Search results for: western legal systems

Authors: Sandra T. Matarneh, Mark Danso-Amoako, Salam Al-Bizri, Mark Gaterell

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Today’s facilities are ever more sophisticated and the need for available and reliable information for operation and maintenance activities is vital. The key challenge for facilities managers is to have real-time accurate and complete information to perform their day-to-day activities and to provide their senior management with accurate information for decision-making process. Currently, there are various technology platforms, data repositories, or database systems such as Computer-Aided Facility Management (CAFM) that are used for these purposes in different facilities. In most current practices, the data is extracted from paper construction documents and is re-entered manually in one of these computerized information systems. Construction Operations Building information exchange (COBie), is a non-proprietary data format that contains the asset non-geometric data which was captured and collected during the design and construction phases for owners and facility managers use. Recently software vendors developed add-in applications to generate COBie spreadsheet automatically. However, most of these add-in applications are capable of generating a limited amount of COBie data, in which considerable time is still required to enter the remaining data manually to complete the COBie spreadsheet. Some of the data which cannot be generated by these COBie add-ins is essential for facilities manager’s day-to-day activities such as job sheet which includes preventive maintenance schedules. To facilitate a seamless data transfer between BIM models and facilities management systems, we developed a framework that enables automated data generation using the data extracted directly from BIM models to external web database, and then enabling different stakeholders to access to the external web database to enter the required asset data directly to generate a rich COBie spreadsheet that contains most of the required asset data for efficient facilities management operations. The proposed framework is a part of ongoing research and will be demonstrated and validated on a typical university building. Moreover, the proposed framework supplements the existing body of knowledge in facilities management domain by providing a novel framework that facilitates seamless data transfer between BIM models and facilities management systems.

Keywords: building information modeling, BIM, facilities management systems, interoperability, information management

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Authors: Dina Maria Smit

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Worldwide, it seems as if women are adequately represented in government and parliament but are almost absent from governing boards of private enterprises. The reasons for this seem to be embedded in perceptions of inadequacy, remnants of patriarchy, glass ceilings and even female choice. Direct or indirect discrimination against females have been found to be one of the reasons that female employees are found in traditionally “softer” roles, whilst the old “Boy’s Club” is still operational to keep women out of senior managerial positions, especially in the private sector. The cultural construct of Indian society, focusing on male preference, patriarchy, divorce laws and low educational levels of females as opposed to men, is indicative of a society wherein high gender inequality still exists. The position in South Africa is similar in that substantive gender equality has not been reached despite a progressive constitution and anti-discrimination laws. There is a strong push to propel women to senior positions in South Africa, but these efforts have not yet translated into females taking up senior positions in private companies. In South Africa, females still earn less than their male counterparts whilst performing doing the same jobs, are overrepresented in parliament, but do not captain the ships in the private sector. The lack of female parity in employment leads to a lack of autonomy and authority in both South Africa and India. The divide between formal and informal work, unpaid work, mainly being done by women, need to be investigated to ensure substantive gender parity. The findings will show that females are still not equal to men in employment, especially in senior private positions; mainly due to the remnants of patriarchy and glass ceilings that still need to be shattered. This article aims to set out the reasons why gender disparity still exists in India and South Africa, seen through a legal lense. Both countries are signatories to the CEDAW Convention and have constitutions that advocate for the right of equality. Although equal rights have been implemented in both countries, equality may not be well implemented. This investigation is comparative in nature and aims to contribute to the growing body of evidence on how to ensure gender parity in all occupational levels and categories. The study is in quantitative in nature. If substantive gender equality, as opposed to formative gender equality, is a key motivator to ensure gender equality, an investigation into the reasons for this disparity is warranted before suggestions can be tendered to effect lasting change. The aim of this comparative study is not to plug the legal system of one country into the other, but to take into account of the autonomy of choice, set against cultural differences and similarities in an effort to shatter the glass ceilings for women who aspire to climb the corporate ladders.

Keywords: gender inequality, glass ceilings, patriarchy, female disparity

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Authors: Kaan Karaoglu, Raif Bayir

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In this study, a cartesian robot is developed to improve the performance and efficiency of wireless charging of electric vehicles. The cartesian robot has three axes, each of which moves linearly. Magnetic positioning is used to align the cartesian robot transmitter charging pad. There are two different wireless charging methods, static and dynamic, for charging electric vehicles. The current state of charge information (SOC State of Charge) and location information are received wirelessly from the electric vehicle. Based on this information, the power to be transmitted is determined, and the transmitter and receiver charging pads are aligned for maximum efficiency. With this study, a fully automated cartesian robot structure will be used to charge electric vehicles with the highest possible efficiency. With the wireless communication established between the electric vehicle and the charging station, the charging status will be monitored in real-time. The cartesian robot developed in this study is a fully automatic system that can be easily used in static wireless charging systems with vehicle-machine communication.

Keywords: electric vehicle, wireless charging systems, energy efficiency, cartesian robot, location detection, trajectory planning

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Authors: Landry Tchambou Tchouongsi, Appolinaire Derbetini Vondou

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This study describes the local Hadley circulation (HC) during the December-February (DJF) and June-August (JJA) seasons, respectively, in Central Africa (CA) from the divergent component of the mean meridional wind and also from a new method called the variation of the ψ vector. Historical data from the ERA5 reanalysis for the period 1983 to 2013 were used. The results show that the maximum of the upward branch of the local Hadley circulation in the DJF and JJA seasons is located under the Congo Basin (CB). However, seasonal and horizontal variations in the mean temperature gradient and thermodynamic properties are largely associated with the distribution of convection and large-scale upward motion. Thus, temperatures beneath the CB show a slight variation between the DJF and JJA seasons. Moreover, energy transport of the moist static energy (MSE) adequately captures the mean flow component of the HC over the tropics. By the way, the divergence under the CB is enhanced by the presence of the low pressure of western Cameroon and the contribution of the warm and dry air currents coming from the Sahara.

Keywords: Circulation, reanalysis, thermodynamic, local Hadley.

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Authors: Soroush Mokallaei

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Since ancient times, urbanization engineers have always thought of creating green spaces along with urbanization. Athens and Rome have attempted to construct public gardens around streets and palaces. Since then developing green space has become a part of urban civilization. In medieval ages, all Western cities had palaces and houses with internal gardens. In different sources green belt is defined as a green band of trees and bushes around the cities which has multiple functions. It is said that green belts are not only around the mountains, cities, and rivers but also around houses, subways, and highways. Constructing green belt around cities has different advantages such as: protecting cities against pollution, purifying air, screening dust, being a place for recreation, buffer zone of city internal lands, confronting the phenomenon of heat island, increasing agricultural products, helping to prevent illegal city development, confronting deforestation, preventing flood and increasing subterranean water resources.

Keywords: environment, garden cities, green belt, metropolises

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Authors: Brock Decker

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Vision and hearing have been given metaphysical, epistemic, moral and aesthetic preference over the gustatory senses since the very beginnings of Western philosophy. This unjustified prejudice has directed philosophical inquiry away from taste and smell and the values and interests of those concerned with them. The metaphysical and epistemic prejudices that have hindered work in this field are confronted by accepting an oblique invitation from David Hume to pursue a gustatory aesthetics of taste. A framework for further discussion of gustatory experience is added by arguing that taste and smell are cognitively configurable senses capable of bifurcated intentionality and that the taste perception of states of affairs is influenced both by culture and personal preference. Taste perceptions are revealed to admit an aesthetic standard. Using both a Humean aesthetic and a Brillat-Savarin-inspired understanding of taste can explain and discriminate between untrained and expert aesthetic taste experiences and contribute a perspective free from traditional prejudice for future work in the aesthetics of taste.

Keywords: aesthetics, Hume, Korsmeyer, taste, Scruton

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Authors: H. Masaeli, R. Ziaei, F. Khoshnoudian

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Shock response analysis of the soil–structure systems induced by near–fault pulses is investigated. Vibration transmissibility of the soil–structure systems is evaluated by Shock Response Spectra (SRS). Medium–to–high rise buildings with different aspect ratios located on different soil types as well as different foundations with respect to vertical load bearing safety factors are studied. Two types of mathematical near–fault pulses, i.e. forward directivity and fling step, with different pulse periods as well as pulse amplitudes are selected as incident ground shock. Linear versus nonlinear Soil–Structure Interaction (SSI) condition are considered alternatively and the corresponding results are compared. The results show that nonlinear SSI is likely to amplify the acceleration responses when subjected to long–period incident pulses with normalized period exceeding a threshold. It is also shown that this threshold correlates with soil type, so that increased shear–wave velocity of the underlying soil makes the threshold period decrease.

Keywords: nonlinear soil–structure interaction, shock response spectrum, near–fault ground shock, rocking isolation

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Authors: Jesse D. Cano, Marlon J. Remedios

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Cuban tourism has developed so much in the last 30 years to the point of becoming one of the engines of the Cuban economy. With such a development, Cuban companies opting for e-tourism as a way to publicize their products and attract customers has also grown. Despite this fact, the majority of Cuban tourism-themed websites simply provide information on the different products and services they offer which results in many cases, in the user getting overwhelmed with the amount of information available which results in the user abandoning the search before he can find a product that fits his needs. Customization has been recognized as a critical factor for successful electronic tourism business and the use of recommender systems is the best approach to address the problem of personalization. This paper aims to outline a preliminary technique to obtain predictions about which products a particular user would give a better evaluation; these products would be those which the website would show in the first place. To achieve this, the theoretical elements of the Cuban tourism environment are discussed; recommendation systems and geographic information systems as tools for information representation are also discussed. Finally, for each structural component identified, we define a set of rules that allows obtaining an electronic tourism system that handles the personalization of the service provided effectively.

Keywords: geographic information system, technique, tourism products, recommendation

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Authors: José Luiz da Silva Neto, Renato Sipelli Silva, Érick Aragão Ribeiro

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The automation of industrial processes plays a vital role in industries today, becoming an integral and important part of the industrial process and modern production. The process control systems are designed to maximize production, reduce costs and minimize risks in production. However, these systems are generally not deployed methodologies and planning. So that this article describes the development of an automation system of a kitchen preparation of chemicals in the textile industry based on a retrofitting methodology that provides more quality into the process at a lower cost.

Keywords: automation, textile industry, kitchen chemical, information integration

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Authors: Sujin Hong, Seokyoon Moon, Heejoong Kim, Yunseok Lee, Youngjune Park

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Gas hydrate is an inclusion compound in which a low-molecular-weight gas or organic molecule is trapped inside a three-dimensional lattice structure created by water-molecule via intermolecular hydrogen bonding. It is generally formed at low temperature and high pressure, and exists as crystal structures of cubic systems − structure I, structure II, and hexagonal system − structure H. Many efforts have been made to apply them to various energy and environmental fields such as gas transportation and storage, CO₂ capture and separation, and desalination of seawater. Particularly, studies on the behavior of gas hydrates by new organic materials for CO₂ storage and various applications are underway. In this study, thermodynamic and spectroscopic analyses of the gas hydrate system were performed focusing on cyclopentanol, an organic molecule that forms gas hydrate at relatively low pressure. The thermodynamic equilibria of CH₄ and CO₂ hydrate systems including cyclopentanol were measured and spectroscopic analyses of XRD and Raman were performed. The differences in thermodynamic systems and formation kinetics of CO₂ added cyclopentane, cyclopentanol and cyclopentanone hydrate systems were compared. From the thermodynamic point of view, cyclopentanol was found to be a hydrate promotor. Spectroscopic analyses showed that cyclopentanol formed a hydrate crystal structure of cubic structure II in the presence of CH₄ and CO₂. It was found that the differences in the functional groups among the organic guest molecules significantly affected the rate of hydrate formation and the total amounts of CO₂ stored in the hydrate systems. The total amount of CO₂ stored in the cyclopentanone hydrate was found to be twice that of the amount of CO₂ stored in the cyclopentane and the cyclopentanol hydrates. The findings are expected to open up new opportunity to develop the gas hydrate based wastewater desalination technology.

Keywords: gas hydrate, CO₂, separation, desalination, formation kinetics, thermodynamic equilibria

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Authors: Rabia Korkmaz Tan, Şebnem Bora

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The major problem encountered when modeling complex systems with agent-based modeling and simulation techniques is the existence of large parameter spaces. A complex system model cannot be expected to reflect the whole of the real system, but by specifying the most appropriate parameters, the actual system can be represented by the model under certain conditions. When the studies conducted in recent years were reviewed, it has been observed that there are few studies for parameter tuning problem in agent based simulations, and these studies have focused on tuning parameters of a single model. In this study, an approach of parameter tuning is proposed by using metaheuristic algorithms such as Genetic Algorithm (GA), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Artificial Bee Colonies (ABC), Firefly (FA) algorithms. With this hybrid structured study, the parameter tuning problems of the models in the different fields were solved. The new approach offered was tested in two different models, and its achievements in different problems were compared. The simulations and the results reveal that this proposed study is better than the existing parameter tuning studies.

Keywords: parameter tuning, agent based modeling and simulation, metaheuristic algorithms, complex systems

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Authors: Abtin Farokhipanah

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In recent years, analysis of structures is based on ductility design in contradictory to strength design in surveying earthquake effects on structures. ASCE07-10 code offers to intensify relative drifts calculated from a linear analysis with Cd which is called (Deflection Amplification Factor) to obtain the real relative drifts which can be calculated using nonlinear analysis. This lateral drift should be limited to the code boundaries. Calculation of this amplification factor for different structures, comparing with ASCE07-10 code and offering the best coefficient are the purposes of this research. Following our target, short and tall building steel structures with various earthquake resistant systems in linear and nonlinear analysis should be surveyed, so these questions will be answered: 1. Does the Response Modification Coefficient (R) have a meaningful relation to Deflection Amplification Factor? 2. Does structure height, seismic zone, response spectrum and similar parameters have an effect on the conversion coefficient of linear analysis to real drift of structure? The procedure has used to conduct this research includes: (a) Study on earthquake resistant systems, (b) Selection of systems and modeling, (c) Analyzing modeled systems using linear and nonlinear methods, (d) Calculating conversion coefficient for each system and (e) Comparing conversion coefficients with the code offered ones and concluding results.

Keywords: ASCE07-10 code, deflection amplification factor, earthquake engineering, lateral displacement of structures, response modification coefficient

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Authors: Brian Yulianto, Syachrial, Saeful Aziz, Anggita Clara Shinta

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Indonesia, with a population of about two hundred and fifty million people in quantity, indicates the outstanding wealth of human resources. Hundreds of millions of the population scattered in various communities in various regions in Indonesia with the different characteristics of economic, social and unique culture. Broadly speaking, the community in Indonesia is divided into two classes, namely urban communities and rural communities. The rural communities characterized by low potential and management of natural and human resources, limited access of development, and lack of social and economic infrastructure, and scattered and isolated population. West Java is one of the provinces with the largest population in Indonesia. Based on data from the Central Bureau of Statistics in 2015 the number of population in West Java reached 46.7096 million souls spread over 18 districts and 9 cities. The big difference in geographical and social conditions of people in West Java from one region to another, especially the south to the north causing the gap is high. It is closely related to the flow of investment to promote the area. Poverty and underdevelopment are the classic problems that occur on a massive scale in the region as the effects of inequity in development. South Cianjur and Tasikmalaya area South became one of the portraits area where the existing potential has not been capable of prospering society. Tri Dharma College not only define the College as a pioneer implementation of education and research to improve the quality of human resources but also demanded to be a pioneer in the development through the concept of public service. Bandung Institute of Technology as one of the institutions of higher education to implement community service system through collaborative community work program "one of the university community" as one approach to developing villages. The program is based Community Service, where students are not only required to be able to take part in community service, but also able to develop a community development strategy that is comprehensive and integrity in cooperation with government agencies and non-government related as a real form of effort alignment potential, position and role from various parties. Areas of western Java in particular have high poverty rates and disparity. On the other hand, there are three fundamental pillars in the development of rural communities, namely economic development, community development, and the integrated infrastructure development. These pillars require the commitment of all components of community, including the students and colleges for upholding success. College’s community program is one of the approaches in the development of rural communities. ITB is committed to implement as one form of student community service as community-college programs that integrate all elements of the community which is called Kuliah Kerja Nyata-Thematic.

Keywords: development in rural area, collaborative, student community service, Kuliah Kerja Nyata-Thematic ITB

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Authors: Jaime Carpio-García, Elena Blanco-Fernández, Javier González-Fernández, Daniel Castro-Fresno

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Sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) are more often used in order to prevent floods, water treatment, fight against pollution, urban heat island effect, and global warming in applications like green roofs, permeable pavements, and others. Furthermore, geosynthetics are also worldwide used as a part of drainage systems in road construction. Geotextiles are an essential part of both, and one of the main geotextile properties in those applications is permeability, whose behavior is not well established along its service life. In this paper, clogging reduction design factors for an estimated service life of 25 years are experimentally obtained for five different geotextiles used in SUDS and roads combined with two different soils and with two pollutants, motor oil, and lime, in order to evaluate chemical clogging, too. The effect of characteristic opening size and other characteristics of the geosynthetics are also discussed in order to give civil engineers, together with the clogging reduction factors, a better long-time design of geotextiles used in their SUDS and roads.

Keywords: geotextiles, drainage, clogging, reduction factor

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Authors: Mercedes Sepulveda, Saras Henderson, Dana Farrell, Gaby Heuft

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In Australia, there is a significant number of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Grandparent Carers who are sole carers for their grandchildren. Services in the community such as accessible healthcare, financial support, legal aid, and transport to services can assist Grandparent Carers to continue to live in their own home whilst caring for their grandchildren. Community nurses can play a major role by being aware of the needs of these grandparents and link them to services via information and referrals. The CALD Grandparent Carer experiences have only been explored marginally and may be similar to the general Grandparent Carer population, although cultural aspects may add to their difficulties. This Needs-Gap Analysis aimed to uncover ‘hidden issues’ for CALD Grandparent Carers such as service gaps and actions needed to address these issues. The stakeholders selected for this Needs-Gap Analysis were drawn from relevant service providers such as community and aged care services, child and/or grandparents support services and CALD specific services. One hundred relevant service providers were surveyed using six structured questions via face to face, phone interviews, or email correspondence. CALD Grandparents who had a significant or sole role of being a carer for grandchildren were invited to participate through their CALD community leaders. Consultative Forums asking five questions that focused on the caring role, issues encountered, and what needed to be done, were conducted with the African, Asian, Spanish-Speaking, Middle Eastern, European, Pacific Islander and Maori Grandparent Carers living in South-east Queensland, Australia. Data from the service provider survey and the CALD Grandparent Carer forums were content analysed using thematic principles. Our findings highlighted social determinants of health grouped into six themes. These were; 1) service providers and Grandparent Carer perception that there was limited research data on CALD grandparents as carers; 2) inadequate legal and financial support; 3) barriers to accessing information and advice; 4) lack of childcare options in the light of aging and health issues; 5) difficulties around transport; and 6) inadequate technological skills often leading to social isolation for both carer and grandchildren. Our Needs-Gap Analysis provides insight to service providers especially health practitioners such as doctors and community nurses, particularly on the impact of caring for grandchildren on CALD Grandparent Carers. Furthermore, factors such as cultural differences, English language difficulties, and migration experiences also impacted on the way CALD Grandparent Carers are able to cope. The findings of this Need-Gap Analysis signposts some of the ‘ hidden issues’ that CALD Grandparents Carers face and draws together recommendations for the future as put forward by the stakeholders themselves.

Keywords: CALD grandparents, carer needs, community nurses, grandparent carers

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Authors: Adeshina Francis Akindutre, Adebolarin Adekanle

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Sexual assault is often considered as the most extreme form of violence that degrades and humiliates women in society. It is a widespread public health and psychological problem in Nigeria. Criminologically, sexual assaults have been considered as one of the several violent crimes targeted specifically at women and perpetrated by men. This paper attempts to examine the types of sexual assaults in Nigeria, the strategies used by the offenders, the causes, the psychological effects on the victims and the possible solutions of sexual assaults. This work also, examines the law prohibiting sexual assault in Nigeria. The authors made use of three theories: the victim precipitation approach, the feminist approach, and the psychological approach which explain why sexual assault takes place in society. Finally, it takes the Stockholm Syndrome into consideration (the treatment of victims).

Keywords: feminist, victims, offenders, psychological, sexual assault, Stockholm Syndrome

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Authors: Laura Mion

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Concepts of quality assurance and management are now part of the organizational culture of the Universities. Quality Assurance (QA) systems are, in large part, provided for by national regulatory dictates or supranational indications (such as, for example, at European level are, the ESG Guidelines "European Standard Guidelines"), but their specific definition, in terms of guiding principles, requirements and methodologies, are often delegated to the national evaluation agencies or to the autonomy of individual universities. For this reason, the experiences of implementation of QA systems in different countries and in different universities is an interesting source of information to understand how quality in universities is understood, pursued and verified. The literature often deals with the treatment of the experiences of implementation of QA systems in the individual areas in which the University's activity is carried out - teaching, research, third mission - but only rarely considers quality systems with a systemic and integrated approach, which allows to correlate subjects, actions, and performance in a virtuous circuit of continuous improvement. In particular, it is interesting to understand how to relate the results and uses of the QA in the triple distinction of university activities, identifying how one can cause the performance of the other as a function of an integrated whole and not as an exploit of specific activities or processes conceived in an abstractly atomistic way. The aim of the research is, therefore, to investigate which experiences of "integrated" QA systems are present on the international scene: starting from the experience of European countries that have long shared the Bologna Process for the creation of a European space for Higher Education (EHEA), but also considering experiences from emerging countries that use QA processes to develop their higher education systems to keep them up to date with international levels. The concept of "integration", in this research, is understood in a double meaning: i) between the different areas of activity, in particular between the didactic and research areas, and possibly with the so-called "third mission" "ii) the functional integration between those involved in quality assessment and management and the governance of the University. The paper will present the results of a systematic review conducted according with a method of an integrative review aimed at identifying best practices of quality assurance systems, in individual countries or individual universities, with a high level of integration. The analysis of the material thus obtained has made it possible to grasp common and transversal elements of QA system integration practices or particularly interesting elements and strengths of these experiences that can, therefore, be considered as winning aspects in a QA practice. The paper will present the method of analysis carried out, and the characteristics of the experiences identified, of which the structural elements will be highlighted (level of integration, areas considered, organizational levels included, etc.) and the elements for which these experiences can be considered as best practices.

Keywords: quality assurance, university, integration, country

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Authors: M. Lu

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The paper presents part of the results of EU-funded projects: SoCool@EU (Sustainable Organisation between Clusters Of Optimized Logistics @ Europe), DG-RTD (Research and Innovation), Regions of Knowledge Programme (FP7-REGIONS-2011-1). It will provide an in-depth review of emerging technologies for further improving urban mobility and freight transport systems, such as (information and physical) infrastructure, ICT-based Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), vehicles, advanced logistics, and services. Furthermore, the paper will provide an analysis of the barriers and will review business models for the market uptake of innovations. From a perspective of science and technology, the challenges of urbanization could be mainly handled through adequate (human-oriented) solutions for urban planning, sustainable energy, the water system, building design and construction, the urban transport system (both physical and information aspects), and advanced logistics and services. Implementation of solutions for these domains should be follow a highly integrated and balanced approach, a silo approach should be avoided. To develop a sustainable urban transport system (for people and goods), including inter-hubs and intra-hubs, a holistic view is needed. To achieve a sustainable transport system for people and goods (in terms of cost-effectiveness, efficiency, environment-friendliness and fulfillment of the mobility, transport and logistics needs of the society), a proper network and information infrastructure, advanced transport systems and operations, as well as ad hoc and seamless services are required. In addition, a road map for an enhanced urban transport system until 2050 will be presented. This road map aims to address the challenges of urban transport, and to provide best practices in inter-city and intra-city environments from various perspectives, including policy, traveler behaviour, economy, liability, business models, and technology.

Keywords: synchromodality, multimodal transport, logistics, Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS)

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Authors: Charlotte Brenner

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Teachers’ beleifs about inclusion are foundational to their implementation of inclusive teaching practices. Utilizing a longitudinal design and multiple case study methodology, this study investigates how teacher candidates’ instructional and practicum experiences shape their beliefs about inclusion in one teacher education program located in western Canada (N=20). Interview questions were developed through the lens of self-determinaiton theory and theory about teachers’ beleifs and inclusion. Preliminary thematic ananysis indicates that a 36-hour course focused on diversity and inclusion supports teacher candiates to deepen their understandings of: the need for inclusion in classrooms and strategies to promote inclusion. Furthermore, teacher candiates identified course components that fostered their developing understandings of inclusion. Future data will examine the stability of teacher candidates’ beliefs about inclusion and their implementation of inclusive teaching strategies throughout their practicum experiences.

Keywords: teacher candidates, inclusion, teacher education programs, beliefs

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Authors: Kamel A. Elshorbagy, Mohamed A. Hussein, Rola S. Afify

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Natural gas pressure reduction is typically achieved using pressure reducing valves, where isenthalpic expansion takes place with considerable amount of wasted energy in an irreversible throttling process of the gas. Replacing gas-throttling process by an expansion process in a turbo expander (TE) converts the pressure of natural gas into mechanical energy transmitted to a loading device (i.e. an electric generator). This paper investigates the performance of a turboexpander system for power recovery at natural gas pressure reduction stations. There is a considerable temperature drop associated with the turboexpander process. Essential preheating is required, using gas fired boilers, to avoid undesirable effects of a low outlet temperature. Various system configurations were simulated by the general flow sheet simulator HYSYS and factors affecting the overall performance of the systems were investigated. Power outputs and fuel requirements were found using typical gas flow variation data. The simulation was performed for two case studies in which real input data are used. These case studies involve a domestic (commercial) and an industrial natural gas pressure reduction stations in Egypt. Economic studies of using the turboexpander system in both of the two natural gas pressure reduction stations are conducted using precise data obtained through communication with several companies working in this field. The results of economic analysis, for the two case studies, prove that using turboexpander systems in Egyptian natural gas reduction stations can be a successful project for energy conservation.

Keywords: natural gas, power recovery, reduction stations, turboexpander systems

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Authors: Alaa M. M. Badr Eldin, Marwa I. Ezzat, Mohammed S. Sedeek, Manal S. Afifi, Omar M. Sabry

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Cytotoxic activity of the total methanol extract against breast cancer cell line MCF-7 was amazing IC50 at 54 ug/ml. 130 polyphenolic compounds were tentatively identified in pomegranate peel (Punica granatum L.) methanol extract using HPLC-MS/MS technique. The antiestrogenic activity of the polyphenolic constituents found in pomegranate extract was confirmed experimentally in-vitro and by the in-silico molecular docking using gallagic acid, ellagic acid, and Punicalagin as these are considered model compounds confirmed in pomegranate peel extract. The methanolic extract was found to suppress ER, TGF-β, and NF-kB in-vitro gene expression strongly, and that was verified by qPCR and Western Blot gel electrophoresis techniques.

Keywords: HPLC-MS/MS, pomegranate, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, ER, TGF-β, NF-kB

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Authors: Firas M. Tuaimah, Huda M. Abdul Abbas

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Accurate Short Term Load Forecasting (STLF) is essential for a variety of decision making processes. However, forecasting accuracy can drop due to the presence of uncertainty in the operation of energy systems or unexpected behavior of exogenous variables. Interval Type 2 Fuzzy Logic System (IT2 FLS), with additional degrees of freedom, gives an excellent tool for handling uncertainties and it improved the prediction accuracy. The training data used in this study covers the period from January 1, 2012 to February 1, 2012 for winter season and the period from July 1, 2012 to August 1, 2012 for summer season. The actual load forecasting period starts from January 22, till 28, 2012 for winter model and from July 22 till 28, 2012 for summer model. The real data for Iraqi power system which belongs to the Ministry of Electricity.

Keywords: short term load forecasting, prediction interval, type 2 fuzzy logic systems, electric, computer systems engineering

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Authors: Bongs Lainjo

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The evolution and escalation of bike-sharing programs (BSP) continue unabated. Since the sixties, many countries have introduced different models and strategies of BSP. These include variations ranging from dockless models to electronic real-time monitoring systems. Reasons for using this BSP include recreation, errands, work, etc. And there is all indication that complex, and more innovative rider-friendly systems are yet to be introduced. The objective of this paper is to analyze current variables established by different operators and streamline them identifying the most compelling ones using analytics. Given the contents of available databases, there is a lack of uniformity and common standard on what is required and what is not. Two factors appear to be common: user type (registered and unregistered, and duration of each trip). This article uses historical data provided by one operator based in the greater Washington, District of Columbia, USA area. Several variables including categorical and continuous data types were screened. Eight out of 18 were considered acceptable and significantly contribute to determining a useful and reliable predictive model. Bike-sharing systems have become popular in recent years all around the world. Although this trend has resulted in many studies on public cycling systems, there have been few previous studies on the factors influencing public bicycle travel behavior. A bike-sharing system is a computer-controlled system in which individuals can borrow bikes for a fee or free for a limited period. This study has identified unprecedented useful, and pragmatic parameters required in improving BSP ridership dynamics.

Keywords: sharing program, historical data, parameters, ridership dynamics, trip duration

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Authors: Angelo Vintaloro

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Recent discoveries in territory never studied have given a different reading of Sicilian prehistory with the acquisition of important data on the penetration of the Minoan and Mycenaean colonization and on trade in the center-west of Sicily. The large settlement of Montagna Vecchia, in the territory of Corleone, has typical components starting from the Neolithic and was located along the road from Palermo to Agrigento, which connected the southern coast to the northern one. It was already the most important trade route on the island, as it represented a portion of the long North African/South French trade route, from the Campaniform period, at the beginning of the second millennium BC, through the mediation of the islands of Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica. Years ago, it seemed that this colonization had stopped in south-eastern Sicily, but these recent discoveries changed the situation and gave us the confirmation that many peoples contributed to giving a permanent presence to this territory. Some areas of probable sacred destination have also been identified, closely linked to the subsequent Hellenic colonization of Sicily.

Keywords: corleone, vecchia, preistoria, ellenismo

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Authors: Edith Kamakune

Abstract:

As much as Indigenous rights are presumed to be part of the broad human rights regime, members of the indigenous communities have continually suffered violations, exclusions, and threat. There are a number of steps taken from the international community in trying to bridge the gap, and this has been through the inclusion of provisions as well as the passing of conventions and declarations with specific reference to the rights of indigenous peoples. Some examples of indigenous people include theSiberian Yupik of St Lawrence Island; the Ute of Utah; the Cree of Alberta, and the Xosa andKhoiKhoi of Southern Africa. Uganda’s wide cultural heritage has played a key role in the failure to pay special attention to the needs of the rights of indigenous peoples. The 1995 Constitution and the Land Act of 1998 provide for abstract land rights without necessarily paying attention to indigenous communities’ special needs. Basongora are a pastoralist community in Western Uganda whose ancestral land is the present Queen Elizabeth National Park of Western Uganda, Virunga National Park of Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and the small percentage of the low lands under the Rwenzori Mountains. Their values and livelihood are embedded in their strong attachment to the land, and this has been at stake for the last about 90 Years. This research was aimed atinvestigating the relationship between land rights and the right to cultural identity among indigenous communities, looking at the policy available on land and culture, and whether the policies are sensitive of the specific issues of vulnerable ethnic groups; and largely the effect of land on the right to cultural identity. The research was guided by three objectives: to examine and contextualize the concept of land rights among the Basongora community; to assess the policy frame work available for the protection of the Basongora community; to investigate the forms of vulnerability of the Basongora community. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used. a case of Kaseseand Kampala Districts were purposefully selected .138 people were recruited through random and nonrandom techniques to participate in the study, and these were 70 questionnaire respondents; 20 face to face interviews respondents; 5 key informants, and 43 participants in focus group discussions; The study established that Land is communally held and used and thatit continues to be a central source of livelihood for the Basongora; land rights are important in multiplication of herds; preservation, development, and promotion of culture and language. Research found gaps in the policy framework since the policies are concerned with tenure issues and the general provisions areambiguous. Oftenly, the Basongora are not called upon to participate in decision making processes, even on issues that affect them. The research findings call forauthorities to allow Basongora to access Queen Elizabeth National Park land for pasture during particular seasons of the year, especially during the dry seasons; land use policy; need for a clear alignment of the description of indigenous communitiesunder the constitution (Uganda, 1995) to the international definition.

Keywords: cultural identity, land rights, protection, uganda

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Authors: Jeroen S. de Bruin, Karin Schindler, Christian Schuh

Abstract:

With increasingly more mobile health applications appearing due to the popularity of smartphones, the possibility arises that these data can be used to improve the medical diagnostic process, as well as the overall quality of healthcare, while at the same time lowering costs. However, as of yet there have been no reports of a successful combination of patient-generated data from smartphones with data from clinical routine. In this paper, we describe how these two types of data can be combined in a secure way without modification to hospital information systems, and how they can together be used in a medical expert system for automatic nutritional classification and triage.

Keywords: mobile health, data integration, expert systems, disease-related malnutrition

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Authors: Ghulam Nabi Naz

Abstract:

After independence, the popular belief that Gandhian will not indulge in corruption got a setback, post-independence setup paved the way for heavy corruption. The menace which would have dealt with strong legal provisions has become a way of life of Indian society. Corruption is recognized as the single biggest problem facing the country today. It undermines democracy and rule of law, violates human rights, distorts market and corrodes the moral fibre of people. The paper discusses the causes and possible remedial measures of corruption and response of people in Indian society. It emphasizes the factors which provide fertile ground for growth of corruption like, degradation of moral values, absence of a strong anti-corruption law and its effective enforcement, accountability, consistency and a defective system of fighting elections. The paper also highlights the reforms necessary for fighting corruption in India.

Keywords: embezzlement, colonial, licence Raj, good governance, misappropriation, Sangh ideologue, Anna movement

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Authors: Nareenad Panbun

Abstract:

The objective is to study the knowledge utilization from the participants of the announcer training program by National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC). This study is a quantitative research based on surveys and self-answering questionnaires. The population of this study is 100 participants randomly chosen by non-probability sampling method. The results have shown that most of the participants were satisfied with the topics of general knowledge about the broadcasting and television business for 37 people representing 37%, followed by the topics of broadcasting techniques. The legal issues, consumer rights, television business ethics, and credibility of the media are, in addition to the media's role and responsibilities in society, the use of language for successful communication. Therefore, the communication language skills are the most important for all of the trainees and will also build up the image of the broadcasting center.

Keywords: announcer training program, participant, requirements announced, theory of utilization

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Authors: Bachir Bentouati, Lakhdar Chaib, Saliha Chettih, Gai-Ge Wang

Abstract:

The problem of economic dispatch (ED) is the basic problem of power framework, its main goal is to find the most favorable generation dispatch to generate each unit, reduce the whole power generation cost, and meet all system limitations. A heuristic algorithm, recently developed called Stud Krill Herd (SKH), has been employed in this paper to treat non-convex ED problems. The proposed KH has been modified using Stud selection and crossover (SSC) operator, to enhance the solution quality and avoid local optima. We are demonstrated SKH effects in two case study systems composed of 13-unit and 40-unit test systems to verify its performance and applicability in solving the ED problems. In the above systems, SKH can successfully obtain the best fuel generator and distribute the load requirements for the online generators. The results showed that the use of the proposed SKH method could reduce the total cost of generation and optimize the fulfillment of the load requirements.

Keywords: stud krill herd, economic dispatch, crossover, stud selection, valve-point effect

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Authors: Keunhong Chae, Seokho Yoon

Abstract:

We propose a code acquisition scheme called improved multiple-shift (IMS) for optical code division multiple access systems, where the optical orthogonal code is used instead of the pseudo noise code. Although the IMS algorithm has a similar process to that of the conventional MS algorithm, it has a better code acquisition performance than the conventional MS algorithm. We analyze the code acquisition performance of the IMS algorithm and compare the code acquisition performances of the MS and the IMS algorithms in single-user and multi-user environments.

Keywords: code acquisition, optical CDMA, optical orthogonal code, serial algorithm

Procedia PDF Downloads 520