Search results for: security

Authors: G. C. Almiranez, J. Mercado, L. U. Aumentado, J. M. Mahaguay, J. P. Cruz, M. L. Saballe

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This research project focused on the development of an application that aids the university administrators to establish an efficient and effective system in managing faculty attendance and discourage unnecessary absences. The Faculty Attendance Management System (FAMS) is a web based and mobile application which is proven to be efficient and effective in handling and recording data, generating updated reports and analytics needed in managing faculty attendance. The FAMS can facilitate not only a convenient and faster way of gathering and recording of data but it can also provide data analytics, immediate feedback system mechanism and analysis. The software database architecture uses MySQL for web based and SQLite for mobile applications. The system includes different modules that capture daily attendance of faculty members, generate faculty attendance reports and analytics, absences notification system for faculty members, chairperson and dean regarding absences, and immediate communication system concerning the absences incurred. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation showed that the system satisfactory meet the stakeholder’s requirements. The functionality, usability, reliability, performance, and security all turned out to be above average. System testing, integration testing and user acceptance testing had been conducted. Results showed that the system performed very satisfactory and functions as designed. Performance of the system is also affected by Internet infrastructure or connectivity of the university. The faculty analytics generated from the system may not only be used by Deans and Chairperson in their evaluation of faculty performance but as well as the individual faculty to increase awareness on their attendance in class. Hence, the system facilitates effective communication between system stakeholders through FAMS feedback mechanism and up to date posting of information.

Keywords: faculty attendance management system, MySQL, SQLite, FAMS, analytics

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Authors: Giulia I. Pintea

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The Roma people are a nomadic ethnic group native to India, and they are one of the most prevalent minorities in Europe. In the past, Roma were enslaved and they were imprisoned in concentration camps during the Holocaust; today, Roma are subject to hate crimes and are denied access to healthcare, education, and proper housing. The aim of this project is to analyze how the public perception of the Roma people may be influenced by antiziganist and pro-Roma institutions in Europe. In order to carry out this project, we used social network analysis to build two large social networks: The antiziganist network, which is composed of institutions that oppress and racialize Roma, and the pro-Roma network, which is composed of institutions that advocate for and protect Roma rights. Measures of centrality, density, and modularity were obtained to determine which of the two social networks is exerting the greatest influence on the public’s perception of Roma in European societies. Furthermore, data on hate crimes on Roma were gathered from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). We analyzed the trends in hate crimes on Roma for several European countries for 2009-2015 in order to see whether or not there have been changes in the public’s perception of Roma, thus helping us evaluate which of the two social networks has been more influential. Overall, the results suggest that there is a greater and faster exchange of information in the pro-Roma network. However, when taking the hate crimes into account, the impact of the pro-Roma institutions is ambiguous, due to differing patterns among European countries, suggesting that the impact of the pro-Roma network is inconsistent. Despite antiziganist institutions having a slower flow of information, the hate crime patterns also suggest that the antiziganist network has a higher impact on certain countries, which may be due to institutions outside the political sphere boosting the spread of antiziganist ideas and information to the European public.

Keywords: applied mathematics, oppression, Roma people, social network analysis

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Authors: Sanjay Sinha, Mohd Umair Khan

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The level of income inequality in India has been worrisome as the World Inequality Report termed it as a “poor and unequal country, with an affluent elite”. As important as income is to understand inequality and deprivation, it is just one dimension. But the historical roots and current realities of inequality and deprivation in India lies in many of the non-income dimensions such as housing, nutrition, education, agency, sense of inclusion etc. which are often ignored, especially in solution-oriented research. The level of inequality and deprivation among the tribal is one such case. There is a corpus of literature establishing that the tribal communities in India are disadvantageous on various grounds. Given their rural geography, issues of access and quality of basic facilities such as education and healthcare are often unaddressed. COVID-19 has further exacerbated this challenge and climate change will make it even more worrying. With this background, a succinct measurement tool at the village level is necessary to design short to medium-term actions with reference to risk mitigation for tribal communities. This research paper examines the level of inequality and deprivation among the tribal communities in the rural areas of Andhra Pradesh state of India using a Multidimensional Inequality and Deprivation Index based on the Alkire-Foster methodology. The methodology is theoretically grounded in the capability approach propounded by Amartya Sen, emphasizing on achieving the “beings and doings” (functionings) an individual reason to value. In the index, the authors have five domains, including Livelihood, Food Security, Education, Health and Housing and these domains are divided into sixteen indicators. This assessment is followed by domain-wise short-term and long-term solutions.

Keywords: Andhra Pradesh, Alkire-Foster methodology, deprivation, inequality, multidimensionality, poverty, tribal

Procedia PDF Downloads 132

Authors: Sijuade A. A., Oguntoye J. P., Awodoye O. O., Adedapo O. A., Wahab W. B., Okediran O. O., Omidiora E. O., Olabiyisi S. O.

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Electronic voting systems have been introduced to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and transparency of the election process in many countries around the world, including Nigeria. However, concerns have been raised about the security and integrity of these systems. One way to address these concerns is through the implementation of electronic forensic election audit systems. This study aims to evaluate voters' intention to the adoption of electronic forensic election audit systems using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model. In the study, the UTAUT model which is a widely used model in the field of information systems to explain the factors that influence individuals' intention to use a technology by integrating performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, cost factor and privacy factor to voters’ behavioural intention was proposed. A total of 294 sample data were collected from a selected population of electorates who had at one time or the other participated in at least an electioneering process in Nigeria. The data was then analyzed statistically using Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results obtained show that all variables have a significant effect on the electorates’ behavioral intention to adopt the development and implementation of an electronic forensic election audit system in Nigeria.

Keywords: election Audi, voters, UTAUT, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating condition social influence, facilitating conditions, cost factor, privacy factor, behavioural intention

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Authors: Ebru Nergiz

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The world is facing one of the biggest refugee crisis’ in history as hundred thousands of refugees who run away from the battle and genocide in the Middle East are travelling illegally to reach Europe over the Mediterranean and Aegean Sea. The number of refugees has reached huge numbers due to the civil war that was caused by the Arab Spring. The number of asylum applications to the European Union has also increased in parallel with the increase in the number of refugees. The conflict in Syria between the government of Bashar Al-Assad and various other forces, which started in the spring of 2011, continues to cause displacement within the country and across the region. The refugee situation caused by the Syrian conflict has placed enormous strain on neighboring countries Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, and especially Turkey. Turkey hosts massive numbers of Syrian refugees, almost 3 million and Syrians have been seeking protection in increasing numbers. The refugee crisis has affected the relationships between Turkey and the European Union deeply. President of the European Council Donald Tusk chaired a meeting of EU heads of state or government with Turkey on 29 November 2015. The meeting opened a new era in the relationships between Turkey and the European Union in terms of the migration crisis. The EU and Turkey agreed to negotiate Turkey's accession process to the European Union and to hold regular summits on Turkey-EU relations and discuss these issues. This paper looks at the reasons and consequences of the European refugee crisis and its effects on Turkey- European Union relationships. This paper also argues that the European Union has not sufficiently contributed toward alleviating the burden caused by the refugee influx, in terms of both financial assistance and refugee resettlement. The European Union’s priority is to guarantee that the lowest possible number of refugees reach Europe rather than to ensure the security of the refugees.

Keywords: European Union, human rights, refugee crisis, Turkey-European union relationships

Procedia PDF Downloads 275

Authors: Joy Winston James, Abdul Kadher Jilani

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This review article provides a comprehensive overview of social engineering attacks, specifically those executed through the Kali Linux operating system. It aims to present an in-depth analysis of the background and importance of social engineering in cybersecurity, the tools, and techniques used in these attacks, real-world case studies that demonstrate their effectiveness, and ethical considerations that need to be taken into account while using them. The article highlights the Kali Linux tools that are commonly used in social engineering attacks, including SET, Metasploit, and BeEF, and discusses techniques such as phishing, pretexting, and baiting that are crucial in conducting successful social engineering attacks. It further explores real-world case studies that demonstrate the effectiveness of these techniques, emphasizing the importance of implementing effective countermeasures to reduce the risk of successful social engineering attacks. Moreover, the article sheds light on ethical considerations that need to be taken into account while using social engineering tools, emphasizing the importance of using them ethically and legally. Finally, the article provides potential countermeasures such as two-factor authentication, strong password policies, and regular security audits to help individuals and organizations better protect themselves against this growing threat. By understanding the tools and techniques used in social engineering attacks and implementing appropriate countermeasures, individuals and organizations can minimize the risk of successful social engineering attacks and improve their cybersecurity posture. To illustrate the effectiveness of social engineering attacks, we present real-world case studies that demonstrate how easily individuals and organizations can fall prey to these attacks. We also discuss ethical considerations that must be taken into account while using social engineering tools, emphasizing the need for responsible and legal use of these tools.

Keywords: pen testing, hacking, Kali Linux, social engineering

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Authors: Walelgn Dilnesa Cherie, Fasikaw Atanaw Zimale, Bekalu W. Asres

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The most catastrophic condition for agricultural production is a drought event, which is also one of the most hydro-metrological-related hazards. According to the combined susceptibility of plants to meteorological and hydrological conditions, agricultural drought is defined as the magnitude, severity, and duration of a drought that affects crop production. The accurate and timely assessment of agricultural drought can lead to the development of risk management strategies, appropriate proactive mechanisms for the protection of farmers, and the improvement of food security. The evaluation of agricultural drought in the East Gojjam zone was the primary subject of this study. To identify the agricultural drought, soil moisture anomalies, soil moisture deficit indices, and Normalized Difference Vegetation Indices (NDVI) are used. The measured welting point, field capacity, and soil moisture were utilized to validate the soil water deficit indices computed from the satellite data. The soil moisture and soil water deficit indices in 2013 in all woredas were minimum; this makes vegetation stress also in all woredas. The soil moisture content decreased in 2013/2014/2019, and 2021 in Dejen, 2014, and 2019 in Awobel Woreda. The max/ min values of NDVI in 2013 are minimum; it dominantly shows vegetation stress and an observed agricultural drought that happened in all woredas. The validation process of satellite and in-situ soil moisture and soil water deficit indices shows a good agreement with a value of R²=0.87 and 0.56, respectively. The study area becomes drought detected region, so government officials, policymakers, and environmentalists pay attention to the protection of drought effects.

Keywords: NDVI, agricultural drought, SWDI, soil moisture

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Authors: John Bosco Ngendakurio

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The key question this paper asks is, ‘how does the refugee encampment policy undermine refugees’ potentials and fail local economy in East African countries?’ It is important to develop a full understanding of the legacies of the encampment policy for refugees’ performances economically, socially, and politically. The negative impacts of the encampment policy include the lack of participation or access to opportunities outside the refugee camps such as employment, education, and local integration, unfair imprisonments and constant alienation of refugees, mental and physical health issues, just to name a few. Evidence suggests that refugee camps in East Africa have progressively become open detention centres due to their designs, their locations, and movement restrictions imposed on refugees. Such restrictions in a region that hosts millions of refugees do not only undermine refugees’ potentials, but it also hurts the local economy- host countries miss out in many ways. Outlining the negative impacts of the encampment policy will enable governments and relevant non-governmental actors, including policymakers, to re-consider this policy with the aim to improve refugees’ participation and contributions in the broader society, promote socially cohesive practices, and help millions of refugees gain independence and reach their potentials financially, socially and politically, finally and truly giving the voice to the voiceless. The encampment policy undermines the general human security in East Africa, and it is one of the migration practices showcasing East African governments’ lack of will to protect human rights, especially within the most vulnerable population groups such as refugees.

Keywords: migration policy, immigration, refugees, encampment, migration, integration, social cohesion

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Authors: Sunita Kumari, Abhishek Thakur

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Focusing on female migrant domestic workers from Jharkhand, this study looks at their life before and after migration in Mumbai city. Girls coming from the marginalised communities migrate through different means and organizations like placement agencies, religious institutions such as church, with the help of group of friends or relatives and so forth. Most of them due to low educational attainment get into the unorganized sector jobs such as domestic work. In this backdrop, the paper tries to understand the socio-economic condition of tribal migrant women engaged as the domestic workers in the M ward of Mumbai city. The paper tries to investigate the early life of migrant women domestic workers, explores the reasons behind their migration and also examines the changes in their status after their engagement as domestic workers. The paper argues that though the economic and political reasons are quite explicit but the role of social institutions is also significant in the process of migration of women domestic workers. The study was qualitative in nature where fifteen in depth interviews were conducted and to develop a profound understanding one Focus Group Discussion was carried out at M ward of Mumbai Municipal Corporation (Chembur East). To substantiate the findings, the secondary data was taken from the available resources. The findings of the study shows that situation in the family, lack of education, non availability of better economic opportunities and other factors forced them to migrate. The factors such as income in form of cash rather than in kind, attraction towards the Mumbai city and so on was also the reason behind migration. Finally, this study gives the ample opportunity to look at the lives of the women who are the part of the unorganised sector of our country. It further unbolts exploration in terms of social security legislation at the national level.

Keywords: paid domestic work, women, migration, Mumbai city

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Authors: Malak M. Shatnawi

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Infrastructure is the fundamental facility that plays an important part in socio-economic development for modern societies, if such sector is well planned, managed by decision makers in a way that is compatible with the population growth, safety, and national security needs; it will enrich progress, prosperity, awareness, social and economic welfare for any country. Infrastructure is the most important aspect of life because it can provide materials, products, and services that will improve and facilitate living conditions and maintain sustainability at the same time, and in order to study critical infrastructure, in general, we must think sustainability. Otherwise there will be a significant gap. The planning processes for sustainability include urban infrastructure and public transportation are considered the most important sectors for economic development for both developed and developing countries as they are linked to the civilizational and urban development, meanwhile, choosing the appropriate transportation mode that will provide a good level of service, and increase the satisfaction of the potential users is a difficult task. This research paper tries to assess where is Jordan located vs. each transportation sustainability dimensions in aspects related to social, economic and environmental dimensions based on (Zietsman et al. 2006) adopted model for sustainability transportation infrastructure. Measures of performance indicators for each dimensional goal were traced and supported with needed data, figures and statistical findings. The study uses analytical, descriptive style and methodology based on different references and previous studies from secondary data sources to support the case. Recommendations for enhancing sustainability were concluded, and future reform directions were proposed which can be applied to Jordan and generalized for other developing countries with similar circumstances.

Keywords: infrastructure transportation sustainability, economic, social, environmental

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Authors: Baguma Charles Abwooli

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Whereas they profess to be comrades in the fight to save souls, Born Again Churches in Uganda are shooting each other in the foot over yet to be understood reasons. For a long time, churches have sustained a bitter divide among themselves. The country has witnessed pastoral scandals, including church leaders dragging each other to court, setting each other’s churches ablaze, and even plotting assassination against each her. The most dreadful was when one pastor called a chest-thumping press conference at the demise of another. There is even an emergence of church-owned radio stations purposed to fuel this conflict. Worse still, the division among pastors has been transferred to their congregations to extent that at the first meeting, congregants ask each other where they pray from perhaps to know how to deal with each other. This has caused the born-again to maintain factions among themselves and keeping ready to fight in case there is a battle. This is quite a risk to peace and stability in the country. This kind of belligerence not only defeats the very existence of churches but is a threat to national peace and security, especially as the churches mushroom across the country. It is feared that the vice could spread to the rest of Eastern Africa and beyond, given the connectivity. There is already evidence to this. One Pastor was heard to call the late Ghanaian Pastor T. B. Joshua, a witch who has been training witches in Uganda. He said this at his demise while referring to pastors that subscribe to T. B. Joshua’s approach to preaching the Gospel. This is an abomination, especially in Africa! There is, therefore, an urgent need to understand the roots of this conflict and design measures to decisively manageit. The present study employs tools based on conflict resolution theory to conduct a deep qualitative analysis of the origin and progression of the Born-Againconflict in Uganda with intend to make recommendations of appropriate measures to resolve it.

Keywords: uganda, shooting, pulpit, born again churches

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Authors: Kateryna Zharan, Jan C. Bongaerts

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Mining operations are energy intensive, and the share of energy costs in total costs is often quoted in the range of 40 %. Saving on energy costs is, therefore, a key element of any mine operator. With the improving reliability and security of renewable energy (RE) sources, and requirements to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, perspectives for using RE in mining operations emerge. These aspects are stimulating the mining companies to search for ways to substitute fossil energy with RE. Hereby, the main purpose of this study is to present the survey research assessment in matter of finding out the key issues related to the integration of RE into mining activities, based on the mining and renewable energy experts’ opinion. The purpose of the paper is to present the outcomes of a survey conducted among mining and renewable energy experts about the feasibility of RE in mining operations. The survey research has been developed taking into consideration the following categories: first of all, the mining and renewable energy experts were chosen based on the specific criteria. Secondly, they were offered a questionnaire to gather their knowledge and opinions on incentives for mining operators to turn to RE, barriers and challenges to be expected, environmental effects, appropriate business models and the overall impact of RE on mining operations. The outcomes of the survey allow for the identification of factors which favor and disfavor decision-making on the use of RE in mining operations. It concludes with a set of recommendations for further study. One of them relates to a deeper analysis of benefits for mining operators when using RE, and another one suggests that appropriate business models considering economic and environmental issues need to be studied and developed. The results of the paper will be used for developing a hybrid optimized model which might be adopted at mines according to their operation processes as well as economic and environmental perspectives.

Keywords: carbon dioxide emissions, mining industry, photovoltaic, renewable energy, survey research, wind generation

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Authors: Agnieszka Szczudlińska-Kanoś

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Nowadays the participation of citizens in public life increasingly effect on management at all levels of public authority. Today, however, democratic systems in many countries, also in Poland, based on the first - on the institutions of representative democracy, which is mainly on elections, party activity, on the other hand - on the basic instruments of direct democracy, which, in particular, we can include a referendum or initiative of citizenship - although these are often rather complementary. Other forms of participatory democracy, such as deliberative democracy, participatory budgeting, public consultation in practice in many countries are still rare. Appropriate use of the potential invested in participatory democracy can bring enormous and multilateral benefits. On the one hand, local and regional communities taking an active part in public life express their needs, point out problems and thus affect the decisions of public authorities. Authorities using knowledge acquired from the citizens also implement the policy tailored to their needs, thus obtaining support in the next election. The purpose of this study is to show how the Polish citizens affect to resolve issues of social policy pursued at different levels of government. This problem is very important because today the observed changes seen in virtually all fields of life create new social problems, which nowadays are no longer only the problems of the region, the country but they are international, global issues. From such this perspective we should talk about them, discuss, try to solve at all levels. Article will be useful not only theorists involved in the management of the public, local government, or social but also practitioners - local government acting as their functions at different levels of government. Conclusions drawn from the publication will also be useful to politicians and those directly affecting for: functioning social security systems, the scope and quality of public services and the overall shape of the contemporary social policy in different countries.

Keywords: social policy, local government, social participation, social services

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Authors: Kolawole Oyekan Jamiu

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In Nigerian criminal law, a victim of an offence plays little or no role in the prosecution of an offender. The state concentrates only on imposing punishment on the offender while the victims of crime and abuse of power by security agencies are abandoned without any compensation either from the State or the offender. It has been stated that the victim of crime is the forgotten man in our criminal justice system. He sets the criminal law in motion but then goes into oblivion. Our present criminal law does not recognise the right of the victim to take part in the prosecution of the case or his right to compensation. The victim is merely a witness in a state versus case. This paper examines the meaning of the phrase ‘the victims of crime and abuse of power’. It needs to be noted that there is no definition of these two categories of victims in any statute in Nigeria. The paper also considers the United Nations General Assembly Declaration of Basic Principle of Justice for Victims and abuse of power. This declaration was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on the 25th of November 1985. The declaration contains copious provisions on compensation for the victims of crime and abuse of power. Unfortunately, the declaration is not, in itself a legally binding instrument and has been given little or no attention since the coming into effect in1985. This paper examines the role of the judiciary in ensuring that victims of crime and abuse of power in Nigeria are compensated. While some Judges found it difficult to award damages to victims of abuse of power others have given some landmark rulings and awarded substantial damages. The criminal justice ( victim’s remedies) Bill shall also be examined. The Bill comprises of 74 sections and it spelt out the procedures for compensating the victims of crime and abuse of power in Nigeria. Finally, the paper also examines the practicability of awarding damages to victims of crime whether the offender is convicted or not and in addition, the possibility of granting all equitable remedies available in civil cases to victims of crime and abuse of power so that the victims will be restored to the earlier position before the crime.

Keywords: compensation, damages, restitution, victims

Procedia PDF Downloads 679

Authors: Ravneet Kaur, Joydeep Acharya, Sudhanshu Gaur

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to transform manufacturing by improving shop floor processes such as production, maintenance and quality. However, industrial datasets are notoriously difficult to extract in a real-time, streaming fashion thus, negating potential AI benefits. The main example is some specialized industrial controllers that are operated by custom software which complicates the process of connecting them to an Information Technology (IT) based data acquisition network. Security concerns may also limit direct physical access to these controllers for data acquisition. To connect the Operational Technology (OT) data stored in these controllers to an AI application in a secure, reliable and available way, we propose a novel Industrial IoT (IIoT) solution in this paper. In this solution, we demonstrate how video cameras can be installed in a factory shop floor to continuously obtain images of the controller HMIs. We propose image pre-processing to segment the HMI into regions of streaming data and regions of fixed meta-data. We then evaluate the performance of multiple Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technologies such as Tesseract and Google vision to recognize the streaming data and test it for typical factory HMIs and realistic lighting conditions. Finally, we use the meta-data to match the OCR output with the temporal, domain-dependent context of the data to improve the accuracy of the output. Our IIoT solution enables reliable and efficient data extraction which will improve the performance of subsequent AI applications.

Keywords: human machine interface, industrial internet of things, internet of things, optical character recognition, video analytics

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Authors: Alfiah Hasanah, Silvia Mendolia, Oleg Yerokhin

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This paper explores the impacts of adult child migration on the health of elderly parents left behind. The maternal and children health are a priority of health-related policy in most low and middle-income country, and so there is lack of evidence on the health of older population particularly in Indonesia. With increasing life expectancy and limited access to social security and social services for the elderly in this country, the consequences of increasing number of out-migration of adult children to parent health are important to investigate. This study use Indonesia Family Life Survey (IFLS), the only large-scale continuing longitudinal socioeconomic and health survey that based on a sample of households representing about 83 percent of the Indonesian population in its first wave. Using four waves of IFLS including the recent wave of 2014, several indicators of the self-rated health status, interviewer-rated health status and days of illness are used to estimate the impact of labour out-migration of adult children on parent health status. Incorporate both individual fixed effects to control for unobservable factors in migrant and non-migrant households and the ordered response of self-rated health, this study apply the ordered logit of “Blow-up and Cluster” (BUC ) estimator. The result shows that labour out-migration of adult children significantly improves the self-rated health status of the elderly parent left behind. Findings of this study are consistent with the view that migration increases family resources and contribute to better health care and nutrition of the family left behind.

Keywords: aging, migration, panel data, self-rated health

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Authors: Louis Kusi Frimpong, Martin Oteng-Ababio

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The problem of crime and insecurity in urban environments are often complex, multilayered, multidimensional and sometimes interwoven. It is from this perspective that recent approaches and strategies aimed at responding to crime and insecurity have looked at the problem from a social, economic, spatial and institutional point of view. In Ghana, there is much understanding of how various elements of the social and spatial setting influence crime and safety concerns of residents in urban areas. However, little research attention has been given to the institutional dimension of the problem of crime and insecurity in urban Ghana. In particular, scholars and policymakers in the area of safety and security have scarcely interrogated the forms of collaboration that exist between the various formal and informal institutions and how gaps and lapses in this collaboration influence vulnerability to crime and feelings of insecurity. Using Sekondi-Takoradi as a case study and drawing on both primary and secondary data, this paper assesses the activities of various institutions both formal and informal in crime control and prevention in the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis, the third largest city in Ghana. More importantly, the paper seeks to address gaps in the institutional arrangement and coordination between and among institutions at the forefront of crime prevention efforts in the metropolis and by extension Ghanaian cities. The study found that whiles there is some form of collaboration between the police and the community, little collaboration existed between planning authorities and the police on the one hand, and the community on the other hand. The paper concludes that in light of the complex nature of a crime, institutional coordination and an inclusive approach involving formal and informal will be critical in promoting safer cities in Ghana.

Keywords: crime prevention, coordination, Ghana, institutional arrangement

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Authors: Yufeng Li, Yinan Ma, Jing Wu, Chengnian Long

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Infrared object detection aims at separating small and dim target from clutter background and its capabilities extend beyond the limits of visible light, making it invaluable in a wide range of applications such as improving safety, security, efficiency, and functionality. However, existing methods are usually sensitive to the noise of the input infrared image, leading to a decrease in target detection accuracy and an increase in the false alarm rate in high-noise environments. To address this issue, an infrared small target detection algorithm called YOLO-IR is proposed in this paper to improve the robustness to high infrared noise. To address the problem that high noise significantly reduces the clarity and reliability of target features in infrared images, we design a soft-threshold coordinate attention mechanism to improve the model’s ability to extract target features and its robustness to noise. Since the noise may overwhelm the local details of the target, resulting in the loss of small target features during depth down-sampling, we propose a deep and shallow feature fusion neck to improve the detection accuracy. In addition, because the generalized Intersection over Union (IoU)-based loss functions may be sensitive to noise and lead to unstable training in high-noise environments, we introduce a Wasserstein-distance based loss function to improve the training of the model. The experimental results show that YOLO-IR achieves a 5.0% improvement in recall and a 6.6% improvement in F1-score over existing state-of-art model.

Keywords: infrared small target detection, high noise, robustness, soft-threshold coordinate attention, feature fusion

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Authors: Eglė Bilevičiūtė, Vidmantas Egidijus Kurapka, Snieguolė Matulienė, Sigutė Stankevičiūtė

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The Council of European Union (EU Council) has stressed on several occasions the need for a concerted, comprehensive and effective solution to delinquency problems in EU communities. In the context of establishing a European Forensic Science Area and the development of forensic science infrastructure in Europe, EU Council believes that forensic science can significantly contribute to the efficiency of law enforcement, crime prevention and combating crimes. Lithuanian scientists have consolidated to implement a project named “Conception of the vision for European Forensic Science 2020 implementation in Lithuania” (the project is funded for the period of 1 March 2014 - 31 December 2016) with the objective to create a conception of implementation of the vision for European Forensic Science 2020 in Lithuania by 1) evaluating the current status of Lithuania’s forensic system and opportunities for its improvement; 2) analysing achievements and knowledge in investigation of crimes listed in conclusions of EU Council on the vision for European Forensic Science 2020 including creation of a European Forensic Science Area and the development of forensic science infrastructure in Europe: trafficking in human beings, organised crime and terrorism; 3) analysing conceptions of criminalistics, which differ in different EU member states due to the variety of forensic schools, and finding means for their harmonization. Apart from the conception of implementation of the vision for European Forensic Science 2020 in Lithuania, the project is expected to suggest provisions that will be relevant to other EU countries as well. Consequently, the presented conception of implementation of vision for European Forensic Science 2020 in Lithuania could initiate a project for a common vision of European Forensic Science and contribute to the development of the EU as an area of freedom, security and justice. The article presents main ideas of the project of the conception of the vision for European Forensic Science 2020 of EU Council and analyses its legal background, as well as prospects of and challenges for its implementation in Lithuania and the EU.

Keywords: EUROVIFOR, standardization, vision for European Forensic Science 2020, Lithuania

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Authors: Lawan Ja’afar Tahir

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This research work centered on the problem of free Arms flow around the Nigeria and Chad Border. The whole of the northeastern Nigerian region has been devastated by the crisis of insecurity facilitated by more than a decade of insurgency. One of the major issues of concern to security experts and personnel in the country is how the insurgents are getting access to weapons, which gave them more strength to fight the war for this long period, which has become so difficult to overcome. Among the possible avenues that continue to strengthen the enemies is the easy access to the arms flow from the neighboring countries, especially the Republic of Chad, which borders Nigeria to the east, where Boko Haram gained firm roots. This paper, therefore, looked at the nature of the waterway of the Nigeria/Chad Border, which has become a source of strength to the insurgents as the flow of weapons is one of the cheapest things on the Border. The availability of such arms flow has also led to the People abandoning their lands and economic and commercial activities, especially those settlements between the Border of these two countries. For more than eight years now, they have suspended their livelihood activities, roads were blocked and chances of survival in the rural areas were minimal due to the frequent attacks carried out by the insurgents. However, this research looks at the causes of the arms flow along the Border of these neighboring countries, the extent of damage done as a result of the availability of the weapons, and how far the Nigerian government has gone in curtailing the menace of the flow of dangerous weapons into the country. The research looked at the ways arm dealers are conniving with settlers along the border as well as the various ways they followed to reach their target. The work provided suggestion as to how the fragile Border should be managed with the view to reduce the influx of arms without control, which, according to this research, is the central factor that continues to unleash and give terror groups the opportunity to destroy people for more than a decade.

Keywords: border, insecurity, weapons, management

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Authors: Eka Darbaidze

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Due to its important geopolitical location and strategic economic situation, the South Caucasus has been a region that has been a crossroads of interests between different states and empires since ancient times. Over the centuries, the forms of international relations with regard to the South Caucasus region have been constantly changing, however, the national interests of the Caucasian nations as well as the interests of the regional hegemonic powers in relation to the countries of the South Caucasus have remained almost unchanged. The conflict-ridden South Caucasus's attempt to create a new format of regional cooperation has a rather rich history, dating back to the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, despite the diversity of initiatives, they do not deviate from the format of political statements and it is natural that the case was never settled before their implementation, as none of the previous cooperation initiatives was able to reach all members of the region. The current regional co-operation platform is linked to the name of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who spoke out about the initiative during a visit to Azerbaijan. The so-called 3 + 3 platform for regional cooperation involves cooperation between three countries in the South Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia) and three "big neighbors" - Russia, Turkey and Iran. Very soon, the initiative received a positive response from the authorities of Azerbaijan, Iran and Armenia. According to them, this cooperation platform will strengthen cooperation between the countries involved in the regional platform and will focus on security, economic and transport issues. Our goal is to determine the interests of the main regional actors involved in the South Caucasus Cooperation Platform (3 + 3): Iran, Russia and Turkey. Our goal is also to determine what threats, risks or benefits may be associated with the involvement of the three countries of the South Caucasus: Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia in this platform and what will be the consequences for Georgia, whose 20% of its internationally recognized borders are still occupied by Russia and whose territory is still under creeping occupation.

Keywords: South Caucasus, Georgia's interest, the interests of Iran, the interests of Turkey, Russian interests, Georgia's occupation

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Authors: Zhenyi Chen

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With the rise of China and the escalation of tension between China and the United States, European countries led by Great Britain, France, and Germany pay increasing attention to the regional situation in the Asia-Pacific (now known as "Indo-Pacific"). Among them, the South China Sea (SCS) is one of the main areas disputed by China, the United States, Southeast Asian countries and some European countries. Western countries are worried that the rise of China's military power will break the stability of the situation in SCS and alter the balance of power among major powers. Therefore, they tried to balance China's rise through alliance. In France's Indo-Pacific strategy, France aims to build a regional order with the alliance of France, India and Australia as the core, and regularly carry out military exercises targeting SCS with the United States, Japan and Southeast Asian countries. For China, the instability of the situation in SCS could also threaten the security of the southeast coastal areas and Taiwan, affect China's peaceful development process, and pose a threat to China's territorial sovereignty. This paper aims to study the activities and motivation of France in the South China Sea, and put the situation in SCS under the perspective of Balance of Power Theory, focusing on China, America and France. To be more specific, this paper will first briefly introduce Balance of Power Theory, then describe the new trends of France in recent years, followed with the analysis on the motivation of the increasing trend of France's involvement in SCS, and finally analyze the situation in SCS from the perspective of "balance of power" theory. It will be argued that great powers are carefully maintaining the balance of military power in SCS, and it is highly possible that this trend would still last in the middle and long term, particularly via military deployment and strategic alliances.

Keywords: South China Sea, France, China, balance of power theory, Indo-Pacific

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Authors: P. Chang, C. Lopez, C. Burbano

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Flood protection zones are riparian buffers that are formed to manage and mitigate the impact of flooding, and in turn, protect local populations. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the Guía Técnica de Criterios para el Acotamiento de las Rondas Hídricas in Colombia against international regulations in Canada and Spain, in order to determine its limitations and contribute to its improvement. The need to establish a specific corridor that allows for the dynamic development of a river is clear; however, limitations present in the Colombian Technical Guide are identified. The study shows that international regulations provide similar concepts as used in Colombia, but additionally integrate aspects such as regionalization that allows for a better characterization of the channel way, and incorporate the frequency of flooding and its probability of occurrence in the concept of risk when determining the protection zone. The case study analyzed in Dosquebradas - Risaralda aimed at comparing the application of the different standards through hydraulic modeling. It highlights that the current Colombian standard does not offer sufficient details in its implementation phase, which leads to a false sense of security related to inaccuracy and lack of data. Furthermore, the study demonstrates how the Colombian norm is ill-adapted to the conditions of Dosquebradas typical of the Andes region, both in the social and hydraulic aspects, and does not reduce the risk, nor does it improve the protection of the population. Our study considers it pertinent to include risk estimation as an integral part of the methodology when establishing protect flood zone, considering the particularity of water systems, as they are characterized by an heterogeneous natural dynamic behavior.

Keywords: environmental corridor, flood zone determination, hydraulic domain, legislation flood protection zone

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Authors: Pranee Liamputtong

Abstract:

Childlessness in non-Western societies has wide-ranging social implications and profoundly affects the gender identity and well-being of women. The aspirations of women in these societies are shaped by various sociocultural expectations, encompassing social norms and their own social standing. Currently, there is limited knowledge regarding the perceptions and experiences of Zimbabwean migrant women living in Australia regarding childlessness and motherhood. This paper explores the cultural perspective on children in Zimbabwean society and investigates the personal and social consequences of infertility, as well as the cultural expectations of motherhood among Zimbabwean migrant women residing in Australia. The perceptions and experiences of this migrant community are of utmost importance in order to prevent misunderstandings about the core essence of motherhood among Zimbabwean women. Ultimately, this will lead to the provision of sensitive and culturally appropriate healthcare and social support for migrants in Australia's multicultural society. The study adopts a constructivist paradigm and employs qualitative methods, including in-depth interviews, drawings, and photo elicitation, involving 15 Zimbabwean women. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze the data. In Zimbabwean culture, the ability to bear a child holds significant meaning for women. Children not only ensure the continuity of society but also provide social security, as parents rely on their children for care in old age. Childlessness jeopardizes a woman's social status and carries social repercussions that have a profound impact on their gender identity and well-being. Cultural expectations of motherhood place the sole responsibility for the emotional and physical care of children on the mother. Despite residing in Australia, the procreative value has not diminished for Zimbabwean women. Raising awareness of the procreative needs of Zimbabwean women in a culturally sensitive manner would enhance the emotional well-being of these women.

Keywords: motherhood, culture, migrant women, Zimbabwe, Australia

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Authors: Wahyu Riawanti

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Food safety is the one of a prominent issue for globalization era. The more concern is paid in international food and agriculture trade; the more consumers will consider raising the standard of food safety. For this reason, the role of the issue is not only in term of added value but since then also the main requirement in import export activity, including agriculture products. Unfortunately, Indonesia and other developing countries found it difficult to fulfill some of the technical issues and end it up with the lower export activity. In this case, the technical requirements of food safety become an obstacle rather than challenging. Furthermore for local farmers’ activity, food safety is more or less a threat. The study is aimed to reveal on how Indonesian government had dealt with the certification regulation to face problem on competitiveness of Indonesian products. Local government has conducted the regulation of food certification. The study used the case of Salak Pondoh fruit (Salacca zalacca) certification process on Sleman District- Yogyakarta. Triangulation method was used to analyze the effectiveness of the certification program. The quantitative data series taken from 7 farmer groups during the certification processes were used for the research main data. The supporting qualitative data was obtained from in-depth interview with the members of farmers group. The pre-research result has shown that the impact varied from different groups. Conclusively the certification regulation has partly failed to make a significant change in local farmers’ competitiveness. Even the profit was increased, the highly amount budget of the program did not significantly increase the economic incentives for local farmers.

Keywords: economic incentive, food security, government regulation, international trade, local commodity, Salacca zalacca

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Authors: Ming-Hong Chen

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In the study, the mechanical and financial feasibility for the compressed air energy storage (CAES) system in the porous media reservoir in Taiwan is evaluated. In 2035, Taiwan aims to install 16.7 GW of wind power and 40 GW of photovoltaic (PV) capacity. However, renewable energy sources often generate more electricity than needed, particularly during winter. Consequently, Taiwan requires long-term, large-scale energy storage systems to ensure the security and stability of its power grid. Currently, the primary large-scale energy storage options are Pumped Hydro Storage (PHS) and Compressed Air Energy Storage (CAES). Taiwan has not ventured into CAES-related technologies due to geological and cost constraints. However, with the imperative of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, there's a substantial need for the development of a considerable amount of renewable energy. PHS has matured, boasting an overall installed capacity of 4.68 GW. CAES, presenting a similar scale and power generation duration to PHS, is now under consideration. Taiwan's geological composition, being a porous medium unlike salt caves, introduces flow field resistance affecting gas injection and extraction. This study employs a program analysis model to establish the system performance analysis capabilities of CAES. The finite volume model is then used to assess the impact of porous media, and the findings are fed back into the system performance analysis for correction. Subsequently, the financial implications are calculated and compared with existing literature. For Taiwan, the strategic development of CAES technology is crucial, not only for meeting energy needs but also for decentralizing energy allocation, a feature of great significance in regions lacking alternative natural resources.

Keywords: compressed-air energy storage, efficiency, porous media, financial feasibility

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Authors: Anne T. Herr, Clemens Lorei

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Employees of organizations with security tasks, such as emergency services, public order services, or police forces, work every day to ensure people's safety. Violence against police is, therefore, a relevant topic both socially and politically. An increase in violence is often discussed without there being any verifiable and generally valid data. So far, scientific research has mainly focused on offender characteristics and crime statistics. These surveys are mostly subjective, retrospective, and neglect the dynamics and interactions in concrete violent situations. Therefore, more recent research methods attempt to capture the issue of violence against emergency forces more comprehensively. However, the operationalization of the constructs and the methodological approach pose particular challenges. This contribution provides an overview of new perspectives on the understanding of violent assaults and identifies current research gaps. In addition, a new research project of the Hessian University of Police and Administration in Germany is presented. In the 'AMBOSafe' study, different theoretical backgrounds for understanding violence against police and emergency services personnel will be combined in order to capture as many different perspectives of violent assaults as possible in a multimodal research approach. In a retrospective as well as in a longitudinal survey, the conditions of escalation dynamics in the assaults are recorded and supplemented by the current and valid prevalence of physical and verbal assaults in a period of four months. In addition, qualitative interviews with those affected will be used to record more detailed descriptions of and the feelings during the assaults, as well as possible causes and connections between the different groups of people. In addition to the reports of the police forces, the motives of the attackers will be collected and supplemented by analyzing the criminal case files. This knowledge can contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of violent assaults against police forces in order to be able to derive scientifically based preventive measures.

Keywords: assaults, crime statistics, escalation dynamics, police

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Authors: Orapan Thosingha, Tassana Boontong, Prapa Yuttatri, Vilaivan Thongcharoen, Soparn Potaya, Mattika Chaichan, Chanin Chakkrapopyodhin, Khwanthida Phimphakarn, Taddao Nabnean

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This research aimed to explore symptom experiences among Thai adults with chronic illnesses living in an urban community area of Bangkok. The sample was 670 adults with ages ranging from 20-59 years. The majority of them (65.2%) had more than one disease. Hypertension, dyslipidemia, and diabetes were the first three diseases among them. About 58% were female, and 51.1 % stayed with their couples. The studied sample had relatively low socioeconomic status; 33.7% were wage workers, 15.2% were street vendors, and 10.4% were unemployed. About 54 % had family incomes less than 10,000 baht (300 US Dollars) per month, and 41.6% addressed that their incomes were not adequate for daily living. Although the majority of them (63.7%) did not have to pay for hospital visits, they still had to pay for public transportation and could not earn a wage or any income on the hospital visit day. The first three physical symptoms they experienced were knee pain (60.5%) due to being overweight, headache (47.0%), and insomnia (44.6%). About 45% stated that their incomes decreased after having chronic illnesses and 37.2% expressed that having lower incomes affected their living, 34.5% perceived being a burden, and 34.3% regret about depending on others. It can be concluded that adults with low socioeconomic status who experienced chronic illnesses and resided in an urban community area had complex needs. While caring for them, nurses should pay attention not only to a disease-related domain but also to a social-related domain. Reached-out clinics led by professional nurses who are well-prepared for primary medical care and home visit are strongly recommended. National Health Security Office should adopt this policy and develop an action plan to serve the needs of chronically ill adults with low socioeconomic status.

Keywords: chronic illnesses, urban community, socioeconomic status, symptom experiences, low incomes

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Authors: Samuel K. Degife, Kamal K. Pant, Sapna Jain

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The world´s population and industrialization of countries continued to grow in an alarming rate irrespective of the security for food, energy supply, and pure water availability. As a result, the global energy consumption is observed to increase significantly. Fossil energy resources that mainly comprised of crude oil, coal, and natural gas have been used by mankind as the main energy source for almost two centuries. However, sufficient evidences are revealing that the consumption of fossil resource as transportation fuel emits environmental pollutants such as CO2, NOx, and SOx. These resources are dwindling rapidly besides enormous amount of problems associated such as fluctuation of oil price and instability of oil-rich regions. Biomass is a promising renewable energy candidate to replace fossil-based transportation fuel and chemical production. The present study aims at valorization of hexose sugars (glucose and fructose) using zeolite based catalysts in imidazolium based ionic liquid (1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride, [BMIM] Cl) reaction media. The catalytic effect chromium impregnated H-ZSM-5 (Cr/H-ZSM-5) was studied for dehydration of hexose sugars. The wet impregnation method was used to prepare Cr/H-ZSM-5 catalyst. The characterization of the prepared catalyst was performed using techniques such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), Temperature-programmed desorption of ammonia (NH3-TPD) and BET-surface area analysis. The dehydration product, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF), was analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Cr/H-ZSM-5 was effective in dehydrating fructose with 87% conversion and 55% yield 5-HMF at 180 oC for 30 min of reaction time compared with H-ZSM-5 catalyst which yielded only 31% of 5-HMF at identical reaction condition.

Keywords: chromium, hexose, ionic liquid, , zeolite

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Authors: Muzaffer Topgül, Ersi̇n Yilmaz

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One of the unknown aspects of Çanakkale Battles is that the importance and contributions of Mobile Gendarmarie Battalion have not been fully understood. It was because the battles of the troops which were deployed more in interior parts of Gallipoli Peninsula, and the contributions of battle on level tactical troops were not considered as much as the studies on strategical or operative level troops. When the operation field and battle plans are examined, instead of deploying along the coast to put the forces with a power at zero level landing on the coast out of action, the main battle components are seen to have deployed as strong reserves in the more inner areas. The negative effect of the field on the great trop operation reveals the need for time in order to use the intervention forces. ‘Time’ emerged as the main factor in victory as a result of giving intervention opportunity to the troops. While ordering his soldiers in Conkbayırı to die rather than fight, Liutenant Colonel Mustafa Kemal, the Commander of the 19th division, also emphasized the significance of time. In this respect, the contribution of Mobile Gendarmarie Battalion which saved time for the troops to intervene can be clearly seen. During the study, the memoirs and the works written by military institutions based on the record sources under the light of the notes taken during the trips to the region were used. By preventing the enemies from capturing the area, Mobile Gendarmerie Battalions had an important role in Battles of Kerevizdere, Kireçtepe and Alçıtepe which were of great importance among the battles. The success of these battalions was expressed with compliment by both Turkish and foreign commanders that participated in the war. During the battles the losses of armed forces commissioned to keep the security and order brought about the formation of the regions deficient in state authority.

Keywords: Canakkale battles, mustafa kemal, mobile gerdarmarie, Ottoman empire, time

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