Search results for: functions of two variables

Authors: Zahra Amirhosseini, Mahtab Nameni

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The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between growth, beta, and Company's cash. We calculate cash as dependent variable and growth opportunity and beta as independent variables. This study was based on an analysis of panel data. Population of the study is the companies which listed in Tehran Stock exchange and a financial data of 215 companies during the period 2010 to 2015 have been selected as the sample through systematic sampling. The results of the first hypothesis showed there is a significant relationship between growth opportunities cash holdings. Also according to the analysis done in the second hypothesis, we determined that there is an inverse relation between company risk and cash holdings.

Keywords: growth, beta, liquidity, company

Procedia PDF Downloads 395

Authors: Lindsey Giunta

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This review examines the current literature regarding the impact of COVID-19 on academic functioning and anxiety in children and adolescents. The objective was to determine the ways in which the pandemic affected youth mental health and academics, in addition to the extent that these factors were transformed as a result of the worldwide state of affairs. Twenty papers were selected and reviewed, and data showed long term consequences in youth mental health resulting from the current pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic and its associated lockdowns led to disrupted childhood education, and data showed that the growth of cognitive executive functions was impacted to varying degrees dependent upon geographic location. The literature recommends supplemental education on the national level, as well as mental health promotion within communities and schools.

Keywords: pandemic, children, adolescents, anxiety, academic functioning

Procedia PDF Downloads 154

Authors: Omar Al Ali

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The current study was aimed to explore the relationships between emotional intelligence, cognitive ability, and leader's performance. Data were collected from 260 senior managers from UAE. The results showed that there are significant relationships between emotional intelligence and leadership performance as measured by the annual internal evaluations of each participant (r = .42, p < .01). Data from regression analysis revealed that both variables namely emotional intelligence (beta = .31, p < .01), and cognitive ability (beta = .29, p < .01), predicted leadership competencies, and together explained 26% of its variance. Data suggests that EI and cognitive ability are significantly correlated with leadership performance. In depth implications of the present findings for human resource development theory and practice are discussed.

Keywords: emotional intelligence, cognitive ability, leadership, performance

Procedia PDF Downloads 477

Authors: Aaron Kim, Nydia Hernandez

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Despite the known deficits in sleep duration among adolescents and the increasing prevalence of substance use behaviors among this group, relatively little is known about how insufficient sleep is related to various substance use behaviors and the underlying mechanisms. Informed by the literature suggesting the predictive role of insufficient sleep for substance use and depressive symptoms, we hypothesized that adolescents who lack sufficient sleep during school nights would report a higher level of depressive symptoms and substance use than their counterparts with sufficient sleep. We also hypothesized that depressive symptoms would explain the association of insufficient sleep with substance use, suggesting that mental health plays an important role as a mechanism between insufficient sleep and substance use. This study used the data drawn from the 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System Data, which includes a nationally representative sample of U.S. high school students (N=13,677, 49.4% Female, 9th-12th graders). Self-report measures of insufficient sleep (sleeping<7 h on an average school night), depressive symptoms (yes/no), any past 30-day use of cigarette (yes/no), e-cigarette (yes/no), alcohol (yes/no), and marijuana (yes/no). Among the total sample, 47.9% of students reported that they did not have sufficient sleep on school nights, indicating sleeping less than 7 hours. Regarding depressive symptoms, 36.7% of students reported feeling sad or hopeless almost every day for two weeks or more in a row during the past 12 months. Also, the percentages of students who reported one or more times of cigarette use, e-cigarette use, alcohol use, and marijuana use in the past month were 5.32%, 30.11%, 26.83%, and 21.65%, respectively. For bivariate associations among these study variables, insufficient sleep was positively associated with other variables: depressive symptoms (r=.08, p<.001), cigarette use (r=.03, p<.001), e-cigarette use (r=.04, p<.001), alcohol use (r=.07, p<.001), and marijuana use (r=.08, p<.001). After controlling for students’ characteristics (i.e., age, gender, race/ethnicity, grades), sleeping less than 7 hours on school nights (vs. sleeping more than 7 hours) was significantly associated with the past 30-day use of alcohol and marijuana, whereas cigarette and e-cigarette uses were not. That is, the students who reported having an insufficient sleep on school nights had higher odds of alcohol (Odds Ratio [OR]=1.15, 95% Confidence Interval [CI]=1.014-1.301) and marijuana use (OR=1.36, 95% CI=1.132-1.543). In a subsequent analysis including depressive symptoms together with insufficient sleep, the association of insufficient sleep with alcohol use (OR=1.13, 95% CI=1.011-1.297) and marijuana use (OR=1.33, 95% CI=1.130-1.521) were attenuated and explained by depressive symptoms. Depressive symptoms significantly increased the odds of alcohol use by 32.2% (OR=1.32, 95% CI=1.131-1.557) and marijuana use by 202.1% (OR=2.02, 95% CI=1.672-2.502). These findings together suggest that insufficient sleep may contribute to increased risks of substance uses among adolescents. The current study also shows that psychological disorders of adolescents play important roles in understanding the association between insufficient sleep and substance use, suggesting insufficient sleep is related to substance use indirectly through depressive symptoms. This study indicates the importance of sleep deprivation among adolescents and screening for insufficient sleep in preventing/intervening in substance use.

Keywords: adolescents, depressive symptoms, sleep, substance use

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Authors: M. V. Shivaani, P. K. Jain, Surendra S. Yadav

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Worldwide regulators, practitioners and researchers view risk-disclosure as one of the most important steps that will promote corporate accountability and transparency. Recognizing this growing significance of risk disclosures, the paper first develops a risk disclosure index. Covering 69 risk items/themes, this index is developed by employing thematic content analysis and encompasses three attributes of disclosure: namely, nature (qualitative or quantitative), time horizon (backward-looking or forward-looking) and tone (no impact, positive impact or negative impact). As the focus of study is on substantive rather than symbolic disclosure, content analysis has been carried out manually. The study is based on non-financial companies of Nifty500 index and covers a ten year period from April 1, 2005 to March 31, 2015, thus yielding 3,872 annual reports for analysis. The analysis reveals that (on an average) only about 14% of risk items (i.e. about 10 out 69 risk items studied) are being disclosed by Indian companies. Risk items that are frequently disclosed are mostly macroeconomic in nature and their disclosures tend to be qualitative, forward-looking and conveying both positive and negative aspects of the concerned risk. The second objective of the paper is to gauge the factors that affect the level of disclosures in annual reports. Given the panel nature of data, and possible endogeneity amongst variables, Diff-GMM regression has been applied. The results indicate that age and size of firms have a significant positive impact on disclosure quality, whereas growth rate does not have a significant impact. Further, post-recession period (2009-2015) has witnessed significant improvement in quality of disclosures. In terms of corporate governance variables, board size, board independence, CEO duality, presence of CRO and constitution of risk management committee appear to be significant factors in determining the quality of risk disclosures. It is noteworthy that the study contributes to literature by putting forth a variant to existing disclosure indices that not only captures the quantity but also the quality of disclosures (in terms of semantic attributes). Also, the study is a first of its kind attempt in a prominent emerging market i.e. India. Therefore, this study is expected to facilitate regulators in mandating and regulating risk disclosures and companies in their endeavor to reduce information asymmetry.

Keywords: risk disclosure, voluntary disclosures, corporate governance, Diff-GMM

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Authors: Ali Heydarimoghim

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In this paper, the optimal placement of charging and discharging stations is done to determine the location and capacity of the stations, reducing the cost of electric vehicle owners' losses, reducing the cost of distribution system losses, and reducing the costs associated with the stations. Also, observing the permissible limits of the bus voltage and the capacity of the stations and their distance are considered as constraints of the problem. Given the traffic situation in different areas of a city, we estimate the amount of energy required to charge and the amount of energy provided to discharge electric vehicles in each area. We then introduce the electricity distribution system of the city in question. Following are the scenarios for introducing the problem and introducing the objective and constraint functions. Finally, the simulation results for different scenarios are compared.

Keywords: charging & discharging stations, hybrid vehicles, optimization, replacement

Procedia PDF Downloads 138

Authors: A. Suparmi, C. Cari, M. Yunianto, B. N. Pratiwi

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D-dimensional Dirac equations of q-deformed shape invariant potentials were solved using supersymmetric quantum mechanics (SUSY QM) in the case of exact spin symmetry. The D dimensional radial Dirac equation for shape invariant potential reduces to one-dimensional Schrodinger type equation by an appropriate variable and parameter change. The relativistic energy spectra were analyzed by using SUSY QM and shape invariant properties from radial D dimensional Dirac equation that have reduced to one dimensional Schrodinger type equation. The SUSY operator was used to generate the D dimensional relativistic radial wave functions, the relativistic energy equation reduced to the non-relativistic energy in the non-relativistic limit.

Keywords: D-dimensional dirac equation, non-central potential, SUSY QM, radial wave function

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Authors: Ashwini Patil

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Caudal block is one of the most commonly used regional anesthetic techniques in children. Currently, fentanyl is used as an adjuvant to bupivacaine to prolong analgesia but fentanyl is a narcotic. Dexamethasone, a glucocorticoid with strong anti-inflammatory effects provides improvement in post-operative analgesia and post-operative side effects. However, its analgesic efficacy and safety in comparison with fentanyl has not been extensively studied. So the objective of this randomized controlled study is to compare dexamethasone with fentanyl as an adjuvant to bupivacaine for caudal block in children in relation to the duration of caudal analgesia, post-operative analgesic requirement and incidence of post-operative nausea and vomiting. This study included 100 children, aged 1–6 years, undergoing lower abdominal surgeries. Patients were randomized into two groups, 50 each to receive a combination of dexamethasone 0.2 mg/kg along with 1 ml/kg bupivacaine 0.25% (group A) or combination of fentanyl (1 ug/kg) along with 1ml/kg bupivacaine 0.25% (group B). In the post-operative period, pain was assessed using a Modified Objective Pain Scale (MOPS) until 12 hr after surgery and rescue analgesia is administered when MOPS score 4 or more is recorded. Residual motor block, number of analgesic doses required within 24 hr after surgery, sedation scores, intra-operative and post-operative hemodynamic variables, post-operative nausea and vomiting (PONV), and other adverse effects were recorded. Data is analysed using unpaired t test and Significance level of P< 0.05 is considered statistically significant. Group A showed a significantly longer time to first analgesic requirement than group B (p<0.05). The number of rescue analgesic doses required in the first 24 h was significantly less in group A (p<0.05). Group A showed significantly lower MOPS scores than group B(p<0.05). Intra-operative and post-operative hemodynamic variables, Modified Bromage Scale scores, and sedation scores were comparable in both the groups. Group A showed significantly fewer incidences of PONV compared with group B(p<0.05). This study reveals that adding dexamethasone to bupivacaine prolongs the duration of postoperative analgesia and decreases the incidence of PONV as compared to combination of fentanyl to bupivacaine after a caudal block in pediatric patients.

Keywords: bupivacaine, caudal analgesia, dexamethasone, pediatric

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Authors: Siyamak Sarafraz, Reza Esmaeil Pour, Saeed Jamshidi, Asghar Molaei Dehkordi

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Cutting transport is one of the major problems in directional and extended reach oil and gas wells. Lack of sufficient attention to this issue may bring some troubles such as casing running, stuck pipe, excessive torque and drag, hole pack off, bit wear, decreased the rate of penetration (ROP), increased equivalent circulation density (ECD) and logging. Since it is practically impossible to directly observe the behavior of deep wells, a test setup was designed to investigate cutting transport phenomena. This experimental work carried out to scrutiny behavior of the effective variables in cutting transport. The test setup contained a test section with 17 feet long that made of a 3.28 feet long transparent glass pipe with 3 inch diameter, a storage tank with 100 liters capacity, drill pipe rotation which made of stainless steel with 1.25 inches diameter, pump to circulate drilling fluid, valve to adjust flow rate, bit and a camera to record all events which then converted to RGB images via the Image Processing Toolbox. After preparation of test process, each test performed separately, and weights of the output particles were measured and compared with each other. Observation charts were plotted to assess the behavior of viscosity, flow rate and RPM in inclinations of 0°, 30°, 60° and 90°. RPM was explored with other variables such as flow rate and viscosity in different angles. Also, effect of different flow rate was investigated in directional conditions. To access the precise results, captured image were analyzed to find out bed thickening and particles behave in the annulus. The results of this experimental study demonstrate that drill string rotation helps particles to be suspension and reduce the particle deposition cutting movement increased significantly. By raising fluid velocity, laminar flow converted to turbulence flow in the annulus. Increases in flow rate in horizontal section by considering a lower range of viscosity is more effective and improved cuttings transport performance.

Keywords: cutting transport, directional drilling, flow rate, hole cleaning, pipe rotation

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Authors: Nasser Mohamed Ramli, Mohamad Syafiq Mohamad

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Many types of controllers were applied on the continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) unit to control the temperature. In this research paper, Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) controller are compared with Fuzzy Logic controller for temperature control of CSTR. The control system for temperature non-isothermal of a CSTR will produce a stable response curve to its set point temperature. A mathematical model of a CSTR using the most general operating condition was developed through a set of differential equations into S-function using MATLAB. The reactor model and S-function are developed using m.file. After developing the S-function of CSTR model, User-Defined functions are used to link to SIMULINK file. Results that are obtained from simulation and temperature control were better when using Fuzzy logic control compared to PID control.

Keywords: CSTR, temperature, PID, fuzzy logic

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Authors: Gaosheng Ju

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Our empirical evidence supports a model of consumption planning behaviors with the following two characteristics. First, households formulate a rational consumption target based on their desired target, displaying a diminishing sensitivity to the discrepancy between them. Second, the established target is a reference point for their planned consumption. The diminishing sensitivity leads to opposite reactions in higher and lower quantiles of both consumption targets and consumption growth to changes in economic conditions. This phenomenon accounts for the perplexingly low correlation between consumption and other macroeconomic variables. Furthermore, the opposing movements of consumption targets offer new insights into consumption-based asset pricing.

Keywords: consumption planning, reference point, diminishing sensitivity, quantile regression, asset pricing puzzles

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Authors: Janaina Pereira, Barbara Gonzalez, Valentina Chitas, Teresa Molina

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Intro: The positive impact of opioid maintenance programs on the health of heroin addicts, and on public health in general, has been widely recognized, namely on the prevalence reduction of infectious diseases as HIV, and on the social reintegration of this population. Nevertheless, a part of patients in these programs cannot remain heroin abstinent, or has relapses, during the treatment. Method: Thus, this cross-sectional research aims at analyzing the relation between a set of psychological and psychosocial variables, which have been associated with the onset of heroin use, and assess if they are also associated with absence of abstinence in participants in an opioid maintenance program. A total of 62 patients, aged between 26 and 58 years old (M= 40.87, DP= 7.39) with a time in opioid maintenance program between 1 and 10 years (M= 5.42, DP= 3.05), 77.4% male and 22.6% female, participated in this research. To assess the criterion variable (heroin use) we used the mean value of positive results in urine tests during the participation in the program, weighted according to the number of months in program. The predictor variables were the coping strategies, the dispositional sensation seeking, and the existence of Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Results: The results showed that only 33.87% of the patients were totally abstinent of heroin use since the beginning of the program, and the absence of abstinence, as the number of positive heroin tests, was primarily predicted by less proactive coping, and secondarily by a higher level of sensation seeking. 16.13% of the sample fulfilled diagnosis criteria for PTSD, and 67.74 % had at least one traumatic experience throughout their lives. The total of PTSD symptoms had a positive correlation with the number of physical health problems, and with the lack of professional occupation. These results have several implications for the clinical practice in this field, and we suggest the promotion of proactive coping strategies should integrate these opioid maintenance programs, as they represent the tendency to face future events as challenges and opportunities, being positively related to positive results on several fields. The early identification of PTSD in the participants, before entering the opioid maintenance programs, would be important as it is related to negative features that hinder social reintegration, Finally, to identify individuals with a sensation seeking profile would be relevant, not only because they face a higher risk of relapse, but also because the therapeutical approaches should not ignore this dispositional feature in the alternatives they propose to the patients.

Keywords: opioid maintenance programs, proactive coping, PTSD, sensation seeking

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Authors: Fajar Ajie Setiawan, Ratu Azima Mayangsari, Bunga Aprilia

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The emergence of creative hubs around the world, including in Bandung, was primarily driven by the needs of collaborative-innovative spaces for creative industry activities such as the Maker Movement and the Coworking Movement. These activities pose challenges for identification and formulation of sets of indicators for modeling creative hubs in Bandung to help stakeholders in formulating strategies. This study intends to identify their characteristics. This research was conducted using a qualitative approach comparing three concepts of creative hub categorization and integrating them into a single instrument to analyze 12 selected creative hubs. Our results showed three new functions of creative hubs in Bandung: (1) cultural, (2) retail business, and (3) community network. Results also suggest that creative hubs in Bandung are commonly established for networking and community activities. Another result shows that there was a shifting pattern of creative hubs before the 2000s and after the 2000s, which also creates a hybrid group of creative hubs.

Keywords: creative industry, creative hubs, Ngariung, Bandung

Procedia PDF Downloads 177

Authors: Hassan Masoumi, Ahad Salimi, Nazanin Barhemmat, Babak Gholami

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Artificial neural networks have gained a lot of interest as empirical models for their powerful representational capacity, multi input and output mapping characteristics. In fact, most feed-forward networks with nonlinear nodal functions have been proved to be universal approximates. In this paper, we propose a new supervised method for color image classification based on self organizing feature maps (SOFM). This algorithm is based on competitive learning. The method partitions the input space using self-organizing feature maps to introduce the concept of local neighborhoods. Our image classification system entered into RGB image. Experiments with simulated data showed that separability of classes increased when increasing training time. In additional, the result shows proposed algorithms are effective for color image classification.

Keywords: classification, SOFM algorithm, neural network, neighborhood, RGB image

Procedia PDF Downloads 478

Authors: Bin Liu

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Prokaryotic promoter, consisted of two short DNA sequences located at in -35 and -10 positions, is responsible for controlling the initiation and expression of gene expression. Different types of promoters have different functions, and their consensus sequences are similar. In addition, their consensus sequences may be different for the same type of promoter, which poses difficulties for promoter identification. Unfortunately, all existing computational methods treat promoter identification as a binary classification task and can only identify whether a query sequence belongs to a specific promoter type. It is desired to develop computational methods for effectively identifying promoters and their types. Here, a two-layer predictor is proposed to try to deal with the problem. The first layer is designed to predict whether a given sequence is a promoter and the second layer predicts the type of promoter that is judged as a promoter. Meanwhile, we also analyze the importance of feature and sequence conversation in two aspects: promoter identification and promoter type identification. To the best knowledge of ours, it is the first computational predictor to detect promoters and their types.

Keywords: promoter, promoter type, random forest, sequence information

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Authors: Sabri Arik

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In this paper, we study the global asymptotic robust stability of delayed neural networks with norm-bounded uncertainties. By employing the Lyapunov stability theory and Homeomorphic mapping theorem, we derive some new types of sufficient conditions ensuring the existence, uniqueness and global asymptotic stability of the equilibrium point for the class of neural networks with discrete time delays under parameter uncertainties and with respect to continuous and slopebounded activation functions. An important aspect of our results is their low computational complexity as the reported results can be verified by checking some properties symmetric matrices associated with the uncertainty sets of network parameters. The obtained results are shown to be generalization of some of the previously published corresponding results. Some comparative numerical examples are also constructed to compare our results with some closely related existing literature results.

Keywords: neural networks, delayed systems, lyapunov functionals, stability analysis

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Authors: Akhmylovskaia Larisa, Barysh Andriana

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The present paper is introducing the translation score developing methodology and methods in the cross-cultural communication. The ideas and examples presented by the authors illustrate the universal character of translation score developing methods under analysis. Personal experience in the international theatre-making projects, opera laboratories, cross-cultural master-classes, movie and theatre festivals give more opportunities to single out the conditions, forms, means and principles of translation score developing as well as the translator/interpreter’s functions as cultural liaison for multiethnic collaboration.

Keywords: methodology of translation score developing, pre-production, analysis, production, post-production, ethnic scene theory, theatre anthropology, laboratory, master-class, educational project, academic project, Stanislavski terminology meta-language, super-objective, participant observation

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Authors: Saurabh Agarwal

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This paper attempts to formalise the effect of demographic variables like marital status, gender, occupation and age on the source of investment advice which, in turn, affect the herd behaviour of investors and probability of investment in near future. Further, postulations have been made for most preferred investment option and purpose of saving and source of investment. Impact of theoretical analysis on choice among investment alternatives has also been investigated. The analysis contributes to understanding the different investment choices made by households in India. The insights offered in the paper indirectly contribute in uncovering the various unexplained asset pricing puzzles.

Keywords: portfolio choice, investment decisions, investor’s behaviour, Indian securities market

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Authors: Juan Sepúlveda

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Energy is a fundamental component in sustainability, the access and use of this resource is related with economic growth, social improvements, and environmental impacts. In this sense, energy efficiency has been studied as a factor that enhances the positive impacts of energy in communities; however, the implementation of efficiency requires strong policy and strategies that usually rely on individual measures focused in independent dimensions. In this paper, the problem of energy efficiency as a multi-objective problem is studied, using scientometric analysis to discover trends and patterns that allow to identify the main variables and study approximations related with a further development of models to integrate energy efficiency and MCA into policy making for small communities.

Keywords: energy efficiency, MCA, scientometric, trends

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Authors: Hamza Nejib, Okba Taouali

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This paper presents two of the most knowing kernel adaptive filtering (KAF) approaches, the kernel least mean squares and the kernel recursive least squares, in order to predict a new output of nonlinear signal processing. Both of these methods implement a nonlinear transfer function using kernel methods in a particular space named reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS) where the model is a linear combination of kernel functions applied to transform the observed data from the input space to a high dimensional feature space of vectors, this idea known as the kernel trick. Then KAF is the developing filters in RKHS. We use two nonlinear signal processing problems, Mackey Glass chaotic time series prediction and nonlinear channel equalization to figure the performance of the approaches presented and finally to result which of them is the adapted one.

Keywords: online prediction, KAF, signal processing, RKHS, Kernel methods, KRLS, KLMS

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Authors: Thea Freese, Michael Gille, Andrew Hursthouse, John Struthers

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Ship operators on the North and Baltic Sea have been experiencing increased political interest in marine environmental protection and cleaner vessel operations. Stricter legislation on SO2 and NOx emissions, ballast water management and other measures of protection are currently being phased in or will come into force in the coming years. These measures benefit the health of the marine environment, while increasing company’s operational costs. In times of excess shipping capacity and linked consolidation in the industry non-compliance with environmental rules is one way companies might hope to stay competitive with both intra- and inter-modal trade. Around 5-15% of industry participants are believed to neglect laws on vessel-source pollution willingly or unwillingly. Exploratory in-depth interviews conducted with 12 experts from various stakeholder groups informed the researchers about variables influencing compliance levels, including awareness and apprehension, willingness to comply, ability to comply and effectiveness of controls. Semi-structured expert interviews were evaluated using qualitative content analysis. A model of determinants of compliance was developed and is presented here. While most vessel operators endeavour to achieve full compliance with environmental rules, a lack of availability of technical solutions, expediency of implementation and operation and economic feasibility might prove a hindrance. Ineffective control systems on the other hand foster willing non-compliance. With respect to motivations, lacking time, lacking financials and the absence of commercial advantages decrease compliance levels. These and other variables were inductively developed from qualitative data and integrated into a model on environmental compliance. The outcomes presented here form part of a wider research project on economic effects of maritime environmental legislation. Research on determinants of compliance might inform policy-makers about actual behavioural effects of shipping companies and might further the development of a comprehensive legal system for environmental protection.

Keywords: compliance, marine environmental protection, exploratory qualitative research study, clean vessel operations, North and Baltic Sea area

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Authors: Indranil Bayal, Pradipta Panchadhyayee

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Path-spin hybrid entanglement generated and confined in a single spin-1/2 particle is converted to spin-spin hybrid interparticle entanglement, which finds its important applications in quantum information processing. This protocol uses beam splitter, spin flipper, spin measurement, classical channel, unitary transformations, etc., and requires no collective operation on the pair of particles whose spin variables share complete entanglement after the accomplishment of the protocol. The specialty of the protocol lies in the fact that the path-spin entanglement is transferred between spin degrees of freedom of two separate particles initially possessed by a single party.

Keywords: entanglement, path-spin entanglement, spin-spin entanglement, CNOT operation

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Authors: Abrehet Kahsay Mehari

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Aquatic plants provide the physical structure of wetlands and increase their habitat complexity and heterogeneity, and as such, have a profound influence on other biotas. In this study, we investigated how human disturbance activities influenced the species richness and community composition of aquatic plants in the wetlands of Lake Tana, Ethiopia. Twelve wetlands were selected: four lacustrine, four river mouths, and four riverine papyrus swamps. Data on aquatic plants, environmental variables, and human activities were collected during the dry and wet seasons of 2018. A linear mixed effect model and a distance-based Redundancy Analysis (db-RDA) were used to relate aquatic plant species richness and community composition, respectively, to human activities and environmental variables. A total of 113 aquatic plant species, belonging to 38 families, were identified across all wetlands during the dry and wet seasons. Emergent species had the maximum area covered at 73.45 % and attained the highest relative abundance, followed by amphibious and other forms. The mean taxonomic richness of aquatic plants was significantly lower in wetlands with high overall human disturbance scores compared to wetlands with low overall human disturbance scores. Moreover, taxonomic richness showed a negative correlation with livestock grazing, tree plantation, and sand mining. The community composition also varied across wetlands with varying levels of human disturbance and was primarily driven by turnover (i.e., replacement of species) rather than nestedness resultant(i.e., loss of species). Distance-based redundancy analysis revealed that livestock grazing, tree plantation, sand mining, waste dumping, and crop cultivation were significant predictors of variation in aquatic plant communities’ composition in the wetlands. Linear mixed effect models and distance-based redundancy analysis also revealed that water depth, turbidity, conductivity, pH, sediment depth, and temperature were important drivers of variations in aquatic plant species richness and community composition. Papyrus swamps had the highest species richness and supported different plant communities. Conservation efforts should therefore focus on these habitats and measures should be taken to restore the highly disturbed and species poor wetlands near the river mouths.

Keywords: species richness, community composition, aquatic plants, wetlands, Lake Tana, human disturbance activities

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Authors: Weidong Fu, Qingsong Wang, Wei Hua, Ming Cheng, Giuseppe Buja

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A single-phase transformerless electric energy router (TL-EER) is proposed for renewable energy management and power quality improvement in smart homes. The proposed TL-EER only contains four semiconductor switching devices, which reduces costs greatly compared to traditional electric energy routers. TL-EER functions as intelligent systems that optimize the flow and distribution of energy within a grid, enabling seamless interaction between generation, storage, and consumption. In addition, TL-EER operates in multiple modes and could be converted to diverse topologies by changing the states of relays. As for power quality, voltage and current compensating methods are adapted. Thus, high-quality electrical energy could be transferred to the load, and the grid-side power factor could be improved. Finally, laboratory prototypes are established to validate the effectiveness of the system.

Keywords: transformerless, electric energy router, power flow, power quality, power factor

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Authors: Torkan Jabbariraad

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This study explores the role of private regulation as a mode of governance that engages non-state actors in establishing and implementing rules or standards for public goods or services. It examines the various forms, functions, and effects of private regulation on the rule of law and human rights and considers the role and duties of public authorities in monitoring and supporting private regulation. It contends that private regulation should be regarded as a beneficial supplement to public regulation rather than a substitute or rival and that public authorities should find a balance between acknowledging the independence and variety of private actors and securing their accountability and legitimacy. It also recommends that applying the principles and values of good governance to private regulation can improve its quality and efficiency. The study relies on various sources and viewpoints from the literature on governance theory, public law, and human rights and suggests further research and discussion on the topic of private regulation and its consequences for society.

Keywords: private regulation, public authority, governance theory, rule of law, human rights

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Authors: Varsha Pandurang Nagargoje, K. S. James

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Background: Social participation is considered as one of the central components of successful and healthy aging. This study aimed to examine the moderating role of marital status and living arrangement in the relationship between social participation and life satisfaction and other potential factors associated with life satisfaction of Indian older adults. Method: For analyses, the nationally representative study sample of 31,464 adults aged ≥60 years old was extracted from the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI) wave 1, 2017-18. Descriptive statistics and bivariate analysis have been performed to determine the proportion of life satisfaction. The first set of multivariable linear regression analyses examined Diener’s Satisfaction with Life Scale and its association with various predictor variables, including social participation, marital status, living arrangements, socio-demographic, economic, and health-related variables. Further, the second and third sets of regression investigated the moderating role of marital status and living arrangements respectively in the association of social participation and level of life satisfaction among Indian older adults. Results: Overall, the proportion of life satisfaction among older men was relatively higher than women counterparts in most background characteristics. Regression results stressed the importance of older adults’ involvement in social participation [β = 0.39, p < 0.05], being in marital union [β = 0.68, p < 0.001] and co-residential living arrangements either only with spouse [β = 1.73, p < 0.001] or with other family members [β = 2.18, p < 0.001] for the improvement of life satisfaction. Results also showed that some factors were significant for life satisfaction: in particular, increased age, having a higher level of educational status, MPCE quintile, and caste category. Higher risk of life dissatisfaction found among Indian older adults who were exposed to vulnerabilities like consuming tobacco, poor self-rated health, having difficulty in performing ADL and IADL were of major concern. The interaction effect of social participation with marital status or with living arrangements explained that currently married older individuals, and those older adults who were either co-residing with their spouse only or with other family members irrespective of their involvement in social participation remained an important modifiable factor for life satisfaction. Conclusion: It would be crucial for policymakers and practitioners to advocate social policy programs and service delivery oriented towards meaningful social connections, especially for those Indian older adults who were staying alone or currently not in the marital union to enhance their overall life satisfaction.

Keywords: Indian, older adults, social participation, life satisfaction, marital status, living arrangement

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Authors: Morinta Rosandini

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Bima Tembe is an excellent sample of cultural artifact that many people regard it as: (1) manufactured by a traditional techniques, (2) contained with variety forms and great philosophical motifs, and (3) having valued functions related to women status in the society. This research examined elements of Bima Tembe and their relations and one of the usage of tembe, named Rimpus. The elements include: (1) the traditional techniques of making Bima Tembe, (2) the variety forms (3) and philosophical motifs of Bima Tembe. Rimpu, is a cultural women clothes in Bima, which use Bima Tembe as a main part. From this reseacrh found that the Bima Tembe made by weaving technique using a traditional loom, and has two types of Tembe; Tembe Istana and Tembe Rakyat, with various motif each type. The The usage of Rimpu is as a symbol of the obedience to God and the type of Rimpu indicate the women status in the society.

Keywords: bima, tembe, rimpu, clothes

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Authors: Duc Dong Do, Ngoc Ha Tran, Thanh Hai Dang, Cao Cuong Dang, Xuan Huan Hoang

Abstract:

Global aligning two protein-protein interaction networks is an essentially important task in bioinformatics/computational biology field of study. It is a challenging and widely studied research topic in recent years. Accurately aligned networks allow us to identify functional modules of proteins and/ororthologous proteins from which unknown functions of a protein can be inferred. We here introduce a novel efficient heuristic global network alignment algorithm called FASTAn, including two phases: the first to construct an initial alignment and the second to improve such alignment by exerting a local optimization repeated procedure. The experimental results demonstrated that FASTAn outperformed the state-of-the-art global network alignment algorithm namely SPINAL in terms of both commonly used objective scores and the run-time.

Keywords: FASTAn, Heuristic algorithm, biological network alignment, protein-protein interaction networks

Procedia PDF Downloads 604

Authors: Nji Queenta Ngum, Mwanza Mulunda

Abstract:

Introduction Most African research reports on the frequent aflatoxin contamination of various foodstuffs, with researchers rarely specifying which of the Aspergillus species are present in these commodities. Numerous research works provide evidence of the ability of fungi to grow, thrive, and interact with other crop species and focus on the fact that these processes are largely affected by climatic variables. South Africa is a water-stressed country with high spatio-temporal rainfall variability; moreover, temperatures have been projected to rise at a rate twice the global rate. This weather pattern change may lead to crop stress encouraging mold contamination with subsequent mycotoxin production. In this study, the biodiversity and distribution of Aspergillus species with their corresponding toxins in maize from six distinct maize producing regions with different weather patterns in South Africa were investigated. Materials And Methods By applying cultural and molecular methods, a total of 1028 maize samples from six distinct agro-climatic regions were examined for contamination by the Aspergillus species while the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method was applied to analyse the level of contamination by aflatoxins. Results About 30% of the overall maize samples were contaminated by at least one Aspergillus species. Less than 30% (28.95%) of the 228 isolates subjected to the aflatoxigenic test was found to possess at least one of the aflatoxin biosynthetic genes. Furthermore, almost 20% were found to be contaminated with aflatoxins, with mean total aflatoxin concentration levels of 64.17 ppb. Amongst the contaminated samples, 59.02% had mean total aflatoxin concentration levels above the SA regulatory limit of 20ppb for animals and 10 for human consumption. Conclusion In this study, climate variables (rainfall reduction) were found to significantly (p<0.001) influence the occurrence of the Aspergillus species (especially Aspergillus fumigatus) and the production of aflatoxin in South Africa commercial maize by maize variety, year of cultivation as well as the agro-climatic region in which the maize is cultivated. This included, amongst others, a reduction in the average annual rainfall of the preceding year to about 21.27 mm, and, as opposed to other regions whose average maximum rainfall ranged between 37.24 – 44.1 mm, resulted in a significant increase in the aflatoxin contamination of maize.

Keywords: aspergillus species, aflatoxins, diversity, drought, food safety, HPLC and PCR techniques

Procedia PDF Downloads 76

Authors: Sanam Haseen, Abdul Bari

Abstract:

In this paper a three stage multivariate programming problem with random survey cost and variances as random variables has been formulated as a non-linear stochastic programming problem. The problem has been converted into an equivalent deterministic form using chance constraint programming and modified E-modeling. An empirical study of the problem has been done at the end of the paper using R-simulation.

Keywords: chance constraint programming, modified E-model, stochastic programming, stratified sample surveys, three stage sample surveys

Procedia PDF Downloads 458