Search results for: Pakistan stock exchange

Authors: Chuen-arom Janthimachai-amorn, Chirawadee Harnrittha

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This study aims to identify the factors facilitating the knowledge management to develop the graduate study programs to achieve success and to identify the approaches in developing the graduate study programs in the Rajbhat Suansunantha University. The 10 respondents were the administrators, the faculty, and the personnel of its Graduate School. The research methodology was based on Pla-too Model of the Knowledge Management Institute (KMI) by allocating the knowledge indicators, the knowledge creation and search, knowledge systematization, knowledge processing and filtering, knowledge access, knowledge sharing and exchanges and learning. The results revealed that major success factors were knowledge indicators, evident knowledge management planning, knowledge exchange and strong solidarity of the team and systematic and tenacious access of knowledge. The approaches allowing the researchers to critically develop the graduate study programs were the environmental data analyses, the local needs and general situations, data analyses of the previous programs, cost analyses of the resources, and the identification of the structure and the purposes to develop the new programs.

Keywords: program development, knowledge management, graduate study programs, Rajbhat Suansunantha University

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Authors: Wanda Luen-Wun Siu, Xiaowen Zhang

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This paper offered the primary methodical proof on how CSR reporting related to enterprise earnings in listed firms in China in light of most evidence focusing on cross-sectional data or data in a short span of time. Using full economic and business panel data on China’s publicly listed enterprise from 2006 to 2020 over two decades in the China Stock Market and Accounting Research database, we found initial evidence of significant direct relations between CSR reporting and firm corporate performance in both state-owned and privately owned firms over this period, supporting the stakeholder theory. Results also revealed that state-owned enterprises performed as well as private enterprises in the current period. But private enterprises performed better than state-owned enterprises in the subsequent years. Moreover, the release of social responsibility reports had a more significant impact on the financial performance of state-owned and private enterprises in the current period than in the subsequent periods. Specifically, CSR release was not significantly associated with the financial performance of state-owned enterprises on the lag of the first, second, and third periods. But it had an impact on the lag of the first, second, and third periods among private enterprises. Such findings suggested that CSR reporting helped improve the corporate financial performance of state-owned and private enterprises in the current period, but this kind of effect was more significant among private enterprises in the lag periods.

Keywords: China’s listed firms, CSR reporting, financial performance, panel analysis

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Authors: Dwi Yulian Fahruddin Shah, Mochammad Luthfy Rizaldy Dwi Putra, Tommy Adi Rachmawan, Mona Annisa Matondang, Nadya Sylvia, Hilmy Ramzy Rinaldy

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Gili island is one of the island in Indonesia which is located in Probolinggo city, East Java. Gili Island has some potential culture as local wisdom that can be used as tourism commodity because it can be used as attractive ecotourism. With the ecotourism that utilize local wisdom of Indonesian’s culture that located in Gili can introduce the richness of Indonesian culture in the world that will increase foreign exchange. One of the cultural potential as local wisdom in Gili island are Petik Laut and Onjem. It are a culture in Gili island that can’t be found in other island in Indonesia. Not just that but also it are a cultural identity that is owned by Gili island which has fill the criteria to be used as local wisdom that can be used as ecotourism that can bring Indonesian culture to the world so that the tourists of the world will visit to Indonesia, especially to Gili island to see Petik Laut and Onjem culture directly.

Keywords: Gili island, petik laut and onjem culture, ecotourism, indonesia’s culture

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Authors: Muhammad Affan, Muhammad Ilyas Raza, Muhammad Harris Hashmi

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This work is attributed to the battery management unit design of student Satellites under Pakistan National Student Satellite Program (PNSSP). The aim has been to design a customized, low-cost, efficient, reliable and less-complex battery management scheme for the Satellite. Nowadays, Lithium Ion (Li-ion) batteries have become the de-facto standard for remote applications, especially for satellites. Li-ion cells are selected for secondary storage. The design also addresses Li-ion safety requirements by monitoring, balancing and protecting cells for safe and prolonged operation. Accurate voltage measurement of individual cells was the main challenge because all the actions triggered were based on the digital voltage measurement. For this purpose, a resistive-divider network is used to maintain simplicity and cost-effectiveness. To cater the problem of insufficient i/o pins on microcontroller, fast multiplexers and de-multiplexers were used. The discrepancy inherited in the given design is the dissipation of heat due to the dissipative resistors. However, it is still considered to be the optimum adoption, considering the simple and cost-effective nature of the passive balancing technique. Furthermore, it is a completely unique solution, customized to meet specific requirements. However, there is still an option for a more advanced and expensive design.

Keywords: satellite, battery module, passive balancing, dissipative

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Authors: Nashi Khan, Amina Khalid

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Aim: The purpose of this research was to find the psychiatric morbidity and level of sexual satisfaction among women with polycystic ovarian syndrome and their comparison with women with general medical conditions and to examine the correlation between psychiatric morbidity and sexual satisfaction among these women. Design: Cross sectional research design was used. Method: A total of 176 (M age = 30, SD = 5.83) women were recruited from both private and public sector hospitals in Pakistan. About 88 (50%) of the participants were diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome (cases), whereas other 50% belonged to control group. Data were collected using semi structured interview. Sexual satisfaction scale for women (SSS-W) was administered to measure sexual satisfaction level and psychiatric morbidity was assessed by Symptom Checklist-Revised. Results: Results showed that participant’s depression and anxiety level had significant negative correlation with their sexual satisfaction level, whereas, anxiety and depression shared a significant positive correlation. There was a significant difference in the scores for sexual satisfaction, depression and anxiety for both cases and controls. These results suggested that women suffering from polycystic ovarian syndrome tend to be less sexually satisfied and experienced relatively more symptoms of depression and anxiety as compared to controls.

Keywords: level of sexual satisfaction, psychiatric morbidity, polycystic ovarian syndrome

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Authors: Rajalaxmi N., Padma Bhat, Pooja Garag, Pooja N. M., V. S. Hombalimath

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Microbial fuel cell (MFC) is the advancement of science that aims at utilizing the oxidizing potential of bacteria for wastewater treatment and production of bio-hydrogen and bio-electricity. Salt-bridge is the economic alternative to highly priced proton-exchange membrane in the construction of a microbial fuel cell. This paper studies the electricity generating capacity of E.coli and Clostridium sporogenes in microbial fuel cells (MFCs). Unlike most of MFC research, this targets the long term goals of renewable energy production and wastewater treatment. In present study the feasibility and potential of bioelectricity production from different wastewater was observed. Different wastewater was primarily treated which were confirmed by the COD tests which showed reduction of COD. We observe that the electricity production of MFCs decreases almost linearly after 120 hrs. The sewage wastewater containing Clostridium sporogenes showed bioelectricity production up to 188mV with COD removal of 60.52%. Sewage wastewater efficiently produces bioelectricity and this also helpful to reduce wastewater pollution load.

Keywords: microbial fuel cell, bioelectricity, wastewater, salt bridge, COD

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Authors: Sandrine Dourdain, Cesar Lopez, Tamir Sukhbaatar, Guilhem Arrachart, Stephane Pellet-Rostaing

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A promising challenge in solvent extraction is to replace the conventional organic solvents, with ionic liquids (IL). Depending on the extraction systems, these new solvents show better efficiency than the conventional ones. Although some assumptions based on ions exchanges have been proposed in the literature, these properties are not predictable because the involved mechanisms are still poorly understood. It is well established that the mechanisms underlying solvent extraction processes are based not only on the molecular chelation of the extractant molecules but also on their ability to form supra-molecular aggregates due to their amphiphilic nature. It is therefore essential to evaluate how IL affects the aggregation properties of the extractant molecules. Our aim is to evaluate the influence of IL structure and polarity on solvent extraction mechanisms, by looking at the aggregation of the extractant molecules in IL. We compare extractant systems that are well characterized in common solvents and show thanks to SAXS and SANS measurements, that in the absence of IL ion exchange mechanisms, extraction properties are related to aggregation.

Keywords: solvent extraction in Ionic liquid, aggregation, Ionic liquids structure, SAXS, SANS

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Authors: Sarah Fatima, Ahmad A. Malik, Saima Sadaf

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This study was conducted in order to assess the dietary record and vitamin A status of young females of Lahore. A total sample of 376 consisted of 16 – 20 years of unmarried college going females. Three main tools were adopted: questionnaire, 3-day food diary and serum retinol test. The anthropometric measurements showed that a total of 32.6% of the sample was underweight (BMI < 18.5) and 54.5% had a healthy weight (BMI 18.5 – 22.9). The average Vitamin A intake of the sample was 257.95 µg/day while the RDA for the selected age group was 700 µg/day. The mean energy intake of the adolescents was 1153.64 kcal/ day, whereas the Estimated Energy Requirement (EER) for this age group was 2368 kcal/day. The mean serum Vitamin A level was 24.81µg/dL. 69.6% of the sample was deficient in serum Vitamin A i.e. serum retinol < 24 µg/dL. 30.4% had serum retinol in normal limit (24 – 84 µg/dL) from which 25.3% lied in lower limit (24 – 44 µg/dL) and only 5.1% had serum retinol in 44 – 64 µg/dL range. A slightly negative correlation (r = - 0.21, 95% confidence interval) was found between dietary intake of Vitamin A and serum Vitamin A It was concluded that the dietary intake of major nutrients and vitamin A is not adequate in the selected group. This is also confirmed by the lower serum retinol levels. Hence, vitamin An intake and status are generally inadequate, and vitamin deficiency is prevalent in the unmarried young females of Lahore.

Keywords: vitamin A, young Females, vitamin deficiency, Lahore

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Authors: Nuno M. Pereira

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In the last thirty years, European cities have been addressing global climate change and its local impacts by implementing mitigation and adaptation strategies. Lisbon Downtown is no exception with 10 plans under implementation since 2010 with completion scheduled for 2030 valued 1 billion euros of public investment. However, the gap between mitigation and adaptation strategies is not yet sufficiently studied alongside with its nuances- vulnerability and risk mitigation, resilience and adaptation. In Lisbon Downtown, these plans are being implemented separately, therefore compromising the effectiveness of public investment. The research reviewed the common ground of mitigation and adaptation strategies of the theoretical framework and analyzed the current urban development actions in Lisbon Downtown in order to identify potential conflicts and synergies. The empirical fieldwork supported by a sounding board of experts has been developed during two years and the results suggest that the largest public investment in Lisbon on flooding mitigation will conflict with the new Cruise ship terminal and old Downton building stock, therefore increasing risk and vulnerability factors. The study concludes that the Lisbon Downtown blue infrastructure plan should be redesigned in some areas in a trans- disciplinary and holistic approach and that the current theoretical framework on climate change should focus more on mitigation and adaptation synergies articulating the gray, blue and green infrastructures, combining old knowledge tested by resilient communities and new knowledge emerging from the digital era.

Keywords: adaptation, climate change, conflict, Lisbon Downtown, mitigation, synergy

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Authors: Bendjelloul Meriem, Elandaloussi El Hadj

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In this work, we studied the effectiveness of a lignocellulosic waste (wood sawdust) for the removal of cadmium Cd (II) in aqueous solution. The adsorbent material SBO-CH2-CO2Na has been prepared by alkaline pretreatment of wood sawdust followed by a chemical modification with sodium salt of chloroacetic acid. The characterization of the as-prepared material by FTIR has proven that the grafting of acetate spacer took actually place in the lignocellulosic backbone by the appearance of characteristic band of carboxylic groups in the IR spectrum. The removal study of Cd2+ by SBO-CH2-CO2Na material at the solid-liquid interface was carried out by kinetics, sorption isotherms, effect of temperature and thermodynamic parameters were evaluated. The last part of this work was dedicated to assess the regenerability of the adsorbent material after three reuse cycles. The results indicate that SBO-CH2-CO2Na matrix possesses a high effectiveness in removing Cd (II) with an adsorption capacity of 222.22 mg/g, yet a better value that those of many low-cost adsorbents so far reported in the literature. The results found in the course of this study suggest that ionic exchange is the most appropriate mechanism involved in the removal of cadmium ions.

Keywords: adsorption, cadmium, isotherms, lignocellulosic, regenerability

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Authors: Yasir Khan, Qiu Bin, Antonio-Mihi Ramirez

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This study determines the inflow of international students to China in recent years and the corresponding internationalization strategies in the higher education sector. China has placed attracting international students on in its plan along with the growing of global impact. Acknowledging the stable economy, growth rate, trade, lower renminbi rate, high wages, employment opportunities, high level income per capita, relative low taxes and political system consolidate to attract more international students. A large number of international students making a vast contribution to the higher education sector of China. Understanding the significance of education mission as well as of financial ‘bottom line’ the Chinese government gave great importance to invite more international students from worldwide. The large number of international students in the China has been particularly notable from Asian countries specifically neighboring countries, Pakistan, Thailand, India, Vietnam, South Korea, Magnolia, Malaysia, and Russia. This study summarizes internationalization of higher education in China and also provides directions for future research in this regard.

Keywords: international student mobility, 2020 Govt Planning, emerging market, internationalization of higher education

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Authors: Elsa Kosmack Vaara, Cheryl Akner Koler, Yusuf Mulla, Parivash Ranjbar, Anneli Nöu

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This transdisciplinary research weaves together an aesthetic perspective with a technical one to develop human sensitivity for vibration and construct flexible, wearable devices that are miniature, lightweight, and energy efficient. By applying methods from artistic research, performative arts, audio science, nanotechnology, and interaction design, we created working prototypes with actuators that were specifically positioned in various places on the body. The vibrotactile prototypes were tested by our research team, design students, and people with deafblindness and blindness, each with different intentions. Some tests supported connoisseurship for vibrotactile musical expression. Others aimed for precise navigational instructions. Our results and discussion concern problems in establishing standards for vibrotactility because standards minimize diversity and narrow possible ways vibration can be experienced. Human bodies vary significantly in ‘where’ vibrotactile signals can be sensed and ‘how’ they awaken emotions. We encourage others to embrace the dynamic exchange between new haptic technology and aesthetic complexity.

Keywords: aesthetics, vibration, music, interaction design, deafblindness

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Authors: S. Vanker, A. Aaver, A. Roio, L. Nuut

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To be sure about the effective and less effective/ineffective approaches to course instruction, we hold the opinion that the faculty members need regular feedback from their students in order to be aware of how well or unwell their teaching styles have worked when instructing the courses. It can be confirmed without a slightest hesitation that undergraduate students’ motivated-ness can be sustained when continually improving the quality of teaching and properly sequencing the academic courses both, in the curricula and timetables. At Estonian Aviation Academy, four different forms of feedback are used: Lecture monitoring, questionnaires for all students, study information system subject monitoring and direct feedback received by the lecturer. Questionnaires for all students are arranged once during a study year and separately for the first year and senior students. The results are discussed in academic departments together with student representatives, analyzed with the teaching staff and, if needed, improvements are suggested. In addition, a monitoring system is planned where a lecturer acts in both roles – as an observer and as the lecturer. This will foster better exchange of experience and through this help to make the whole study process more interesting.

Keywords: learner motivation, feedback, student support, undergraduate education

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Authors: Asad Ali, Asif Jamal

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The agriculture productivity losses due to microbial pathogens have been a serious issue in Pakistan and rest of the world. Present work was designed to isolate soil borne microorganisms having the antagonistic ability against notorious phytopathogens. From the initial collection of 23 bacterial isolates, two potent strains of Bacillus were screened on the basis of their comparative efficacy against devastating fungal pathogens. The strains AK-1 and AK-5 showed excellent inhibitory indexes against the majority of tested fungal strains. It was noted that both strains of Bacillus showed significant biocontrolling activity against Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium moniliforme, Colletotricum falcatum, Botrytis cinerea, Aspergillus niger, Fusarium oxysporum, Phythopthora capsici and Rhizopus oryzae. The strain AK-1 was efficient to suppress Aspergillus species and Rhizopus oryzae while AK-5 expressed significant antagonistic activity against Fusarium, Botrytis and Colletotricum species. On the basis of in vitro assay, it can be postulated that the Bacillus strains AK-1 and AK-5 can be used as bio-protective agent against various plant diseases. In addition, their applications as natural pesticides could be very helpful to prevent the adverse effects of chemical pesticides.

Keywords: bacillus species, biocontrol agent, biopesticides, phytopathogens

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Authors: L. Chetibi, D. Hamana, T. O. Busko, M. P. Kulish, S. Achour

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TiO2 nanostructures have attracted much attention due to their optical, dielectric and photocatalytic properties as well as applications including optical coating, photocatalysis and photoelectrochemical solar cells. This work aims to prepare TiO2 nanofibers (NFs) on titanium substrate (Ti) by in situ oxidation of Ti foils in a mixture solution of concentrated H2O2 and NaOH followed by proton exchange and calcinations. Scanning Electron microscopy (SEM) revealed an obvious network of TiO2 nanofibers. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra of these nanostructures revealed a broad intense band in the visible light range with a reduced near edge band emission. The PL bands in the visible region, mainly, results from surface oxygen vacancies and others defects. After irradiation with Ti+ ions (the irradiation energy was E = 140 keV with doses of 1013 ions/cm2), the intensity of the PL spectrum decreased as a consequence of the radiation treatment. The irradiation with Ti+ leads to a reduction of defects and generation of non irradiative defects near to the level of the conduction band as evidenced by the PL results. On the other hand, reducing the surface defects on TiO2 nanostructures may improve photocatalytic and optoelectronic properties of this nanostructure.

Keywords: TiO2, nanofibers, photoluminescence, irradiation

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Authors: Abdellatif Amouri, Sami Boudabbous

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The current study provides insights on the importance of entrepreneurial coaching as a source of developing entrepreneurial intentions among entrepreneurs and a determinant factor of business creation process and growth. Coaching, which implies exchange of adequate information and a mutual understanding between entrepreneurs and their partners, requires a better mutual knowledge of the representations and the perceptions of ideas which are widely present in their dealings and transactions. Therefore, to analyze entrepreneurs’ perceptions of business creation, we addressed a survey questionnaire to a group of Tunisian entrepreneurs and experts in business creation to indicate their level of approval concerning the prominence of coaching. The factor analysis indicates that more than 60% of the respondents believe that each statement reflects an aspect of coaching, with no bias to its position in the entrepreneurial process. Therefore, the image drawn from our respondents’ perceptions is that an entrepreneur is rather "constructed" and "shaped" by multiple apprenticeships both before and during the entrepreneurial act, through an accompaniment process and within interactions with trainers, consultants or professionals in starting a business. Similarly, the results indicate that the poor support structures and lack of accompaniment procedures stand as an obstacle impeding the development of entrepreneurial intention among business creators.

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Behavior, Entrepreneurial Coaching, Entrepreneurial Intention, Perceptions, Venture Creation

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Authors: R. Niranchana, K. Meena Alias Jeyanthi

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As a result of the present climate change dilemma, the energy balancing strategy is to construct a sustainable environment has become a top concern for researchers worldwide. The environment itself has always been a solution from the earliest days of human evolution. Carbon capture begins with its accurate estimation and monitoring credit inventories, and its efficient use. Sustainable urban planning with deliverables of re-use energy models might benefit from assessment methods like biomass carbon credit ranking. The term "biomass energy" refers to the various ways in which living organisms can potentially be converted into a source of energy. The approaches that can be applied to biomass and an algorithm for evaluating carbon credits are presented in this paper. The micro-climate evaluation using Computational Fluid dynamics was carried out across the location (1 km x1 km) at Dindigul, India (10°24'58.68" North, 77°54.1.80 East). Sustainable Urban design must be carried out considering environmental and physiological convection, conduction, radiation and evaporative heat exchange due to proceeding solar access and wind intensities.

Keywords: biomass, climate assessment, urban planning, multi-regression, carbon estimation algorithm

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Authors: Antoine Vikkey Hinson, Menonli Adjobimey, Gemayel Ahmed Biokou, Rose Mikponhoue

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Introduction: Construction industry is a critical concern with regard to Health and Safety Service worldwide. World health Organization revealed that work-related disease and trauma were held responsible for the death of one million nine hundred thousand people in 2016. The aim of this study it was to determine the prevalence and factors associated with the occurrence of work accidents in a construction industry in Benin. Method: It was a descriptive cross-sectional and analytical study. Data analysis was performed with R software 4.1.1. In multivariate analysis, we performed a binary logistic regression. OR adjusted (ORa) association measures and their 95% confidence interval [CI95%] were presented for the explanatory variables used in the final model. The significance threshold for all tests selected was 5% (p < 0.05) Result: In this study, 472 workers were included, and, of these, 452 (95.7%) were men corresponding to a sex ratio of 22.6. The average age of the workers was 33 years ± 8.8 years. Workers were mostly laborers (84.7%), and had declared having inadequate personal protective equipment (50.6%, n=239). The prevalence of work accidents is 50.8%. Collision with a rolling stock (25.8%), cut (16.2%), and stumbling (16.2%) were the main types of work accidents on the construction site. Four factors were associated with contributing to work accidents. Fatigue or exhaustion (ORa : 1.53[1.03 ; 2.28]); The use of dangerous tools (ORa : 1.81 [1.22 ; 2.71]); The various laborers’ jobs (ORa : 4.78 [2.62 ; 9.21]); and seniority in the company ≥ 4 years (ORa : 2.00 [1.35 ; 2.96]). Conclusion: This study allowed us to identify the associated factors. It is imperative to implement a rigorous policy of occupational health and security mostly the continuing training for workers safe, the supply of appropriate work tools and protective

Keywords: prevalence, work accident, associated factors, construction, benin

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Authors: O. Maximova, I. L. Danilovich, E. B. Deeva, K. Y. Bukhteev, A. A. Vorobyova, I. V. Morozov, O. S. Volkova, E. A. Zvereva, I. V. Solovyev, S. A. Nikolaev, D. Phuyal, M. Abdel-Hafiez, Y. C. Wang, J. Y. Lin, J. M. Chen, D. I. Gorbunov, K. Puzniak, B. Lake, A. N. Vasiliev

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The low-dimensional magnetic systems tend to reveal exotic spin liquid ground states or form peculiar types of long-range order. Among systems of vivid interest are those characterized by the triangular motif in two dimensions. The realization of either ordered or disordered ground state in a triangular, honeycomb, or kagome lattices is are dictated by the competition of exchange interactions, also being sensitive to anisotropy and the spin value of magnetic ions. While the low-spin Heisenberg systems may arrive at a spin liquid long-range entangled quantum state with emergent gauge structures, the high-spin Ising systems may establish the rigid non-collinear structures. This study presents the case of chiral non-coplanar inverted umbrella-type ferrimagnet formed in cobalt nitrate Co(NO₃)₂ below T

Keywords: chiral magnetic structures, low dimensional magnetic systems, umbrella-type ferrimagnets, chiral non-coplanar magnetic structures

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Authors: Matteo Rossini, Alberto Portioli Staudacher

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The market competition is moving from the single firm to the whole supply chain one because of increasing competition and growing need for operational efficiencies and customer orientation. Supply chain management allows companies to look beyond their organizational boundaries to develop and leverage resources and capabilities of their supply chain partners. This leads to create competitive advantages in the marketplace and because of this SCM has acquired strategic importance. Lean Approach is a management strategy that focuses on reducing every type of waste present in an organization. This approach is becoming more and more popular among supply chain managers. The supply chain application of lean approach is low diffused. It is not well studied which are the impacts of lean approach principles in a supply chain context. In literature there are only few studies simulating the lean approach performance in single products supply chain. This research work studies the impacts of lean principles implementation along a supply chain. To achieve this, a simulation model of a three-echelon multiproduct product supply chain has been built. Kanban system (and several priority policies) and setup time reduction degrees are implemented in the lean-configured supply chain to apply pull and lot-sizing decrease principles respectively. To evaluate the benefits of lean approach, lean supply chain is compared with an EOQ-configured supply chain. The simulation results show that Kanban system and setup-time reduction improve inventory stock level. They also show that logistics efforts are affected to lean implementation degree. The paper concludes describing performances of lean supply chain in different contexts.

Keywords: inventory policy, Kanban, lean supply chain, simulation study, supply chain management, planning

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Authors: Abdulmalik Adamu

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This study is premised on the assumption that language, particularly, English plays a significant role in the acquisition of power in Nigeria. This is against the backdrop of the fact that for the first time in the political history of Nigeria, an opposition party succeeded in dethroning an incumbent President and ruling political party in an election. Therefore the main objective was to investigate the role of language, particularly English in the acquisition of political power in Nigeria. The corpus generated for this study consisted of excerpts from the media exchange between the spokespersons of the two dominant political parties at the time of the elections in 2015; Olisa Metuh of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Lai Mohammed of the All Progressive Party (APC). The excerpts were analysed using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as a research tool. The findings revealed the acceptance of the first proposition that English facilitates the acquisition of political power in Nigeria and the rejection of the second proposition that English is an instrument for the exclusion of the populist from political events in Nigeria. The study, therefore, concluded that language, particularly English played a significant role in the acquisition of political power in Nigeria.

Keywords: language, power, politics, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)

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Authors: M. Rose Ntsewa, P. E. Dlamini, V. E. Mbanjwa, R. Chauke

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Land-use change from undisturbed forest to tea plantation may lead to accumulation or loss of soil organic carbon (SOC). So far, the factors controlling the vertical distribution of SOC under the long-term establishment of tea plantation remain poorly understood, especially in oxisols. In this study, we quantified the vertical distribution of SOC under tea plantation compared to adjacent undisturbed forest Oxisols sited at different topographic positions and also determined controlling edaphic factors. SOC was greater in the 30-year-old tea plantation compared to undisturbed forest oxisols and declined with depth across all topographic positions. Most of the SOC was found in the downslope position due to erosion and deposition. In the topsoil, SOC was positively correlated with heavy metals; manganese (r=0.62-0.83; P<0.05) and copper (r=0.45-0.69), effective cation exchange capacity (ECEC) (r=0.72) and mean weight diameter (MWD) (r=0.72-0.73), while in the subsoil SOC was positively correlated with copper (r=0.89-0.92) and zinc (r=0.86), ECEC (r=0.56-0.69) and MWD (r=0.48). These relationships suggest that SOC in the tea plantation, oxisols is chemically stabilized via complexation with heavy metals, and physically stabilized by soil aggregates.

Keywords: oxisols, tea plantation, topography, undisturbed forest

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Authors: Shoaib Yousaf

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The main purpose of this research is to the empirical investigation of the bullwhip effect under sensitivity analysis in the two-tier supply chain. The simulation modeling technique has been applied in this research as a research methodology to see the sensitivity analysis of the bullwhip effect in the rice industry of Pakistan. The research comprises two case studies that have been chosen as a sample. The results of this research have confirmed that reduction in production delay reduces the bullwhip effect, which conforms to the time compressing paradigm and the significance of the reduction in production delay to lessen demand amplification. The result of this research also indicates that by increasing the value of time to adjust inventory decreases the bullwhip effect. Furthermore, by decreasing the value of alpha increases the damping effect of the exponential smoother, it is not surprising that it also reduces the bullwhip effect. Moreover, by reducing the value of time to work in progress also reduces the bullwhip effect. This research will help practitioners and operation managers to reduces the major costs of their products in three ways. They can reduce their i) inventory levels, ii) better utilize their capacity and iii) improve their forecasting techniques. However, this study is based on two tier supply chain, while in reality the supply chain has got many tiers. Hence, future work will be extended across more than two-tier supply chains.

Keywords: bullwhip effect, rice industry, supply chain dynamics, simulation, sensitivity analysis

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Authors: Prasanjit Das, M .M. K. Khan, M. G. Rasul, Jie Wu, I. Youn

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Crystallisation scale occurs when dissolved minerals precipitate from an aqueous solution. To investigate the crystallisation scale growth of normal solubility salt, a lab-scale agitation tank with and without baffles were used as a benchmark using potassium nitrate as the test fluid. Potassium nitrate (KNO3) solution in this test leads to crystallisation scale on heat transfer surfaces. This experimental investigation has focused on the effect of surface crystallisation of potassium nitrate on the low-temperature heat exchange surfaces on the wall of the agitation tank. The impeller agitation rate affects the scaling rate at the low-temperature agitation wall and it shows a decreasing scaling rate with an increasing agitation rate. It was observed that there was a significant variation of heat transfer coefficients and scaling resistance coefficients with different agitation rate as well as with varying impeller size, tank with and without baffles and solution concentration.

Keywords: crystallisation, heat transfer coefficient, scale, resistance

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Authors: Asif Jamal, Asad Ali, Muhammad Ishtiaq Ali

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The agriculture productivity losses due to microbial pathogens have been a serious issue in Pakistan and rest of the world. Present work was designed to isolate soil borne microorganisms having the antagonistic ability against notorious phytopathogens. From the initial collection of 23 bacterial isolates, two potent strains of Bacillus were screened on the basis of their comparative efficacy against devastating fungal pathogens. The strains AK-1 and AK-5 showed excellent inhibitory indexes against the majority of tested fungal strains. It was noted that both strains of Bacillus showed significant biocontrolling activity against Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium moniliforme, Colletotricum falcatum, Botrytis cinerea, Aspergillus niger, Fusarium oxysporum, Phythopthora capsici and Rhizopus oryzae. The strain AK-1 was efficient to suppress Aspergillus species and Rhizopus oryzae while AK-5 expressed significant antagonistic activity against Fusarium, Botrytis, and Colletotricum species. On the basis of in vitro assay, it can be postulated that the Bacillus strains AK-1 and AK-5 can be used as a bio-protective agent against various plant diseases. In addition, their applications as natural pesticides could be very helpful to prevent the adverse effects of chemical pesticides.

Keywords: biological control, Bacillus spp, fungal pathogens, agriculture

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Authors: Ashkan Mirzay Fashami

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This study examines the effects of auditor switch, auditee’s industry, and auditee’s location on audit fees in Australia. It uses fee data of Australian Securities Exchange 500 companies, considering all industry classifications throughout the country from 2006 until 2016. Main findings show that auditor switch does not affect audit fees. However, auditee’s industry affects audit fees. This effect occurs in information technology, financials, energy, and materials sectors among the top 500 companies. Financials, energy, and materials sectors face a fee rise, whereas information technology has a fee cut. The extent of fee changes is different among various industries, wherein the financial sector has the highest increase. Further, auditee’s location affects audit fees. Top 500 companies in Hobart, Perth, and Brisbane face a fee reduction, wherein the highest cut is in Hobart. Further analysis suggests that the Australian audit market is being increasingly concentrated in the hands of the Big Four audit firms.

Keywords: audit, auditor switch, Australia, fee, low-balling

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Authors: Imkongtenla Pongen

Abstract:

Self Help Groups (SGHs) are socio-commercial instruments in addressing urban poverty and strengthening livelihoods. Being a member of Self Help Group helped in mutual exchanges of ideas, develop risk taking behaviour, learns flexibility in planning of a programme, and interpersonal communication within the group. In the present study, an attempt has been made to examine the functions, characteristics and practices of Self Help Groups and its impact on sustainable development among the Ao Nagas of Alongkima, Nagaland, NorthEast India. They are a tribal group and racially belong to the Mongoloid stock and linguistically to the Tibeto-Burman group. They follow endogamous, patriarchal, and patrilineal system. Major characteristics of Self Help groups in this study are found to be team spirit and group cohesiveness. Such groups are found to be geared towards a number of self-sufficiency based business ventures. The problems faced in normal functioning of the groups are unpunctuality and the inability to attend a meeting by all the members .Participation in such groups has increased women’s influence over the economic resources and decision making in the household, improved self-confidence and living standard, capacity building, self- dependent and self-reliant with no educational and entrepreneurial background, generate savings and hone their skills as motivators and leaders. All these has enhanced her status in every sphere of life in par with the opposite gender. In a nutshell, we can say that what she cannot achieve as an individual, she can achieve as a member of a Self Help Group. Hence, we should try to develop mechanisms to guarantee the sustainability of Self Help Groups which depends on the way they can deal with both internal and external conflicts like globalization and competition from new markets.

Keywords: Ao nagas, microfinance, self help group, women empowerment

Procedia PDF Downloads 341

Authors: Carlson Murray, Ali Lazrak

Abstract:

Robust experimental evidence of systematic violations of expected utility (EU) establishes that individuals facing risk overweight utility from low probability gains and losses when making choices. These findings motivated development of models of preferences with probability weighting functions, such as rank dependent utility (RDU). We solve for the optimal investing strategy of an RDU investor in a dynamic binomial setting from which we derive implications for investing behavior. We show that relative to EU investors with constant relative risk aversion, commonly measured probability weighting functions produce optimal RDU terminal wealth with significant downside protection and upside exposure. We additionally find that in contrast to EU investors, RDU investors optimally choose a portfolio that contains fair bets that provide payo↵s that can be interpreted as lottery outcomes or exposure to idiosyncratic returns. In a calibrated version of the model, we calculate that RDU investors would be willing to pay 5% of their initial wealth for the freedom to trade away from an optimal EU wealth allocation. The dynamic trading strategy that supports the optimal wealth allocation implies portfolio weights that are independent of initial wealth but requires higher risky share after good stock return histories. Optimal trading also implies the possibility of non-participation when historical returns are poor. Our model fills a gap in the literature by providing new quantitative and qualitative predictions that can be tested experimentally or using data on household wealth and portfolio choice.

Keywords: behavioral finance, probability weighting, portfolio choice

Procedia PDF Downloads 420

Authors: Naveed Ghani, Samreen Javed

Abstract:

In today’s heterogeneous network environment, there is a growing demand for distrust clients to jointly execute secure network to prevent from malicious attacks as the defining task of propagating malicious code is to locate new targets to attack. Residual risk is always there no matter what solutions are implemented or whet so ever security methodology or standards being adapted. Security is the first and crucial phase in the field of Computer Science. The main aim of the Computer Security is gathering of information with secure network. No one need wonder what all that malware is trying to do: It's trying to steal money through data theft, bank transfers, stolen passwords, or swiped identities. From there, with the help of our survey we learn about the importance of white listing, antimalware programs, security patches, log files, honey pots, and more used in banks for financial data protection but there’s also a need of implementing the IPV6 tunneling with Crypto data transformation according to the requirements of new technology to prevent the organization from new Malware attacks and crafting of its own messages and sending them to the target. In this paper the writer has given the idea of implementing IPV6 Tunneling Secessions on private data transmission from financial organizations whose secrecy needed to be safeguarded.

Keywords: network worms, malware infection propagating malicious code, virus, security, VPN

Procedia PDF Downloads 358

Authors: Tayaba Dastgeer, Farhan Rasheed, Muhammad Saeed, Maqsood Ahmad, Zia Ashraf, Abdul Waheed, Muhammad Kamran, Mohsin Khurshid

Abstract:

Objectives: The study aimed to determine the efficacy of linezolid against clinical isolates of methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the microbiology department of Allama Iqbal Medical College Lahore from August 2017 to September 2019. Isolates were confirmed as MRSA via the presence of the mec-A gene. Confirmed MRSA isolates were processed for susceptibility testing against different antimicrobials, especially linezolid, via the disc diffusion method. Zone sizes were interpreted according to CLSI guidelines. Results: Various types of clinical samples were included in the study; however, the highest frequency of MRSA isolates was found in pus samples, followed by other clinical samples. Among hospitalized patients, most MRSA isolates were obtained from patients in the surgical ward. Of 243 mec-A gene detected isolates, Vancomycin and linezolid showed 100% susceptibility, chloramphenicol showed declining resistance 78 (32.09%), and emerging sensitivity 165 (67.90%) against MRSA. Conclusion: Linezolid is a very efficient drug against MRSA, but the use of this novel drug must be conserved for vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or when more resistant pathogens are suspected.

Keywords: MRSA, chloramphenicol, linezolid, nosocomial infections

Procedia PDF Downloads 97