases, a belief held by the researcher as an 'insider' within the Saudi educational leadership context. The study consisted of a comparative analysis of the role and the responsibilities of middle leaders in Saudi primary schools and their equivalents in English primary schools. A purely qualitative methodological stance was adopted, using in-depth face-to-face semi-structured interviews, observations and document analysis. Middle leaders were asked to reflect deeply on their perceptions and understanding of their roles and explain what they thought influenced their daily practices and responsibilities. The findings suggest that the concept of middle leadership has been influenced by power imposed from above by political authority, via internal and external hierarchical structures, which shapes the nature of the role of the middle leaders and forces them to comply. Middle leaders seem to believe they have the power to make decisions and promote change, but these findings suggest that this is illusory. The power that keeps middle leaders performing is the power of their cultural and religious values. Those values are the resource to which they turn in their search for more energy when they lack support and are short of time taken. Middle leaders in Saudi, just like their equivalents in English schools must comply with the requirements of their role. However, Saudi middle leaders are given no leeway to make decisions or implement change, neither do they have the culture of collegiality that seems to give middle leaders in England more power over their resources and decisions. However, in neither educational setting have middle leaders been given the power to lead, so they remain managers rather than leaders. The findings of this research suggest that there are more similarities between the educational settings of Saudi and England than differences; and in the light of different factors identified in the study, suggest the establishment of a framework for middle leadership, in the hope of enhancing the way the role is practiced.

Keywords: middle leader, primary school, power, educational leadership, value, culture, model, Saudi Arabia, England

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Authors: Daekook Kang, Wooseok Jang, Jeonghwan Jeon

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As Korea government has expanded the budget for the national research and development business, the need for the installation of institute taking a role of deliberation, coordination, and operation of research development business and its budget has been increased continuously. In response to the demands of the times, recently, the National Science & Technology Council (NSTC) was installed. However, to achieve a creative economy more efficiently, the fundamental introspection on the current state of the national administration system of science and technology in Korea should be needed. Accordingly, this study, firstly, analyzes the function and organizational structure of NSTC in Korea. Then, this study investigates the current state of the National Science and Technology Council in main world countries. Lastly, this study derives some implications based on the comparison analysis of the current state of the National Science and Technology Council between Korea and these countries. The present study will help in finding the way for the advancement of the NSTC in Korea.

Keywords: Comparison Analysis of Science & Technology Council (NSTC), CSTP, National Science & Technology Council in Korea, operating system of NSTC

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Authors: Bruno Henrique Rocha Fernandes, Amir Rezaee, Jucelia Appio

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The relation between Human Resource Management (HRM) practices and organizational performance remains the subject of substantial literature. Though many studies demonstrated positive relationship, still major influencing variables are not yet clear. This study considers the Person-Environment Fit (PE Fit) and its components, Person-Supervisor (PS), Person-Group (PG), Person-Organization (PO) and Person-Job (PJ) Fit, as possible explanatory variables. We analyzed PE Fit as a moderator between HRM practices and financial performance in the “best companies to work” in Brazil. Data from HRM practices were classified through the High Performance Working Systems (HPWS) construct and data on PE-Fit were obtained through surveys among employees. Financial data, consisting of return on invested capital (ROIC) and price earnings ratio (PER) were collected for publicly traded best companies to work. Findings show that PO Fit and PJ Fit play a significant moderator role for PER but not for ROIC.

Keywords: financial performance, human resource management, high performance working systems, person-environment fit

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Authors: Paúl I. Cornejo

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The elastic energy released through Strombolian explosions has been quite studied, detailing various processes, sources, and precursory events at several volcanoes. We realized an analysis based on the relative partitioning of the elastic energy radiated into the atmosphere and ground by Strombolian-type explosions recorded at El Reventador volcano, using infrasound and seismic signals at high and moderate seismicity episodes during intense eruptive stages of explosive and effusive activity. Our results show that considerable values of Volcano Acoustic-Seismic Ratio (VASR or η) are obtained at high seismicity stages. VASR is a physical diagnostic of explosive degassing that we used to compare eruption mechanisms at El Reventador volcano for two datasets of explosions recorded at a Broad-Band BB seismic and infrasonic station located at ~5 kilometers from the vent. We conclude that the acoustic energy EA released during explosive activity (VASR η = 0.47, standard deviation σ = 0.8) is higher than the EA released during effusive activity; therefore, producing the highest values of η. Furthermore, we realized the analysis and characterization of the eruptive intensity for two episodes at high seismicity, calculating a η three-time higher for an episode of effusive activity with an occasional explosive component (η = 0.32, and σ = 0.42), than a η for an episode of only effusive activity (η = 0.11, and σ = 0.18), but more energetic.

Keywords: effusive, explosion quakes, explosive, Strombolian, VASR

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Authors: Siham Boulaknadel

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Every culture has its share of a rich history of storytelling in oral, visual, and textual form. The Amazigh language, as many languages, has its own which has entertained and informed across centuries and cultures, and its instructional potential continues to serve teachers. According to many researchers, listening to stories draws attention to the sounds of language and helps children develop sensitivity to the way language works. Stories including repetitive phrases, unique words, and enticing description encourage students to join in actively to repeat, chant, sing, or even retell the story. This kind of practice is important to language learners’ oral language development, which is believed to correlate completely with student’s academic success. Today, with the advent of multimedia, digital storytelling for instance can be a practical and powerful learning tool. It has the potential in transforming traditional learning into a world of unlimited imaginary environment. This paper reports on a research project on development of multimedia Storytelling Website using traditional Amazigh oral narratives called “tell me a story”. It is a didactic tool created for the learning of good moral values in an interactive multimedia environment combining on-screen text, graphics and audio in an enticing environment and enabling the positive values of stories to be projected. This Website developed in this study is based on various pedagogical approaches and learning theories deemed suitable for children age 8 to 9 year-old. The design and development of Website was based on a well-researched conceptual framework enabling users to: (1) re-play and share the stories in schools or at home, and (2) access the Website anytime and anywhere. Furthermore, the system stores the students work and activities over the system, allowing parents or teachers to monitor students’ works, and provide online feedback. The Website contains following main feature modules: Storytelling incorporates a variety of media such as audio, text and graphics in presenting the stories. It introduces the children to various kinds of traditional Amazigh oral narratives. The focus of this module is to project the positive values and images of stories using digital storytelling technique. Besides development good moral sense in children using projected positive images and moral values, it also allows children to practice their comprehending and listening skills. Reading module is developed based on multimedia material approach which offers the potential for addressing the challenges of reading instruction. This module is able to stimulate children and develop reading practice indirectly due to the tutoring strategies of scaffolding, self-explanation and hyperlinks offered in this module. Word Enhancement assists the children in understanding the story and appreciating the good moral values more efficiently. The difficult words or vocabularies are attached to present the explanation, which makes the children understand the vocabulary better. In conclusion, we believe that the interactive multimedia storytelling reveals an interesting and exciting tool for learning Amazigh. We plan to address some learning issues, in particularly the uses of activities to test and evaluate the children on their overall understanding of story and words presented in the learning modules.

Keywords: Amazigh language, e-learning, storytelling, language teaching

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Authors: Abeer Ahmed Abdelhameed

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The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of aerobic exercises on LV parameters, lipid profile, and anthropometric measurements in hypertensive middle aged male subjects. Thirty obese patients were recruited for the study from the outpatient clinic of National Heart Institute, Egypt. Their ages ranges from 40 to 60 years. All participants underwent an aerobic training program including regular aerobic sub-maximal exercises in the form of treadmill walking and abdominal exercises 3/week for four months, the exercise were individually tailored for each participant depending on the result of cardiopulmonary exercise test. The result showed no significant difference observed in both LVPWT and LVSWT data from pre-test values to post-test values in all subjects after 4 months, with a significant reduction in WHR, systolic blood pressure, TAG and LDL records. Result also revealed a significant increase in HDL, Eƒ, LVEDD and FS records for all participants. The significant improvement in ventricular functions in form of ejection fraction of electrical group more than exercise group after 4 months at the end of the study may be due to the beneficial effect of faradic stimulation in lipolysis of storage adipose tissues, stimulation of lean body mass and muscles and/or thermal effect that improves vascularization.

Keywords: left ventricular parameters, aerobic training, electrical stimulation, lipid profile

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Authors: Muhammad Umair Ahmed, Aftab Shoukat

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Today the global economy has become one of the key strategies in dealing with environmental issues. To allow for a round economy, organizations have begun to work to improve their sustainability management. The contribution of green resource management to the transformation of the global economy has not been investigated. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effects of green labor management on the global economy, environmental and economic performance, and the organisation's environmental dignity. We strongly evaluate the different roles of the various processes of green personnel management (i.e., green recruitment, training, and engagement green, as well as green performance management and reward) in organizational operations. We are also investigating the leadership role of CEO Ethical. Our outcome will have a positive impact on the performance of the organization. Green Human Resource Management contributes to the evolution of a roundabout economy without the influence of different external factors such as market demand and commitment. Finally, the results of our research will provide a few aspects for future research, both academic and human.

Keywords: sustainability, green human resource management, circular economy, human capital

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Authors: H. Abu-Ali, A. Nabok, T. Smith

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Aptamers are single-strand of DNA or RNA nucleotides sequence which is designed in vitro using selection process known as SELEX (systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment) were developed for the selective detection of many toxic materials. In this work, we have developed an electrochemical biosensor for highly selective and sensitive detection of Hg2+ and Pb2+ using a specific aptamer probe (SAP) labelled with ferrocene (or methylene blue) in (5′) end and the thiol group at its (3′) termini, respectively. The SAP has a specific coil structure that matching with G-G for Pb2+ and T-T for Hg2+ interaction binding nucleotides ions, respectively. Aptamers were immobilized onto surface of screen-printed gold electrodes via SH groups; then the cyclic voltammograms were recorded in binding buffer with the addition of the above metal salts in different concentrations. The resulted values of anode current increase upon binding heavy metal ions to aptamers and analyte due to the presence of electrochemically active probe, i.e. ferrocene or methylene blue group. The correlation between the anodic current values and the concentrations of Hg2+ and Pb2+ ions has been established in this work. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first example of using a specific DNA aptamers for electrochemical detection of heavy metals. Each increase in concentration of 0.1 μM results in an increase in the anode current value by simple DC electrochemical test i.e (Cyclic Voltammetry), thus providing an easy way of determining Hg2+ and Pb2+concentration.

Keywords: aptamer, based, biosensor, DNA, electrochemical, highly, specific

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Authors: Yuri Melis, Mattia Resteghini, Emanuela Apicella, Eugenia Dozio, Leonardo Mendolicchio

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Aim: This retrospective study was created to analyze the psychometric, anthropometric and body composition values in patients at the beginning and the discharge of their of hospitalization in the residential care clinic for eating and feeding disorders (EFD’s). Method: The sample was composed by (N=59) patients with mean age N= 33,50, divided in subgroups: Anorexia Nervosa (AN) (N=28), Bulimia Nervosa (BN) (N=13) and Binge Eating Disorders (BED) (N=14) recruited from a residential care clinic for eating and feeding disorders. The psychometrics level was measured with self-report questionnaires: Eating Disorders Inventory-3 (EDI-3) The Body Uneasiness Test (BUT), Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI – 2). The anthropometric and nutritional values was collected by Body Impedance Assessment (B.I.A), Body mass index (B.M.I.). Measurements were made at the beginning and at the end of hospitalization, with an average time of recovery of about 8,6 months. Results: The all data analysis showed a statistical significance (p-value >0,05 | power size N=0,950) in variation from T0 (start of recovery) to T1 (end of recovery) in the clinical scales of MMPI-2, AN group (Hypocondria T0 64,14 – T1 56,39) (Depression T0 72,93 – T1 59,50) (Hysteria T0 61,29 – T1 56,17) (Psychopathic deviation T0 64,00 – T1 60,82) (Paranoia T0 63,82 – T1 56,14) (Psychasthenia T0 63,82 – T1 57,86) (Schizophrenia T0 64,68 – T1 60,43) (Obsessive T0 60,36 – T1 55,68); BN group (Hypocondria T0 64,08 – T1 47,54) (Depression T0 67,46 – T1 52,46) (Hysteria T0 60,62 – T1 47,84) (Psychopathic deviation T0 65,69 – T1 58,92) (Paranoia T0 67,46 – T1 55,23) (Psychasthenia T0 60,77 – T1 53,77) (Schizophrenia T0 64,68 – T1 60,43) (Obsessive T0 62,92 – T1 54,08); B.E.D groups (Hypocondria T0 59,43 – T1 53,14) (Depression T0 66,71 – T1 54,57) (Hysteria T0 59,86 – T1 53,82) (Psychopathic deviation T0 67,39 – T1 59,03) (Paranoia T0 58,57 – T1 53,21) (Psychasthenia T0 61,43 – T1 53,00) (Schizophrenia T0 62,29 – T1 56,36) (Obsessive T0 58,57 – T1 48,64). EDI-3 report mean value is higher than clinical cut-off at T0, in T1, there is a significant reduction of the general mean of value. The same result is present in the B.U.T. test in the difference between T0 to T1. B.M.I mean value in AN group is (T0 14,83 – T1 18,41) BN group (T0 20 – T1 21,33) BED group (T0 42,32 – T1 34,97) Phase Angle results: AN group (T0 4,78 – T1 5,64) BN (T0 6 – T1 6,53) BED group (T0 6 – T1 6,72). Discussion and conclusion: The evident presence that on the whole sample, we have an altered serious psychiatric and clinic conditions at the beginning of recovery. The interesting conclusions that we can draw from this analysis are that a multidisciplinary approach that includes the entire care of the subject: from the pharmacological treatment, analytical psychotherapy, Psychomotricity, nutritional rehabilitation, and rehabilitative, educational activities. Thus, this Multidisciplinary treatment allows subjects in our sample to be able to restore psychopathological and metabolic values to below the clinical cut-off.

Keywords: feeding and eating disorders, anorexia nervosa, care clinic treatment, multidisciplinary treatment

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Authors: Nabhan H. N. Al-Harrasi

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Action Research (AR) plays an important role in improving the problematical situation. It is a process that enhances thinking and practise and bridges the gap between abstract and concrete thinking. Nowadays, AR as a methodology is wildly used to implement projects based on understanding the needs of owners, considering the organizational culture, meeting the requirements, encouraging partnership, representing different viewpoints, and building the project. This research describes the whole processes of digitizing Post-graduate theses and all articles published in 6 Journals at Sultan Qaboos University. AR implemented to respond to the university needs to enhance accessibilities to its information resources and make them available through the national repository. In order to prepare the action plan, the library administration met to discuss several points related to the proposed project, the most important of which are: • Providing digitalization devices. • Locating a specific part of the Library as a Digitization Unit. • Choosing a team. • Defining tasks. • Implementing the proposed project and evaluating the whole processes.

Keywords: action research, digitization, Theses, Journal articles, open access, Oman

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Authors: Ayse Collins

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The Agenda 2030 puts Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the situation where they should emphasize ways to promote sustainability accordingly. However, it is still unclear: a) how sustainability is understood, and b) which actions have been taken in both discourse and practice by HEIs regarding the three pillars of sustainability, society, environment, and economy. There are models of sustainable universities developed by different authors from different countries; For Example, The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) methodology which offers a variety of indicators to diagnose performance. However, these models have never been developed for universities in particular. Any model, in this sense, cannot be completed adequately without defining the appropriate tools to measure, analyze and control the performance of initiatives. There is a need to conduct researches in different universities from different countries to understand where we stand in terms of sustainable higher education. Therefore, this study aims at exploring the actions taken by a university in Ankara, Turkey, since Agenda 2030 should consider localizing its objectives and targets according to a certain geography. This university just announced 2021-2022 as “Sustainability Year.” Therefore, this research is a multi-methodology longitudinal study and uses the theoretical framework of the organization and transition management (TM). It is designed to examine the activities as being strategic, tactical, operational, and reflexive in nature and covers the six main aspects: academic community, administrative staff, operations and services, teaching, research, and extension. The preliminary research will answer the role of the top university governance, perception of the stakeholders (students, instructors, administrative and support staff) regarding sustainability, and the level of achievement at the mid-evaluation and final, end of year evaluation. TM Theory is a multi-scale, multi-actor, process-oriented approach with the analytical framework to explore and promote change in social systems. Therefore, the stages and respective methodology for collecting data in this research is: Pre-development Stage: a) semi-structured interviews with university governance, c) open-ended survey with faculty, students, and administrative staff d) Semi-structured interviews with support staff, and e) analysis of current secondary data for sustainability. Take-off Stage: a) semi-structured interviews with university governance, faculty, students, administrative and support staff, b) analysis of secondary data. Breakthrough stabilization a) survey with all stakeholders at the university, b) secondary data analysis by using selected indicators for the first sustainability report for universities The findings from the predevelopment stage highlight how stakeholders, coming from different faculties, different disciplines with different identities and characteristics, face the sustainability challenge differently. Though similar sustainable development goals ((social, environmental, and economic) are set in the institution, there are differences across disciplines and among different stakeholders, which need to be considered to reach the optimum goal. It is believed that the results will help changes in HEIs organizational culture to embed sustainability values in their strategic planning, academic and managerial work by putting enough time and resources to be successful in coping with sustainability.

Keywords: higher education, sustainability, sustainability auditing, transition management

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Authors: J. Byimana, I. A. Muhire, J. E. Nzabahimana, A. Nyombayire

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Introduction: A successful cardiopulmonary resuscitation during a sudden cardiac arrest can be delayed by different components including new hospital setting, lack of adequate training, lack of pre-established resuscitation team and ineffective communication and lead to an unexpected outcome which is death. The main objective of the study was to assess the readiness of resuscitation teams during cardiac arrest and the organizational approaches that would best support their functioning in a new hospital facility, and to detect any factor that may have contributed to responses. This study analyses the readiness of Resuscitation Team (RT) during cardiac arrest. —Material and methods: A prospective Analytic design was carried out at a newly established United Nations level 2 hospital facility, on four RTM (resuscitation team member). A semi structured questionnaire was used to collect data. —Results: This study highlights indicate that the response time during cardiac arrest simulation meet both American heart association (AHA) and European resuscitation council guidelines. The study offers useful evidence about the impact of a new facility on RTM performance and provides an exposure of staff to emergency events within the Work setting.

Keywords: cardiac arrest, code blue, simulation, resuscitation team member

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Authors: Carmen Cantuarias-Villessuzanne, Jeffrey Blain, Radmila Pineau

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Our research project aims at analyzing the sensitiveness of French households to urban biodiversity and urban ecosystem services (UES). Opinion surveys show that the French population is sensitive to biodiversity and ecosystem services loss, but the value given to these issues within urban fabric and real estate market lacks evidence. Using GIS data and economic evaluation, by hedonic price methods, weassess the isolated contribution of the explanatory variables of biodiversityand UES on the price of residential real estate. We analyze the variation of the valuefor three urban ecosystem services - flood control, proximity to green spaces, and refreshment - on the price of real estate whena property changes ownership. Our modeling and mapping focus on the price at theIRIS scale (statistical information unit) from 2014 to 2019. The main variables are internal characteristics of housing (area, kind of housing, heating), external characteristics(accessibility and infrastructure, economic, social, and physical environmentsuch as air pollution, noise), and biodiversity indicators and urban ecosystemservices for the Ile-de-France region. Moreover, we compare environmental values on the enhancement of greenspaces and their impact on residential choices. These studies are very useful for real estate developers because they enable them to promote green spaces, and municipalities to become more attractive.

Keywords: urban ecosystem services, sustainable real estate, urban biodiversity perception, hedonic price, environmental values

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Authors: Chapman Eze Nnadozie

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Relational databases constitute a very vital tool for the effective management and administration of both personal and organizational data. Data access ranges from a single user database management software to a more complex distributed server system. This paper intends to appraise the use a programming language extension like structured query language (SQL) to establish links to a relational database (Microsoft Access 2013) using Visual C++ 9 programming language environment. The methodology used involves the creation of tables to form a database using Microsoft Access 2013, which is Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) database compliant. The SQL command is used to query the tables in the database for easy extraction of expected records inside the visual C++ environment. The findings of this paper reveal that records can easily be accessed and manipulated to filter exactly what the user wants, such as retrieval of records with specified criteria, updating of records, and deletion of part or the whole records in a table.

Keywords: data access, database, database management system, OLE, programming language, records, relational database, software, SQL, table

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Authors: Nelson Bii, Christopher Ouma, John Odhiambo

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Non-response is a potential source of errors in sample surveys. It introduces bias and large variance in the estimation of finite population parameters. Regression models have been recognized as one of the techniques of reducing bias and variance due to random non-response using auxiliary data. In this study, it is assumed that random non-response occurs in the survey variable in the second stage of cluster sampling, assuming full auxiliary information is available throughout. Auxiliary information is used at the estimation stage via a regression model to address the problem of random non-response. In particular, the auxiliary information is used via an improved Nadaraya-Watson kernel regression technique to compensate for random non-response. The asymptotic bias and mean squared error of the estimator proposed are derived. Besides, a simulation study conducted indicates that the proposed estimator has smaller values of the bias and smaller mean squared error values compared to existing estimators of finite population mean. The proposed estimator is also shown to have tighter confidence interval lengths at a 95% coverage rate. The results obtained in this study are useful, for instance, in choosing efficient estimators of the finite population mean in demographic sample surveys.

Keywords: mean squared error, random non-response, two-stage cluster sampling, confidence interval lengths

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Authors: T. Ewetumo, K. D. Adedayo, Festus Ben

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Knowledge of the thermal properties of foods is of fundamental importance in the food industry to establish the design of processing equipment. However, for tropical fruit juice, there is very little information in literature, seriously hampering processing procedures. This research work describes the development of an instrument for automated thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity measurement of tropical fruit juice using a transient thermal probe technique based on line heat principle. The system consists of two thermocouple sensors, constant current source, heater, thermocouple amplifier, microcontroller, microSD card shield and intelligent liquid crystal. A fixed distance of 6.50mm was maintained between the two probes. When heat is applied, the temperature rise at the heater probe measured with time at time interval of 4s for 240s. The measuring element conforms as closely as possible to an infinite line source of heat in an infinite fluid. Under these conditions, thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity are simultaneously measured, with thermal conductivity determined from the slope of a plot of the temperature rise of the heating element against the logarithm of time while thermal diffusivity was determined from the time it took the sample to attain a peak temperature and the time duration over a fixed diffusivity distance. A constant current source was designed to apply a power input of 16.33W/m to the probe throughout the experiment. The thermal probe was interfaced with a digital display and data logger by using an application program written in C++. Calibration of the instrument was done by determining the thermal properties of distilled water. Error due to convection was avoided by adding 1.5% agar to the water. The instrument has been used for measurement of thermal properties of banana, orange and watermelon. Thermal conductivity values of 0.593, 0.598, 0.586 W/m^o C and thermal diffusivity values of 1.053 ×〖10〗^(-7), 1.086 ×〖10〗^(-7), and 0.959 ×〖10〗^(-7) 〖m/s〗^2 were obtained for banana, orange and water melon respectively. Measured values were stored in a microSD card. The instrument performed very well as it measured the thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of the tropical fruit juice samples with statistical analysis (ANOVA) showing no significant difference (p>0.05) between the literature standards and estimated averages of each sample investigated with the developed instrument.

Keywords: thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, tropical fruit juice, diffusion equation

Procedia PDF Downloads 357

Authors: Siti Aisya Gany, Swee Ching Tan, Sook Yee Gan

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Diminished antioxidant defense or increased production of reactive oxygen species in the biological system can result in oxidative stress which may lead to various neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Microglial activation also contributes to the progression of AD by producing several pro-inflammatory cytokines, nitric oxide (NO), and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). Oxidative stress and inflammation have been reported to be possible pathophysiological mechanisms underlying AD. In addition, the cholinergic hypothesis postulates that memory impairment in patient with AD is also associated with the deficit of cholinergic function in the brain. Although a number of drugs have been approved for the treatment of AD, most of these synthetic drugs have diverse side effects and yield relatively modest benefits. Marine algae have great potential in pharmaceutical and biomedical applications as they are valuable sources of bioactive properties such as anti-coagulation, anti-microbial, anti-oxidative, anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory. Hence, this study aimed to provide an overview of the properties of Malaysian seaweeds (Padina australis, Sargassum polycystum and Caulerpa racemosa) in inhibiting oxidative stress, neuroinflammation and cholinesterase enzymes. All tested samples significantly exhibit potent DPPH and moderate Superoxide anion radical scavenging ability (P<0.05). Hexane and methanol extracts of S. polycystum exhibited the most potent radical scavenging ability with IC50 values of 0.1572 ± 0.004 mg/ml and 0.8493 ± 0.02 for DPPH and ABTS assays, respectively. Hexane extract of C. racemosa gave the strongest superoxide radical inhibitory effect (IC50 of 0.3862± 0.01 mg/ml). Most seaweed extracts significantly inhibited the production of cytokine (IL-6, IL-1 β, TNFα) and NO in a concentration-dependent manner without causing significant cytotoxicity to the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated microglia cells (P<0.05). All extracts suppressed cytokine and NO level by more than 80% at the concentration of 0.4mg/ml. In addition, C. racemosa and S. polycystum also showed anti-acetylcholinesterase activities with the IC50 values ranging from 0.086-0.115 mg/ml. Moreover, C. racemosa and P. australis were also found to be active against butyrylcholinesterase with IC50 values ranging from 0.118-0.287 mg/ml.

Keywords: anti-cholinesterase, anti-oxidative, neuroinflammation, seaweeds

Procedia PDF Downloads 663

Authors: Novawiguna Kemalasari, Ahmad Badawi Saluy

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Recent economic developments are more dependent on the value created by intangible assets than tangible company's assets. Intangible assets in question is intellectual capital that is recognized as the basis of individual, organizational, and general competition in the 21st century. The rapid global economy and technological innovations that have led to tough competition in the business world, make IC creation, management, measurement, and evaluation an important indicator in improving company performance that will affect the value of the company in the future. This study aims to determine the strong influence of intellectual capital on corporate performance, and how the influence of human capital on structural capital and relation capital. By distributing questionnaires to 100 employees of banking companies in Jakarta with middle and upper positions. Approach method used is Partial Least Square (PLS) Based on research that has been done, it can be concluded that human capital has influence on relation capital and structural capital. Similarly, the influence on the performance of the company turned out to human capital and relation capital has a significant influence, but structural capital has a non-significant effect on company performance.

Keywords: human capital, structural capital, relation capital, corporate performance

Procedia PDF Downloads 189

Authors: Faijal Ali, Darga Kumar N., Ravikant Singh, Rajnil Lal

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Fiji has three major landforms such as plains, low mountains, and hills. The low land soils are formed on beach sand. Fiji soils contain high concentration of iron (III), aluminum oxides and hydroxides. The soil possesses reddish or yellowish colour. The characterization of lateritic soils collected from different locations along the national highway in Viti Levu, Fiji Islands. The research has been carried out mainly to understand the physical and strength properties to assess their suitability for the highway and building construction. In this paper, the field tests such as dynamic cone penetrometer test, field vane shear, field density and laboratory tests such as unconfined compression stress, compaction, grain size analysis and Atterberg limits are conducted. The test results are analyzed and presented. From the results, it is revealed that the soils are having more percentage of silt and clay which is more than 80% and 5 to 15% of fine to medium sand is noticed. The dynamic cone penetrometer results up to 3m depth had similar penetration resistance. For the first 1m depth, the rate of penetration is found 300mm per 3 to 4 blows. In all the sites it is further noticed that the rate of penetration at depths beyond 1.5 m is decreasing for the same number of blows as compared to the top soil. From the penetration resistance measured through dynamic cone penetrometer test, the California bearing ratio and allowable bearing capacities are 4 to 5% and 50 to 100 kPa for the top 1m layer and below 1m these values are increasing. The California bearing ratio of these soils for below 1m depth is in the order of 10% to 20%. The safe bearing capacity of these soils below 1m and up to 3m depth is varying from 150 kPa to 250 kPa. The field vane shear was measured within a depth of 1m from the surface and the values were almost similar varying from 60 kPa to 120 kPa. The liquid limit and plastic limits of these soils are in the range of 40 to 60% and 20 to 25%. Overall it is found that the top 1m soil along the national highway in majority places possess a soft to medium stiff behavior with low to medium bearing capacity as well low California bearing ratio values. It is recommended to ascertain these soils behavior in terms of geotechnical parameters before taking up any construction activity.

Keywords: California bearing ratio, dynamic cone penetrometer test, field vane shear, unconfined compression stress.

Procedia PDF Downloads 187

Authors: Swati Tomar, Sunil Kumar Gupta

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Anammox is a promising and cost effective alternative to conventional treatment systems that facilitates direct oxidation of ammonium nitrogen under anaerobic conditions with nitrite as an electron acceptor without addition of any external carbon sources. The present study investigates the process kinetics of laboratory scale anammox hybrid reactor (AHR) which combines the dual advantages of attached and suspended growth. The performance & behaviour of AHR was studied under varying hydraulic retention time (HRTs) and nitrogen loading rate (NLRs). The experimental unit consisted of 4 numbers of 5L capacity anammox hybrid reactor inoculated with mixed seed culture containing anoxic and activated sludge. Pseudo steady state (PSS) ammonium and nitrite removal efficiencies of 90.6% and 95.6%, respectively, were achieved during acclimation phase. After establishment of PSS, the performance of AHR was monitored at seven different HRTs of 3.0, 2.5, 2.0, 1.5, 1.0, 0.5 and 0.25 d with increasing NLR from 0.4 to 4.8 kg N/m3d. The results showed that with increase in NLR and decrease in HRT (3.0 to 0.25 d), AHR registered appreciable decline in nitrogen removal efficiency from 92.9% to 67.4 %, respectively. The HRT of 2.0 d was considered optimal to achieve substantial nitrogen removal of 89%, because on further decrease in HRT below 1.5 days, remarkable decline in the values of nitrogen removal efficiency were observed. Analysis of data indicated that attached growth system contributes an additional 15.4 % ammonium removal and reduced the sludge washout rate (additional 29% reduction). This enhanced performance may be attributed to 25% increase in sludge retention time due to the attached growth media. Three kinetic models, namely, first order, Monod and Modified Stover-Kincannon model were applied to assess the substrate removal kinetics of nitrogen removal in AHR. Validation of the models were carried out by comparing experimental set of data with the predicted values obtained from the respective models. For substrate removal kinetics, model validation revealed that Modified Stover-Kincannon is most precise (R2=0.943) and can be suitably applied to predict the kinetics of nitrogen removal in AHR. Lawrence and McCarty model described the kinetics of bacterial growth. The predicted value of yield coefficient and decay constant were in line with the experimentally observed values.

Keywords: anammox, kinetics, modelling, nitrogen removal, sludge wash out rate, AHR

Procedia PDF Downloads 317

Authors: Iftikhar Hussain Gul, Syeda Aatika

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Nickel ferrite was prepared via wet chemical co-precipitation route. Carbon Nano Fibers (CNFs) were used to prepare NiFe₂O₄/CNFs nanohybrids. Polar solvent (ortho-xylene) was used for the dispersion of CNFs in ferrite matrix. X-ray diffraction patterns confirmed the formation of NiFe₂O₄/CNFs nanohybrids without any impurity peak. FTIR patterns showed two consistent characteristic absorption bands for tetrahedral and octahedral sites, confirming the formation of spinel structure of NiFe₂O₄. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images confirmed the coating of nickel ferrite nanoparticles on CNFs, which confirms the efficiency of deployed method. The dielectric properties were measured as a function of frequency at room temperature. Pure NiFe₂O₄ showed dielectric constant of 1.79 ×10³ at 100 Hz, which increased massively to 2.92 ×10⁶ at 100 Hz with the addition of 20% by weight of CNFs, proving it to be potential candidate for applications in supercapacitors. The impedance analysis showed a considerable decrease of resistance, reactance and cole-cole plot which confirms the decline of impedance on addition of CNFs. The pure NiFe₂O₄ has highest impedance values of 5.89 ×10⁷ Ohm at 100 Hz while the NiFe₂O₄/CNFs nanohybrid with CNFs (20% by weight) has the lowest impedance values of 4.25×10³ Ohm at 100 Hz, which proves this nanohybrid is useful for high-frequency applications.

Keywords: AC impedance, co-precipitation, nanohybrid, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction

Procedia PDF Downloads 139

Authors: Mark Morgan, Christine Li, Shuangyu Xu, Jenny McCarty

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The National Wild and Scenic Rivers System was created by the U.S. Congress in 1968 (Public Law 90-542; 16 U.S.C. 1271 et seq.) to preserve outstanding natural, cultural, and recreational values of some U.S. rivers in a free-flowing condition for the enjoyment of present and future generations. This Act is notable for safeguarding the special character of these rivers while supporting management action that encourages public participation for co-creating river protection goals and strategies. This is not an easy task. To meet the challenges of modern ecosystem management, federal resource agencies must address many legal, environmental, economic, political, and social issues. The U.S. Forest Service manages a 44-mile section of the Eleven Point National Scenic River (EPR) in southern Missouri, mainly for outdoor recreation purposes. About half of the acreage is in private lands, while the remainder flows through the Mark Twain National Forest. Private land along the river is managed by scenic easements to ensure protection of scenic values and natural resources, without public access. A portion of the EPR lies adjacent to a 16,500-acre tract known as the Irish Wilderness. The spring-fed river has steep bluffs, deep pools, clear water, and a slow current, making it an ideal setting for outdoor enthusiasts. A 10-month visitor study was conducted at five access points along the EPR during 2019 so the US Forest Service could update their river management plan. A mail-back survey was administered to 560 on-site visitors, yielding a response rate of 53%. Although different types of visitors use the EPR, boating and fishing were the predominant forms of outdoor recreation. Some river use was from locals, but other visitors came from farther away. Formulating unbiased policies for outdoor recreation is difficult because managers must assign relative values to recreational activities and travel distance. Because policymaking is a subjective process, management decisions can affect user groups in different ways (i.e., boaters vs. fishers; proximate vs. distal visitors), as seen through a GIS analysis.

Keywords: activity selection, forest recreation, policy, travel distance

Procedia PDF Downloads 140

Authors: Wuttigrai Ngamsirijit

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Talent management in today’s modern organizations has become data-driven due to a demand for objective human resource decision making and development of analytics technologies. HR managers have been faced with some obstacles in exploiting data and information to obtain their effective talent management decisions. These include process-based data and records; insufficient human capital-related measures and metrics; lack of capabilities in data modeling in strategic manners; and, time consuming to add up numbers and make decisions. This paper proposes a framework of talent management through integration of talent value chain and human capital analytics approaches. It encompasses key data, measures, and metrics regarding strategic talent management decisions along the organizational and talent value chain. Moreover, specific predictive and prescriptive models incorporating these data and information are recommended to help managers in understanding the state of talent, gaps in managing talent and the organization, and the ways to develop optimized talent strategies.    

Keywords: decision making, human capital analytics, talent management, talent value chain

Procedia PDF Downloads 187

Authors: Sai On Cheung, Qiuwen Ma, Fong Chung Lee

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Due to increased project complexity and technological advancement in the last decade, the designers and contractors are expected to put more efforts to achieve project goals. To render extra efforts from the agents, incentivization has become one of the primary strategies for the client. Despite increased academia interest in the design of incentive strategies, there is still a need for discussion about the underlying motivations and favourable conditions to make incentives effective. Therefore, this study focuses on the effects of motivations and favourable conditions for the use of incentives in public projects. Questionnaire survey is used as the data collection tool. The questionnaire survey was piloted through interviews with professionals from Hong Kong public sector. A total of 100 responses were collected for this survey. Accountability and organizational effectiveness were found to be the prime objectives of incentives installed by public clients. Furthermore, a list of favourable conditions for incentivization and its consequent effects on cost, schedule, risk and public opinions were identified. To conclude, this study analyses the means and ends of the use of incentives in public projects in Hong Kong.

Keywords: incentives, public accountability, project effectiveness, public opinions

Procedia PDF Downloads 68