Search results for: administrative services

Authors: Vaibhav V. Dixit, Shubham Ajay Karwa

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Diabetic foot ulcers speak to a critical medical problem. Right now, clinicians and medical caretakers primarily construct their injury evaluation in light of visual examination of wound size and mending status, while the patients themselves rarely have a chance to play a dynamic part. Henceforth, love quantitative and practical examination technique that empowers the patients and their parental figures to take a more dynamic part in every day wound care possibly can quicken wound recuperating, spare travel cost and diminish human services costs. Considering the commonness of cell phones with a high-determination computerized camera, evaluating wounds by breaking down pictures of ceaseless foot ulcers is an alluring choice. In this paper, we propose a novel injury picture examination framework actualized using feature extraction and color segmentation. Here we are using the Normalized minimum distance classifier for classifying the output.

Keywords: diabetic, Gabor wavelet, normalized minimum distance classifier, quantiable parameters

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Authors: Kamal Khan Abro, Attaullah Ansari, Mahpara Pirzada

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Hoverflies are commonly known as flower flies, sun flies or garden flies. Hoverflies are very important group of insects because their ecosystem services are diverse. They are an attractive group of insects with their striped abdomens. They are day-flying insects from small to large size, have worldwide distribution, but mostly prefer to live in relatively cold weather areas. In the world, about 6,000 species of 200 genera of two sub-families have been described. Their larvae exhibit a variety of feeding modes i.e. aphidophagous, saprophagous, zoophagous and Phytophagus, where adults are floral visitors of hundreds of different plants species. These floral resources enhance the longevity and fecundity of adult dipterous flies. Many syrphid species also have been documented as efficient crop pollinators. Aphids are commonly called plant louse, greenflies and blackflies. They are major pest of crops; about 4000 species of aphids have been described, feeding on 250 species of plants.

Keywords: host plant range, aphidophagous hoverflies, their prey aphids, Thatta Pakistan

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Authors: Adebayo Emmanuel Layi

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Library and Information Science Education is about six (6) decades old in Nigeria. The first Library School was established in 1962 at the University of Ibadan, and since then, several institutions have been running the programme under various certifications, providing the manpower needs of professionals for libraries. As at June 2023, Nigeria has close to a thousand (1000) tertiary institutions and all needing the services of librarians. Apart from the tertiary institutions, several libraries exit in various establishments, both government, private and non-governmental organisations. These has underscored the enormous need for trained librarians for the libraries in these places. The Nexus between LIS Education training and Practice is like a puzzle of egg and chick, which one came first and against this background, this paper examined the roles of the colonial masters in educational development in Africa and vis-à-vis the influence of great library educators such as Melvil Dewey and other educators and the journey through Nigeria institutions. Despite the sound footing of LIS Education, Noise which seems to be a major obstacle on the practice as well as mending the broken link were all examined in the paper. Strategies and the way forward for overall development are suggested.

Keywords: nexus, education, training, synergy

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Authors: Siziwe Monica Zuma

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The Expanded Public Works Program (EPWP) is an instrument that the South African Government uses to reduce unemployment and poverty and also stimulate economic growth. However, due to the limited budget and programs in the EPWP, the program has had challenges in reducing unemployment, poverty and stimulating economic growth. The EPWP Vuk’uphile program had positive outcomes in developing Black emerging contractors, in order for them to participate in the main stream economy far better than when the EPWP program was not introduced. The Skills component of the program particularly the EPWP Infrastructure, which is the most funded program under EPWP has had limited success in transferring appropriate skills to ensure labour participants can penetrate the labour market after participating in the EPWP. Education and skills are important attributes that can contribute to labour absorption, however, the EPWP particularly the infrastructure program needs to strengthen skills development over a longer period of time suggested a year with multi skills relevant to the labour market. Longer and more sustained employment provides a safety net and reduces poverty better that short term employment. The EPWP program can be expanded in the infrastructure sector, focusing on rural infrastructure, agricultural infrastructure, infrastructure related components like property, ownership, management, and other services. These can stimulate the Economic sector Infrastructure of EPWP, offer longer term and more sustained employment and rural enterprise development and further employment. The Expanded Public Works Program (EPWP) is an instrument that the South African Government uses to reduce unemployment and poverty and also stimulate economic growth. However, due to the limited budget and programs in the EPWP, the program has had challenges in reducing unemployment, poverty and stimulating economic growth. The EPWP Vuk’uphile program has had positive outcomes in developing Black emerging contractors, in order for them to participate in the main stream economy far better than when the EPWP program was not introduced. The Skills component of the program particularly the EPWP Infrastructure, which is the most funded program under EPWP has had limited success in transferring appropriate skills to ensure labour participants are able to penetrate the labour market after participating in the EPWP. Education and skills are important attributes that can contribute to labour absorption, however, the EPWP particularly the infrastructure program needs to strengthen skills development over a longer period of time suggested a year with multi skills relevant to the labour market. Longer and more sustained employment provides a safety net and reduces poverty better that short term employment. The EPWP program can be expanded in the infrastructure sector, focusing on rural infrastructure, agricultural infrastructure, infrastructure related components like property, ownership, management, and other services. These can stimulate the Economic sector Infrastructure of EPWP, offer longer term and more sustained employment and rural enterprise development and further employment.

Keywords: Expanded Public Works Program (EPWP), VUKÚPHILE, youth, Public Works Programs (PWP), Infrastructure Sector of EPWP (EPWP Infrastructure)

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Authors: Barbara Heinisch, Mikael Snaprud

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A common, well understood language is crucial in critical situations like landing a plane. For e-Government solutions, a clear and common language is needed to allow users to successfully complete transactions online. Misunderstandings here may not risk a safe landing but can cause delays, resubmissions and drive costs. This holds also true for higher education, where misunderstandings can also arise due to inconsistent use of terminology. Thus, language barriers are a societal challenge that needs to be tackled. The major means to bridge language barriers is translation. However, achieving high-quality translation and making texts understandable and accessible require certain framework conditions. Therefore, the EU and individual projects take (strategic) actions. These actions include the identification, collection, processing, re-use and development of language resources. These language resources may be used for the development of machine translation systems and the provision of (public) services including higher education. This paper outlines some of the existing resources and indicate directions for further development to increase the quality and usage of these resources.

Keywords: language resources, machine translation, terminology, translation

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Authors: Bruno Vilić Belina, Ivan Župan

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Smart industry concepts and digital transformation are very popular in many industries. They develop their own digital platforms, which have an important role in innovations and transactions. The main idea of smart industry digital platforms is central data collection, industrial data integration, and data usage for smart applications and services. This paper presents the development of a digital platform for building critical infrastructure protection systems in smart industries. Different service contraction modalities in service level agreements (SLAs), customer relationship management (CRM) relations, trends, and changes in business architectures (especially process business architecture) for the purpose of developing infrastructural production and distribution networks, information infrastructure meta-models and generic processes by critical infrastructure owner demanded by critical infrastructure law, satisfying cybersecurity requirements and taking into account hybrid threats are researched.

Keywords: cybersecurity, critical infrastructure, smart industries, digital platform

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Authors: Rohan Sarker, Cory Smith

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ROMIC Group UK is a leading provider of diesel electric locomotives, specializing in innovative and efficient solutions for rail transportation. With a strong focus on sustainability and performance, ROMIC's diesel electric locomotives are engineered to reduce fuel consumption while maximizing operational efficiency. The company's locomotives incorporate advanced technologies such as regenerative braking systems and precision control software, which enhance fuel economy and minimize environmental impact. ROMIC's extensive experience in the rail sector enables it to deliver reliable and powerful locomotives that meet the demands of both freight and passenger services. These locomotives are designed for heavy-duty applications, offering superior traction and load-carrying capacity across various terrains. The company's commitment to cutting-edge engineering and customer satisfaction ensures that its locomotives are a trusted choice for rail operators looking for high performance and low operational costs. ROMIC Group UK continues to drive innovation in the rail industry with its sustainable locomotive solutions.

Keywords: diesel, electric, engines, locomotives

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Authors: Shierwin Agagen Cabunilas

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The unitary form of Philippine government has built a tradition of bureaucracy that strengthened oligarch and clientele politics. Consequently, the Philippines is lagged behind development. There is so much poverty, unemployment, and inadequate social services. In addition, it seems that the rights of national ethnic minority groups like the Igorots to develop their political and economic interests, linguistic and cultural heritage are neglected. Given these circumstances, a paradigm shift is inevitable. The author advocates a transition from a unitary to a federal system of government. Contrary to the notion that a unitary system facilitates better governance, it actually stifles it. As a unitary government, the Philippines seems (a) to exhibit incompetence in delivering efficient, necessary services to the people and (b) to exclude the minority from political participation and policy making. This shows that Philippine unitary system is highly centralized and operates from a top-bottom scheme. However, a federal system encourages decentralization, plurality and political participation. In my view, federalism is beneficial to the Philippine society and congenial to the Igorot indigenous peoples insofar as participative decision-making and development goals are concerned. This research employs critical and constructive analyses. The former interprets some complex practices of Philippine politics while the latter investigates how theories of federalism can be appropriated to deal with political deficits, ethnic diversity, and indigenous peoples’ rights to self-determination. The topic is developed accordingly: First, the author briefly examines the unitary structure of the Philippines and its impact on inter-governmental affairs and processes, asserting that bureaucracy and corruption, for example, are counterproductive to a participative political life, to economic development and to the recognition of national ethnic minorities. Second, he scrutinizes why federalism might transform this. Here, he assesses various opposing philosophical contentions on federal system in managing ethnically diverse society, like the Philippines, and argue that decentralization of political power, economic and cultural developments are reasons to exit from unitary government. Third, he suggests that federalism can be instrumental to Igorots self-determination. Self-determination is neither opposed to national development nor to the ideals of democracy – liberty, justice, solidarity. For example, as others have already noted, a politics in the vernacular facilitates greater participation among the people. Hence, there is a greater chance to arrive at policies that serve the interest of the people. Some may wary that decentralization disintegrates a nation. According to the author, however, the recognition of minority rights which includes self-determination may promote filial devotion to the state. If Igorot indigenous peoples have access to suitable institutions to determine their political life, economic goals, social needs, i.e., education, culture, language, chances are it moves the country forward to development fostering national unity. Remarkably, federal system thus best responds to the Philippines’s democratic and development deficits. Federalism can also significantly rectify the practices that oppress and dislocate national ethnic minorities as it ensures the creation of localized institutions for optimum political, economic, cultural determination and maximizes representation in the public sphere.

Keywords: federalism, Igorot, indigenous peoples, self-determination

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Authors: Chi-Wai Kan, Kam-Hong Chau, Ho-Shing Law

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Wicking property is important for textile finishing and wears comfort. Good wicking properties can ensure uniformity and efficiency of the textiles treatment. In view of wear comfort, quick wicking fabrics facilitate the evaporation of sweat. Therefore, the wetness sensation of the skin is minimised to prevent discomfort. The testing method for vertical wicking was standardised by the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC) in 2011. The traditional vertical wicking test involves human error to observe fast changing and/or unclear wicking height. This study introduces optoelectronic devices to achieve an automatic Vertical Wicking Tester (VWT) and reduce human error. The VWT can record the wicking time and wicking height of samples. By reducing the difficulties of manual judgment, the reliability of the vertical wicking experiment is highly increased. Furthermore, labour is greatly decreased by using the VWT. The automatic measurement of the VWT has optoelectronic devices to trace the liquid wicking with a simple operation procedure. The optoelectronic devices detect the colour difference between dry and wet samples. This allows high sensitivity to a difference in irradiance down to 10 μW/cm². Therefore, the VWT is capable of testing dark fabric. The VWT gives a wicking distance (wicking height) of 1 mm resolution and a wicking time of one-second resolution. Acknowledgment: This is a research project of HKRITA funded by Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) with title “Development of an Automatic Measuring System for Vertical Wicking” (ITP/055/20TP). Author would like to thank the financial support by ITF. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material/event (or by members of the project team) do not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Innovation and Technology Commission or the Panel of Assessors for the Innovation and Technology Support Programme of the Innovation and Technology Fund and the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel. Also, we would like to thank the support and sponsorship from Lai Tak Enterprises Limited, Kingis Development Limited and Wing Yue Textile Company Limited.

Keywords: AATCC method, comfort, textile measurement, wetness sensation

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Authors: Tiziana Ferrero-Regis, Marissa Lindquist

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Circular Economy (CE) is increasingly seen as the reorganisation of production and consumption, and cities are acknowledged as the sources of many ecological and social problems; at the same time, they can be re-imagined through an ecologically and socially resilient future. The concept of the CE has received pointed critiques for its techno-deterministic orientation, focus on science and transformation by the policy. At the heart of our local re-imagining of the CE into circularity through contact zones there is the acknowledgment of collective, spontaneous and shared imaginations of alternative and sustainable futures through the creation of networks of community initiatives that are transformative, creating opportunities that simultaneously make cities rich and enrich humans. This paper presents a mapping project of the fashion and textile ecosystem in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Brisbane is currently the most aspirational city in Australia, as its population growth rate is the highest in the country. Yet, Brisbane is considered the least “fashion city” in the country. In contrast, the project revealed a greatly enhanced picture of distinct fashion and textile clusters across greater Brisbane and the adjacency of key services that may act to consolidate CE community contact zones. Clusters to the north of Brisbane and several locales to the south are zones of a greater mix between public/social amenities, walkable zones and local transport networks with educational precincts, community hubs, concentration of small enterprises, designers, artisans and waste recovery centers that will help to establish knowledge of key infrastructure networks that will support enmeshing these zones together. The paper presents two case studies of independent designers who work on new and re-designed clothing through recovering pre-consumer textiles and that operate from within creative precincts. The first case is designer Nelson Molloy, who recently returned to the inner city suburb of West End with their Chasing Zero Design project. The area was known in the 1980s and 1990s for its alternative lifestyle with creative independent production, thrifty clothing shops, alternative fashion and a socialist agenda. After 30 years of progressive gentrification of the suburb, which has dislocated many of the artists, designers and artisans, West End is seeing the return and amplification of clusters of artisans, artists, designers and architects. The other case study is Practice Studio, located in a new zone of creative growth, Bowen Hills, north of the CBD. Practice Studio combines retail with a workroom, offers repair and remaking services, becoming a point of reference for young and emerging Australian designers and artists. The paper demonstrates the spatial politics of the CE and the way in which new cultural capital is produced thanks to cultural specificities and resources. It argues for the recognition of contact zones that are created by local actors, communities and knowledge networks, whose grass-roots agency is fundamental for the co-production of CE’s systems of local governance.

Keywords: contact zones, circular citities, fashion and textiles, circular neighbourhoods, australia

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Authors: Leandro da S. Nascimento, Maristela J. Melo

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The increased competition in the globalization drives organizations to innovate in their products and services to remain competitive. Innovation and creativity are incorporated as key aspects to creating value for consumers and for the creation of competitive advantage in organizations. However, there are factors that contribute strong with development of innovation and creation in organizations. These factors are the intellectual capital and knowledge management, which together with sustainability, ensure the development of competitive strategies. However, it is understood that the role of the leader is essential to stimulate the development of human capital, because the human capital is essential for organizations of knowledge. It is the leader who drives the dissemination and sharing of knowledge, an essential aspect for the formation of intellectual capital and therefore should be managed. And it turns out that the management of knowledge through intellectual capital allows the development of environmental initiatives efficiently and effectively. Thus, the research demonstrates the importance of the role of leader / manager in organizations and seeks to analyze how managers can contribute to the adoption of sustainability through intellectual capital and knowledge management.

Keywords: intellectual capital, knowledge management, leadership role, sustainability

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Authors: Athira Vinod

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Under the Right to Education Act (2009), the Indian government introduced an affirmative action policy aimed at the reservation of seats in private schools at the entry-level and free primary education for children from lower socio-economic backgrounds. Using exogenous variation in the status of being in a lower social category (disadvantaged groups) and the year of starting school, this study investigates the effect of exposure to the policy on the expenditure on private education. It employs a difference-in-difference strategy with the help of repeated cross-sectional household data from the National Sample Survey (NSS) of India. It also exploits regional variation in exposure by combining the household data with administrative data on schools from the District Information System for Education (DISE). The study compares the outcome across two age cohorts of disadvantaged groups, starting school at different times, that is, before and after the policy. Regional variation in exposure is proxied with a measure of enrolment rate under the policy, calculated at the district level. The study finds that exposure to the policy led to an average reduction in annual private school fees of ₹223. Similarly, a 5% increase in the rate of enrolment under the policy in a district was associated with a reduction in annual private school fees of ₹240. Furthermore, there was a larger effect of the policy among households with a higher demand for private education. However, the effect is not due to fees waived through direct enrolment under the policy but rather an increase in the supply of low-fee private schools in India. The study finds that after the policy, 79,870 more private schools entered the market due to an increased demand for private education. The new schools, on average, charged a lower fee than existing schools and had a higher enrolment of children exposed to the policy. Additionally, the district-level variation in the enrolment under the policy was very strongly correlated with the entry of new schools, which not only charged a low fee but also had a higher enrolment under the policy. Results suggest that few disadvantaged children were admitted directly under the policy, but many were attending private schools, which were largely low-fee. This implies that disadvantaged households were willing to pay a lower fee to secure a place in a private school even if they did not receive a free place under the policy.

Keywords: affirmative action, disadvantaged groups, private schools, right to education act, school fees

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Authors: Nermin Noshi Esraeil Abdalla

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Inclusive schooling offerings for college kids with Autism stays in its early developmental levels in Thailand. despite many greater youngsters with autism are attending schools since the Thai authorities brought the training Provision for human beings with Disabilities Act in 2008, the services students with autism and their families obtain are typically missing. This quantitative examine used attitude and Preparedness to educate college students with Autism Scale (APTSAS) to investigate 110 number one faculty teachers’ attitude and preparedness to educate college students with autism inside the widespread training school room. Descriptive statistical evaluation of the records discovered that scholar behavior changed into the most good sized factor in constructing teachers’ terrible attitudes students with autism. the majority of teachers additionally indicated that their pre-service schooling did not put together them to fulfill the mastering needs of children with autism especially, folks who are non-verbal. The take a look at is substantial and offers path for enhancing trainer education for inclusivity in Thailand.

Keywords: attitude, autism, teachers, sports activities, movement skills, motor skills

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Authors: Pei-Chun Lee, Sheng-Shih Wang, Pei-Hsuan Ku

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Many existing amusement parks have been operated with assistance of a variety of information and communications technologies to design friendly and efficient service systems for tourists. However, these systems leave various levels of decisions to tourists to make by themselves. This incurs pressure on tourists and thereby bringing negative experience in their tour. This paper proposes a smart amusement park system to offer each tourist the GPS-based customized plan without tourists making decisions by themselves. The proposed system consists of the mobile app subsystem, the central subsystem, and the detecting/counting subsystem. The mobile app subsystem interacts with the central subsystem. The central subsystem performs the necessary computing and database management of the proposed system. The detecting/counting subsystem aims to detect and compute the number of visitors to an attraction. Experimental results show that the proposed system can not only work well, but also provide an innovative business operating model for owners of amusement parks.

Keywords: amusement park, location-based service, LBS, mobile app, tourist service

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Authors: M. A. T. AlSudairi, T. G. K. Vasista

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The concept of social media is becoming the top of the agenda for many business executives and public sector executives today. Decision makers as well as consultants, try to identify ways in which firms and enterprises can make profitable use of social media and network related applications such as Wikipedia, Face book, YouTube, Google+, Twitter. While it is fun and useful to participating in this media and network for achieving the communication effectively and efficiently, semantic and sentiment analysis and interpretation becomes a crucial issue. So, the objective of this paper is to provide literature review on social media, network and related technology related to semantics and sentiment or opinion analysis covering business and governance perspectives. In this regard, a case study on the use and adoption of Social media in Saudi Arabia has been discussed. It is concluded that semantic web technology play a significant role in analyzing the social networks and social media content for extracting the interpretational knowledge towards strategic decision support.

Keywords: CRASP methodology, formative assessment, literature review, semantic web services, social media, social networks

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Authors: Leila H. Khiabani, Mohammadreza Vafaee, Farshad Hashemzadeh

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Industrial waste management regulates different stages of production, storage, transfer, recycling and waste disposal. There are several common practices for industrial waste management. However, due to various local health, economic, social, environmental and aesthetic considerations, the most optimal principles and measures often vary at each specific industrial zone. In addition, waste management strategies are heavily impacted by local administrative, legal, and financial regulations. In this study, a hybrid qualitative and quantitative research methodology has been designed for waste management planning in an industrial city. Firstly, following a qualitative research methodology, the most relevant waste management strategies for the specific industrial city were identified through interviews with environmental planning and waste management experts. Forty experts participated in this study. Alborz industrial city in Iran, which hosts more than one thousand industrial units in nine hundred acres, was chosen as the sample industrial city in this study. The findings from the expert interviews at the first phase were then used to design a quantitative questionnaire for the second phase of the study. The aim of the questionnaire was to quantify the relative impact of different waste management strategies in the sample industrial city. Eight waste management strategies and three implementation policies were included in the questionnaire. The experts were asked to rank the relative effectiveness of each strategy for environmental planning of the sample industrial city. They were also asked to rank the relative effectiveness of each planning policy on each of the waste management strategies. In the end, the weighted average of all the responses was calculated to identify the most effective waste management strategy and planning policies for the sample industrial city. The results suggested that among the eight suggested waste management strategies, industrial composting is the most effective (31%) strategy based on the collective evaluation of the local expert. Additionally, the results suggested that the most effective policy (58%) in the city’s environmental planning is to reduce waste generation by prolonging the effective life of industrial products using higher quality and recyclable materials. These findings can provide useful expert guidelines for prioritization between different waste management strategies in the city’s overall environmental planning roadmap. The findings may also be applicable to similar industrial cities. In addition, a similar methodology can be utilized in the environmental planning of other industrial cities.

Keywords: environmental planning, industrial city, quantitative research, waste management

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Authors: Weera Weerasophon

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The purpose of this research was to study Tourists’s satisfaction strategies case of Tourists who attended and shopped in Chatuchak weekend market (Bangkok) in order to improve service operation of Chatuchak weekend market to serve tourists’ need to impress them. The researcher used the marketing mix as a main factor that affect to tourist satisfaction. This research was emphasized as quantitative research as 400 of questionnaires were used for collecting the data from international tourists around Chatuchak weekend market that questionnaires divided in to 3 parts as a personal information part, satisfaction of marketing/services and facilities and suggestion part. After collecting all the data that would be processed in statistic program of SPSS to use for analyze the data later on. The result is described that most of international tourists satisfied Chatuchak weekend market in the level of 4 as more satisfaction for example friendly staff, Chatuchak information, price of product, facilities and service by the way, the environment of Chatuchak weekend market is the most satisfaction level.

Keywords: Chatuchak, satisfaction, Thailand tourism, marketing mix, tourists

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Authors: Roselyn Alejandro-Ymana

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The study was an attempt to assess the MTAP Saturday Class Program along its eight components namely, modules, instructional materials, scheduling, trainer-teachers, supervisory support, administrative support, financial support and educational facilities, the results of which served as bases in developing policy guidelines to enhance the MTAP Saturday Class Program. Using a descriptive development method of research, this study involved the participation of twenty-eight (28) schools with MTAP Saturday Class Program in the Division of Dasmarinas City where twenty-eight school heads, one hundred twenty-five (125) teacher-trainer, one hundred twenty-five (125) pupil program participants, and their corresponding one hundred twenty-five (125) parents were purposively drawn to constitute the study’s respondent. A self-made validated survey questionnaire together with Pre and Post-Test Assessment Test in Mathematics for pupils participating in the program, and an unstructured interview guide was used to gather the data needed in the study. Data obtained from the instruments administered was organized and analyzed through the use of statistical tools that included the Mean, Weighted Mean, Relative Frequency, Standard Deviation, F-Test or One-Way ANOVA and the T-Test. Results of the study revealed that all the eight domains involved in the MTAP Saturday Class Program were practiced with the areas of 'trainer-teachers', 'educational facilities', and 'supervisory support' identified as the program’s strongest components while the areas of 'financial support', 'modules' and 'scheduling' as being the weakest program’s components. Moreover, the study revealed based on F-Test, that there was a significant difference in the assessment made by the respondents in each of the eight (8) domains. It was found out that the parents deviated significantly from the assessment of either the school heads or the teachers on the indicators of the program. There is much to be desired when it comes to the quality of the implementation of the MTAP Saturday Class Program. With most of the indicators of each component of the program, having received overall average ratings that were at least 0.5 point away from the ideal rating 5 for total quality, school heads, teachers, and supervisors need to work harder for total quality of the implementation of the MTAP Saturday Class Program in the division.

Keywords: mathematics achievement, MTAP program, policy guidelines, program assessment

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Authors: Andrey Makarov

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This article will focus on the development of antitrust policy in transition economies in the context of preventing explicit and tacit collusion. Experience of BRICS, CIS (Ukraine, Kazakhstan) and CEE countries (Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Estonia) in the creation of antitrust institutions was analyzed, including both legislation and enforcement practice. Most of these countries in the early 90th were forced to develop completely new legislation in the field of protection of competition and it is important to compare different ways of building antitrust institutions and policy results. The article proposes a special approach to evaluation of preventing collusion mechanisms. This approach takes into account such enforcement problems as: classification problems (tacit vs explicit collusion, vertical vs horizontal agreements), flexibility of prohibitions (the balance between “per se” vs “rule of reason” approaches de jure and in practice), design of sanctions, private enforcement challenge, leniency program mechanisms, the role of antitrust authorities etc. The analysis is conducted using both official data, published by competition authorities, and expert assessments. The paper will show how the integration process within the EU predetermined some aspects of the development of antitrust policy in CEE countries, including the trend of the use of "rule of reason" approach. Simultaneously was analyzed the experience of CEE countries in special mechanisms of government intervention. CIS countries in the development of antitrust policy followed more or less original ways, without such a great impact from the European Union, more attention will be given to Russian experience in this field, including the analysis of judicial decisions in antitrust cases. Main problems and challenges for transition economies in this field will be shown, including: Legal uncertainty problem; Problem of rigidity of prohibitions; Enforcement priorities of the regulator; Interaction of administrative and criminal law, limited effectiveness of criminal sanctions in the antitrust field; The effectiveness of leniency program design; Private enforcement challenge.

Keywords: collusion, antitrust policy, leniency program, transition economies, Russia, CEE

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Authors: Tamara Zappaterra

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The Learning Difficulties have an evolutionary nature. The international research has focused its analysis on the characteristics of Learning Difficulties in childhood, but we are still far from a thorough understanding of the nature of such disorders in adolescence and adulthood. Such issues become even more urgent in the university context. Spelling, meaning, and appropriate use of the specific vocabulary of the various disciplines represent an additional challenge for the dyslexic student. This paper explores the characteristics of Learning Difficulties in adulthood and the impact with the university teaching. It presents the results of an interdisciplinary project (educational, medical and engineering area) at University of Florence. The purpose of project is to design of a protocol for usability of teaching and individual study at university level. The project, after a first reconnaissance of user needs that have been reached with the participation of the very same protagonists, is at the stage of guidelines drafting for inclusion and education, to be used by teachers, students and administrative staff. The methodologies used are a questionnaire built on purpose and a series of focus groups with users. For collecting data during the focus groups it was decided to use a method typical of the Quality Function Deployment, a tool originally used for quality management, whose versatility makes it easy to use in a number of different context. The paper presents furthermore the findings of the project, the most significant elements of the guidelines for teaching, i.e. the section for teachers, whose aim is to implement a Learning Difficulties-friendly teaching, even at the university level, in compliance with italian Law 170/2010. The Guidelines for the didactic and inclusion of Learning Difficulties students of the University of Florence are articulated around a global and systemic plan of action, meant to accompany and protect the students during their study career, even before enrolling at the University, with different declination: the logistical, relational, educational, and didactic levels have been considered. These guidelines in Italy received the endorsement of the CNUDD. It is a systemic intervention plan for Learning Difficulties students, which roused and keeps rousing the interest of all the university system, with a radical consideration on academic teaching. Since while we try to provide the best Learning Difficulties-friendly didactic in compliance with the rules, no one can be exempted from a wider consideration on the nature and the quality of university teaching offered to all students.

Keywords: didactic tools, learning difficulties, special and inclusive education, university teaching

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Authors: Sharon Harel, Rachel Kizony, Yoram Feldman, Gabi Zeilig, Mordechai Shani

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Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a neurological disease that may cause restriction in participation in daily activities of young adults. Main symptoms include fatigue, weakness and cognitive decline. The appearance of symptoms, their severity and deterioration rate, change between patients. The challenge of health services is to provide long-term rehabilitation services to people with MS. The objective of this presentation is to describe a course of tele-rehabilitation service of a woman with MS. Methods; R is a 48 years-old woman, diagnosed with MS when she was 22. She started to suffer from weakness of her non-dominant left upper extremity about ten years after the diagnosis. She was referred to the tele-rehabilitation service by her rehabilitation team, 16 years after diagnosis. Her goals were to improve ability to use her affected upper extremity in daily activities. On admission her score in the Mini-Mental State Exam was 30/30. Her Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) score of the left upper extremity was 48/60, indicating mild weakness and she had a limitation of her shoulder abduction (90 degrees). In addition, she reported little use of her arm in daily activities as shown in her responses to the Motor Activity Log (MAL) that were equal to 1.25/5 in amount and 1.37 in quality of use. R. received two 30 minutes on-line sessions per week in the tele-rehabilitation service, with the CogniMotion system. These were complemented by self-practice with the system. The CogniMotion system provides a hybrid (synchronous-asynchronous), the home-based tele-rehabilitation program to improve the motor, cognitive and functional status of people with neurological deficits. The system consists of a computer, large monitor, and the Microsoft’s Kinect 3D sensor. This equipment is located in the client’s home and connected to a clinician’s computer setup in a remote clinic via WiFi. The client sits in front of the monitor and uses his body movements to interact with games and tasks presented on the monitor. The system provides feedback in the form of ‘knowledge of results’ (e.g., the success of a game) and ‘knowledge of performance’ (e.g., alerts for compensatory movements) to enhance motor learning. The games and tasks were adapted for R. motor abilities and level of difficulty was gradually increased according to her abilities. The results of her second assessment (after 35 on-line sessions) showed improvement in her FMA score to 52 and shoulder abduction to 140 degrees. Moreover, her responses to the MAL indicated an increased amount (2.4) and quality (2.2) of use of her left upper extremity in daily activities. She reported high level of enjoyment from the treatments (5/5), specifically the combination of cognitive challenges while moving her body. In addition, she found the system easy to use as reflected by her responses to the System Usability Scale (85/100). To-date, R. continues to receive treatments in the tele-rehabilitation service. To conclude, this case report shows the potential of using tele-rehabilitation for people with MS to provide strategies to enhance the use of the upper extremity in daily activities as well as for maintaining motor function.

Keywords: motor function, multiple-sclerosis, tele-rehabilitation, daily activities

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Authors: Washima Tuleun

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Cybercrime is a global concern, and Nigeria is not immune to its effects. This paper investigates the cybercrimes and significant cyber-attacks that have targeted businesses and institutions in Nigeria, examining their various forms and the financial and economic impacts they have on individuals, businesses, and the nation as a whole. As technological advancements rapidly evolve and online services gain widespread adoption, there has been a corresponding rise in cyber-related attacks. These attacks often target personal data, exploit system vulnerabilities, and result in the theft of sensitive information, leading to financial losses, reputational damage, and broader impacts on organizations. The study conducts a thorough review of existing literature, case studies, and statistical data to provide a comprehensive understanding of Nigeria’s cybercrime landscape. Additionally, it assesses the efforts by both the government and the private sector to address these challenges and offers recommendations for more effective strategies to mitigate and reduce their impact.

Keywords: cybersecurity, telecommunications engineering, information technology, threat intelligence, vulnerability management, computing

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Authors: Haoyu Zhao, Qianshu Ma, Min Xie, Yunqi Huang, Yunjia Liu, Huan Song, Hongsheng Gui, Mingli Li, Qiang Wang

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Rationale: Bipolar disorder (BD) and major depressive disorder (MDD), as severe chronic illnesses that restrict patients’ psychosocial functioning and reduce their quality of life, are both categorized into mood disorders. Emerging evidence has suggested that the reliability of self-rated health (SRH) was wellvalidated and that the risk of various health outcomes, including mortality and health care costs, could be predicted by SRH. Compared with other lengthy multi-item patient-reported outcomes (PRO) measures, SRH was proven to have a comparable predictive ability to predict mortality and healthcare utilization. However, to our knowledge, no study has been conducted to assess the association between SRH and hospitalization among people with mental disorders. Therefore, our study aims to determine the association between SRH and subsequent all-cause hospitalizations in patients with BD and MDD. Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study on people with BD or MDD in the UK from 2006 to 2010 using UK Biobank touchscreen questionnaire data and linked administrative health databases. The association between SRH and 2-year all-cause hospitalizations was assessed using proportional hazard regression after adjustment for sociodemographics, lifestyle behaviors, previous hospitalization use, the Elixhauser comorbidity index, and environmental factors. Results: A total of 29,966 participants were identified, experiencing 10,279 hospitalization events. Among the cohort, the average age was 55.88 (SD 8.01) years, 64.02% were female, and 3,029 (10.11%), 15,972 (53.30%), 8,313 (27.74%), and 2,652 (8.85%) reported excellent, good, fair, and poor SRH, respectively. Among patients reporting poor SRH, 54.19% had a hospitalization event within 2 years compared with 22.65% for those having excellent SRH. In the adjusted analysis, patients with good, fair, and poor SRH had 1.31 (95% CI 1.21-1.42), 1.82 (95% CI 1.68-1.98), and 2.45 (95% CI 2.22, 2.70) higher hazards of hospitalization, respectively, than those with excellent SRH. Conclusion: SRH was independently associated with subsequent all-cause hospitalizations in patients with BD or MDD. This large study facilitates rapid interpretation of SRH values and underscores the need for proactive SRH screening in this population, which might inform resource allocation and enhance high-risk population detection.

Keywords: severe mental illnesses, hospitalization, risk prediction, patient-reported outcomes

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Authors: Hui Fang Huang Su, Leanne Lai, Pei-Fen Li, Mei-Hwei Ho, Yu-Wen Chiu

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This study aimed to provide a practical, systematic, and comprehensive intervention for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). A pilot study of quasi-experimental pre-post intervention with control group design was conducted to evaluate if the mathematical intervention (Project MIND - Math Is Not Difficult) increases the math comprehension of children with ASD Children with ASD in the primary grades (K-1, 2) participated in math interventions to enhance their math comprehension and cognitive ability. The Bracken basic concept scale was used to evaluate subjects’ language skills, cognitive development, and school readiness. The study found that our systemic interventions of Project MIND significantly improved the mathematical and cognitive abilities in children with autism. The results of this study may lead to a major change in effective and adequate health care services for children with ASD and their families. All statistical analyses were performed with the IBM SPSS Statistics Version 25 for Windows. The significant level was set at 0.05 P-value.

Keywords: autism, mathematics, technology, family

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Authors: Ali Abdrhman M. Ukasha

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Data security needed in data transmission, storage, and communication to ensure the security. The single step parallel contour extraction (SSPCE) method is used to create the edge map as a key image from the different Gray level/Binary image. Performing the X-OR operation between the key image and each bit plane of the original image for image pixel values change purpose. The Arnold transform used to changes the locations of image pixels as image scrambling process. Experiments have demonstrated that proposed algorithm can fully encrypt 2D Gary level image and completely reconstructed without any distortion. Also shown that the analyzed algorithm have extremely large security against some attacks like salt & pepper and JPEG compression. Its proof that the Gray level image can be protected with a higher security level. The presented method has easy hardware implementation and suitable for multimedia protection in real time applications such as wireless networks and mobile phone services.

Keywords: SSPCE method, image compression-salt- peppers attacks, bitplanes decomposition, Arnold transform, lossless image encryption

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Authors: Ibrahim Masud, Yusheng Kong, Adam Diyawu Rahman

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Mobile payment variously referred to as mobile money, mobile money transfer, and mobile wallet refers to payment services operated under financial regulation and performed from or via a mobile device. Mobile payment systems have come to augment and to some extent try to replace the conventional payment methods like cash, cheque, or credit cards. This study examines mobile payment adoption factors among retailers in Ghana. A conceptual framework was adopted from the extant literature using the Technology Acceptance Model and the Theory of Reasoned action as the theoretical bases. Data for the study was obtained from a sample of 240 respondents through a structured questionnaire. The PLS-SEM was used to analyze the data through SPSS v.22 and SmartPLS v.3. The findings indicate that factors such as perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived security, competitive pressure and facilitating conditions are the main determinants of mobile payment adoption among retailers in Ghana. The study contributes to the literature on mobile payment adoption from developing country context.

Keywords: mobile payment, retailers, structural equation modeling, technology acceptance model

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Authors: Abdelhamid Louliej, Younes Jabrane

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Satellites are becoming indispensable assets to fifth-generation (5G) new radio architecture, complementing wireless and terrestrial communication links. The combination of satellites and 5G architecture allows consumers to access all next-generation services anytime, anywhere, including scenarios, like traveling to remote areas (without coverage). Nevertheless, this solution faces several challenges, such as a significant propagation delay, Doppler frequency shift, and high Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR), causing signal distortion due to the non-linear saturation of the High-Power Amplifier (HPA). To compensate for HPA non-linearity in 5G satellite transmission, an efficient pre-distorter scheme using Neural Networks (NN) is proposed. To assess the proposed NN pre-distorter, two types of HPA were investigated: Travelling Wave Tube Amplifier (TWTA) and Solid-State Power Amplifier (SSPA). The results show that the NN pre-distorter design presents EVM improvement by 95.26%. NMSE and ACPR were reduced by -43,66 dB and 24.56 dBm, respectively. Moreover, the system suffers no degradation of the Bit Error Rate (BER) for TWTA and SSPA amplifiers.

Keywords: satellites, 5G, neural networks, HPA, TWTA, SSPA, EVM, NMSE, ACPR

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Authors: Joseph Levodo, Ndimbarafine Young Tobin, E. Messina, P. Edouma

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Energy efficiency can contribute significantly towards increasing clean energy access to modern energy services. Many developing countries have largely focused on expanding energy access by increasing supply. This is due to the fact the links between energy efficiency and clean energy access are often unnoticed. Energy efficiency measures offer the promise of reducing energy use and saving money on electricity bills, as well as reducing negative environmental externalities associated with the production of electricity. This paper seeks to address the economic and effectiveness of reducing energy consumption by integrating energy efficiency as a priority to meet energy access examines the barriers to energy efficient in sub-Saharan African countries. The findings from this study reveal that an appropriate policy can promote the development of more energy-efficient buildings, products and strengthen incentives for consumers, businesses, and industrial customers to pursue cost-effective energy-efficiency measures and to make investments that will provide future energy-efficiency improvements.

Keywords: barriers, Sub-Saharan Africa, cost effective, energy savings, clean energy

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Authors: Andreia Cortes, Carla Pimentel-Rodrigues, Joao Almeida, Myriam Kanoun-Boule, Carla Carvalho, Antonio Tadeu, Armando Silva-Afonso

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The adoption of green infrastructure is nowadays encouraged as an essential measure of urban planning and territorial development whenever it offers a better alternative, or is complementary, to current solutions. Green walls and living facades often provide healthy alternatives to traditional grey infrastructures, offering many benefits for both citizens and cities. Beyond the ability to improve environmental conditions and quality of life, they can augment the energy efficiency of buildings, enhance biodiversity and deliver a range of ecosystem services such as water purification, reduction of the urban heat island effect, improvement of air quality and climate change adaptation. For this communication, a systematic survey of the existing green walls and living facades in Portugal was carried out. Different systems were analyzed and compared in terms of dimensions, constructive solutions, vegetative species, maintenance necessities and environmental aspects.

Keywords: green buildings, green walls, living facades, sustainability construction

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Authors: Rimma Dzhusupova, Jan Bosch, Helena Holmström Olsson

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) industry has not yet a proven track record in large-scale projects. Since AI solutions for industrial applications became available only recently, deployment experience and lessons learned are still to be built up. Nevertheless, AI has become an attractive technology for organizations looking to automate repetitive tasks to reduce manual work. Meanwhile, the current AI market has started offering various solutions and services. The contribution of this research is that we explore in detail the challenges and obstacles faced in developing and deploying AI in a large-scale project in the EPC industry based on real-life use cases performed in an EPC company. Those identified challenges are not linked to a specific technology or a company's know-how and, therefore, are universal. The findings in this paper aim to provide feedback to academia to reduce the gap between research and practice experience. They also help reveal the hidden stones when implementing AI solutions in the industry.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, innovation, engineering, procurement and construction industry, AI in the EPC industry

Procedia PDF Downloads 119